Updates from Weekend NYSUT Meeting: Locals and Counting Oppose Mulgrew Takeover

.... just last year, Mulgrew asked the State legislature and Cuomo to allow King to arbitrate a dispute Mulgrew was having with Bloomberg over APPR shows that UFT wants and needs King and Cuomo’s help.... Friday night, Mulgrew accused Cutler of undermining him at the UFT’s last delegate assembly because a motion was brought to the floor for UFT to not endorse Cuomo. Of course that motion was defeated.  It wasn’t Cutler that brought that idea to that UFT delegate. It was me Michael and you should have supported that resolution because Cuomo is not good for the UFT or the rest of NY State... Beth Dimino, Pres. Port Jefferson Station TA

Here is a report from the Long Island Presidents' Council listserve about the weekend from Port Jeff Station Pres Beth Dimino-- I'll follow up with analysis later. There is only one statewide caucus - Unity - an open caucus unlike UFT/Unity - and the state level is where the split is taking place. So all sides were present at the state Unity Caucus meeting on Friday night. These 50 presidents met separately on Saturday and formed Stronger Together
to support Iannuzzi. Beth uses lots of first and last names I don't know but we'll all figure this out later.

Date: January 26, 2014 at 6:37:16 PM EST

Subject: Fwd: Fw: LIPC Intranet: New Discussion Thread - [POSTSU...

This weekend I was in Albany with 50 other local presidents to address the upcoming NYSUT elections... please read my recent post on the Long Island President's website below and be sure to go to thepjsta.org for updates as well...

Message:

Everything that is posted here was either told to me directly by the individuals involved or was witnessed by me. Fifty Local Presidents from large and small locals, from all parts of the State, braved the snow and met to discuss the future of NYSUT, yesterday afternoon in Albany.  Everyone shared their ideas for how to move this organization forward after the insanity of the election is over. It’s no coincidence that the president’s meeting was Saturday afternoon. I anticipated that Friday night’s Unity Caucus meeting would be a fiasco and it was that and more as NYSUT members who attended the Friday night meeting informed the group.  I’m sure you’ll hear highlights of the Caucus meeting but what I’d like to inform you of is what mattered the most to the fifty presidents that were in the meeting with me. 1)     The revive slate is anything but a grass roots movement. Pallotta and Lubin, with Mulgrew’s blessing, have been planning the revive run for more than a year. I personally was courted at last year’s RA and this fall to run on the revive slate, as was one other LI local president. Andy “tapped” people to run with the promise that he would get Unity Caucus backing and therefore would win the election. Messner showed his loyalty to both Andy and Michael at the RA last year and was promised the Secretary Treasurer’s position. (Maria) Niera intimated to me that Mulgrew contacted Niera and told her that if she agreed to walk away from Iannuzzi and join Pallotta she would keep her NYSUT job. Only after Niera explained to Mulgrew that even though she felt great affection for her UFT brothers and sisters she NOW represented the interests of the entire State of NY, not just NYC, was Niera informed that Fortina [UFT VP and Teacher Center head] was “tapped” to run against her. I was personally told that neither Paul nor Nadia really wanted to run for Donohue’s position, but when the other LI local President and I turned it down, Paul agreed. Andy cannot divorce himself from the other officers. He was part of the “team” for 6 years and if he wanted to call the shots he should have run for President. Instead Magee was “tapped”. Magee is best known recently for three things, 1) introducing herself to a group of upstate presidents at a meeting last July as the next NYSUT President, 2) accepting another term as a TRS delegate when she fully intended to run for NYSUT President in October instead of serving on the TRS, and 3) Standing at a NYSUT Board of Directors meeting in December and asking that Iannuzzi reconsider endorsing Cuomo. 2)    All 50 presidents agreed that Cuomo’s tax cap is crippling every local except the UFT. NYSUT must not endorse Cuomo and Cuomo must know that today. Cuomo and King must acknowledge that King and the common core are hurting teachers and children. The fact that, just last year, Mulgrew asked the State legislature and Cuomo to allow King to arbitrate a dispute Mulgrew was having with Bloomberg over APPR shows that UFT wants and needs King and Cuomo’s help. Friday night, Mulgrew accused Cutler of undermining him at the UFT’s last delegate assembly because a motion was brought to the floor for UFT to not endorse Cuomo.  Of course that motion was defeated.  It wasn’t Cutler that brought that idea to that UFT delegate. It was me Michael and you should have supported that resolution because Cuomo is not good for the UFT or the rest of NY State. Most importantly for the 50 presidents in the   Saturday meeting, was the fact that even though Friday night’s Unity Caucus meeting was a “shit show”, Iannuzzi was able to pull that dysfunctional group together to get the NYSUT BOD to agree to a vote of no confidence for King and withdrawal of support for CCSS.     3)      What are the facts; Iannuzzi and Niera got us the APPR.  After a year of the APPR, all of us agreed that it is a huge pain in the ass.  But, Unlike Mulgrew who had his APPR imposed on his local because he could not effectively negotiate with his Superintendent, the rest of the presidents in NY negotiated APPRs where less than 2% of all the teachers in NY were ineffective. The APPR needs revisions, and all of us agreed that Iannuzzi and Niera will get those revisions done. In regards to the tax cap, Iannuzzi directed the legal department to file the lawsuit. Palotta and his legislative team got us tier 5, tier 6, charter schools, and merit pay. Palotta has not pushed back against Cuomo’s tax cap or the common core. Lubin may have been effective in his day, but his protégé Palotta is not producing. Further, one of Pallotta’s staff members asked me to “tone” down my presentation after a Flanagan meeting and Pallotta’s controlled Suffolk PAC asked me not to go into the room with them at the last Committee of 100 meeting with Flanagan. Long Island presidents were asked to support LaValle because Pallotta’s staff needed someone friendly they could talk to in Albany at the last President’s Conference. Pallotta and his directives to his legislative team do NOT represent the best interests of Long Island or NYS. 4)      50 President’s Conclusion: We will support the Iannuzzi, Niera, Cutler and Donohue slate because it represents the needs of all of the locals on Long Island and in NY State. We will work with Iannuzzi to insure that each and every NYSUT member knows that regardless of whether they are from a local that is large or small, rural, suburban or urban, whether they do any job in higher ed or pre k to 12, health care or life guard their voice will be heard and they will be represented. Now that’s a Grass Roots Democratic Movement!

See James Eterno's excellent analysis now running on both the ICE and the Port Jefferson Station blogs.

The official website of the PJSTA: UFT Guest Post #1: James Eterno

ICEUFT Blog

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