NYSUT Update: New Organizers Will Not Be Unionized

UPDATE from a source: I heard that the new organizers hired will in fact be PSA members.  My understanding is that all NYSUT staff, except for the Legislative department (Pallotta's staff) is PSA.  Incidentally PSA is taking a freeze while the officers and the legislative staff are all getting 2% raises.

We find it deeply disturbing that a majority of the staff currently employed by NYSUT in the legislative department are classified as managers and are not allowed to join a union.....

This is coming from some upstate NYSUT people. Remember - Unity Caucus in NYC controls much of NYSUT in NYState which controls the national AFT. Until the Unity machine breaks here in NYC there can be no real changes at the state or national level. But there is some hope that with around 30% of the delegates in NY State Unity can be challenged if a statewide coalition based on Stronger Together. While it is not clear, this may be one more shot at the Unity controlled Revile NYSUT.

An Open Petition to the NYSUT Officers

ORGANIZE THE NYSUT LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT!

It is our understanding that NYSUT is in the process of hiring nine new full-time organizers and that these organizers will be housed in the legislative department and their supervising officer will be Andrew Pallotta.

While we fully support the emphasis on organizing and trust our officers to make the right decisions about the number of organizers needed and how many the NYSUT budget can sustain, we want to be sure that these organizers will be part of the PSA bargaining unit.

We find it deeply disturbing that a majority of the staff currently employed by NYSUT in the legislative department are classified as managers and are not allowed to join a union.  In fact, there is a cruel irony at play here when we are hiring organizers with the sole purpose of growing the union while at the same time the department they will be working in needs to be organized itself.

The logic that our legislative representatives should not be in a union is the same kind of thinking that the Bush administration subscribed to when they refused to allow employees of the thennewly formed homeland security department to join a union.   It is the same kind of disingenuous logic that is nothing more than union busting.

As one of the largest unions in the world, it sends the wrong message when we have one department that is this top heavy with management.   It is equally alarming that this intentional structure of the department has been created and sustained to forbid staff from being part of a union.   We understand that managers serve an essential role in every department at NYSUT and we value that structure and in no way seek to change this.   The current situation in our legislative department, however, is extreme and should be rectified so that as our organizers do the critical work of organizing, they can do it knowing that NYSUT is not only talking the talk, but walking the walk.

The undersigned, thereby, demand the following from the current NYSUT officers:

1.

Assurance that all nine newly hired organizers will not be classified as “Managers” and that once hired, they will be members of the PSA bargaining unit.

2.

A commitment that discussions will begin immediately on how to transition the existing legislative staff into the PSA bargaining unit also.

Thank you.