Thus we see in the midst of this crisis with Cuomo, some UFT members holding back their support over the union's "Who Me?"
The charter school disaster is just one of many less-publicized ones -- every single one of which had the endorsement of the entire Unity Caucus membership, with various levels of enthusiasm. People like commenters on this and other blogs like Paula Washington and John Marvel, who seem so silent on the charter question.
IF
the UFT were a democratic organization where Unity Caucus endorses 100%
of the Ex Bd seats and every one of the 800 UFT members supposedly
representing the NYC teachers at NYSUT and AFT conventions and cheering and supporting every single position they are told to take.
There comes a time when the UFT must put a reform package for the way the UFT operates on the table before there can be trust.
And as for AQE -- someone show me anything other than minor divergence from UFT policy.
I see my colleagues in MORE joining in the anti-Cuomo campaign with enthusiasm even though in their schools they are putting out a broader message on testing, common core, charters and other issues the leadership wants to avoid putting on the table.
There is a sense amongst the opponents to Unity that they must temper their criticisms in times like these. I don't agree. I think now is the time to say - we will support union defense issues but tie that to demands for internal reform.
I'll come back to this issue in an upcoming post.
In the meantime -- nice to see NYC Educator and RBE hammering away.
And for more on the charter blow-up -- not from UFT friendly sources by the way - Brent Staples at the Times is an ed deform slug but makes a few interesting points about UFT incompetence when it came time to running a school. It goes way beyond that. I don't ever accuse them of incompetence when it comes to manipulating and managing the membership.
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