Stronger Together Threatens Randi/Mulgrew Power: What is Behind NYSUT Unity Attack on Beth Dimino

..if you are like me and you are tired of your profession being trampled while your union “leaders” compromise and collaborate with coroporate  privatizers who seek to destroy public education, then go ahead and reduce your VOTE-COPE and join STCaucus (open to any NYSUT members).  It literally is about the only say you have in your parent unions.... Unity’s Attack on Dimino & Reducing VOTE-COPE.. Posted on November 14, 2015 by thepjsta

PJSTA include link to my Mulgrew punch in face video at AFT14

With Friedrichs on the way, Unity doubles down on repression -  the attack on Beth Dimino and smaller stuff like trying to stop voices of dissent are signs - which you know if you have been reading my recent posts.

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There's lots of stuff out there on the attack on Beth Dimino --

NYC Educator

NY State's Unity Caucus Launches a Despicable Attack Against PJSTA President Beth Dimino -
NYSUT to Charge Members for Meetings, Not Sure How Much Yet  from

The Pen is Mightier than the Person blog is telling:

Faced with an existential case before the Supreme Court which could make dues optional, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) continues to give its members plenty of reasons not to opt in. On the other hand, renting out its offices to "external groups" might become the norm if and when the Union blows up. 

Just go over to the ICE blog and read the comments on how pissed off people are at the UFT/Unity leadership: ICEUFT Blog

LIVE BLOGGING FROM NOVEMBER DA (Sorry for any errors-Updated and cleaned up a little). Here is one morsel of doom for Unity:

Three are about 5-7 uft members in my school out of about 100 who will voluntary pay union dues if given the option. I'm not one of them. I'll gladly go down with the ship if it means there's even the slightest chance I will get to see Mulgrew and other useless UFT staffers drown first.  

Hey - maybe they just don't care what happens if people stop paying dues. Or they think they have the situation under control.

Chatter has been coming in to Ed Notes about just how much of a threat Stronger Together, the statewide opposition caucus to Unity in NYSUT is viewed by Randi Weingarten and her liege Michael Mulgrew.

Some of this chatter I cannot share but there is serious attention to ST being paid. Let me explain why the threat before getting to the NYSUT Unity Caucus attack on Beth Dimino, president of the Port Jefferson Station union and one of the leaders of ST Caucus.

Unity Caucus exists on 3 levels - NYC where the power rests, NYSUT where State Unity is controlled by NYC Unity - and the AFT national level where Unity is called Progressive Caucus. The entire pyramid rests on the ability of NYC Unity, which is a third of NYSUT - to control the other two thirds. NYSUT is a massive component of the AFT national -- maybe 30-40% of the membership.

So note how the pyramid can be topped if ST manages to dent NYC Unity control of NYSUT - and with a new election coming up in 2017 - state and city Unity are trying to either buy off or repress the Stronger Together threat. When I say buy off - I mean doing to ST what they did to New Action back in 2003 - and I think there will be people who feel it is better to not attack the machine but work with it - and Unity may be using Friedrichs to try to keep people on board - just as they used the Bloomberg threat to get New Action on board.

Beth Dimino has been the tireless ambassador of ST, reaching out 2 years ago even before ST was formed to MORE and MORE has become a partner with ST, with Mike Schirtzer having a position on the steering committee. MORE has taken its activism to a national level by aligning with other caucuses around the nation, some of whom have already won elections, have come close or about to like in Philly where WE - Working Educators - social justice caucus may actually win - another loss for Randi.

ST is allied with this national movement.

So imagine of ST actually threatens to capture NYSUT or win enough statewide delegates - especially from the other big cities - to challenge NYC Unity control over NYSUT - and then allies with the other national caucuses to create a threat to Randi in the AFT. Now I do not think that will happen this summer at AFT16 in Minneapolis -- but a bunch of us are going to work the rooms to help build that alliance for possible challenge in 2018 - where it may be Mulgrew instead of Randi.

So the attempt to discredit Beth as one of the key components in building these alliances is not just an isolated incident. To get the  full story and response here is the Port Jefferson Station teacher union response:

Unity’s Attack on Dimino & Reducing VOTE-COPE

Posted on November 14, 2015 by thepjsta