#MORE2016 - Randi Believes In Proportional Representation in Democratic Party But Not in Winner Take All UFT

Mrs. Clinton was expected to win 39 of South Carolina’s delegates to Mr. Sanders’s 14... Under party rules, most delegates are awarded proportionally to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders based on their shares of the vote in congressional districts.... NY Times

How ironic that Democratic Party super delegate Randi Weingarten is part of a system in the many primaries that are not winner take all. After Bernie was routed by almost 50% points yesterday he still gets 14 delegates. Of course many states ARE winner take all, like the UFT.

Let's look at the UFT elections where 750 AFT/NYSUT delegates are up for grabs -- I mean awarded to Unity. In the last election MORE received about the same percentage that Bernie got in South Carolina. If the UFT were run like the Democratic Party, MORE would have gotten about 150 out of the 750 delegates. They got none and will get none in the upcoming election.

Since the majority of the UFT Exec is elected at-large - meaning everyone votes, the winner take all gives Unity all those seats. In a proportional rep world, MORE would have gotten about 20% of those seats.

In some Democratic Party primaries, seats are allocated based on votes in regions. Imagine if we voted by school districts in NYC - the 32 plus the high schools and other special units. Say each gets to choose about 25 delegates based on district voting and they are divided by slate proportions. In strong Unity districts they would pretty much get all or most of the votes. In areas where MORE is stronger, we might get a bigger portion of the delegates. In high schools we would get about 40% to 50%. The outcome would still give Unity an overwhelming majority but not 100%.

Having non-Unity voices at the AFT/NYSUT  and UFT Exec Board would go a long way towards protecting the UFT from the ravages of a Friedrichs ruling. All many people who feel unrepresented by the UFT want is a more democratic operation where they can present their views. If the system is fair and they lose the vote, at least they had the opportunity and can try to win people over.

Unrepresented groups like the ATR would get their voices heard since MORE would include them in the people chosen.

In the delegate assembly, most of the chapter leaders and delegates are elected from the schools. But many come from the functional chapters. The key functional chapter is the rigidly controlled Retiree chapter which elects 300 delegates to the delegate assembly in a winner take all chapter election that took place last May. The Retiree Advocate slate ran against Unity and received I believe in the neighborhood of 25% of the vote. In a proport rep system, the Retiree Advocate should receive 75 delegate positions. They got none.

Imagine if we implemented that system. I and other retirees who stood up to Unity at the DA. Our experience with how they operate and how to counter them would change the nature of the DA -

---one more reason why you will never see proportional representation, unlike in Randi's beloved Democratic Party, come to the UFT.