Can You Live Blog from A Dead NYSUT?

So there is the beginning of talk of leaving NYSUT and forming a separate organization by some people. Spend a few days at a NYSUT RA and you wonder why this is the first time that talk has infiltrated into the mainstream.

Now will NYSUT die a formal death? Not as long as the big cities keep it going but in essence NYSUT is just an extension of the UFT, which we knew since it's founding in the early 70s was pretty much the truth, but with the election of former District rep Andy Pallotta it is formalized and to the smaller locals, this may be a breaking point but only if there is an alternative and that won't be so easy. I did hear that Stronger Together meetings were packed. Can ST put together enough of a committed coalition and go out seeking an alternative partner?

I am not saying NYSUT will disappear, but spiritually, NYSUT is dying, if it hasn't already done so.

I was at the NYSTU RA at the Hilton Saturday morning hanging with Jia Lee and Arthur Goldstein. We were in the balcony watching the big TV screen and I only woke up when another Unity Caucus slug called the question. We lasted until 11Am before going out for a bite to eat. We got back and I had a nice nap while wating for James Eterno to arrive but we couldn't stand it and left around 1:30.

I am glad that James Eterno was live blogging from the NYSUT RA:

• STRONGER TOGETHER LETTER TO MEMBERS
• LIVE BLOGGING FROM DEAD NYSUT RA
• LIVE BLOGGING FROM NYSUT REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY

Arthur Goldstein has also been blogging about NYSUT:

Ignoring Rank and File Not Paying Off for NYSUT. Or UFT.

Notes from NYSUT RA

The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo-Voters

Is there any real news to report other than Stronger Together didn't win? How about the final tallies so we get an idea of where things stand? Mike Antonucci, who likes to post union news that puts the unions in an unflattering light, didn't have to look very far this time.

Intercepts

Pallotta Elected NYSUT President; By How Much? Who Knows?

You mean they had an election and aren't reporting the numbers? They give Mike so much material:

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Andrew Pallotta was elected president of New York State United Teachers by delegates to the union’s representative assembly. What was his margin of victory? Well, we don’t know. The vote tallies were not announced to the public, nor to the delegates.
It could be a simple oversight or perhaps the results were embarrassing to the elected officers for one of two reasons: 1) it was too close; or 2) it was too much of a blowout.
Too close and it casts doubt on Pallotta’s support. Too large a victory and it casts doubt on how representative the NYSUT representative assembly is.
Before the convention, NYSUT was proud to boast that 88 percent of its members were represented. Only after repeated inquiries were made by some delegates was it revealed that only 48 percent of NYSUT locals were represented.

 The funniest thing in Mike's post are these comments from superslug NYSUT Treasurer Martin Messner:

As England was preparing for invasion during WWII, Winston Churchill said “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
And it is in that vein that we will prepare for the fights to come.
…We will fight this battle and, if we persist, our enemies won’t land on our shores.
Rather, like England, it will be us who storms across the channel to fight on their turf.

Right. The great appeasers in the AFT/NYSUT/UFT complex think they are Winston Churchill instead of Neville Chamberlain. When their leadership results in bigger threats to NYSUT than Friedrichs, they can hold up their 2 fingers and say "peace in our time."