Recent actions by some members of this "not so loyal" opposition are especially disturbing. --- Unity Caucus Leaflet titled "The Loyal Opposition", Feb. 2018
But the Unity leaflet attacking MORE at Wednesday's DA requires a response. Arthur has already done a number on the Unity leaflet at NYC Educator.
Arthur points out their utter hypocrisy when they brag about these issues:
I love that they boast of "fair funding for our schools" first, since the so-called Fair Student Funding is nothing of the sort, with schools getting only a percentage of what they're promised. It's also a huge discouraging factor for hiring experienced teachers, and likely is the reason for many being stuck in the ATR.When I looked at the Unity leaflet I was immediately reminded of the Trump attack on Democrats and those who didn't stand up to salute and cheer his State of the Union saying they were "traitorous".
I'm also fond of the "equity, access and opportunity for all students" because UFT Unity has done absolutely nothing to lower class sizes in over half a century. They boast of sacrifices they made to place class size in the contract and fail to mention that most of them were toddlers or not even born when this monumental sacrifice was made.
This is an age-old attack by authoritarians that claim the outside enemies of a nation - or union - must lead to restrictions on democracy and internal criticism. For Unity it used to be Giuliani, then Bloomberg (de Blasio/Farina despite many of the same policies are our friends and thus above criticism), and now Janus as reasons to dull criticism.
We might as well cancel the 2019 UFT elections.
Perhaps the funniest line was this: Unity/UFT recognizes the value of honest dialogue and internal debate in determining the direction that our union takes on these most important matters.
Right. We've seen so much honest and internal debate in the UFT.
The blow back from the controversial Black Lives Matter Week resolution presented by MORE at the January Delegate Assembly and the consequent media coverage which embarrassed the leadership resulted in an outright attack on the MORE caucus and the public reports Arthur Goldstein issues at the NYC Educator blog.
Now as I will point out in some follow-up articles I even as a member of MORE am also critical of some aspects of how the BLM committee of MORE went about handing this.
One of the first questions to Mulgrew was clearly a Unity plant raising the same issue about sanctity of the Delegate Assembly -- shhhh -- well, how do you report to the members of your school what happened since you are elected by your school?
We know that outside reports that might be embarrassing to the leadership is what they are most concerned about and Arthur's reports followed by his analysis, must gall them. I always used to report on DAs in Ed Notes. But when the mainstream press picks stuff up it drives them nuts. That is what happened with the BLM reso.
Lindsey Christ from NY1 read it there and contacted the UFT to ask for comment, which they refused based on the sanctity of the DA. Linsdey, who I ran into at a press conference we were both covering, told me she laughed and told them it was all over the internet. A smart move would have been to actually go on the record with a response because I think they could have made the case that there are many areas of BLM they would support, but maybe not this specific resolution. Lindsey ended up interviewing me and Jia about Leroy's speech. (http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-
By the way - I will give Unity credit for their response to the MORE Family Leave demo by sending down Mel Aaronson and a crew with the UFT banner - especially since NY1 was once again covering. That is a direct outcome of their inept response on the BLM story.
But instead of admitting they could have handled things better, they go on the attack.
For more on the story, see my blog: https://tinyurl.com/y9vh4p7q
MORE response to Unity:
We Want a Union That Believes Black Lives Matter - https://morecaucusnyc.org/2018/02/02/we-want-a-union-that-believes-black-lives-matter/
DoeNuts is not too thrilled by either group:
(Pardon any typos here. Tapping this on a cell phone because I felt a reply could not wait)
ReplyDelete"and the consequent media coverage which embarrassed the leadership resulted in an outright attack on the MORE caucus"
Unity opposed a reso. A reso. MORE ran to the press and accused them of opposing an entire movement. I'm trying hard not to to use the term race baiting here. This is mainly bc many in MORE are young and may not fully understand what they're doing. But it is race baiting ("the unfair use of statements about race to try to influence the actions .. of a particular group") pure and simple and it has to be addressed by the adult voices within the MORE caucus.
Running to the press was also an action that was not blessed with a caucus vote so the caucus needs to address all of these claims to "democracy" that it has grown so used to making.
It was also not done by rank and filers but by well trained activists within our group. The caucus of the rank and file should, at some point, find an actual rank and file teacher. Don't you think, Norm? Don't you?
The one thing I agree with in that (red baiting) unity leaflet is what they in the uft have actually done and have actually worked on because Black Lives Matter. To say, in the face of that, that they do not care is proof of a type of callousness, a type of heartlessness that has no place in civil discussion.
I was one of 4 bloggers od the apocalypse in 2013. I worked hard on the contract analysis in 2014. In 2015, I was pleased to host our forum on school segregation. In 2017, I helped organize our last day of action, in support of immigrant rights. I'm one of the people who helped build this little caucus of yours and I have no problem helping to skewer it if it keeps acting like ... this. Zero.
Shame on MORE for these actions. Shame on MORE for taking a bold, beautiful act, and reducing it to a disguatingly untrue and unfair accusation of not caring or not working on what we all in more know needs working on.
Speaking only for myself, I consider myself a Socialist (of an unorthodox and contradictory type), but I'd be happy if I never heard the phrase "Social Justice" again in my life...
ReplyDeleteBLM are not about social justice. Many of its members are well intentioned, but BLM is really another front for the globalists. Older blacks know the con.
ReplyDelete