With the UFT election petition campaign coming to a close. I've gotten a good read on the potentials in this election from the petition campaign. I can actually predict some vote totals from certain schools based on the success of petitioning and the effectiveness in organizing in that school. In this and followups I will share what I can without stepping on too many toes. We are keeping a spreadsheet with numbers submitted and from where they came from. If I get my proposal for school level percentages of voting to be reported I can check the spreadsheet against those numbers and I bet I will be pretty accurate.) I also have been getting a lot of reports on the state of the attitudes in schools regarding the Unity leadership -- it seems more people have heard of the existence of Unity caucus than in the past.
This is the 6th petition campaign I have helped run - 04, 07, 10, 13, 16 and I've learned from my mistakes in each one. This time I think we ran a flawless campaign due to the support of the amazing crew from Retiree Advocate who have given up 3 Wednesdays plus another one today and this past Sunday to assist, plus the in school people led by Lydia from Solidarity (a wonderful partner0, Mike from MORE who worked as a liaison, the Eterno clan, and of course my main partner in crime Jonathan Halabi who I worked with so well in the 2016 election.
Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022
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| Rice Pudding at diner signing |
Why two days early? I live by the words: Shit happens. I can imagine going in on Friday and I get sick or in an accident. Unity runs unopposed, which I'm sure would make them happy.
Well, anyway, I survived an intense 4 weeks and a possible divorce over forgetting to get chocolates for Valentines Day --- my excuse of being preoccupied didn't work and it cost me a day of silent treatment and no dinner. But today I hope it is freedom day. We want to turn in at 2 and then hang out for late stragglers before the DA and then the petition store is closed. (I am still getting stuff in the mail but yesterday's mail is the last I'm turning in.)
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| Big turnout at Bryant Park |
There are about 400 people running with a few late comers coming on board. We started out aiming for 700 but handling that number seemed too much and I urged people to stop recruiting. About 130 are retirees and we could have had 300 due to the Medicare situation but I don't believe we should run so many retirees compared to working members. People could have signed up dozens in their schools but the strategy of having so many people from one school isn't all that effective. Theories abound that most opposition votes come from schools where there is an active and proficient organizer to get out the vote.
But petitions are an indicator of the effectiveness of the organizer and as the point person I have a good read on where votes will be coming from. Of course today we are handing over all that info to the UFT membership committee. Would it be beyond Unity to take a peek to see where our strengths lie? Some in the opposition argue that we should hand in the minimum as a strategic move but most of us feel that would be a betrayal of the process. So instead of handing in 900 officer petitions, we will hand over 3000. Late arrivals at the DA will be brought up to the office at 4:30.
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| Bobby, Bennett and me Sunday at 40th St | library after a full day of work |
Delegate
We will try to listen to the Assembly while waiting.
Gotta get ready to catch the ferry dragging my suitcases. I will be back tomorrow with some petitions stories that might be early election indicators.
Shout-out to all of you involved in accomplishing this very important task!
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