Christina Vs The Unity Caucus Machine - At May 23 UFT Ex Bd

See Nick Bacon Ex Bd minutes: 

New Action – UFT

What does ‘Unity’ look like?

Two false allegations were presented against Christina as formal

election complaints to the UFT Executive Board.

“UFC (United for Change) used a UFT email group to engage in campaign activity. FALSE - This is not a UFT email group but a group created by Christina herself.

On March 25th, District 7 Representative William (Bill) Woodruff verbally assaulted Christina at a location called Bar 47, which was open to the general public and 75 UFT members were also present. Several other members of Unity caucus also screamed at Christina and called her names, because she was offering UFC fliers to members present. There is an audio of the exchanges.

Christina Gavin has asked for time tonight to reply to the false charges. I spoke at the last Ex bd meeting and touched on some of these issues but was surprised to hear her name brought up without offering her an opportunity to be there to respond. Exec Bd meetings are supposed to be open to all UFT members and even if meetings are on zoom the link should be available to all.

Monday, May 23, 2022

People ask me why at my age I continue to be involved in UFT events. While the goal of chopping into Unity Caucus control of the UFT is always present, as important to me is meeting people like Christina Gavin, who I never would come in contact under ordinary circumstances.

Christina has been one of the lights of this year's UFT election campaign. She is gutsy and fearless and a quick study (she didn't get involved on the election until mid-February as petitions were winding up). 

I hear a lot of people talk about militancy - often they are keyboard militants. Christina is truly militant in action. If more oppo people were like her, we'd be ahead of the game.

Along the way she began to compile complaints about how UFT employees were misusing their time to campaign. In Unity circles this is a no-no and requires retaliation. So they went after Christina in the most nefarious ways.

Before we get into the details of her particular dispute with UFT district rep Bill Woodruff, I think the most outrageous actions against Christina were attempts tby union officials to retaliate for her calling out UFT employees who are being paid by OUR dues by claiming she was doing the same on DOE time. That's not the purview of a union that supposedly represents her.

A most egregious phone call was made to her one Friday afternoon (on school time) by Leroy Barr and UFT lawyer Beth Norton - of course she couldn't talk to them - she was working. But she called them back after school and was shocked to find herself being questioned about what she does during the school day. Like "when is your lunch hour?" NOT THEIR BUSINESS! At times Beth Norton has screamed at 

Christina who can be like a gnat. And a bulldozer. I love gnats and bulldozers who challenge the power structure of the UFT. (I observed at the vote count - don't think Unity operatives aren't buzzing around to try to wean her away from the oppo as they have with others - they do recognize talent and threats.)

But as you will see below, the retaliation escalated when Christina dared cross the threshold of a barely disguised Bronx District 7 Unity election event billed as a social party. Yeah, this had nothing to do with the election. 

Let me say right here how proud I am she had no qualms about going there and counter lobbying for United for Change in the midst of a hostile environment that soon turned toxic with Bill Woodruff screaming at her. 

Where have we seen UFT  guys vilifying a black woman before?

• New Action – UFT Unpacking the February DA - The February DA was a farce, but not for the reasons our leadership would have you think. United for change has a problem: we haven’t been called on durin... 

And

• ICEUFT Blog UNITY ATTACKING CAMILLE'S UNION RESUME AS THIN SHOWS THEY CAN'T EVEN DO OPPOSITION RESEARCH HONESTLY -

Let's get to the details regarding the retaliatory complainst filed against Christina.

Two false allegations were presented against Christina as formal election complaints to the UFT Executive Board as reported by Dan Leviatin, who was present at the incident with Woodruff.

On April 11th, Mr. LeRoy Barr, the UFT Secretary, read the following statement:

“UFC (United for Change) used a UFT email group to engage in campaign activity. Ms. (Amy) Mathis has provided evidence that Christina Gavin used a UFT Google Group, UFT Librarians, to seek assistance with campaign activities, specifically Ms. Gavin sought referrals for inexpensive copying for UFC fliers. The use of this group is an improper use of union resources, namely an email distribution list, and, therefore, the allegation should be upheld, and Ms. Gavin should be instructed to cease and desist this activity.”

The Google Group in question is the one that Christina created in September 2020 and which she has maintained since then. It is not a union resource; it does not belong to the union; no union employees have access to the Google Group.

     

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On March 25th, District 7 Representative William (Bill) Woodruff verbally assaulted Christina at a location called Bar 47, which was open to the general public and 75 UFT members were also present. Several other members of Unity caucus also screamed at Christina and called her names, because she was offering UFC fliers to members present.

Following their reprehensible behavior, Mr. Woodruff gave a “sincere” apology to Christina, which lasted 57 minutes & which she recorded, eventually with both his knowledge and consent.

• Two days later - March 27th, Mr. Woodruff filed an entirely false complaint against Christina, contradicting everything that he had said in his recorded apology.

• One day after that - March 28th, Christina filed a truthful report of Mr. Woodruff’s bad behavior and election complaints related to distribution of campaign literature.
  
  
• Three days later - March 31st, Ms. Lopez, one of the Unity caucus members who had been yelling at Christina and calling her names in front of other union members & members of the general public, filed yet another wholly false complaint against Christina.

Christina was never apprised of any of the allegations against her and was not invited to attend the May 9th Executive Board meeting where the complaint was addressed.

On May 9th at that Ex Bd meeting, Mr. Barr read the attached report accusing Christina of behaving in an “aggressive and harassing manner.” I was there and can attest that this is untrue.

Mr. Woodruff also said as much repeatedly:

http://bit.ly/inappropriatebillwoodruffreadalong

http://bit.ly/innapropriatebillwoodruffaudio

^ These are the same audio; one contains a read-along transcript

 See Nick Bacon's report of the Ex bd meeting:

New Action – UFT

UFT Executive Board Minutes 5-9-2022: Election Complaints, PERB, and APPR