The Cheat Goes On - UFT Democracy/Election Outrages - D 75 Teachers Classified as Functional and buried by retiree vote

1. The UFT has not established bylaws, in violation of the LMRDA:
   
   The federal regulations set forth in Title II (29 U.S.C. 431) Section 201. (a) of the LMRDA state, “Every labor organization shall adopt a constitution and bylaws and shall file a copy thereof with the Secretary [of the U. S. Department of Labor] ...” According to the U. S. Department of Labor, the UFT does not have any bylaws filed, violating federal labor law in this way.
   
   According to an e-mail sent by UFT Secretary/UFT Staff Director/Unity caucus candidate LeRoy Barr to a UFC candidate on March 7, “There is no similar election guide for officer elections. Officers elections are referenced in the constitution, chapter leader elections are not. The [2015 Chapter Election Guide and By-Laws] bylaws clarify the chapter leader elections.”....

By all accounts, the UFT is in violation of the provisions regulating establishing and filing bylaws as set forth in the LMRDA..... Election Violations by Unity/UFT -

There are 19 functional Ex Bd seats up for grabs in UFT elections  and the retiree functional chapter overwhelms the division and guarantees Unity will win them.

 

Where does the rule live that decides a that an elementary D75 teacher is not elementary school but rather functional? The same for middle and high school teachers? D75 functional was decided many years ago, probably by exec bd. But let's dig down and find out and make the case for changes. Use our winning Ex Bd people to force Unity to justify this decision.

And guess what? Go find the illusive bylaws for the UFT.  The ruling is not codified in any bylaws. And it’s supposed to be. Thus there is a case for moving the D 75 people into one of the teaching divisions.

United for Change raised this issue in the 70 page complaint submitted to the UFT on June 6. (UFT Elections 2022: United for Change Files 71 pages of Election Violations by Unity/UFT - Select Morsels).

 

In retrospect we should have emphasized this point in greater detail.

Key takeaway: 

D 75 teachers don't get to vote in the actual divisions where they teach - the divisions where retirees don't get to vote. Thus, their votes are almost irrelevant when buried in the functional division because they -and other functional units get buried by the overwhelming retiree vote.

So let's think about the numbers in the recent election and if D 75 teacher votes were counted in the divisions. Were there enough for United for Change to win the middle schools and get closer in the elementary schools? I can't say but United for Change has a lot of people.

We were affected by this rule in that at the last minute, we had to pull one of our key elementary school EB candidates who was D. 75 and move him to functional EB where we didn't have a chance. We also almost lost our Elem VP officer who was also D 75 but one on appeal on a technicality.

 

So, as we were preparing our complaint -- we began to ask ourselves WHY? Where did this decision to make D 75 functional and not divisional, a clear advantage to Unity, get made?

When the oppo was buried when Unity got 85% of the vote it didn't seem to make sense to bring all this up. But once they slipped into the 60s and the oppo reached a third, the potential to actually win seats in not retiree divisions becomes possible. It D 75 was moved to divisions

 

After note:

Much thanks to Christina Gavin for waking us all up to the shady processes that we have taken for granted for decades -- it takes a new set of eyes. During the election, Christina argued hard for UFC to play more attention to D. 75 but some of us argued that since they were functional and buried by the retiree vote, it would not be a fruitful use of time -- but she raised our attention to the D 75 issue. She went against the grain of the experienced people and was right on many issues. I wanted to be on the UFT election committee to be more aggressive and not play the "we are all pals" game. I could have been tougher. Christina pushed we old experienced hands. I wish she was around from the very beginning of the election process - we could have raised many issues back in the fall before the election even began. She woke many of us up.

 

Upcoming: Delving into other issues of how Unity cheats -- why are all functional chapters buried in the same division as retirees? They should be separated out into their own division as their overwhelming vote makes the 19 functional Ex Bd seats impossible for the oppo to win.