Ed Notes Online: UFT Contract Update Yin-Yang - Jan. 29 EONYC 7PM PEP Rally, UFT Rally Monday Outside Whitney Museum

Sunday, January 29, 2023

UFT Contract Update Yin-Yang - Jan. 29 EONYC 7PM PEP Rally, UFT Rally Monday Outside Whitney Museum - Reality Bites

The UFT Culminating January Contract Teach-in offensive takes place Monday with a rousing press conference outside the Whitney Museum at 11:30. (See press advisory below) with a preliminary pep rally sponsored by Educators of NYC, zooming tonight at 7. And you can still get on board: UFT CONTRACT TEACH-IN PEP RALLY

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29TH @ 7 PM
A ZOOM ONLINE FORUM EVENT CLICK HERE TO RSVP

There has been debates in the alternate non-Unity Caucus universe over this UFT initiative and I have an entire blog post just about ready to go diving deeper into it. Some have been supportive as the UFT leadership finally doing some basic organizing around the contract.

Others have been more skeptical, seeing the Teach-In as a show and tell event.

I'm somewhere in the middle, hearing from all sides. Unity crowd very excited, Oppos people not so much. But these are the activists on both sides. I offered the leadership some love last week: Fighting for a Fair Contract

Getting readings from the rank and file, the fact that so many people signed up for the UFT training is a sign of widespread interest.

And the interest in tonight's PEP rally has also been heavy with possibly 200 people expected, with an all-star panel of people representing all wings of United for Change - and as Nick Bacon has pointed out (Understanding the ‘Politics’ of the UFT’s Progressive Opposition), UFC is not monolithic, so expect the kind of debate you won't often hear at UFT events. UFT high level officials have been invited but as of this posting have not responded. But we may see a surprise stand-in presenting their side of things.

I'd like to see some history of previous contracts discussed: the 1995 voted down the first time, the major giveback 2005 contract, the 2014 and 2018 healthcare givebacks. Do you see a pattern here? I think there will be a discussion of whether a vote NO means a strike (which the leadership will try to tell people.).

The Agenda

Guest panelists include:

Ibeth Mejia - UFT Executive Board member. Chapter leader of Aviation High School. Affiliated with ICE UFT and Solidarity UFT caucus.

Melissa Williams - Chapter leader of Occupational and Physical Therapists. Affiliated with OTPTs for A Fair Contract, MORE UFT caucus

Olivia Swisher - Chapter leader of a Brooklyn middle school. Former Exec Board candidate for United for Change. Affiliated with MORE UFT Caucus.

Alex Jallot - UFT Executive Board member. Chapter leader of Aviation High School. Affiliated with MORE UFT caucus

Jame Eterno - Long time, retired chapter leader of Jamaica High School. Author of ICE UFT blog. Affiliated with ICE UFT.

Nick Bacon - UFT Executive Board member. Former Chapter leader of a Manhattan high school. Affiliated with New Action UFT caucus

Co-moderated by: Aixa Rodriguez, of MORE UFT, and Bronx Educators for Justice, and Daniel Alicea, a lead organizer for EONYC.

Here are some of the questions our panelists and participants will explore:

Ice-Breaker: What do you love about being part of our union and our contract?

What does a fair upcoming contract look like? What does an unfair contract look like?
There are items in any contract that require costing … are there some working conditions that we can demand for this upcoming contract that don't really cost the city anything? What are they?
What does saying “no” to an unfair contract mean? Does it mean we strike?
In our teach-ins, we will be sharing what actions we should take collectively. Do you believe we are prepared to take meaningful actions? Why or why not?
Some believe that the biggest obstacles for us taking meaningful actions are fear and apathy … How do we overcome fear and apathy in our union?

Wrap-up: In addition to our teach-ins tomorrow (1/30) ... What are some contract-related discussions that should also take place in our chapters and union circles that are impactful?

Click Here to RSVP

We will be also live streaming our event on our Facebook page and Facebook group.

Stay tuned for more edu news and union talk at The Wire: Powered by Educators of NYC

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TEACH-INS

STAY UPDATED @ THE WIRE

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The UFT Media Advisory for Monday:

Teachers in over 1,000 New York City public schools will lead labor “Teach-Ins” for fellow educators on Monday, Jan. 30.n -- UFT Media Advisory
Media Advisory - For Planning Purposes

UFT Members To Hold Contract "Teach-Ins" For NYC Educators Jan 30
Teachers in over 1,000 New York City public schools will lead labor “Teach-Ins” for fellow educators on Monday, Jan. 30.
Educators will use the “Teach-Ins” to brainstorm ways to fight for a fair contract for members of the United Federation of Teachers.
UFT members will meet before and after school, and during staff lunch periods, to discuss with their colleagues - no students - the impact of the contract on educators and the communities they serve.
Press is invited to a lunchtime rally led by staff from the Lower Manhattan Arts Academy
Time: 11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Location: Outside the Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014
Interviews with educators from every borough are also available.
The United Federation of Teachers' contract expired in September 2022. The union began bargaining with New York City and its Department of Education in October 2022.

OK, some people did pick on the location of the rally in a tony neighborhood as indicative of UFT leadership failing the optics exams. A few comments that make a point. But you know me and food. If I could make it to the Whitney on for UFT blue fillet and crumpets, I'd be there wearing a napkin.

The DISCONNECT

How do I get my parents and families on board… let’s tune into the press conference at some posh midtown Manhattan school

UFT is now officially the Marie Antoinette of the labor movement

Right outside of the Whitney

Holding a posh press conference at Whitney will definitely resonate with my school community
Very posh

Elite unionism

Maybe blue UFT crumpets will be served. Will they be serving blue filet mignon?

Why not hold that press conference surrounded by parents on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx?
we need a raise? After seeing the news clips at the Whitney?

We were told to sell this on grassroots level to our communities

Model for us

Hold it in an overcrowded 100 year old school

No comments:

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

http://blackagendareport.com/content/cory-booker-clear-and-present-threat-public-education

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

This chapter looks interesting:

Class struggles: The UFT story, part 3

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Of course for another view, check out the review at New Politics of the Kahlenberg Bio on Shanker by Vera Pavone and me: Albert Shanker: Ruthless Neocon

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:
http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/
I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You can sign up for this free series at :
http://act.bcfed.ca/online-campaigning-for-union-activists/

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

Ex-HSA Teacher has left a new comment on your post "Fear and Loathing at Evil's Harlem Success Empire ...":

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy Tyson
Professor of African American Studies and History
Duke University

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.
- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Full article with charts here.

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

More at Substance

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.
Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/12/on-growing-use-of-corporate-test.html

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

The US Is Facing a Weimar Moment

Published on Sunday, March 15, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

SEE MY VIDEO ON HARLEM SUCCESS RALLY 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp7rg_L5JI

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Ed Notes Extended

Sunday, January 29, 2023

UFT Contract Update Yin-Yang - Jan. 29 EONYC 7PM PEP Rally, UFT Rally Monday Outside Whitney Museum - Reality Bites

Guest panelists include:

H﻿ere are some of the questions our panelists and participants will explore:

No comments:

Here are some of the questions our panelists and participants will explore: