Ed Notes Online: July 6 - UFT Contract Vote Count in the Catacombs and Retiree Court case rally at Thomas Paine Park

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

July 6 - UFT Contract Vote Count in the Catacombs and Retiree Court case rally at Thomas Paine Park

Join me at the UFT contract vote count Thursday -

Rushed UFT Contract Ratification Process Leads to Integrity Questions

Join www.nycretirees.org for help make a donation and subscribe to their newsletter

July 5

Tomorrow, July 6, two events are taking place related to the UFT.

Resisting Mulgrewcare: Party time outside the retiree law suit

The deadline for opting out of the Medicare Advantage Plan was extended to July 10 - let's see if the judge has anything to say about that, given that some doctors are not even aware of it and people don't have the info they need. My immediate sense is there are a hell of a lot of people willing to waive their benefits - in some cases ten grand - to stay in Medicare -- the city benefits by not havign to pay -- I'm not letting them get away with that so I will not be opting out.

Thomas Paine Park is an appropriate spot for meeting up in an era of UFT/Unity leadership of increasing suppression of democracy in the face of attacks on critical voices.

So 90 degrees won't stop us boomers - actually, I'm a pre-boomer, having breathed the same air as FDR for the first month of my life. I will also be going to.....

The UFT contract vote is also tomorrow and members have a right to observe -- I'm intending to go if I can find out where it is - I have attended contract vote counts as an observer a number of times in the past.

Do I expect the increasingly oppressive UFT leadership to toss obstacles in the way? I do. They see information as an enemy, to be attacked and they engage in the Trump tactic of shouting "fake" news.

The likely suspected places to observe are either at the American Arbitration Association at 120 Broadway, the UFT at 52 or some arbitrary subway catacombs.

We pretty much expect the contract to pass but by how much is the issue.

And what about the snafus pointed out here:

Rushed UFT Contract Ratification Process Leads to Integrity Questions

Mistakes were made, never by the UFT leadership but by some gremlin. Maybe Chat AI. Did some packages mailed by schools get to the AAA or get lost? I'd like to see a list of schools that were returned and those that were not?

Here is the letter sent by the 7 UFC Ex Bd members on June 27 - with as far as I know, no reply:

June 27, 2023

From: Ronnie Almonte batresalmonte@gmail.com Nick Bacon, bacon.nick.a@gmail.com
Ed Calamia gonzojour2002@aol.com
Alex Jallot alexjallot@gmail.com

Ibeth Mejia i.rosiomejia@gmail.com
Ilona Clara Nanay icnanay@gmail.com
Luli Rodriguez rodriguez.luli1@gmail.com

High School Representatives to the United Federation of Teachers Executive Board To: Hiro Kawahara

AAA Director of Elections, 120 Broadway 21st Fl, New York, NY, 10271 AAAelectionsdirector@adr.org

Cc: Ken Egger, AAA National Vice President of Elections, eggerk@adr.org
Michael Mulgrew, President, United Federation of Teachers mmulgrew@uft.org
Melinda Person, New York State United Teachers President, melinda.person@nysut.org Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers President, rweingarten@aft.org

You are no doubt aware of the challenges in the UFT contract ratification process regarding delays in ballots arriving at schools and challenges with return mailing labels for ballot packets.

Many chapters did not receive ballots until Thursday or Friday June 22nd or 23rd, resulting in rushed balloting on the last two days of school on the 26th and 27th and potentially affecting turnout.

Even more worrisome, the mailing labels sent out for the return of ballots from schools had to be corrected and re-sent three times, in successive emails on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 21st-23rd. The last email informed chapter leaders that some post office personnel were not accepting the new return labels and they instead had to be sent via a self-service kiosk (which is not available at all post office locations). We have received reports that this has resulted in difficulty in chapter leaders returning their ballot packets, and may have resulted in some packets not being received at all by AAA.

The integrity of the contract ratification process is of utmost importance to our members as it will determine the working conditions in schools and learning conditions for a million New York City school children for the next four years.

We would like to request that the AAA record and publish the number of ballots returned from each school chapter in each category (teacher, paraprofessional, secretary, guidance counselor, lab specialist). This would allow chapter leaders who mailed their ballots with the faulty labels to determine if their ballots actually arrived at the count, allowing the union to understand the scope and scale of the lost vote.

We hope that the actual impact on the vote of these problems will be minimal, but transparent and public accountability will be key in retaining the trust and confidence of our members in this process.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. Please feel free to contact us at the email addresses listed above.

Sincerely
Ronnie Almonte, Nick Bacon, Ed Calamia, Alex Jallot, Ibeth Mejia, Ilona Nanay, Luli Rodriguez

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: I’m not 65 yet but all my friends are well into that age bracket and all of them don’t have a clue what to due concerning this. Several of them have serious health issues and I can’t advise them either - as I’m clueless as well. Why isn’t there meetings and information classes from the UFT and the city? The whole thing stinks to high heaven.; Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 6:58:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Don’t expect honesty from uft. You should be on retiree advocate listserve for loads C of info along with your friends. Email norm.; Wednesday, July 5, 2023 at 10:16:00 PM EDT
R. Shark said...: Oh you people are such whiners! So people couldn't mail in their ballots. So there is no transparency and less honesty.
Those are the reasons that KN 95 masks exist. Ask for one at your local police station.

Seriously, this proves that we must organize across all lines - in service, retirees, teachers, paras, secretaries, maintenance, cafeteria workers. Start talking to everyone about how to change things at your school and across the city.
R. Shark; Thursday, July 6, 2023 at 10:05:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: Have you called your doctor to ask if they accept the new plan … I’ve called many and all are accepting the plan ….if the plan turns out to be as bad as some predict it will surely be the end of unity; Thursday, July 6, 2023 at 3:34:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Or your life; Sunday, July 9, 2023 at 10:27:00 PM EDT
ed notes online said...: Marianne - Item added to beginning of post.; Monday, July 10, 2023 at 8:05:00 AM EDT

"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

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

July 6 - UFT Contract Vote Count in the Catacombs and Retiree Court case rally at Thomas Paine Park

6 comments: