Is UFT a union or management? Media sides with OT/PT NO voters, Upcoming Repercussions, OT/PT Chapter Leader Resigns as do some Ex Bd members

Reporters are either members of a union or want to be members of a union and the younger ones especially are more sympathetic to labor and less to management and the astute ones who have covered this and the healthcare issue see through the UFT/Unity haze of "pretend" unionism when they function as management.

“I blame (Michael) Mulgrew for flat out saying there would be no return to negotiations, then mentioning the possibility of a “revote” encouraging the email campaign, refusing to work with our chapter leadership and negotiating committee on getting a better contract, and then using the emails that he helped to whip up to justify a do-over,” Loebel wrote. Both Loebel and Greenberg predict a “yes” vote on the contract because some may now feel a sense of hopelessness about their demands being unmet and dismissed by Mulgrew and the city. Loebel said there might also be a low turnout from those who already voted to reject the contract because many are still be on summer vacation.....AMNY

• Despite its storied history, UFT has now solidified its current form as little more than a corporate HR department... Chad Hamilton, CH LDr and recently resigned from Unity Caucus
• SO in other words, the beatings will continue till you do what Mulgrew wants. I say Decertify from the UFT and join NYSNA. Mulgrew has shown time and again he is NOT a leader... Marianne Pizzitola

 Both comments above left on New Action blog:

Mulgrew Overturns OT/PT ‘No’ Vote – Revote Scheduled This Month

Main takeaways below: The press turns against UFT leadership, UFT is more management than a union

 

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UFT Members to Revote on Contract They Rejected After ‘Undemocratic’ Mulgrew Split a Chapter

Physical and occupational therapists are now on their own in seeking a better bargaining agreement, over their union president’s objections.

By Claudia Irizarry Aponte  cirizarry@thecity.nyc

  Aug 8, 2023

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The United Federation of Teachers is holding a revote this month on a contract for mostly occupational and physical therapists — and splitting the bargaining unit to push through a deal that they already voted down.--Daily News

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The union’s plans for a revote were met with swift backlash from chapter leadership. No other unit is being directed to vote again. “I am resigning from the chapter leader position,” Chapter Leader Melissa Williams told The News. “I refuse to give one more minute of my time to an organization that would run a revote on a contract where two-thirds of therapists voted no.” “I believe in democracy and labor unionism,” she added. “This is neither.”....DN,

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

 

Repercussions? For every subsequent vote on contracts and elections, the losing side will gather hundreds of people to lodge complaints and use this as precedent. Watch next year's chapter elections, especially in the functional chapters. When Unity loses they will find any excuse to call for a revote, while non-Unity complaints will be ignored.

 

Today I'm meeting some of my Retiree Advocate colleagues not far from the UFT to enter the names of the thousands of UFT members who have returned our petition calling for a member vote before healthcare changes are made to any contract. They have been coming in my trains, planes, automobiles and carrier pigeons.

“I’ve never had a chapter with this many people who are adamantly against the decision of their executive board,” Mulgrew comment on the millions of OT/PT who want a revote on the contract.

Really? Mulgrew claims he is holding a revote on a rejected contract because he heard from a whole load of OT/PTs who where part of the minority 40% who voted YES. And he is even listening to the people who forgot to vote (they were either busy doing their hair or may not have even received a ballot). He is not listening to the 1k people who voted NO and are calling for a renegotiation. Do you think he will do the same to the, at this point, 10K UFT members who signed our petition? When we hit 20k and demand he follow the constitution and hold a referendum, watch Mulgrew turn a deaf ear. Or challenge the process. (If you haven't signed yet help us get to 20k which will be fun as we watch them scramble to challenge every signature - https://hcpetition.educators.nyc/).

 

So, Wow. Sympathetic media articles to OT/PT voices in The City, Chalkbeat, the Daily News and who knows where else this revote story goes? (We will do our best to spread the word). I loved this headline from Claudia Irizarry Aponte in The City last week:

School Therapists Want a Better Contract Deal. The UFT Wants Them to Give Up.

Union president Michael Mulgrew is pressing occupational and physical therapists to vote again on a deal they rejected — while some members demand new negotiations with City Hall instead.

Surrender is the operating word in UFT/Unityland.

 

Mulgrew promised this vote will be the final one because he knows he has so soiled the process and split the chapter (a tactic of management - as I point out below), a yes vote is assured, especially given the disgust by the over 60% original NO voters, some of whom will boycott the revote because they feel the very act of voting again is legitimizing the process.

 

Melissa Williams' resignation as CL may look like a Unity win - on the surface. But long-term this is a big loss for the UFT/Unity leadership. While they remove a thorn in their side and are set to recapture control of the OT/PT functional chapter, or what will be left of it, the long-term repercussions will not do Unity any good. I hear whispers of leaving the union or calls for disaffiliation from the UFT and reaching out to other unions - like the Teamsters, which also had its now defeated leadership over turn a NO contract vote and end up being replaced by a more militant leadership that gained 95% membership willingness to strike which led to an historic contract. Mulgrew and Unity mocked those who even mentioned a strike and "won" the pattern, which is a loss.

 

Claudia Irizarry Aponte has been the best reporter on the issue (Last week in The City and Chalkbeat: School therapists want a better contract deal. The UFT wants them to give up). From her current article in The City, published yesterday:

...two other therapist chapter executive board members, Loretta Conroy and Beth Salzman, told THE CITY they intend to resign from their leadership positions.

Williams added, referring to a law that bars public employees from going on strike, that “instead of inoculating us against fear of a prolonged fight and congratulating us about exercising the only leverage we have under the Taylor Law, a NO vote, the wheels of an unprecedented revote were already set in motion.” 

Salzman and Conroy, who said they plan to submit their resignations imminently, were skeptical of Mulgrew’s pledge to honor the results of the chapter’s do-over election, no matter what they are.

“If he’s going to honor the revote, no matter what they are, why wouldn’t he honor the original vote?” Salzman said. “He’s basically telling everybody who originally voted ‘Well, sorry, we don’t trust that you made the right decision the first time and you’re gonna have to do it again." Conroy said she is “resigning in complete disgust.”

UFT/Unity hates media exposure of their bullshit. Just Looka the headline in mainstream media Daily News - with prominent quotes from oppo voices. "UNDEMOCRATIC, HEAVY-HANDED."

 

Recent articles are loaded with comments from those who opposed the contract, with nary a hint of PR from the UFT. Reporters are paying attention. It looks like reporters are members of unions too and can spot the bullshit. And for a rare time, highlighting the POV of the workers, not the management of the UFT -- and make no mistake -- UFT management barely functions as a union.

 

There are a lot of lessons in this story and I ruminated on the background on Friday:

• Dissecting UFT/UNITY's Dirty War Against Therapists and their chapter leader- Machinations re: OT/PT Contract Rejection have deeper implications

Today's lesson: UFT/Unity leadership functions like management, not a union.

 

I was struck by this segment from Sam Seder Majority Report on Monday on how management gets to manipulate events regarding unions to stop picketing. Or to make things look like they are negotiating when they really aren't. It starts at 1:50:00 and listen until 2:04:50 for a great discussion on union and management.

 

Mangement wants to sow dissension -

In every labor dispute, management tries to create splits between union members. He points to unions needing to fight off attempts to split them and staying united.

 

So what has the UFT leadership done? It created a split in the one functional chapter that resisted, further cementing its standing as "management with a faux labor veneer."

And so much management behavior seemed so UFT/Unity. Sam shows hotel workers on strike being beaten by security guards. Does that remind you of the Tom Murphy screaming at us for holding up a small sign at an RTC meeting and calling for security who tried to push an 80-year old out of the hall?

• Retired Teacher Chapter Leader Tom Murphy Calls for Decorum - After screaming at people for posting signs in back of UFT meeting hall and calling security

One guy points out they are trying to turn their work into gig work. View the UFT/Management addition of the 9th "optional" period for OT/PT despite the negotiating committee telling them in advance this was not acceptable as an opening to future gig work. 

 

One of Sam's lessons is that leaks always come from management and reporters often don't want to offend management because they want to keep access. And he points out that an article on labor issues that doesn't present the labor side is clearly leaning to management. I know from some reporters, that UFT media people have threatened some of them with loss of access if they give critical voices in the UFT too much press. So kudos to the reporters who are listening to the voices of the OT/PTs and kudos to Melissa for her ability to get their ears and to get them to listen to her and others.

As I said earlier: Reporters are either members of a union or want to be members of a union and the younger ones especially are more sympathetic to labor and less to management and the astute ones who have covered this and the healthcare issue see through the UFT/Unity haze of "pretend" unionism when they function as management.

https://www.youtube.com/live/Ot8YgHaAKmA?feature=share&t=6616

 

 Previous articles:

• Dissecting UFT/UNITY's Dirty War Against Therapist...
• NO to Promised Healthcare is Not Enough – Retired ..
• 
  
• New Action – UFT
• Mulgrew Overturns OT/PT ‘No’ Vote – Revote Scheduled This Month -

 Below the break is the Daily News article.

NYC teachers union demand for therapists’ revote on contract blasted as undemocratic, heavy-handed By Cayla Bamberger New York Daily News, Published: Aug 07, 2023 at 6:38 pm The city teachers union is directing a chapter of school therapists that rejected a tentative agreement with the city to take a re-vote — a move seen by some members as anti-democratic and that has prompted the resignation of a key union leader. “Our chapter had clearly voted against the contract,” said Mimi Greenberg, an occupational therapist on the contract negotiation committee. “This decision is in sharp contrast to democracy and the power of the union.” Rather than go back to the negotiating table, the United Federation of Teachers split occupational and physical therapists from their bargaining unit, which had included other professional groupings — including nurses and audiologists — that approved the deal. More than two-thirds of those who cast ballots — 1,074 employees — voted against the contract, according to an official tally by the American Arbitration Association. The therapists were the only chapter to strike down the agreement, with many citing pay concerns. The union’s plans for a re-vote were met with swift backlash from chapter leadership. No other unit is being directed to vote again. “I am resigning from the chapter leader position,” Chapter Leader Melissa Williams told The News. “I refuse to give one more minute of my time to an organization that would run a revote on a contract where two-thirds of therapists voted no.” Williams had two days off as an occupational therapist to lead the 2,963-member chapter, and managed a “very full” caseload the other three days of a week at an Upper Manhattan elementary school. “I believe in democracy and labor unionism,” she added. “This is neither.” The vote to reject the contract was the second time in a row that therapists turned down the first offer from the city. In 2018, union reps went back into negotiations with city labor officials — a step that many therapists who voted no expected to happen again. A statement from the union suggested that this time some members had called for the chance to cast another ballot. “In the past several weeks, there has been an outpouring of opinion from your chapter concerning the idea of a revote,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told members. “We weighed all sides of the arguments and took everything into consideration.” “The situation has changed significantly. We now feel strongly about having a revote only for your chapter,” read the memo on late Friday afternoon. All UFT-represented employees are expected to receive annual raises growing to a 3.5% boost in 2026, yearly retention perks, and a $3,000 one-time ratification bonus. Therapists also receive a uniform allowance of several hundred dollars. By the end of the contract, a therapist with a master’s degree and a decade of experience would max out at a $94,804 annual salary, or approximately $20,000 less per year than a teacher with the same educational attainment and longevity, according to an analysis of salary schedules. An internal survey by the UFT chapter showed more than two-thirds of members currently have a “side-gig,” including part-time jobs and contract work, to supplement their work as full-time school therapists. Therapists were told they could voluntarily work an extra session at 12.5% of their daily rate to earn more money. But the proposal is largely unpopular as it would entail working longer hours, only to make less than similarly educated teachers. Critics of the deal also argue that therapists’ necessary degrees and certifications make for some of the biggest student loan burdens in the city’s public school system. The re-vote is taking place by mail this month, sparking concern that travel plans may lead to lower turnout than the initial round of ballots. The UFT memo says that they “recognize that some members may be away for the summer vacation,” and encouraged them to provide alternative addresses to an election coordinator. But as new ballots were being prepared, some members insisted their “no” votes still meant no. “We already told the union and the city that we do not accept the contract that they offered us by voting it down,” said a physical therapist in the South Bronx, who asked for anonymity fearing workplace retaliation. ”Now that we know that the union is siding with the employer, who will side with me if the DOE retaliates against me?” she said. The therapist alleged that the union used “scare tactics” through emails and Zoom meetings to compel members to vote differently, including threats of arbitration that could cost therapists what the city has offered so far. “The city wants us to give quality services with a shoestring budget and with overworked therapists” she said. Ballots are expected to be mailed Tuesday and counted on August 30, according to the UFT.