Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? What was right and wrong with the UFC Coalition

Can Humpty Dumpty be put back together again? I say NO and let's start all over. We can't be hamstrung by having to wait for every caucus to approve every move. Let's move beyond caucuses and have key people from every interested party get together outside the caucus structure and move ahead. I am in the minority on this point within the oppo movement in NYC.

Wednesday, June 26

Already speculation has begun about next year's general UFT election where for the first time in it's over 60-year hegemony, Unity Caucus control of the UFT may be threatened.There is speculation that many Unity people, especially those with jobs, wouldn't mind seeing Mulgrew, who has become a millstone for them, decide to retire. (hose speculating he might replace Randi as AFT pres one day are barking up the wrong tree - he never had a shot. NYSUT president Melinda Person is Randi's replacement. Mulgrew is in the same position as Biden, where many Dems wish he didn't run. If Mulgrew does run and Unity loses, can the tar and feather be far behind?  

Who might Unity slide into Mulgrew's place and would it make a big difference? Randi, who seems to be popping up around her lately, may see her own control of the AFT threatened by a Unity loss, is probably involved in some ways. I hear names like Mary Vocarro and Elem VP Karen Alford. Losing Mulgrew might just distract enough people to give Unity the win.

But to me no matter what they do, Unity does not seem to inspire the loyalty it once did. Expect the Tier 6 issue, with 55% of current teachers, to resonate no matter how Unity tries to say they woke up after 10 years and allowing Tier 6 to pass without opposition. Endorsing the architect of Tier 6, Micah Lasher, won't help - but only if the oppo makes this an effective campaign item. It is not just Mulgrew but Unity Caucus that helped give us Tier 6. 

 

Jonathan applied the recent RA win numbers to the 2022 general election and we would have gotten 51% with those numbers. Retired Teacher election… What if? But as Jonathan has pointed out the retiree voting pattern in a general and chapter election is not the same, so for next year's election I wouldn't necessarily assume 63% of retirees would vote against Unity.

So the buzz is on about next year. RA people will be busy running the 70k chapter and there's a lot to do - like improving the food at RTC meetings and organizing our 300 delegates, which considering we recruited every former activist from the past, some of us who often disagreed, will be like herding cats. But oh so much fun.

Organizing a campaign against Unity will be like herding herds of cats. The excitement of the United for Change Coalition where 7 or 8 groups came together in Sept. of 2021, faded pretty quickly after the election. The big win was the 7 high school candidates which echoed the same win in 2016 with about 300 more votes, but still weak considering in the old days opposition in hs often topped 3k. But that was the only area of improvement. Every other division was stagnant from 2016 - except retirees hit 30%. While some celebrated the closing of the gap due to erosion of Unity votes, there was little sign of making a dent in getting active UFT members to vote for UFC. I of course was the Debbie Downer because so many of the newer recruits wanted to see the positive side.

Soon after the election, calls for UFC to meet fell on some deaf ears, especially MORE. Since UFC was founded on the sense of consensus of all groups even one major missing element threw a monkey wrench. But the HS group did meet regularly and worked together - for the first year. This past year things sort of fell apart with differences, some of which I can't make heads or tails about.

The problem with UFC was that each segment had veto power and for every decision, people said they had to go back to their caucus. Not much fun watching paint dry. 

Can Humpty Dumpty be put back together again? 

I say NO and let's start all over. We can't be hamstrung by having to wait for every caucus to approve every move. Let's move beyond caucuses and have key people from every interested party get together outside the caucus structure and move ahead. I echo the statement published today on the ICE blog: 

• ICE Calls For a Unified Effort to Replace Unity Caucus and Bring our Union into the Modern Age

Here's my problem with the process of creation of UFC. It was done in darkness with select reps from invited caucuses and some individuals who met for 6 months in dark corners of zoom to put the platform and slate together. UFTers beyond this inner circle were left out of the process and there was a lot of caution. Frankly, I feel many of the leading oppo voices who often go through analytical angst over the state of the membership actually tail the underlying militancy that exists in many schools.

Caucuses tend to move through their own process in whatever democratic manner, with a steering committee and or executive board that must meet to decide important issues and then possibly go through a general meeting or membership vote before moving ahead.

This time the process must be more open and inclusive and less caucus controlled. 

There have been some big changes in the original UFC. 

James Eterno's death has hampered ICE and made the key communication agent, the blog, severely restricted. ICE is not a caucus and hasn't been one since it merged to form MORE in 2011. ICE has and continues to be open to all from any caucus and individuals connected to ICE are some of the major players in the opposition. ICE makes decisions by floating items on the listserve and seeking comments and modifications.

ICE members have and will support any moves toward a unified opposition but if there is fragmentation, ICE will meet and rethink its support.

With all this I am extremely proud of the work ICE has done over 20 years, whether as a caucus or not. We held 4 meetings in person this past year and all were invigorating. ICE must continue to function at any level it can and I expect many of its associates to be involved andl have input in next year's election.

Solidarity with Lydia gone has lost its great advocate and has not been very active, though there are some individuals who are in touch and we hope they will be part of a campaign.

That leaves New Action and MORE as the fairly active groups, along with of course Retiree Advocate, where I am part of the organizing committee that has proven to be so successful.

So fundamentally, there are major changes in what was UFC.

If the leading voices in the traditional opposition were to start, where exactly do they start working on organizing for the election? I have no easy answers - other than some people need to take the bull by the horn and JUST DO IT!

I am advocating for the key voices from the various groups to start talking outside their own caucus structure to reduce a formal caucus role but hopefully with the support of their caucus in the interest of winning.

While I was part of the process in creating UFC, I was uncomfortable with the slow pace. And the fact that there are loads of people out there who want change in the union but are not included in the process. We found out in the RA election that in recruiting 300 people to run and getting them involved we were a much bigger force. 

Of course RA is a caucus and the organizing committee did a great job. So am I talking out of two sides of my mouth?  Well, we had one major issue facing us - healthcare -  and we had to move fast and build alliances and most importantly, we were the only oppo game in retiree town and didn't have to build coalitions with internal competing groups but only with individuals and we certainly did with our 300 candidates.

Let's use that model as an example. We can run 750-800 people in the election next year. Let's reach out and get some more voices involved in organizing for the election and not stay behind closed doors until January petition craziness when it is already getting too late.

Peter Lamphere has some thoughts on next year on the MORE blog:

By Peter Allen-Lamphere

The electoral sweep by opposition forces in the paraprofessional and retiree chapters are nothing less than an electoral earthquake in UFT politics. By winning close to 2/3rds of the votes in these former bastions of Mulgrew’s UNITY caucus, the union activists in Fix Para Pay and Retiree Advocate slates have proven that it’s possible to electorally defeat UNITY’s 60 year control of the UFT. 

If the 2022 United for Change slate had received the same margin amongst retirees as in this years chapter election, we would have won by 51%

The retiree activists also have provided some new innovative and inspirational tactics and strategies we need to apply to our general union elections next year.

 Read if at What could a grassroots UFT election campaign look like?

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Afterburn

This post will piss off some of my oppo colleagues but I will be in the hospital early tomorrow morning for a hopeful operation on my pancreas so I'm posting and running. You might not be hearing from me for a while so enjoy the best day of the year - the last day of school.

 

Mulgrew Offers Tepid "I Give" on Medicare Advantage, Bennett, Marianne and Arthur response

I disagree with President Mulgrew's analysis. UFT retirees are neither fearful nor anxious. We are clear-eyed and steadfast in our opposition to the privatization of our public Medicare benefits. We are not the panicked old fogies that President Mulgrew pictures us to be....Bennett Fischer, newly elected CL of the RTC/UFT responding (full text below) to Mulgrew's withdrawing support for Medicare Advantage

Dear Norm,
I cannot believe the letter I got from Michael Mulgrew.  He is trying to put forward that only the City and the Mayor were pushing this plan.  After everything, he still thinks we are stupid sheeple.  What a lack of respect.  It would be funny if we didn’t know about the Herculean struggle the retirees waged to save their healthcare.  How does he have the chutzpah to say these things.  I cannot believe it.  It makes Unity’s credibility even weaker.  They really do think the membership is brainless.  It is such an insult. 

Susan Steinmann, UFT retiree

Monday, June 24, 2024

I'm getting ready to leave for a Retiree Advocate retreat today to try to make sense of what just happened. People are reaching out from all over and there is lots of talk about what it would take to defeat Unity in next year's election. But RA is going to focus on how best to run the 70k chapter, with or without help from the official union. We have lots to talk about.

There is more than a bit of sweet irony in Bennett's election and response since the last time he communicated with Mulgrew on the healthcare issue, Bennett was fired from his part-time UFT job.

Yesterday Mulgrew sent out his announcement. Today there is supposed to be an emergency meeting of the MLC (Municipal Labor Committee) today - I wonder why? There are also leaks that MLC is going broke due to enormous costs associated with hiring healthcare consultants' high fees for giving advice on how to create an abyss. MLC should ask for their money back.

Here is a video response Marianne made. She is somewhat magnanimous thanking the UFT for relenting. I find it funny that Mulgrew called me a liar at the May RTC meeting when he refused to take my leaflet. Mulgrew time and again claimed MedAdv was no different from Medicare -- "It's Medicare Part C," he would say - time and again. Exactly who is the liar?

Please read through the fantastic analysis by Vincent of the RTC meeting at the end of this piece.

 And Bennett's response:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement from Bennett Fischer, Chapter Leader Elect of the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter
June 23, 2024

Retiree Advocate / UFT stands firmly against Medicare Advantage. We won the recent election in the Retired Teachers Chapter by a wide margin – and the main issue was opposition to Medicare Advantage. I am the Chapter Leader elect because UFT Retirees reject Medicare Advantage.

In the wake of this historic election, UFT President Michael Mulgrew is withdrawing his support for Medicare Advantage for NYC retirees and is also withdrawing from the on-going healthcare negotiations for the city's in-service employees. I welcome these developments.

President Mulgrew should have acknowledged that he is changing his position because elections have consequences. He could have acknowledged that he is taking these steps because Retiree Advocate wrested control of the 70,000+ Retired Teachers Chapter from his Unity caucus, and because he sees that his control of the UFT is slipping away.

The delays that President Mulgrew cites as his reason for withdrawing his support for Medicare Advantage and the in-service health benefit negotiations, are not due to any dawdling by the city, nor to any disagreements he has with the city, as he claims in his letter to the MLC. Until now, Michael Mulgrew and Mayor Adams have been on the same page.

In his separate letter to UFT members, President Mulgrew correctly acknowledges that the delay in implementing Medicare Advantage for NYC retirees is entirely due to the grassroots organizing done by NYC municipal retirees and by the successful lawsuits filed on their behalf by the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.

I disagree with President Mulgrew's analysis. UFT retirees are neither fearful nor anxious. We are clear-eyed and steadfast in our opposition to the privatization of our public Medicare benefits. We are not the panicked old fogies that President Mulgrew pictures us to be.

As always in politics, watch what they do, not what they say. This whole health benefit mess was brought on by President Mulgrew himself. He made a unilateral decision to fund UFT raises with money from the City's Healthcare Stabilization Fund and agreed to pay it back, and then some, by scuttling retirees' health benefits.

This would never have happened if President Mulgrew had involved UFT retirees in the union's decision-making process.

UFT retirees need to be intimately involved in all UFT policy decisions that directly affect them. This is the platform that Retiree Advocate just won an election on. We call on UFT President Michael Mulgrew to support legislation in the NY City Council, and in Albany, to protect our Medicare & Supplemental health benefits on both the city and State levels.

The way forward must be together.

Sincerely
Bennett Fischer
Chapter Leader Elect, UFT Retired Teachers Chapter

# # #

Media contact:

Bennett Fischer

tremblychap@gmail.com

 See Jonathan latest: Won in court, won at the ballot

 Here is Arthur's response

Mulgrew Says UFT Withdraws Support for Medicare Advantage:  Given his electoral losses, he has little alternative. But keep your eye on what he does.

https://arthurgoldstein.substack.com/p/mulgrew-says-uft-withdraws-support?

I just got interesting news from the UFT. It appears that Mulgrew is withdrawing his support for the NYC Medicare Advantage program. He says the UFT is doing this, which is interesting. As usual, there’s no vote, no consultation, no nothing. Just Michael Mulgrew exercising his imperial power.

There’s also no move to support our bills in the city council or state legislature. Getting them passed would mean a lot more than hearing Mulgrew reverse his position.

I hear there is an emergency Municipal Labor Committee meeting tomorrow, so all the bosses can try to cover their butts for their disastrous anti-union action. We’ll see how that shakes out.

From what I understand, Mulgrew’s blaming the city for his change in position. They’ve been dragging it out and such, he says. However, while he’s stepping back from this program for the moment, Mulgrew has not actually said he opposes Medicare Advantage altogether. He indicates willingness to negotiate further with the city.

This is not a done deal, no matter what he or his BFFs in the MLC say.

Of course, it is not the city dragging its heels that’s caused this situation. MA has been halted because of multiple lawsuits, and they are far from over. Whatever Mulgrew says, we have to watch what happens.

We cannot, will not forget that it was Michael Mulgrew who initiated this. We will not forget that his Unity Caucus supported him every step of the way. We will not forget our voices being shut out from our own union meetings. We cannot forget the ridiculous UFT Facebook group that discusses vacations and does not allow members to discuss their feelings on being sold out.

We will not forget that, when we stood up for our health care, we were answered with personal insults, guilt by association and red-baiting. We cannot forget that Mulgrew lied, over and over, to sell this, and we cannot forget that he is now going to paint himself as a hero.

We will not forget Unity’s abysmal treatment of opposition voices, the paraprofessionals and OT/PT chapters.

Mulgrew is not a hero. Mulgrew has chosen to work against us rather than with us. He cannot be trusted, his caucus cannot be trusted, and we will hold their feet to the fire as needed.

Next week we will learn whether or not Mulgrew intends to deal with us in good faith. We will give him every opportunity.

However, we will continue to follow the words of Norm Scott—we will watch what they do, not what they say. Our activism has brought us here, and we cannot give that up. We need to be driving our own destiny. I don’t know about you, but I would not trust Mulgrew to drive my bicycle, even if I added training wheels.

Watch what they do. I will keep you posted as events unfold.

 

Vincent C. Wojsnis

Yeah, we heard her too. After listening to Weingarten speeches over the years I've learned to "listen between the lines." Randi is a talented orator. In her speech, she emphasized the importance of electing Biden over Trump in order to protect Medicare and Social Security, which I agree would face an existential threat if Republicans were to take control of the government. We can all agree on that. But let us not be fooled here. Randi, Mulgrew, Unity all support Medicare Advantage. They haven't moved from that. They continue to maintain that Medicare Advantage IS Medicare just as she has been on record defending UFT/AFT support for charter schools as "public charter schools" (while the only thing "public" about them is the public money they take to line their private pockets.) I HEARD HER TOO, when she pointed out that cities across the country are moving their retirees to MA. It's true that more than half of all Medicare enrollees are now enrolled in MA plans. How is this a good thing? Why isn't the AFT fighting this? In her speech, Randi referenced lessons from history. She wasn't wrong. As a former history teacher I can appreciate that. I too have a history lesson to share with Ms. Weingarten. In the 1960s big insurance companies opposed the creation of Medicare. "Socialism," they called it. They had Ronald Reagan do media spots warning of the "slippery slope." Unable to kill it, with the aid of both Republicans AND Democrats, in 1997 they found a way to "embrace" it. Embrace it, much like the way a python "embraces" its prey. And so, Medicare Part C was formed. That hasn't changed. I also agree, there were many "gracious" moments at the RTC meeting. But the vote wasn't even close. THAT'S what they heard. Years ago, as a new chapter leader, I never formally joined Unity (Thank you, Angel Gonzalez.) but I almost did and I was close enough to witness how they viewed the opposition. I can assure you whatever "unity" they're projecting here is not what they're saying among themselves and they will be actively planning how they can stop us. Kumbaya? "Don't listen to what they say. Watch what they do." (Thank you, Norm Scott.)

The Final Unity RTC Meeting: Kumbaya, Deconstructing Randi

We heard you. Michael and I heard you.... Randi Weingarten

...as my friend Norm Scott likes to say, “Watch what they do, not what they say.” You can be sure, Randi, Mike, et al—We are watching.... Arthur Goldstein

 Sunday June 23, 2024

Did Randi and Michael really hear us? I'll get into the weeds down below.

 

But let me also mention the after party at a local bar attended by 50 supporters. Everyone is so excited. 

 

6/24 UPDATE: I hung out with Vincent Wosjnis, former CL and newly elected delegate who happens to live in Ghana but is in for a few months. I'm inserting his FB comment on the meeting.

Vincent C. Wojsnis

Yeah, we heard her too. After listening to Weingarten speeches over the years I've learned to "listen between the lines." Randi is a talented orator. In her speech, she emphasized the importance of electing Biden over Trump in order to protect Medicare and Social Security, which I agree would face an existential threat if Republicans were to take control of the government. We can all agree on that. But let us not be fooled here. Randi, Mulgrew, Unity all support Medicare Advantage. They haven't moved from that. They continue to maintain that Medicare Advantage IS Medicare just as she has been on record defending UFT/AFT support for charter schools as "public charter schools" (while the only thing "public" about them is the public money they take to line their private pockets.) I HEARD HER TOO, when she pointed out that cities across the country are moving their retirees to MA. It's true that more than half of all Medicare enrollees are now enrolled in MA plans. How is this a good thing? Why isn't the AFT fighting this? In her speech, Randi referenced lessons from history. She wasn't wrong. As a former history teacher I can appreciate that. I too have a history lesson to share with Ms. Weingarten. In the 1960s big insurance companies opposed the creation of Medicare. "Socialism," they called it. They had Ronald Reagan do media spots warning of the "slippery slope." Unable to kill it, with the aid of both Republicans AND Democrats, in 1997 they found a way to "embrace" it. Embrace it, much like the way a python "embraces" its prey. And so, Medicare Part C was formed. That hasn't changed. I also agree, there were many "gracious" moments at the RTC meeting. But the vote wasn't even close. THAT'S what they heard. Years ago, as a new chapter leader, I never formally joined Unity (Thank you, Angel Gonzalez.) but I almost did and I was close enough to witness how they viewed the opposition. I can assure you whatever "unity" they're projecting here is not what they're saying among themselves and they will be actively planning how they can stop us. Kumbaya? "Don't listen to what they say. Watch what they do." (Thank you, Norm Scott.)

I haven't had a chance to share my impressions of the historic final Unity controlled Retiree Chapter meeting this past Tuesday, as Retiree Advocate prepares to take control of the chapter for the next three years. 

 

I was elected as part of the 15 member RTC Exec Bd, along with the 10 officers. I was also one of the 300 elected delegates to the DA -- my first time there since I retired in 2002. I may have to revive Ed Notes print edition. The first meetings of the RTC chapter and the DA will be in October.

 

(We held a zoom orientation meeting on Thursday and all 25 were present and it's quite a team of experienced UFT activists, but we all still have a lot to learn about the mechanics of running a 70k plus chapter. Will the UFT/Unity hierarchy help or hinder the transition? Maybe we should do a poll.)

 

The 63% majority opinion had a major impact on how the meeting was run. Bennett Fischer was invited up to speak and RA decided to take a moderate approach at this final Unity meeting and be nice. Unity tried to act nice too, despite a few sour looks. A bit of humility. They still seem in shock.

Note - yes we won on the healthcare issue, but don't discount the democracy angle as members heard 3 years of lecturing and hectoring and attacking critics.

 

Randi Weingarten was the featured speaker and contrary to people who think she was rushed in due to our victory, she had been advertised for some time. Let me say up front. I disagree with Randi in numerous ways but I never viewed things personally and her personality can be piercing to some but for people like me I'm quite comfortable with her and had no problem going up to sit next to her for a brief chat about what I felt was wrong with her speech. And by the way -- the good thing about Randi is you can do that.

 

If you read Ed Notes since it began (in print since '97 and blog since 2006), you know I've had a complicated relationship with Randi as a hopeful supporter when she took over in '97 to great disappointment by 2001. But Randi is a master at managing relationships and has always been outwardly friendly. 

Right up front I was impressed that Randi and Michael had heard us. So I expected she would say we are immediately abandoning our support for replacing Medicare with a Medicare Advantage plan in NYC. 

 

But instead what we heard was that we must re-elect Biden so we can lobby him to push for legislation to protect Medicare. OY! Dem Party Central message.

Sure. Congress has been so willing to pass such legislation. This proposal I immediately branded as bullshit and my hand shot up to ask a question and stayed up for much of her speech, with Tom Murphy in his final meeting being true to his form of not calling on me.

My question was framed as given how unlikely we would see such legislation, we should follow the 50-year anti-abortion advocates of going state by state to initiate a single payer system and build a northeast regional plan that could extend to other states. Thus the NYS Health Act in any form that we can make work. So I sidled up to Randi to present her with the idea and said reshape the NYH act to work for us and she shot it down by citing the Vermont experiment that was abandoned. NYS may abut Vermont but is a far cry due to economic, population and other factors. Or maybe it's the health industrial complex political donations to the Dem Party?

 

But I saw there was no point. Randi and crew are committed to the center Dem Party of fundamentally backing private insurance involvement in our healthcare through the mechanism of MedAdv. The Biden Admin seems to think the answer is MedAdv to drive down costs -- you know the drill -- deny, deny, deny to reduce costs, rather than take away the profits and inefficiencies of private insurance. 

Randi did crit MedAdv and blamed George Bush but not Clinton under whose admin MedAdv plans came into existence.  Thus the UFT/AFT coddling of the Dem Party no matter how bad some of its policies.

I can't predict the future but if I have my say, RTC meetings will not just be an ad for the Dem Party but a full-fledged accounting of good and bad policies.

 

There have been other impressions of Randi's speech from "she's impressive politically" (my initial reaction) to people who were not in person, "she sounded unhinged." 

 

Arthur Goldstein, newly elected RTC VP wrote 

"...today’s meeting was all about AFT President Randi Weingarten. She’s bigger than life. She’s articulate and willing to talk to anyone and everyone. She’s quite intelligent. For my money, that’s a great quality in a leader. And you may be surprised, or dismayed, but I’m going to agree with quite a bit of what she said today.... " 

I can agree with the first part and it is easy to agree with her trashing Trumpists and Republicans (you know, the very people who will make sure any bill Randi pushed will never see the light of day.) But all that was a way to distract from the issue she supposedly heard us on -- healthcare. Randi is a genius at deflection and distraction -- which exposes just how bad Mulgrew is at doing the same. The contrast is what made Randi look good.

Other reactions to Randi's speech:

 

A little song, to the tune of "My Mother Gave Me a Nickle to Buy a Pickle "

by Marian Swerdlow, newly elected to RTC Exec Bd. and the DA.

Our union boss is Randi 

She sure is dandy

But when she's at the podium 

I feel like I need Immodium

She rants and raves and screams 

We're wondering what she means

Her buzz words make us dizzy

We end up in a tizzy

-----

Randi is a great actress, but someone needs to tell her the Oscars have already been awarded this year.

-----

Notice how she takes NO responsibility for compromising retiree healthcare forcing our lawsuits!! She takes no responsibility for the name calling and online bullying.

Here are some resources to check out:

 

Indypendent Radio: Newly elected United Federation of Teachers Retiree Vice Chair Arthur Goldstein explains the efforts to the stop the city from stripping healthcare benefits from 250,000 retired NYC workers

 

 Jon Halabi has 2 recent posts on the election:

• The Retired Teachers vote – What I missed June 21, 2024
• Retired Teacher election… What if? June 21, 2024

Peter Lamphere from MORE has an interesting piece on the 2025 election:

• What could a grassroots UFT election campaign look like?

I agree with most of it and if I get a chance will do a deep dive.

Arthur blogs on the RTC meeting and his tribute to James Eterno and moment of silence. I will never forget that I was having breakfast in a diner with Arthur when I though a call was coming in from James but it was Camille to tell me about the stroke. 

After Mulgrew spoke, there was a question period. I sprang to my feet and Murphy called on me. I spoke of James Eterno, a lifelong unionist and activist who’d have lovedbeing here for this historic moment. I quoted Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said when we speak of the dead, they dance up in heaven. I sincerely hope that’s what James is doing today. He waited so long for a moment like this, and it’s beyond tragic he’s not here for it. I asked for a moment of silence, they honored it, and Mulgrew even thanked me.

 

Some more choice excerpts punching holes in some of Randi's premises:

• They Hear Us: So say our union bosses.

Today’s Retired Teacher Chapter meeting was an interesting one, probably the most interesting of the entire year. I have to say that outgoing RTC Chapter Leader Murphy and company appeared gracious. They made time for incoming CL Bennett Fischer to speak, and he too was gracious. There were no harsh words I noticed directed toward us, Retiree Advocate (although I’ve seen reports elsewhere contending otherwise). Note—after the meeting I was on WBAI with John Tarleton of the Indypendent, talking about our victory and its implications. If you’d like to, you may listen to our discussion right here.

Randi kept saying, “We hear you.” Mulgrew may have alluded to something like that, but Randi emphasized it. She said here’s what she would do—if Biden were to be re-elected, she would press for legislation that no employees should lose their health care. She said the same about pensions.

Of course I would support any such legislation, as should we all. And of course Randi is the head of our national union, so she’s discussing national priorities. She did however, repeatedly emphasize her ties to the UFT, which run deep. She was our president for years. 

Considering that, if Randi wishes to help us now. she will support the legislation before both the City Council and the NYS Assembly and Senate guaranteeing continued real Medicare for NYC retirees. I just read that we had enough votes to pass state legislation but it was blocked by unions. 

 

By “unions,” they mean union bosses like Mulgrew. Our union members support retention of Medicare, as Unity just discovered in no uncertain terms. And here is some unsolicited advice for the Unity Caucus—if you want any chance of holding onto the Presidency, the officers, the union, all those sweet patronage gigs, you’d best back this legislation. If you don’t, you will surely lose everything.

Another thing Randi said really caught my attention. She spoke of cuts being made without member input, and suggested that was not acceptable. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’m horrified that Michael Mulgrew initiated cuts without our input. He seemed proud of it, and I recall him saying at some meeting or other that if he put it up for a vote, it would lose.

Here’s a memo, Mike—you were right. You just put it up for a vote, and you lost overwhelmingly. 

Randi also said we had to stop this pitting of active members against retirees. Again, I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I was horrified when, last year, Michael Mulgrew sent me an email doing just that. He basically told us if we did not sell out the retirees, we’d all have to pay $1500 a year in premiums. That directly pitted retirees against active members. It was a blatantly anti-union act, perpetrated by a sitting union president. 

 

Former UFT VPs, a cancer survivor, and some other Unity member got up in front of the City Council and said Aetna wasn’t good enough for them. Jesus, we are UNION. If it isn’t good enough for them, it isn’t good enough for anyone. 

 

Also, it’s not the job of union to stick its hand in the pockets of retirees demanding tribute. It’s like they’re criminals on some cheesy sitcom. Nice little health plan you’ve got there. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it. How about you fork over 5K a year for insurance?

Randi says not having democracy is “scary as shit.” Once again, she’s right. I’ve spent a year going to RTC meetings that are kabuki dances, expressly designed to shut out the voices of those of us demanding to retain our health care. 

Massive Fix Para Slate Victory - Is the Unity Machine Crumbling?

Paraprofessionals are stuck with a chapter leader against whom they voted overwhelmingly. In Unity world, that means little. As long as the sitting CL serves Mulgrew, who cares about membership?... Arthur Goldstein, UFT Paraprofessionals Overwhelmingly Reject Unity

Let's do some math. Total Slate Votes: 3408

Fix Para Slate: 2516. Unity: 892. 

Let's see if I can figure out the percentages. 

 

2516/3408 = 74% for FPS. 

 

892/3408 = 25% for Unity.

Holy Shit - the para opposition to Unity actually got a higher percentage than the retiree's 63%. 

 

Oh, by the way, there are something like 27,000 paras eligible to vote and Unity ran a big GOTV campaign - and only got 892 votes out of a potential 27k?

Friday, June 21, 2024, 12:01 AM

- phew - I survived the Longest Day - And I didn't go to the yoga class I registered for in Times Square. But I did take a 7:30 AM hot yoga in Rockaway yesterday - and I'm still awake. Today starts the long decline in sunlight down to the dim of winter. Brrrrrr.

Back in April I wrote about the upcoming  UFT's 3 Consequential Elections, TRS, Retiree and Para. Here are three posts I put out on the latter:

• Migda Responds to the Mulgrew's and Barr's Unity-U...
• VOTE TODAY and Get out the Vote; Fix Para Pay Town...
• Sophomoric, Bullying Attack Memes on Oppo Para by ...

Despite winning only the TRS, all three have turned out to be bad omens for Unity Caucus. Arthur is reporting on the shocking outcome of the para election:

• UFT Paraprofessionals Overwhelmingly Reject Unity

Despite only involving 8 wins for the Fix Para Pay slate, that election has just as deep consequences in some ways as the retiree election.

 

 

 

Now unlike the retiree election, the paras had a very low turnout. But the numbers in a unit Unity has exercised complete control of, might be earth shaking. Why? Because if in next year's general UFT election, if the paras and retirees vote down Unity, there is a chance to capture the 19 functional chapter exec Bd seats. Add that to the pretty sure 7 HS and now the oppo has 25% of the exec bd. And the middle school vote is up for grabs.

But the big story is the erosion of Unity support throughout the UFT and a shift to credible opposition.

Even though winning the TRS election by two thirds, the UFT ran a big GOTV campaign and only about 12k voted in an election incompetently managed. And here's the rub. Ben got one third with a small group of campaign managers (I was one), with the only oppo caucus actively engaged being New Action. (MORE sat this one out for reasons I won't get into - though some individuals in MORE did help with the petitions. 

Which leads me to another interesting trend in all three elections. How much of a presence did MORE have? Nothing much in TRS or even the RTC since MORE has few retirees since ICE was asked to leave (me among them). I did see some support for the para slate though I do no think any paras involved were involved in MORE.

Suddenly, the idea that every single caucus must be on board to defeat Unity is making some people rethink the original UFC coalition that ran two years ago.

Frankly, with changes in ICE and Solidarity and some divisions inside the UFC, I see the need for some new configuration that would be beyond the narrow caucus structure where last time semi-secret negotiation went on for months and excluding a role for rank and file who are fed up.

Some broader based entity is needed. What that might look like is up for grabs.

Here are some quotes from Arthur's piece on the para election that will illuminate how Unity operates:

The Fix Para Pay slate beat the pants off Unity, but only ran a handful of candidates. Even worse, they decided to be bipartisan and run a Unity member for Chapter Leader. That member betrayed them, trash-talked them, and Unity plastered his comments all over their social media. I hear they also gave him a job, but I can’t confirm that. 

 

Migda, who should have run for CL, but who’s now 1st Vice Chair-elect. Unity froze her out. They didn’t give her time off. They didn’t give her a union position. They didn’t give her a salary, an office, or even a lousy UFT email address (let alone the means to address her chapter).

This was, frankly, disgraceful. And even as this was happening, the 2nd Vice Chair who Migda replaced had all the things they denied her. Essentially, the Unity Caucus decided paraprofessionals, rather than be repped by people they chose, should be repped by Whoever Michael Mulgrew Golly Gosh Darn Felt Like.

In a democracy, the President doesn’t get to select who represents individual districts. And in a union democracy, the President ought not have the right to override the will of the members. Yet that’s exactly what Mulgrew and his patronage employees did. 

Unity... unilaterally decided paraprofessionals had to run slate voting this year. Perhaps they knew how few candidates Fix Para Pay had and hoped to freeze them out entirely. In any case, they didn’t bother running this change by the UFT Executive Board, or the Delegate Assembly. They just declared that’s the way it is.

....paraprofessionals are stuck with a chapter leader against whom they voted overwhelmingly. In Unity world, that means little. As long as the sitting CL serves Mulgrew, who cares about membership?