Stop the Steal - of UFT "Official" Retiree Web Page - Striking Back at Unity Caucus War on Internal Critics

Oh Susan Pulice, Puleeeeze!

The admin of the RTC’s Facebook group, along with her Unity caucus accomplices, remain embroiled in scandal as they seek to take away our union resource in plain sight. Arthur Goldstein digs deeper into the hypocrisy of the union’s ruling 1% party over this attempted heist of our dues. Calls for potential crowdsourcing to take legal action mount as the union counsel and top leadership drag their feet seeking to negotiate for their partisan agenda....EONYC

....there is the UFT Official Facebook Group for the RTC. That is run by one Susan Pulice, a Unity member. The most recent number I can find suggests our dues pay her in excess of 38K per year, along with perhaps a UFT pension.... they say, they don’t own the site. It’s in the name of Susan Pulice. There are compelling reasons why RTC should take over the site. They’ve been laid out, in pretty graphic detail, over at The Wire.... You could argue that every single person who signed up on Official RTC Facebook site, myself included, expected it to be a UFT site. You could argue that they did not, in fact, sign up for “The Social Spot—A Unity Community for Retirees.” You could, in fact, argue, that by walking with 6300 subscribers, that a fraud had been committed on those who signed up. You could argue they have stolen our built-in base, and that Unity is fine with that.... You could argue that this site represented itself as a union-sanctioned site. You could argue that the union announced as much in New York Teacher. You could argue that Pulice, by asserting ownership, was actually robbing the union of a resource created in the name of the United Federation of Teachers. You could, in fact, argue that ownership of the site was meaningless, and that the only important factor was who administrated the site....

....Arthur Goldstein, The Wire, Sept. 28

Call the FB police on Pulice.

Unity attacks Retiree Advocate for "consorting" with Marianne Pizzitola while the Unity hacks consort with the indicted Mayor Adams and other corrupt union leaders in the MLC to steal our healthcare.... The Norm.

Unity has a lot of damn gall lecturing us about whom we may affiliate with. We are fighting to make things better for us, and for rank and file. If our so-called leaders won’t help us, we’ll help ourselves....Arthur

There is real danger in taking a conflict-averse stance and rely on back door negotiating alone without bringing organizing muscle behind those negotiations. Yes, negotiate, but with force... Norm

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024

 

I write here as an individual, not in my capacity as a member of the Retiree Advocate Organizing committee, nor as a member of the newly elected RTC Executive Board and Delegate Assembly, since neither body has decided formally on how to deal with the stolen RTC FB page issue. 

 

I hear there are negotiations between some of the newly elected officers of RTC and UFT/Unity officials over a bunch of issues. Why we have to negotiate what rightfully should be ours indicates the Unity agenda - to obfuscate and obstruct. I don't oppose negotiations to win what we can but I also am not for hiding the crap they do, though some may fear by exposing them we make them more obstinate and put them more in attack mode. I say screw them -- we won the election by exposing them. Democracy doesn't flourish in darkness. 

 

Michael Mulgrew is selling you something you don't really need. Debunking Unity attack dog Ellie Engler

One of the Unity negotiators is the Unity attack dog Ellie Engler, a non-teacher who was known as one of Randi's gals. Mulgrew recently brought her back into the inner circle, along with Dave Hickey, to escalate the attacks. Engler is not very popular. See Marianne expose the UFT concierge fake advertising scam for HSS and MSK call service only: Debunking Ellie Engler UFT (not a teacher). Ellie sounds a bit like J.D. Vance. And I did see a cat in Marianne's video.

And what a joke the UFT service is. I called the MSK call center directly on June 7 and she made a surgeon and oncologist appointment on June 11. She took all my information for getting my records and sent me what I had to do online and when I saw the docs 4 days later they had everything in hand. My operation took place on June 26. Instead of going through a UFT middle person I did it directly.  Who would you trust? An MSK expert call center person or some UFT service? Amen. 

Unity hijacks the RTC Facebook Page

When I heard details about the supposedly "official" UFT retiree Facebook page, obviously pro-Unity, where the administrator in charge was being paid out of our dues to run it, being turned over to private hands and taking its 6k members with it, I LOL. I just love it when Unity does the usual dumb stuff. I predicted that their strategy was to go hard after critics only to have it fall on their faces.

 

RTC officers are negotiating for a promised new RTC FB page but with no access to the 6k membersUnity takes with them. (Watch those numbers and see if they shrink). In fact, I don't trust the leadership to turn over a page to the new RTC management without conditions. But let's see how that plays out over the next few weeks. Don't forget, they shut down the FB page soon after we won and have delayed and delayed until they could come up with a plan to screw us.

I’m up for a battle over what they did but also point out their page only attracted 6k out of 70k retirees and in the election last June it didn’t help them get more than 37% of the vote as we got 17k. So assume many of their 6k are hard core Unity voters. Let’s recruit to the new RTC page Jonathan will manage, if they let him. If Unity trolls join do we throw them out? No. Don't censor. Just respond.

There is real danger in taking a conflict-averse stance and rely on back door negotiating alone without bringing organizing muscle behind those negotiations. Yes, negotiate, but with force. Call it the inside/outside game.

Alicea brings the receipts

Daniel Alicea did an amazing job (see below) on short notice researching the history of that RTC FB page and proving it belongs to the UFT, not Unity Caucus' Susan Pulice. Daniel's been subjected to some criticism for chiming in on what looks on the surface to be a retiree issue. But if we let this go we set a dangerous precedent. What about all the other functional chapter web pages? When Unity lost the OT/PT chapter election they limited the ability of the chapter leader to communicate with members and an often isolated chapter leader did not have the backing, even from so-called friends, to fight back. Even now, RTC leaders must jump through some hoops and walk a fine line to get stuff published. Thank goodness for substacks and blogs. I'm glad Daniel didn't sit back and wait for someone else to act.

Unity retreat tomorrow (Sunday) to plot

Unity is constantly plotting to keep power. If Unity loses other functional chapter elections - can we expect the same kinds of actions? Sunday, Unity is having a general caucus meeting with a first-time special one for their retirees to plot how to take back control of the RTC chapter. Let's see what they do at the Oct. 22 RTC meeting -- which as many retirees as can should attend in person. Will Unity be there in force by dragging out their old retired war horses who are no longer delegates? Will they push back if Marianne and the lawyer report on the court case? Will they pull an over-the-top attempt to bar Marianne from the building? How much fun will that be as dozens of us pull out our cameras to record? 

 

Unity attacks Retiree Advocate for "consorting" with Marianne while the Unity hacks consort with the indicted Mayor Adams and other corrupt union leaders in the MLC to steal our healthcare.

 

Arthur commented briefly on Sept. 26:

I don’t want a cushy union job. That said, the RTC voted for me. They want me working for them. That’s why I’m here. Compare my work to that of the person who ran/ runs the UFT Facebook group they’re trying to steal from us. She ran a highly censored site that never reflected member interests (and yes, I will cover that in more detail). She assiduously suppressed our voices, and for that she pulled in over 38K from our dues, as of the last year I can look up online. Nice work if you can get it. Still, I wouldn’t do it at any price..... Let them do their worst. Last I looked, worst is what they do best. They are the disease, and our votes are the cure......A Tale of Two Internet Sites: Unity threatens me with civil and criminal penalties for exercising my First Amendment rights, but allows their own to do pretty much whatever

I give Daniel, a busy UFT activist, classroom teacher and parent, credit for putting this research together. I don't know if PERB is worth going to or even the proper venue (not I hear). Some say we should sue. I'm not up for doing that but fine for exposing them. Daniel has set up a scenario for taking action if someone wanted to.

Norm

Daniel brings the receipts.

The 'theft' of the UFT’s Retiree Chapter Facebook Group by Mulgrew’s Unity caucus: Open letter to UFT top leadership

After losing unilateral control of the UFT Retiree chapter, Mulgrew’s Unity administrative caucus seeks to obstruct union business in true sore loser fashion.

Dan Alicea

Sep 25, 2024

 

Here is my email to leadership last night …

Subject line: Theft of our union retiree social media Facebook organ

Esteemed,

It has come to my attention that some in union leadership and their Unity caucus are allowing the theft of the official UFT retiree teacher chapter Facebook group that serves as an official organ/vehicle of chapter communications.

This page has over 6.3k UFT retiree members subscribed to it and it has used union resources, funded from our dues, to promote and manage it. 

See it promoted as “our Facebook group” on our UFT website here:

https://www.uft.org/chapters/retired-teachers-chapter/quick-links

It also has come to my attention that additional union resources and time were used to manage this Facebook group when the chapter was under its previous leadership.

The group’s image banners promote it as the official Facebook group of the UFT RTC. See screenshots that are attached.

After the new RA slate won leadership of the chapter in July of this year, they should have been given full control of this chapter organ/vehicle. It was literally a matter of giving admin status to existing members of the FB group who are now leaders of the chapter. As we approach October there is still foot dragging.

We know that in January of this year, all official UFT social media accounts were to register with the union. The group is listed on our registry of official social media accounts

See: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iXlyrJwCy5lo-LhHNUTmKO6fHnbF76BXw54oCR3Ie0g/edit

I’ve provided screenshots of the McFayden email instructing all admins throughout our union social media ecosystem to register their sites and pages, also. For this reason the RTC group is listed in our union’s registry of official satellite social media accounts.

In 2020, the New York Teacher, our official union newspaper promoted the FB group as the chapter’s official Facebook group in this article:

https://www.uft.org/news/retired-teachers-chapter-news/rtc-service/facebook-keeps-retirees-connected

Now, I understand that this Facebook group is being held “hostage” by the admin of the group, Ms Susan Pulice, and others in leadership. They are seemingly using this platform as leverage for intimidation of others and for personal gain/partisan politics.

Today, Ms. Pulice announced that the UFT RTC Facebook group will become the sole property of herself and her caucus to communicate with UFT retirees. 

Let’s keep in mind that those who joined this RTC group never joined the group under this new pretense or that they would be shuffled under a new name for partisan political purposes.

This matter is serious and grave. Members should know what is happening and that their dues are not being used improperly.

I expect that leadership will take swift action to rectify it and ensure the new RTC leadership is given immediate access to this union resource/vehicle with no more further delays.

I am also confident that Unity caucus leadership will do what is ethically correct to ensure our union resources are not abused or used for personal gain. 

I am asking the union counsel to issue some type of legal notice to those seeking to steal our collective union property. It belongs to us.

Thank you in anticipation of your swift actions to rectify this injustice to our entire membership, especially our retirees.

In solidarity, 

D. Alicea

Special education teacher 

MS 53, Far Rockaway 

Chapter delegate 

Postscript: I speak as a proud member of my union, not RTC. The precedents this sets against dues paying members and our official spaces for communication and resources is dangerous and plain wrong.

 

 

 

See below for retiree comments on the theft of the Retiree Advocate  FB page:

------ 

 

...has anyone else seen this notice on the former "Official" UFT retiree Facebook page? Looks like Unity has taken it over. — mischaracterizing this blatantly partisan move as "social." Here's the announcement from Susan Pulice:

Good Morning Friends!

I have exciting news. Our group will reopen soon with a new name. We will be called, The Social Spot ~ A Unity Community for Retirees I look forward to sharing the joy of retirement with you again and will continue to provide support for our group members. Look for the grand reopening in mid October.

Have a fantastic day!!!

Susan

I hated her at DA meetings, and I like her even less, now that I’m a retiree. The only way to get rid of her is to vote out the whole UNITY slate! Still pushing the “vote out unity” with all of my active friends.

 

Arthur Goldstein

This could mean a few things. 1. It certainly means that Unity has been lying to us, RA members on the Executive Board, since their first meeting with us last summer. 2. It could mean that Susan Pulice owns the board, not UFT. If that's the case, she has been using the UFT Official brand when it was not, in fact, UFT official business. Therefore, UFT lawyers should go after her for an ongoing fraud. 3. It means that the board was entirely political and not representative of UFT, and that it was operated under false pretenses, with the blessing of all the UFT muckety-mucks.

 

it’s an official group since you have give your file number to join. She has full access to our information. I got booted because I won’t use my real last name on fb even though it was Susan who allowed me in. The group was new and when it got big I got booted. She tried to say I don’t know who let you in but I sent her screenshots that it was her.

If the new group is a social group we shouldn’t have to give a file numbers to join. It’s just all a bunch of lies as always.

 

If the new group is a Unity group, they have no right to walk away with the 6300 members who joined a UFT group. That is wildly unethical.

 

Since when do they do anything ethical? I had written to Susan when she insisted I change my fb name and I told her how do you know you aren’t putting me in danger? You have my credentials and yet you don’t care. You don’t know if someone is after me or many other reasons people don’t use their real names on fb. I have it all as I never deleted it. I even wrote numerous times to the union and they did nothing. I was going to call social services for them causing me stress and keeping me out of a group I pay dues for. I wrote to Mulgrew and Murphy as well. I never got any results.

 

I think it's an error to leave her with 6K followers who signed up for a UFT page. I hear the issue is she owns the page and cannot transfer ownership. If that's the case, and she's unwilling to transfer the moderator role to someone elected, she should shut the thing down.

 

Agreed that the issue is that she used the UFT name (apparently with authorization) to attract members to her group — I am or was a member, not merely a follower, although she warned me about my very rare posts, threatening to expel me — and plans to switch them to this new group. Let’s see if Meta allows this. What if I joined a civil rights group that changed its name to the KKK? I don’t know if being the admin and founder of a group means you own it. Surely Meta has some rules? Or I’d hope so.

 

My take as a proud, dues paying member. This sets more dangerous precedent.

Similar strong arming by Unity happened when OT/PTs won the election a few years back and they turned over the page not to the chapter but a Unity PM staffer.

The precedents this sets against dues paying members and our official spaces for communication and resources is dangerous and plain wrong.

Our dues are used to promote and maintain these official spaces.

 

Not buying the 'social' spin, Unity - this is a blatant takeover!

 

That’s disgusting and so is she. We should start a page “UFT In-Service! RA Loved You!”

 

It is the official UFT page and it was started by UNITY. I doubt that as long as UNITY is in power that we will be able to do anything about it.