UFT Leadership attempt to suppress in person DA attendance
There are almost 400 new Chapter Leaders and countless new delegates, including 300 retired. Most of them will not be able to attend in person. But full-time UFT staff and District Reps should have no problem.
Unity has issued an all-hands on deck for today's DA from the faithful
but uses social distancing as an excuse to limit in person attendance from rank and file.
Ironic since the leadership has been passive in the relaxation of those
rules by the DOE.
Leadership maintains an inherent advantage in keeping hundreds of people
from attending. Remote people do not get the info we hand out or the
organizing we do inside and outside the meeting. There is no question
that control of the DA has tightened in the hands of leadership since
Covid.
With the election threat coming look for all-out war and Trump-like attacks on critics.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
The last time I was a delegate was 22 years ago when I retired. I had been a delegate/Cl for most of the years since 1971. So I am excited to participate in the Mulgrew Marathon time-killing report. I need to catch up on my sleep -- if you are remote, you will hear loud snoring.
Yesterday, I was contacted by one of the new retired delegates who was having trouble registering. So I got in touch with my go-to UFT reliable, Yasmin Colon and she took care of getting the delegate the correct registration link.
Except for one thing: the delegate could only register for remote. So I asked Yasmin of there was a cap on in person and not long after I received a phone call from LeRoy Barr who informed me there has been a cap of 400 since covid days. I urged LeRoy to lift the cap since the room holds almost 900 people and also to reinstate the 19th floor breakout room. He said Mulgrew will address it - maybe today.
LeRoy emphasized that while not always agreeing, we are still one union. I agreed and also said we will miss the old Unity retiree war horses at the DA and if we had proportional representation they would have still been there even with their 37% of the vote. And if Unity is defeated in the election if there was not winner take all they would still have a stake. LeRoy, you still have time.
When retirees elected 300 delegates in June I actually raised the issue
of a cap as a way to keep our people out. I told LeRoy I smelled a rat but he assured me these caps are not directed at the retirees but have been in place for years due to social distancing. Hmmm, where's the UFT on the lack of social distancing in the schools?
A cynic, I told LeRoy I bet there is no problem for UFT staff in getting in but he said he is getting texts from District Reps who are begging to get in. I will spend the meeting counting them. If you are there and see staff you recognize email their names and I will keep a running count.
I'm offering an over/under on how many staff can be spotted today at the DA. I'm betting on 80. (They must have had early registration). I will collect the bets on the way out.
More DA News:
UFT Welfare Fund
Below are leaflets I will be handing out today before and after the meeting. If you are there, stop by and say hello.
RA leaflet:
Note the Member Assembly open to all on Oct. 29 - register using the code. And also fill out the survey by clicking on that link. And if you are there support the resos - and expect the leadership to try to suppress them.
Here are some facts from Daniel on the UFT Welfare Fund:
1. The Welfare Fund has grown exponentially since 2014 to the tune of 800 million dollars— when Mulgrew began dipping into the joint healthcare stabilization fund that is designed to protect the healthcare of all city workers and retirees for wages and to hoard within the UFT Welfare Fund.
Now, the gap between investments and actual benefits provided to members for such things as prescriptions, dental and vision has widened while dental reimbursements and services have diminished. Many dentists simply won’t take our dental insurance anymore.
The data doesn’t lie. Mulgrew’s Unity administrative caucus does.
Norm, I’m only subsisting on cat food. Why are you against a COLA increase?
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