Tuesday, January 14, 2025

ABC, To me, Seems Like One Two Three, Join ABC Member Assembly, Tue, 1/14 at 7 PM; Join the ABC election slate

Amongst all the furor over the two slate situation and the angst it seems to engender, I keep wondering why I find the endeavor with ABC so energizing. Here's one reason:

You're invited: Join our UFT Member Assembly via Zoom on Tue, 1/14 at 7 PM; Join the ABC election slate

We will speak about the erosion of our healthcare benefits and what we need to do to stop it. http://rsvp.uftmembers.org

300 registered so far. Join the crowd.


 
The turnouts for ABC have been excellent due to networking ability to extend its reach, an original intent of coming together in the first place: To attempt to reach deep into the schools to break the 80% non-voting active members (39% of retirees vote). 
I'm not opposed to caucuses but for this election especially I feel their model of organizing will not win. I've said it time and again - the ability of the current caucuses to reach deeper than the surface into schools has not been successful as reflected in the most recent UFT election two years ago and the fact that over decades they have shown little growth, massive turnover and some shrinkage. New Action is 30 years old with roots back to the 60s and MORE, the hot new thing when it went public 13 years ago after over a year and a half of behind closed doors negotiations, are stagnant.
 
When people ask how is ABC different from other groups running --- look at the outcomes so far in terms of attracting attention and supporters because ABC was free of restraints to act and did not get bogged down in caucus negotiations fed through a narrow group of steering committee members who are a gate though which decisions are made.

Look, since my diagnosis, I no longer am looking at living to 125. So I don't have time to watch the slow drip of caucus negotiations. When ABC began to meet in earnest in August with members of all caucuses in the room, I wanted the campaign to start in September but caucus issues kept delaying us until early November when the caucuses exited ABC and what was left of ABC said: Enough - and came out of the box publicly in mid-November, declaring it was running, while the caucuses spent the next 6 weeks deliberating in secret and made their first public announcement as the XMAS vacation was about to start.
 
This is the basis of my analysis as to why a caucus dominated election will not win. What has been accomplished since New Action left their 10 year alliance with Unity in 2016 when they joined with MORE to win the 7 hs exec bd seats, and again with UFC in 2022 -- the holy grail of oppo election politics -- winning 7 out of 100 exec bd seats? That is no longer good enough.

Don't get me wrong. I was an avid participator over decades as a member of MORE and before that ICE in elections from 2004-2022. I just don't want to do that again.

Now, with the big retiree and para wins in the chapter elections, everyone's hopes for a big win have been raised. I think a win would only be possible by building new alliances and not just count on those results to carry the day.

A key to this election would be to reach out to the 80% of in service teachers who rarely vote and the current caucuses with actives in previous elections did not have enough outreach into enough schools to beat Unity. Of course everyone was thinking of the ace in the hole -- the retiree vote. But with Tier 6 being such a catastrophe for over half the working UFT members, there are issues beyond health care, though for both retirees and actives, healthcare is still a top level concern. 

Which reminds me: ABC is doing a healthcare zoom tonight.



You're invited: Join our UFT Member Assembly via Zoom on Tue, 1/14 at 7 PM; Join the ABC election slate

We will speak about the erosion of our healthcare benefits and what we need to do to stop it. http://rsvp.uftmembers.org

Hey folks! Last month, we covered the ABCs of PAY. This month, our focus is on HEALTHCARE.

Whether you're a UFT Retiree or an In-Service member, our premium-free healthcare is at risk, while our existing coverage continues to erode and we pay more and more out-of-pocket.

Let’s come together to discuss the current threats and challenges facing our union, and talk about what we need to do to protect and expand our premium-free healthcare for the future.

Tuesday, January 14th at 7 PM.

Register here: http://rsvp.uftmembers.org

Join us! Let’s work towards A BETTER CONTRACT that protects and improves our healthcare. Everyone is welcome.

Register for Member Assembly


Run With ABC in the 2025 UFT Geneal Election – Slate Signups Still Open!


We want you (yes, YOU!) to join us in the upcoming UFT General Election.

We're inviting all UFT members, no matter your political views or caucus affiliation, to be part of ABC’s non-partisan grassroots movement. We’re all about demanding A Better Contract — both with the City of New York and our union leadership.

We're looking for candidates for UFT officer positions, Executive Board, NYSUT Representatives, and AFT Delegates. Read the UFT 2025 election notice to learn more about these positions and qualifications.

Do you want to read our platform, first? Click here.

Our officer and executive board spots are 90% filled with some of these positions still available. Still, we most definitely want to run a full slate, so sign up today.

Head over to slate.uftmembers.org to sign up, and we'll be in touch soon with more details.

Sign up for the ABC Slate


Thanks so much. We’re looking forward to connecting with you soon and getting back to work on transforming our UFT.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or want to get more involved, don’t hesitate to reach out. Together, we can create a stronger, more equitable future.

Stay updated with us at: http://abettercontract.org

To run on the ABC slate for the 2025 election, go to: http://slate.uftmembers.org

To join our organizing work groups, go to: http://join.uftmembers.org

Download, share and print a flyer to post at your school/work site: flyer.uftmembers.org

And follow us at:


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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If officer and exec board are 90% full who decided? If ABC wins and an officer wants to run for reelection how does that do down? Would they be automatically on or does process start again? Will abc dissolve if they win? How will abc govern without a caucus structure?

Anonymous said...

Again, you are possibly right that the caucuses would not win if ABC want around. But that's not the problem.

The problem is that if both ARISE and ABC run skate, then Unity will win.

No matter how much you want to try and energize the 70% who don't vote, if the opposition is split, unity will ask vote together (minus a handful that joined the opposition) is for no other reason than to keep the gravy flowing.

ed notes online said...

How would ARISE govern with 3 caucuses? Why assume you need a caucus to run the union when that has been the problem for 60 years? An uncaucused structure would be so open to all points of view. A caucus in charge leads to one opinion and shuts other voices out. That;s what intrigues me about ABC -- no loyalty oaths. We can disagree and in fact are trying to form the slate with that idea --- think of Lincoln Team of Rivals. We'd welcome ARISE people into the tent. Give them voice.

ed notes online said...

Let's start from here. If one slate, ARISE or ABC were to run alone which has the better chance of winning? The caucuses claim they would with their infrastructure. But MORE and NAC showed in 2022 that their infrastucture was far from successful and MORE has not only lost hundreds from 2022 but also has internal issues with a strong minority that does not want to run.
Plus the political baggage MORE brings. And NAC brings its own baggage, having spent a dozen years allied with Unity and ran Mulgrew for president on their slate in 2010 and 2013. I still get emails on how they can be trusted -- but I do trust them now after ten years -- but many oldtimers saw them as being seduced by Randi. As for RA, which I am part of the 11 member group- that does not constitute a caucus but does have outreach with retirees minus the Marianne factor who is backing ABC.

So ABC offers an alternative - everyone run together but without the baggage and putting caucus brand names on a slate - and to use the election for caucus building. ABC is not a caucus and will not be one after the election. It is totally aimed at defeating Unity -- and your comment about the gravy train is funny as they have given up jobs and quit or are about to quit Unity. If ABC were to win and run a gravy train we would attack the shit out of them. And the slate will include enough checks and balances. But I have faith in some of the emerging ex-Unity people -- and the sense that each of them brings something to the table. There is a knowledge of how their system works and how it can be changed to work for the members instead of a caucus.

Just look at the level of activity over the past few months between the two groups. ABC was held back by caucus deliberations for 3 months and finally were free to act independently and took off while they spend months deliberating and negotiating with each other, the very problem I identified in early August.

Let's say in a two slate system, we do energize enough of the 80% that don't vote - even bump it to 35 or 40%? So far ABC outreach has been impressive though barely scratching the surface and hoping word of mouth grows, Unity leadership is attacking ABC because they see the threat and don't fear ARISE as they know the players and the