Amy Arundell: A Tale of Two Cities, Part 1: Chicago Fights and Wins — What NYC Can Learn

....their success is just about a contract. I think it’s about a culture. A culture of courage. A culture of clarity. A union that sees every struggle inside the school building as connected to the fight outside it. A union that organizes relentlessly—and wins publicly. 

Long-time followers of Ed Notes are familiar with the coverage of the Chicago Teacher Union going back to the victory of CORE caucus in the 2010 election and how our crew from NYC had met with them a year earlier and had frequent contact with them over the early years of their victory, including at the AFT convention in Seattle a few weeks after they won. I won't put up the numerous links but these intital reports of the victory that helped change the labor movement:

MORE CHICAGO HOPE AS CORE SWEEPS

Chicago Hope - UPDATED - 9am

 

One key in Chicago that differs from the Unity approach is open bargaining and the public reports on the progress. This contract win was a big one and I guess it doesn't hurt that the mayor was a teacher and member of the CTU and an organizer with them.

Also, Amy was interviewed this week.

Listen: Amy Arundell Makes Her Case to Lead the UFT LATEST STUCK NATION RADIO MAR 31

Work-Bites: https://www.work-bites.com/view-all/a7nwt235ykmjme5355xchk7tezmw8x

 

 

A Tale of Two Cities, Part 1: Chicago Fights and Wins — What NYC Can Learn

This is the first in a two-part series from A Better Contract (ABC) comparing what’s possible when unions fight—and what happens when they don’t. In Part 1, Amy Arundell, longtime educator and presidential candidate on the ABC slate, reflects on the Chicago Teachers Union’s tentative agreement and the culture of organizing that made it possible.

Amy Arundell

Apr 04, 2025

 

https://abettercontract.org/p/a-tale-of-two-cities-part-1-chicago?r=4ptxgk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

 

I wasn’t planning to write today. But after reading through the Chicago Teachers Union’s tentative agreement, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something important had just happened—and that we needed to talk about it.

The 2025 CTU contract locks in substantial pay raises, guarantees more prep time, and expands community support for students—showing just how powerful collective action can be. If you’re ready to see how these educators turned “impossible” into a done deal, you’ve got to check it out. Click here for all the details: https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/ctu-announces-historic-tentative-agreement-major-leap-forward-toward-transforming-chicago-public-schools/.

What the Chicago Teachers Union just accomplished—it wasn’t magic. It wasn’t luck. It was movement. It was members, organizing each other, mobilizing consistently, and building power over time. It was setting clear priorities, building public pressure, and refusing to be told “no.” They didn’t wait for politicians to save them. They did it themselves—and they did it together.

I want to be really clear about something. I don’t think their success is just about a contract. I think it’s about a culture. A culture of courage. A culture of clarity. A union that sees every struggle inside the school building as connected to the fight outside it. A union that organizes relentlessly—and wins publicly.

And let me tell you what struck me most: it wasn’t just the raises. It wasn’t just the prep time. It was the way CTU connected everything they do to uplifting workers and the communities they serve. They didn’t organize for scraps. They organized for dignity.

Now, back here in New York, Unity tells us: this can’t be done. They say don’t expect too much. Be realistic. Accept what you’re given. And every time they say that, I ask: do they think we haven’t seen what our brothers and sisters in Chicago just achieved? Do they think we didn’t notice?

Because we noticed. And we are not accepting the scraps.

When we started this campaign, there were maybe 20 of us sitting around folding chairs, talking about the same things I’m talking about with you now. But we were armed with a faith in member power. And we are armed with a belief in transparency. And most of all—we believed in each other.

We are now on the verge of winning. And if we keep moving together, we will—and we will be a union again. A union that listens. A union that leads. A union where truth replaces talking points and backroom deals are replaced by bold demands.

CTU didn’t wait to be rescued. They got organized. They built up. They broke through.

And we can too.

Let’s stop settling. Let’s start organizing with urgency and demanding with discipline.

Together, we will drive our future.

When we fight, we win.

 

 

   

Dear CTU Family,

Tentative Agreement: Week in review

After nearly a year of negotiations — including first-ever public bargaining sessions and members of our union’s largest and most representative Big Bargaining Team spending hundreds of hours at the table fighting for proposals that will protect students and educators and make new investments in our schools — we have a Tentative Agreement.

Despite the efforts of right wing actors like Paul Vallas, The Liberty Justice Center, and Illinois Policy Institute, and the MAGA forces that seek to deny the investments Chicago’s students deserve, this tentative agreement builds upon the past several contracts won by CTU in 2012, 2016, and 2019. It charts a new direction of investment, expansion of sustainable community and dual language schools, increased staffing, and a focus on reparatory equity to provide the educational experience Chicago students deserve no matter what neighborhood they live in. If approved by rank-and-file CTU members, the agreement will be the next step in the process of transforming Chicago Public Schools, a process begun under Karen Lewis in 2010.

On Monday, our Big Bargaining Team and Executive Board approved a final package of proposals and sent a Tentative Agreement to CTU’s highest governing body, our 700+-member House of Delegates. On Wednesday, the HoD voted overwhelmingly to send the Tentative Agreement to the full membership for a ratification vote and set the date for the vote to be Thursday, April 10 and Friday, April 11. Watch the post-HoD press conference here.

On Friday and Saturday, we held the first two all-member information sessions to answer questions about the TA, with hundreds of members in attendance. We have eight more information sessions (virtual and in-person) scheduled for Monday through Wednesday, ahead of the ratification vote.

This week: Ratification vote, union meetings, and info sessions

Ratification Vote: Thursday, April 10 and Friday, April 11

The ratification vote will be held in person at schools and select locations for citywide members on April 10 and April 11. All members, including clinicians and other citywide educators, will be able to vote at any voting site, including the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters. CTU members, you will receive more information about how and where to vote from your union delegate. If your school does not have a delegate, or your delegate is on leave, you are encouraged to reach out to your organizer or field representative, who will ensure that voting takes place at your school.

Union meetings and info sessions

Between now and next Thursday, we encourage all members to attend the union meeting organized by their delegate and participate in one or more of the virtual or in-person information sessions listed below. If you need help getting a union meeting organized at your school, please reach out to your organizer or field representative.

There are eight more information sessions, both comprehensive and geared to specific topics, scheduled in the coming days. Click the links below to register for any of these information sessions.

Monday, April 7:
All-Member In-person Info Session at CTU, 5 p.m.
Special Education Virtual Info Session, 5 p.m.
PSRP Virtual Info Session, 6 p.m.

Tuesday, April 8:
All-Member In-person Info Session at Hyde Park High School, 5 p.m.
Bilingual Virtual Info Session, 5 p.m.
Clinicians + Itinerants Virtual Info Session, 5:30 p.m.
Accreted Members Info Session, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 9: All-member Virtual Info Session, 6 p.m.

Materials to review with your coworkers

We encourage you to review the TA materials that are available in the MemberLink Portal and also on the CTU website. In the MemberLink Portal, you can find the full text comparing the previous contract’s language with the language of the TA. In both locations, you can find a document highlighting and summarizing key changes won in bargaining, as well as 20 fact sheets focusing on areas specific to job categories and major areas of negotiation such as REACH, bilingual education, early childhood education and more.

What’s in this Tentative Agreement for students, educators and Chicago?

Ben For Teacher Retirement System - Still Time to Help with Petitions

Did you know?

• In 2009, the TDA rate of return was reduced to 7% for UFT titles, an effective cut of $2.3 million per teacher in retirement benefits.
• All non-UFT titles, including administrators, still receive the full 8.25% TDA.
• Tier 6 members receive less than half the benefits of Tier 4 members who make equal retirement contributions, and must work up to 15 years longer to receive a full pension.

Ultimate irony - retirees can't vote, nor run, not sign the petitions.

 

In last year's election, Unity hacks attacked Ben's petitions with a vengeance but we had almost double the number needed - so help out in the final days of petitioning.

 

Saturday, April 5, 2025

I wanted to post this before I head into Manhattan for the big rally today -- I will have some petitions for Ben with me for an in-service people I run into to sign. 

 

Here is Ben's campaign poster from last year.

With the recent State re-amortization budget proposal, now, more than ever, it is important to protect our pension against further cuts, and reverse the most recent ones.

Ben Morgenroth ran in the election last year against a no-nothing Unity shill as Ed Notes reported:  

• ICE Endorses in TRS, 
• Teacher Retiree System (TRS) Pension Election 
• Vote for Ben to End Unity Monopoly of Pension reps.

The UFT has 3 pension reps who serve 3-year terms that are staggered, thus triggering an election every year and they are all Unity Caucus reps who take their orders from the union leadership, which dovetails so closely to the center/right Democratic Party line and also is so cozy with the financial industry. I have advocated for years that the oppo should challenge Unity in every venue, including the TRS election.

 

Ben is back and he got 33% of the vote despite a massive Unity campaign against him and a boycott by MORE to support him because of an ugly false rumor spread by a current prominent member of ARISE. Irony: Ben is running with ARISE for the Exec Bd. Will the same forces aligned with ARISE refuse to back him this time and help the Unity candidate win?

 

Many ABC candidates are helping Ben with the petitions despite his running with ARISE and also will organize voters for him in their schools. 

 

I'm getting signatures for Ben - note that retirees can't sign, nor vote, nor run. Elections are in the schools in May and are run by the DOE, not the UFT. Last year the DOE did a terrible job.  I will be at the DA on Wednesday gathering sigs for him.

Here is a missive he sent out - today was the last day to mail the petitions so now it is getting them to him in person. He will be at the DA to collect. Download petitions here:

 

Instructions and signature pages to print:

www.tinyurl.com/benfortrs2025

 

If you already mailed in petitions, you can still collect more signatures. We need about 300 more signatures, so every one counts! Even if you can't get any others, just ONE SIGNATURE (your own signature) makes a difference (remember not to sign the certification line at the bottom for your own signature). Remember to sign the certification line at the bottom of each page (except the page with your signature - have a colleague sign the certification for that page if possible). If you are local in Brooklyn, feel free to reach out to me at benfortrs@gmail.com to drop off in person. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. Instructions and signature pages to print: www.tinyurl.com/benfortrs2025 Candidate statement: www.tinyurl.com/benfortrs2025statement Thank you for all the hard work. We were successful last year because YOU helped make this happen, and we can do it again! Best Wishes, Ben Please mail your signatures TODAY! Signatures page to print: www.tinyurl.com/benfortrs2025 Candidate statement: www.tinyurl.com/benfortrs2025statement

Ben Morgenroth for TRS | 539 Atlantic Ave Box 170080 | Brooklyn, NY 11217 US

 

Teacher Mike Schirtzer Celebrates Paraprofessional Day

For Unity, MORE, and New Action, this is an election gimmick...Mike S.

April 2, 2025

Mike, a candidate for HS Ex bd on the ABC slate, didn't mention that over 100 paras are running with A Better Contract through the Fix Para Pay group. This is the first time in UFT general election history that paras have joined groups running against Unity and Mike points out the failures of the past and even some current caucuses in their failures to work with paras - certainly United for Change in the 2022 election, of which I was involved, failed in this regard. I always wonder about all those teachers in the caucuses  and whether they talk to paras at all in their schools. Retiree Advocate has few if any paras associated with it and I'm trying to come up with paras who ran for the 300 delegates to the RTC. Note: This is also a failure on my part and had been for decades so I don't take myself off the blame list.

 

 

There is no bill yet and the 10K bonus is non-pensionable and looks like an election bribe but we still support them getting that money and despite Unity attacks, ABC has supported the 10K and signed the petitions while also being critical of the tactic of using bonuses that are not pensionable.

 

Some schools are holding celebrations:

Holy Paraprofessional Day! by Mike Schirtzer

As an ICT teacher for almost 20 years, I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible it has been to work with so many amazing paras. Every single one I’ve worked with has made my students’ days brighter and better. They’ve helped me become a better teacher. They are the backbone of our schools.

And let’s be clear—the foundation of any union is negotiating strong contracts. That’s why we pay dues. It’s so our union leadership can sit across from the DOE and fight for real raises, benefits, and protections. That’s how it’s supposed to work.

But what are we being told now? That we have to beg City Council for a raise because our union leadership can’t get it done at the bargaining table? That’s an admission of failure. You’re telling me that every other union in this city negotiates raises for its members, but for paraprofessionals, the best we can do is hope and pray politicians throw them some crumbs?

Crumbs in our weekly paycheck—and we’re supposed to be thankful? We’re supposed to rally and wear blue, but whatever you do, don’t bring up the shady backroom political deal. Don’t bring up that it’s not pensionable. Don’t mention that we’re not doing this for school aides and parent coordinators in DC 37. Just smile, say thank you, and keep paying your damn dues.

And even if this raise, bonus, City Council gift, or whatever we’re supposed to call it actually happens—it’s not pensionable. So when paras retire, they’re left high and dry. This is the same scam they pulled on teachers with those garbage bonuses that don’t count toward pensions. Who in God’s name gave Michael Mulgrew the power to hand out non-pensionable “bonuses” like some Wall Street CEO, while refusing to fight for real raises?

And one more thing—because my brothers and sisters in A Better Contract (ABC) have been too kind about this: Let’s talk about New Action and MORE, running under their front group Arise.

New Action has been around for 40 years. MORE for over a dozen years. And now they’re running around pretending to care about para pay? Have they ever made fixing para pay a priority? Hell no. For Unity, MORE, and New Action, this is an election gimmick. For us, it’s about a union doing what it’s supposed to do—fighting for real raises and making our paras’ lives better.

We have worked alongside the leaders of Fix Para Pay—not only including them, but taking our lead from them. Isn’t that how a real union works? A real union listens to its members and fights for their needs. Unlike Unity, MORE, and New Action, who treat para pay as a political prop, we believe in doing the real work to make our paras’ lives better.

This isn’t about political maneuvering—it’s about securing fair, pensionable wages through proper collective bargaining, not backroom deals or non-pensionable bonuses. Our paras deserve respect and real compensation, not empty promises.

Meanwhile, ABC has been fighting to fix para pay from day one. We’re running actual paras for the Executive Board because we believe they should have a real voice in this union.

Unity, MORE, and New Action haven’t cared about para pay—yesterday, today, or tomorrow. Don’t be fooled.

 

Beware of Unity & MORE, UFT! They ALL claim to be 'member-driven'. Part 1 - UFT Proud

An ABC supporter opines on this anonymous blog. (It's not me writing this stuff - too much research work for lazy me to do.)

Tuesday April 1 - and this post is not an April Fool Joke

I am tired of the caucus control of our union. This is our union. We need a better contract.

They ALL claim to be 'member-driven'. But can you truly be member-driven while forcing your own personal politics and personal agendas on union members? - Part 1

Do Mulgrew, Weingarten, and their Unity caucus really think they speak for us all? Who do they represent and speak for? Doesn't member-driven mean we have a say?

 

Beware of Unity & MORE, UFT!

Mar 18, 2025

 

https://uftproud.substack.com/p/they-all-claim-to-be-member-driven 

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Can Michael Mulgrew, Randi Weingarten and their Unity caucus separate personal politics and personal agendas with leading our union?

Do they even bother to ask us what we think when they act on our behalf?

Umm. No.

Here are just some recent examples that they don’t give a darn about our diverse views, nor do they bother to get our input before they act on our behalf.

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1. Congestion Pricing - Mulgrew decided he’s against congestion pricing, therefore, the UFT is against it. He never polled us. We never spoke about or debated this issue at a UFT delegate assembly or UFT executive board. Like the dictator he is, he used our dues to file a lawsuit without our consent.

   Maybe he has a point about how it affects working class folks? Maybe he’s ignoring the body of environmental studies that prove him wrong? Maybe some of us agreed with him regarding congestion pricing. Yet, we also know just as many of us didn’t. Either way, he didn’t care to ask because he doesn’t think he has to.

   

2. ---

3. Israel/Gaza - This is an issue that has many strong, passionate, polarizing and personal positions among Americans and our union members, alike. Despite the inherent dissension this issue inevitably brings, Unity decided they would pass several geopolitical resolutions locally and nationally without speaking to members, first. Why bother, right?

   Even when some in Unity pushed back behind closed doors about the need to make sure that any stated position included our union’s diversity of voices, or that perhaps a press statement might be better, they didn’t care to ask or include members in the discussion before writing and forcing through geo-political resolutions with limited debate.

   As some know, Unity doesn’t just control our local union but Randi Weingarten leads Unity’s equivalent in our national union, the American Federation of Teachers.

   Did Randi or Unity poll teachers on a national level if the union should have a “Ceasefire Resolution”, condemn Netanyahu, or that the union must support a “two-state solution”? Nope.

   Ask most on the various sides of the Israel-Gaza issue and sufficed to say that the majority these days may likely not support a “two-state” solution. Some of us are not even sure our unions need to have a union position on geopolitical issues.

   One AFT delegate, Amy Lesser, from Los Angeles, holds a view many others in our union have expressed. She stated in a recent interview:

   “We are not international politicians,” she said. “And there is no foreign government that has any interest in what the teachers union or any labor union has to say about how they should function. . . . So the entire purpose behind these motions and these resolutions is that they generate a hostile teaching environment and learning environment for students.”

   Nonetheless, Unity didn’t bother to ask you or me, once again. They voted as a bloc in Houston, Texas, in the summer of 2024, for a “two-state solution” because of their oath that binds Unity delegates to vote for whatever the caucus leadership decides.

   

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4. Divesting our pensions and union assets from Musk’s Tesla? - We all know that Randi and Unity are tied to the hip of the establishment Democrat machine. They may try to appear to be neutral but those of us who attend delegate assemblies heard when Mulgrew included us as part of the DNC’s operations. He blurred the lines with the DNC when he spoke about ‘WE’ will be door knocking and campaigning for the Harris for President campaign in Pennsylvania.

    
   Who can forget Randi and the UFT making public endorsements of Kamala Harris the minute front page news shared that Biden would no longer be running and Kamala had declared her candidacy before rank and file AFT delegates voted on the matter? They boasted about being the first union to endorse Kamala while unions like the Teamsters deliberated and polled all of their members. Teamsters did the unimaginable in Unity circles these days — they made no endorsement.

   Now that Harris lost the presidential election handily and Trump has included Elon Musk in his administration, Randi is really mad and obsessed about losing to the will of the American people, Trump and Musk. She dedicates a lot of her time and effort these days in a Twitter/X war with Elon and has gone as far as asking that pension and asset managers divest from Musk’s Tesla company.

   It seems that her personal politics and petty partisan online bickering now affect our financial bottom lines, too? Randi, have you reflected about why so much of the working class isn’t voting for your side these days?

   

5. The New York Health Act - Here’s a little secret Unity doesn’t want you to know. Retirees, take heed. Our union’s official position according to our highest-deliberative body is that the UFT SUPPORTS of the New York Health Act.

   
   Did you know that Unity is actually behind writing, motivating and passing the two UFT resolutions that affirm the union’s official support for the New York Health Act? They have a really crazy way of gaslighting us to deflect from their own deeds.

   In 2015, most of the left and even centrist Democrats were staunchly behind Bernie’s Medicare for All. For a season, it was politically cool and fashionable to support single-payer universal healthcare. Following the political headwinds of the day, Unity wrote and passed a resolution in support of NYHA that seeks to a create a single payer healthcare system for all in New York.

   In May of 2015, the former Unity-UFT Secretary, Emil Pietromonaco, can be found here motivating the Unity crafted UFT resolution in support of the New York Health Act. It passed overwhelmingly by the Unity dominated executive board. Shortly after, it passed overwhelmingly in their rubber stamp, Unity dominated delegate assembly.

Another Unity inspired reso in 2017 that affirmed our union stance on the New York Health Act was motivated by current UFT secretary, LeRoy Barr. It too passed overwhelmingly in the Unity-dominated exec board and delegate assembly.

So what changed? Why did Unity waffle on its own stance on the New York Health Act? Did they see the light? Did they finally realize it may affect retiree Medicare? Or did they have a “come to Jesus'“ moment as to how to fund it? No, the Biden-Harris campaign for President in 2020 changed the DNC’s views on single-payer universal healthcare, at least for now.

The 2020 Biden campaign may have still supported a path to universal healthcare but it also believed it could become a reality through privatization — rejecting a single payer option exclusively. We see this in his stated campaign positions.

We also see the AFT and Randi abandon its hardline single payer stance from the Bernie days and fall in line with the Biden-Harris privatized insurance plus public option view.

The Uniry-led AFT passed a resolution during the pandemic changing labor’s long held position regarding univeral healthcare with a single payer option to supporting the possibility of achieving it with “private insurance with a public option.”

Circa 2020, the current union leadership pulled back on its own single-payer healthcare position, despite their own resolutions in support of NYHA, and they began to publish contradictory anti-NYHA messaging on our union web pages. Mulgrew openly attacked the will of the union’s deliberative bodies and blamed union activists, except it strangely was their own Unity caucus machinations.

In this insider, establishment political see-saw game, they didn’t ask you or me. Their flip-flop regarding the New York Health Act wasn’t because they sought input from the membership. It had more to do with the Big Healthcare lobbyists having the ear of the Biden Administration while it fiercely lobbied in states that were considering a single-payer option or a public option.

So maybe they just changed their minds? So why not use the executive board and delegate assembly to change the union stance on NYHA?

These days they have no guarantees in ramming things through the DA because of their shrinking majority and why should they if Mulgrew can do whatever he wants without consent, even if the consent is performative.

Did they realize how it would impact their control of the Welfare Fund? Maybe. We also can’t discount Mulgrew’s dance with the City to achieve health care cost savings in exchange for retro raises and the bill that came due in 2018 . Or that he created a Medicare Advantage plan that sought to force Medicare eligible retirees into it to pay for his givebacks.

To Cuomo or Not to Cuomo?

A test of Unity’s disdain and mistrust of members will be on display during this pivotal upcoming mayoral election. Will Unity actually poll us for our desired endorsement picks as to who should be the next mayor of NYC? Would they bother to share the poll results with us? Already Unity apologists are making a case for disgraced, former Governor Andrew Cuomo who has a marred history steeped in anti public education and anti-union policies, creating Tier 6, and multiple allegations of sexual harassment of 13 women. Mulgrew already has shown his cards and thinks Cuomo is worthy of our consideration.

And still our voices and input don’t matter to Unity in our union’s political decisions. Member-driven? Not in 60 years. Not ever.

Member-divisive. Yes.

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Up next: If a MORE-dominated ARISE coalition is elected, can it genuinely be MEMBER-DRIVEN?

Can MORE caucus and its political front groups, like Educators for Palestine, separate their own personal politics and personal agendas from leading our union?

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We need new leadership that’s committed to being member-led, member-centered and MEMBERS FIRST. That’s why I’m voting for the A Better Contract slate. Caucuses like Unity and MORE only pursue their own self-preservation. While ABC believes in genuine member voice and referenda — no more decisions on big issues like political endorsements without bringing it to the membership, first.

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A Casino in Queens or Time Square? - Most of us still don’t understand why he used the weight of the union or had union officers at public hearings fighting in this casino bidding war among the city’s billionaires as to whose project should be approved by the City. Mulgrew decided that he was firmly with Team Billionaire Steve Cohen and that Queens residents deserve a new casino in their backyard— not in a business district like Time Square. Mulgrew’s close ties to chief lobbyist, Louis Cholden-Brown, for Cohen’s casino empire bidding operation raises a lot of eyebrows. Should our union be involved in this? Were we consulted or briefed? Ha!