It's primary day in NYC and lots of scrutiny on Mamdani supported candidates in 3 congressional races where he backs candidates closely or loosely connected to the Dem Socialists, but all pushing back against Dem party central. In every one of these, Mulgrew has led the UFT to support the other candidate, thus cementing the view that I always have had that the UFT is tied to the traditional corporate Dem wing and the Mamdani endorsement was an outlier due to Mamdani's sweeping support. Mulgrew lied and maneuvered the DA into supporting Dan Goldman, who is expected to lose to Brad Lander. One interesting thing I noticed was that Randi Weingarten's rabbi wife is backing Lander. Hmmm.
I never liked Espaillat and am glad he is being challenged but my instinct is he will win and the Mamdani push in that area may be an error. And his candidate against Reynoso who is backed by Nydia Velazquez is also tricky but I think Mamdani will win that one in the Commie corridor but his relationship with the more conservative- leaning Hispanic community will be harmed long-term.
I think the UFT is backing Alex Bores - Mamdani voted in that district but is keeping his vote secret. I'm betting he voted for Nina Schwalbe,
The District 12 Candidate Nobody Is Talking About
She has no chance and I might have voted for her too but I hate Micah Lasher for too many reasons to cite here and would go for Bores in a rare agreement with the UFT.
I voted already for one candidate for the state assembly seat being vacated by the current holder who inherited the seat from her mom who still has a Queens county political job. Good riddance. The Dem machine is pushing its candidate which is more of the same, while I'm backing Mike Scala who has run before when I backed a more left Dem Soc candidate but Mike has moved a bit left and I've met him and contributed. Reality bite - the machine will win and then face a serious MAGA challenge. Remember, corp Dem supreme Greg Meeks is the local congressman - and it is here where I expect a serious challenge from the Dem Soc left to come in two years, possibly from a great candidate, Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson, a major Mamdani supporter who I canvassed with. His was the only district in Rockaway that went for Mamdani.
Tonight will hold fascinating post-mortems. Sam Seder, my fave podcaster, dwelled deeply into the DSA move to reshape the Dem party and I tend to back any challenge to the corp wing which would also weaken the UFT leadership ties to that wing.
June 23, 2026
June 16 was the final meeting of the year of the UFT Retired Teacher Chapter and I started writing this piece that day.
My last post was on June 4: UFT News and Views: RTC Ex Bd, TRS Election, Electronic Voting.
This is only the second blog I've done this month when in the past I used to do 3 a day.
I had medical stuff going on the morning of the 16th with chemo at MSK and as usual had a great nurse who is from Memphis but moved to NYC in January and just loves it here. And she lives in Murray Hill nearby my apartment. She noticed my Knick shirt and said she is a convert from a Grizzly fan. That's the spirit. My Knicks shirt was getting lots of thumbs up.
Leaflets announcing the Fix Retiree Benefits June 28 Zoom were being handed out. I think a few hundred have registered already.
Fix Retiree Benefits consists of retirees that have felt they had no real voice in the world of Retiree Advocate, the group that fundamentally runs the RTC chapter.
I'm impatient to get things done and I feel a campaign against Unity for the RTC needs to get organized sooner rather than later. I'll get more into the rationale behind FRB next time. At least 4 RTC Ex Bd members are working with Fix Retiree Benefits with others echoing silent support. Most of the others are elected delegates.
Register to join the Town Hall meeting Sunday, June 28th at 7PM.
Arthur was at the June 16 meeting and he has a detailed report, which I will excerpt and comment on.
RTC Meeting--Michael Mulgrew Opposes Union Division (Unless He Creates It): Exception to every rule, Arthur Goldstein, Jun 16, 2026
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| The UGLY |
The good, the bad and the ugly of the meeting
Bennett Fischer had already started his CL report, so I missed the beginning because I was getting eats.
The Not GOOD:
Overall, I saw a pattern repeated -- New Motions have been moved to the end of the meeting and since that was done, meetings have been adjourned before any New Motions can be gotten too. It is true that Unity had been using this time to make mom and apple pie resos and this was a ploy to shut that down, but is also precludes internal people from making new motions which I have been known to do on a whim and which seems to bother the RTC leadership.
I can remember being livid at Randi at one meeting for shutting down new motions and she called me into the hallway to apologize and I told her, "even Shanker never did that." People in charge, whether Unity at the DA or RA at the RTC meetings seem to fear the unknown new motion and look to control that space, which is not democratic.
A lesson about the RA/RTC leadership - once you get into power, any criticism is very bothersome and the tendency to put up roadblocks is hard to resist. Not new boss same as old boss but a warning sign.
Bennett has his critics on how he runs the meetings. At times he seems confused. Someone I know who taught at his school when he was CL finds it hard to believe as he was a very effective CL, but dealing with meetings like these are way different than chapter meetings.
I can only think of how Tom Murphy (or Tom Pappas before him) ran meetings when Unity was in control see things as relative.
Right now give me a choice of Bennett and anyone in Unity and I take Bennett.
Bennett's reports don't go on as long as Mulgrew's and he takes questions. Critics need to think about managing a meeting of 300 live and a thousand online and have a bit of rachmones. But criticism on time management are legit.
The UGLY
Mulgrew also made a report at this meeting and seemed in such good cheer and comfortable with his lies, which I will let Arthur expound on. Mulgrew also took some questions. (A few months ago Mulgrew ordered Bennett to give him time at our meeting and the RTC EB were outraged as Mulgrew took time from our business. I was one of the crazies who said we should ban Mulgrew from meetings or turn our backs but I guess I don't live in the real world.)
We had committee reports and Good and Welfare where anyone can say what they want and we were beyond 2:30, before we got to the regular order of business, with a 3PM automatic adjournment.
The GOOD:
Bennett Fischer's report was the strongest in two years challenging the UFT leadership over various issue and he received good grades even from critics because there had been a feeling he was being too light on the leadership in the past.
NOTE: RA is dominated by members of New Action, which had a 12-year deal with Unity. Bennett was never part of New Action and does not have that type of mentality but he has worked at the UFT in the past and does have certain relationships with leadership, not necessarily a bad thing but also not always a good thing.
Some people are very angry at Bennett but even they praised his approach. I think Bennett senses the critics and his comments were strong. No matter our differences so far, I am not one of the people who feel he should be replaced, at least if we manage to put a common slate together, though the winds blowing from the RA direction are not a good sign. Bennett can play a role in bringing everyone together but is he so deep in the RA machine he can't escape?
RTC EB Elects 11 replacement delegates, rejected by UFT membership
I was glad Bennett raised this point in a strong manner.
Arthur reports:
Bennett mentions RTC delegate election. Following process in RTC constitution, UFT bosses chose not to seat delegates. Bennett says Carl Cambria explained decision to him. Appealed decision to UFT Exec Board.
David Pecoraro to Mulgrew—Our CL spoke of Exec Board meeting holding election in accordance with article 8 of UFT and RTC constitution. Will you uphold ruling of Weingarten that this procedure followed previously can go forth. No taxation without representation.
Mulgrew—Since I just found out about this, will go to exec board and check. What’s in rules? If rules are there, I will make my voice heard at exec board. Didn’t know there was an issue. If rules are followed…
What a load of horseshit that Mulgrew just found out about this - a reminder of how Trump fakes things. Mulgrew has his finger in every pot. I'm glad Dave Pecoraro, who was thrown out of Unity years ago, put him on the spot.
I know it would have been impolite if Bennett expressed this thought, but someone should have over this blatant lie.
I had been hectoring Bennett for well over a year to raise the issue of replacing delegates who had resigned or passed away so we could get our full complement of 300. Recently we went through the two month process and elected 11 delegates, including the recently retired Amy Arundell (I bet the leadership would not be happy to see Amy at the DA). The RTC constitution says the RTC Ex Bd can replace elected officials and we had already replaced an officer and a few Ex Bd but the membership dept ruled that we had no right to replace delegates and pointed out how school chapters hold an election to replace delegates. Now being consistent, if the EB can't do it then there must be an election in the 70k member chapter, a nightmare of sorts to mail out ballots - unless they did it by electronic voting, which was recently rejected by a special committee, including the ARISE reps, siding with Unity. Allowing the elected EB to do it would save enormous time and money but Unity doesn't want us to replace delegates and so we will never see an election. Look for the RTC leadership to drop the issue after their appeal to the UFT Ex Bd is rejected.
The Semi-BAD from Arthur
Bennett announces all meetings will be Tuesday. Evidently the decision to vary times has not resulted in increased attendance. He has not consulted the Exec. Board about this, which makes me wonder exactly who made the decision. Nor were we consulted about the changing times this year.
I can live with not being involved in deciding meeting dates though the survey might have benefited from a wider input, but the RTC powers that be may be increasingly resistant to voices outside the Retiree Advocate circle.
Bennett and his advisors have made unilateral decisions that leave the RTC Exec Bd out, a dangerous trend toward lack of transparency that might explain the rise of critics.
The RTC constitution states that any member may attend an EB meeting but they are never announced. Even when we had openings on the EB, only insiders knew about them.
The GOOD and BAD from Arthur:
Bennett announces a survey. Ironically, after the decision was made, our input is desired.
I started paying attention as Bennett put up a QR code for those in the room to take the survey. What of the people at home? They tell the people at home to go to a web site. This survey needs to be sent out to all RTC members though the CL email, but will the UFT hierarchy allow it? I finally get a look at the survey in detail a few days later.
There are a bunch of questions on attendance at meetings. It seems the results might have informed a decision on when meetings should be held.
The UGLY: The RA Pizzitola Purge Continues
There is a question on survey about the speakers and programs at RTC meetings. Since Marianne Pizzitola was our very first speaker at our first meeting in Oct. 2025, I looked for her name.
Her name was not there.
Is this an oops, or intentional? Go to Kalshi and bet. A major sticking point between FRB and RA is Marianne, as RA tries to forget it was her backing that played a major role in our victory two years ago and is pissed she backed ABC in the UFT election helping lead ABC to a 3-1 margin over ARISE.
But it's not a bad Survey . It ends with:
Ideas and comments you would like to share with the RTC Leadership Team, Additional questions for the Retired Teachers Chapter Leadership Team.
My questions would be exactly who constitutes the RTC Leadership Team? One would expect the officers and Exec Bd but Arthur is an officer and none of the 15 member EB I have been in touch with knew about the survey before it was released at the RTC meeting.
The GOOD:
At the June 2 RTC EB meeting Bennett brought a reso calling for retirees to vote in TRS elections and I suggested he add that retirees can also run in TRS elections and this reso was the sole item on the regular order of business. Also note that RA, NAC and MORE - the ARISE coalition, sat out the TRS election, which helped Unity. Just sayin'.
Unity hack Peter Goodman kills reso on retirees running in UFT elections with nefarious intentions
Arthur: The UGLY
Today we managed to table not one, but two resolutions. One resolved to allow retirees to vote on trustees. A Unity member objected. Unity is very happy with TRS elections, and doesn’t want us uppity retirees to have a voice. We don’t, in fact, need a constitutional convention to change this. For example, we passed an equal rights amendment to the NY State Constitution back in 2024, without affecting pensions.
The objection was utter nonsense, another page in Unity’s perpetual quest to make sure we get nothing done.
Unity’s Peter Goodman whipped out an appeal to fear, making the outlandish assertion that if we were to seek the right for retirees to vote in trustee elections, it would entail opening up the NY State Constitution, and possibly tampering with our pensions.
I voted no to tabling, but Goodman stoked enough fear to stop the resolution. Trustees are elected to work for city, not state pensions. I didn’t think of that at the time, but I knew that even if it were statewide, parts the constitution are changed via voting, like our Equal Rights Amendment.
Vote on motion to table—Y 778 n 90 y 145 n 48 87%
That the tabling reso won overwhelmingly, as Unity initiatives have increasingly been winning this year, is a clear sign of Unity increasingly gaining support in their plan to retake the chapter in next year's election, with no real response from the RTC leadership, one more good reason for everyone to get together to keep Unity from retaking the chapter and giving Mulgrew free reign to savage our healthcare.
The fact is - and I would have pointed this out if the meeting had not run out of time - is that with the RTC still up for grabs next year with what looks like a 50-50 split, allowing retirees to vote in TRS elections would threaten Unity control of the 3 TRS reps and Goodman was using scare tactics to stop this reso, which won't come up again until our next meeting in October.
After the meeting ended I went across the street for coffee with a few Fix Retirement Benefits colleagues to hash what happened over.
----
A few more Arthur tidbits:
Whopper of the Day—Michael Mulgrew opposes union division. This is a man who said, in my presence, that those who questioned him spouted “fairy tales,” and “make everything a conspiracy.” We can’t “handle the facts.”
Mulgrew then told us he appreciates people coming here, and loves when they’re here. (Doubtless that’s why he provides us with only ten minutes to share during the meeting.) There’s always a but, though. I often recall a Shakespeare teacher I had in college who told us, “Whenever anyone says but, you may disregard whatever precedes it.” And here comes the important part:
Mulgrew then said if we didn’t agree, and attacked “each other,” we were just as guilty as the people who attack us from the outside. He repeatedly compared those of us who disagreed with him to our enemies. Who am I? Am I Eva Moskowitz? Michael Bloomberg?
LeRoy Barr followed this up by urging people to “shun” dissenting voices. All due respect, this man has a lot of gall to lecture us on our behavior.
Sometimes, like today, he politely tells us to sit down and shut up. Other times, he is not so careful.
Mulgrew also said the worst thing would be to pit retirees against in-service members. This was also curious. Mulgrew himself told in service members if we did not vote to change 12-126 to enable charges for Medicare, we would have to pay $1500 premiums. If that isn’t pitting in-service against retirees, I don’t know what is.
Mulgrew also said we should “shut newspaper reporters up,” and referred to the Unity-dominated Delegate Assembly as the “silent majority.”
Shades of Trump and Nixon. Our union leader, who arbitrarily and capriciously fires any UFT employee who dares question him, ought not to be lecturing us on decorum.
Sean Ahern—Moves RTC hold a debate with reps from both sides on NYHA and 1096. Major issues.
B—Haven’t we had conferences for this? Motion is to have a debate with people on both sides of issues, You can’t vote for me to do something. Not saying I wouldn’t but out of order that I host.
Point ot info—Carmen Alvarez—Don’t believe this is in order. Not clear what it wants to do. Structure for resolution not met. Table until something is clearer.
B—moves to table—
online y—615 n 170 r 107 n 28 78%
Resolution tabled indefinitely,
Read his entire notes:
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