UNITY Caucus Contract Gaslighting, Show Rallies, Mulgrew postures on a strike, Why Vote NO Will Win a Better Contract, UFT Election Officials Refuse to Reveal Para Election Numbers

Tuesday May 30 - Too much news to report, but here goes anyway

Rumors that oppo in para election won two out of 5 positions up for grabs. The para chapter is the second largest (28k)after retirees in the UFT. Try to imagine how a general election (in 2025) would look of both of these chapters were close. Unity will pull out all stops, especially in the 2024 chapter elections. Watch those numbers (if they are honest) for signs of breakage in the Unity front.

When people used to claim Unity cheats in elections I always responded they don't have to steal an election - until elections get close and contentious. Then it's Katy bar the door. I firmly believe that if UFC ever won, Unity would pull a Trump and refuse to leave. 

There's a breaking story on the recent UFT para chapter election to replace leaders who have retired or left for the next year until the regular 2024 chapter elections with hints of Unity playing games and a refusal by UFT election officials to release voting counts. Educators of NYC has the preliminary story while we get more details. I reported on April 15:

Corruption @UFT in Para Election: Full-time patronnage jobs -- Unity is more interested in Unity than its membership: Contentious UFT Para Chapter Election - Does Unity Cheat? I Know, you're shocked! 

It's an old  Unity ploy  - to offer jobs to potential oppo people. Do you know what scares them to hell about a strike? Due to loss of dues checkoff hey would have to cut staff and lose this advantage. And don't be surprised to see Unity try to pull a bait and switche by replacing Mulgrew and Tom Murphy in their next elections. Don't be fooled --- Unity will always be Unity no matter who's in charge.

 

UFT holds contract rallies: Not everyone buys in  

There were multiple rallies on Wednesday, including the UFT rallies at the boroughs. One of my friends asked why I didn't mention them. Frankly, holding union rallies in 5 boroughs rather than trying for a massive rally only made sense because the leadership had no confidence in mobilizing a mass. So dilution it was. I hear the one in Queens was big - maybe 5-600 but other boroughs not as strong.

...our union is weakened by demonstrations that are essentially just for show. There are times to stand up, and when those times come along, we're either asleep or being stabbed in the back by the Municipal Labor Committee, including our esteemed leadership. More likely, we're asleep and being stabbed in the back by leadership. ...I'm not energized by lies. I'm energized by fighting for real progress.  Our leadership, Mulgrew included, is moving us backward. We should be a vibrant force, the "powerful teachers union" the tabloids are always complaining about. Instead, we're a sleeping giant. Step one in awakening this sleeping giant is tossing the Unity Caucus out of power. We'll begin that process with the retirees. I hope to be one by election time.... Arthur Goldstein, NYC Educator

Arthur is on target. UFT leaders will claim the rallies have an impact. On whom? I don't think the powers that be are scared by a few thousand people, if even that many showed. Unity Caucus has over a thousand members, so they are required to show up. And the opposition, so constantly denigrated by Unity hacks, are the most loyal in supporting union initiatives, no matter how lame they may be, even though they point out the flaws.

Rousing rank and filers is hard - but also dangerous to the leadership.

The UFT has about 130k working members. Flood the streets and bridges with 50k and that would make a statement. But when you put contract negotiations under a non-disclosure agreement so the members and the public have no idea what exactly is going on, don't expect results. So the rallies are more about internal issues. An attempt to rouse the membership. But not to much rousing.

Nick Bacon had a similar take as Arthur at the New Action blog:

I am hopeful that attendance will be good – not just by staffers, but by regular rank-and-file teachers, paras, and related professionals. And yes, I plan to attend, and have encouraged members of my chapter to attend. I encourage you to attend too...the preparation meetings for May 24th have been feel-good Unity-heavy events that seemed to lack substance. Moreover, using an event like what is planned on May 24th for ‘yes-vote’ purposes rather than negotiating purposes would keep with the MO of other ‘Taylor law proud’ union leaders, such as those of DC37, who held a major rally on Feb. 16, only to announce a tentative agreement with the City the next day (Feb. 17). That deal, we now know, cemented one of the worst patterns in the history of the NYC labor movement. That pattern, we’re now stuck with.

Arthur

It's fine that UFT is out there. But the fact is, the overwhelming majority are not. The overwhelming majority of us are essentially asleep. That's been a feature of our union for decades. You can tell when people speak about it. People say terrible things about the UFT, not realizing they're describing themselves. Sadly, pathetically even, a lot of us feel no responsibility for anything whatsoever regarding our union. For many of us, the union is somehow the people sitting in offices. 

Nick 

it’s a mistake that our union’s leadership is so committed to keeping working teachers from having the right to strike. I think that their over-reliance on bureaucratic ‘Taylor Law’ tactics undermines the potency of our organizing. And, I worry that if UFT leadership is relying on the threat of PERB rather than the culmination of good organizing (i.e. the viable ‘strike’ threat), the City has little reason to react to the limited organizing it does see.

Nick and oppo are mocked by Unity all the time for standing up to them. Witness this recent Unity leaflet:

You see, you are disloyal if you question, just like any authoritarian regime. Yeah, Unity does the work - of the scam private insurance companies.

There were other rallies taking place on May 24.

A fun rally at city hall, followed by bird dogging Mayor Adams - and the police response to 30 old codgers and a load of cops

I posted that morning just as I was leaving for the Rally and Protest Day for Retirees opposing UFT on Healthcare, People's Plan opposing budget cuts and UFT for the contract

The CROC (Cross Union Organizing Committee) rally was at 9:30 outside City Hall was separate from other demos going on at the same time - much younger workers who joined a long line to testify at City Council hearings. I gave out copies of The Indypendent with my article comparing the dynamic Chicago Teacher and Los Angeles unions with the moribund UFT: A Tale of Two Teachers Unions comparing influence of progressive Chicago CTU with Tepid UFT - Norm's article in The Indypendent.

Rather than go into the council CROC (consisting of UFT, DC 37, CUNY and other city union retirees) had people read their submitted testimony outside. At 10:30 we heard that Mayor Adams would be appearing along side the Brooklyn Bridge to celebrate its birthday and we decided to birddog him and marched to the area under an overpass shouting slogans on a public walkway until police saw us and put a metal battier in our way. Gloria made a little video from the Rally at City Hall "Do Not Screw Retirees, Mayor Adams!" https://youtu.be/aUfrCBSNWgE.

Why Vote NO? Why not? 

Unity whiners cry about our 5 demands before voting YES. They will argue we go to the back of the line, blah, blah, blah. In 1995 we rejected the contract which raised from 20 to 25 years of work to reach max salary. Sandy Feldman said if we think we can do better we must be smoking something. Well take a tote because they came back with 22 to reach max. Think of how much money people have saved over the decades with those extra 3 years? Not a total victory because it was still a giveback, only not as bad. And the OT/PT chapter rejected the 2018 contract and the redo came back with a few nuggets. So there is precedence.

We gain leverage with a no vote by demonstrating members are unhappy are ready to go beyond the leadership. Cred threat of a strike either led by leadership or wildcat actions - as we've seen from teachers around the nation over the past 5 years.

I urged a VOTE NO - a year ago and go back to Ed Notes in 2009 as a reference

Thursday, June 23, 2022

I've been mocking the UFT/Unity leadership over its faux negotiating committee farce for years.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

UFT Contract UFT Cast of Thousands Contract Committee
I raised some questions on the then 350 member Neg Comm, now expanded to as many as can fit in the cone of silence dome.

Questions on the Negotiation Committee: How are people chosen to be on this committee? Of the 350 committee members how many are in Unity Caucus? Does secrecy mean that Unity Caucus members don’t discuss the issues brought up for discussion among themselves? Are we to believe that the only discussion that takes place among Unity Caucus members is in the committee room?

If you think top level Unity don't discuss the issues beforehand, take a walk on the bridge you just bought.

In fact, I believe just about all contract issues have been pre-decided by the leadership and their main problem is how to filter the info out to the negotiating committee and how to do it to make it look democratic. Every committee will echo the election committee with a Unity majority. I like that there are people who want to be on the neg Comm even if having to sign the NDA and also that there are people who won't sign.

 

 

We know the contract will suck and many in the opposition will call for a Vote No campaign - in fact I'm starting the campaign right now -- oh, shit, retirees don't get to vote on the contract. You working stiffs have my proxy.

Some Unity slug will stop by to comment on how dumb I am.

 

 I urge people to accept the reality and just call for a NO VOTE NOW.

Mulgrew joins UFT to private insurance scam artists

 

I urge you to read this report from The Lever on The $20 Billion Scam At The Heart Of Medicare Advantage, which will outrage you, especially since Mulgrew has placed our own union and all city retirees at the service of the enormously profitable private insurance companies that will lead to the end of Medicare as we know it as public funds are drained into stock givebacks and exec salaries. What the UFT, with the support of the AFT president Randi Weingarten did was help bring about the end of the only publicly managed option, the very opposite of their claims to want a medicare for all system. 

When I sent this article above to my wife who ran the billing system for a division of a major hospital, she rolled her eyes and said she's known about these schemes for 30 years from pressure being put on doctors with gifts, etc to upcode to make people sicker than they are. She often tried to resist dishonest coding and was not very popular with some administrators.

At a recent Retired Teacher meeting a woman explained that upcoding can be harmful for us as patients as our records would not be accurate if we had an emergency.

From the last UFT ex Bd meeting

Unity hack1: There was not one time that I voted on a contract that I wasn’t aware what my union pointed out to me and what I chose to read. I don’t think any of our members need two weeks to look at what is important to our members. I think this resolution is somewhat insulting, that it would take anyone two weeks to read what is important. I trust our union leadership, and I trust our union.

Unity hack2: How many people presenting this have actually read the contract and the 2018 MOA? How could you possibly have harmony? How could we have that whenever we have exec boards and DAs things are reported out negatively? Imagine the negativity that will come out if 2 weeks notice are given. Right now we have a vote no campaign – you haven’t even seen the contract.

A few Takeaways:

We gain leverage with a no vote - demonstrates to city members are ready to go beyond leadership

Cred threat of a strike either led by leadership or wildcat actions - as we've seen from teachers around the nation over the past 5 years

Penalties on members are harsh in two for one but harsher on leadership which can be fined extensively and lose dues checkoff - catastrophic for UFT if had to collect dues individually.

 

Mulgrew mentions the S word - and people LOL- EONYC comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

trying to argue that it’s not illegal for public sector workers to strike in NYS is laughable. Mulgrew said it just means “you can but you have to pay fines”. While Section 210 of Taylor Law reads “PROHIBITION OF STRIKES”. He also failed to say union leaders are fined + jailed. The word play is intentional as his Unity leadership caucus has done nothing to lobby against the Taylor law provision that makes an unfettered right to strike possible, despite calls from

@UFT

rank and file. Imagine telling someone during the 1920’s Prohibition: Buying alcohol is not illegal. It’s just prohibited with some fines. Or the cop who pulls you over: My tinted windows are prohibited but not illegal. In fact, your dictionary will likely define illegal as not lawful or prohibited by law. When something is prohibited by an authority like the state it is ILLEGAL. See Shanker thrown in jail in last illegal teacher strike in 1975. Striking is a human right. And should not be prohibited/illegal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting factoid from NYCDOE

 
UFT, DOE and class size

A community activist comments:

"Meeting the new class size standards is going to require a real plan -- and so far, the DOE hasn't managed to create one.  This document is missing a strategy for implementation and a targeted proposal for where and when new seats should be built. The state passed the small class size law and increased funding to New York City public schools to pay for it. We will work with the state to make sure the New York City Department of Education fulfills its obligations and complies with this law" - Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers

If Mulgrew is serious about implementation and enforcement, he’d support a class size guarantee in our next contract. The United For Change coalition is calling for one as part of their BIG 5 contract demands. -- Educators of NYC

http://tinyurl.com/big5demands

Note the guest blogger today at ICE blog - the famous RBE, formerly proprietor of Perdido Street School blog.

Waiting for Mikey

Guest Blogger: RBE

 

Today is Rally and Protest Day for Retirees opposing UFT on Healthcare, People's Plan opposing budget cuts and UFT for the contract

I have to run to catch the ferry for a few rallies today but I don't think I'll last past the early morning one.  Today is the big rally day for the UFT for the contract. Unity snowflakes have been whining about the opposition actually asking for real contract items:

• United for Change: OUR BIG 5 UFT CONTRACT DEMANDS – OR WE MUST VOTE ‘NO’! - Take the Pledge to vote NO! If They Are not included

I attended the UFT Ex Bd meeting Monday night -- Unity seemed pretty upset at the opposition - how dare we call for a real contract, which increasingly looks like a 3% pattern with some tweaks. Adams might throw a little bone in exchange for the UFT leadership selling out the retirees on healthcare. In the meantime they are avoiding talking about the healthcare savings for the city coming out of working UFTers - co-pay creep, the probably replacement of GHI by Aetna -- none of these are negotiable they tell us.

Monday the Unity snowflakes were vexed by a UFC motion calling for taking time to actually read the contract. resolution on contract full disclosure. They whined that two weeks is too long but they could have amended that to a few days but they didn't even do that. A Unity hack who is supposed to represent teachers as a special rep, said she only cares about the high schools and doesn't read the rest of the contract. That explains a lot about someone who was well-known to pull oppo lit out of mailboxes as a chapter leader.

I've been in some twitter debates with Unity supporters who don't seem to think beyond the propaganda. What is holding up the contract when we know the pattern is the pattern and class size is off the table? The amount of shit teachers are asked to do plus the extended time crap seem to be a biggie for members and the city is not moving on that. What leverage does the UFT have? Rallies today? Not enough teeth in just that. They might worm a few nuggets out of Adams and then sell them as the greatest contract ever. 

I pointed out that the dome of silence over negotiations offers nothing to people who are organizing in the schools and communities. As I pointed out in my article in The Indypendent, a difference between Chicago/LA and NY is they are using open bargaining to organize while our 500 negotiators have a muzzle on.

One thing I do know is that if UFC ever was a threat of winning, the DOE would back Unity all the way. I was once told by Joel Klein's honcho during the 2012 Chicago strike - he really seemed worried it could happen here - and I laughed and said never with Unity in charge.

Nick has the notes of the full meeting:

• UFT Members – Why is UFT Leadership Misleading us on Contract? – Executive Board Minutes, 5-22-2023

I will say -- the turkey was pretty good. And loved that cheesecake - I think I will ask LeRoy to order me some rice pudding for the June 5 meeting.

Here is where I'm headed to now - maybe see you there.

Media Advisory for Wednesday, May 24th 9:30AM

 

Municipal retirees will gather outside City Hall on Wednesday May 24th to hold a People’s Hearing and Rally to protest Mayor Adam’s ongoing efforts to compel them into a subpar privatized Medicare Advantage plan. Retirees will testify about the deleterious effects of Medicare Advantage health plans. Demands will be made that the City Council act now to protect retirees’ Medicare health benefits by passing the current legislation which will enshrine these rights and by including retiree healthcare costs in the city budget.

 

The message to Mayor Adams is STOP SCREWING RETIREES!  The message to NYC elected officials is PASS the RETIREE MEDICARE BILL! SAVE NYC RETIREE MEDICARE! WE VOTE! Retirees will then testify inside City Hall at the public budget hearing. Later, retirees will join the People’s Plan Rally and March to protest the city’s austerity budget and to demand Care not Cuts.

 

Municipal retirees expect NYC Council Member Christopher Marte, Kristin Richardson Jordan, Alexa Aviles, Chi Osse and possibly others to join them.

 

WHERE: Broadway between Murray Street and Park Place outside

of City Hall Park

 

WHEN: May 24th (Wednesday) from 9:30-11. 

Retirees join People’s Plan Care not Cuts March at 5:00.

 

VISUALS:

Retirees with signs and banners, chanting and music outside City Hall urging a life-size cutout of Mayor Adams to Stop Screwing Retirees! Retirees wearing head bands of screws going through their heads give oral testimonies about the devastating effects private Medicare Advantage plans will have on their health. Free screws will be given out to symbolize that city workers, even when retired, should never be mistreated.

 

Organizers: Cross-union Retirees Organizing Committee (CROC)

 

Media contact:

 

Sarah Shapiro, CROC

sarahmorah@gmail.com

###

The Cross-union Retiree Organizing Committee (CROC) are rank-and-file NYC municipal retirees who say NO to the City’s attempts to force municipal retirees into a privatized Medicare Advantage plan.

 

 

RetireeTeacherChapter Meeting - the Horror of Holding up a sign, Sorkin Is Proud to Sign Non-Disclosure, The @uftnyc #MLC might be coming for Active workers - APRIL 11 RALLY, Sign the Healthcare Referendum Petition

Rally!! April 11th. Noon. City Hall

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 - Happy Passover 

I'm rushing to get this our before my wife wakes up with the list of honey-do's in prep for 30 of her family members coming for tonight's seder. 

Retiree Advocate was out in force before and during yesterday's Aetna screw-you retirees presentation at the monthly chapter meeting and we got loads of people signing our petition for a referendum on healthcare, now approaching 5,000, one quarter of what we need according to the constitution. Entire schools are rolling in, which means active members see the threat to their own healthcare with an RFP (Request for Proposal) out there while Sorkin hides behind his non-disclosure. At the Exec Bd when he said he was so proud of signing that I wanted to ask why sign it? 

Toward the end of the meeting, a few activists stood in the back of the room and held up some signs and RTC CL Tom Murphy went nuts, threatening to end the meeting and yelling for security to remove them. 

 

LeRoy Barr in the house.

Oh, the horrors. I took this photo in the hall. Note the photo of Albert Shanker looking on.
So, I have a lot to report but not enough time.

 The meeting was a boring Aetna presentation. I learned from one of the ladies attending how Aetna cheats to make even more money out of the Medicare system by changing your healthcare descriptions to upcode you for illnesses you might not even have. Imagine going to a hospital and your record is does not accurately reflect your true health?

Geof Sorkin: I have NDAs. I am proud that I will not reveal who the potential bidders are.

Yes, UFT Welfare Fund head Sorkin is proud to sign Non Disclosure Agreements as an excuse to withhold information from UFT members who pay his high salary. 

The UFT has refused to disclose or publicly discuss the RFP except in the vaguest details (there are apparently four bidders left but bet heavily on Aetna). This is the original RFI (Request for information), which proceeds the RFP:

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/olr/downloads/pdf/rfp/rfi-health-benefits-program.pdf

They will probably try to save money by more creating aggressive levels of hospital and doc networks with higher copays for more expensive hospitals and doctors. The City wrote an article about the RFP:

https://www.thecity.nyc/health/2022/6/15/23170008/city-employee-health-plan-ghi-emblemhealth-change?_amp=true

PSC covers it: “You should also be aware that the City is entering into negotiations for a new Comprehensive Benefits Plan (CBP) to replace GHI, the plan in which most of PSC’s active employees are enrolled, starting in 2024. The intent is to keep the CBP premium-free while saving 10% on the current costs. MLC union representatives have not seen the proposals, but they are under review by the MLC executive committee and health technical committee”

https://psc-cuny.org/psc-will-vote-no-on-medicare-advantage-plan/

Some MLC minutes were leaked in February with more details:

https://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2023/02/leaked-mlc-minutes-show-some-unions-not.html?m=1

 

From Nick's Ex Bd Notes:

Healthcare, Tucker Carlson, and Maternal Mortality – UFT Executive Board Minutes, 3-27-2023

Tonight was mostly about healthcare. Kate Connors came to the Open Mic to talk about the New York Health Act. Ed Calamia asked about Aetna’s ongoing MAP fraud case, to which leadership answered it would not affect our deal. I asked about what specific ‘cost savings’ were being discussed by the vendors in the new in-service RFP, but didn’t get many details.

Nick: Want to ask a question. We’re hearing about an RFP with four potential providers to potentially replace GHI at a lower cost. Not asking about the four respondents – asked last week and wasn’t answered, though you’re free to tell us. However, we know how some of the cost savings have been realized for retirees – like prior authorizations. We also know about some of the cost savings we’ve already realized for in-service – like forcing first year teachers onto HIP or adding huge copays in GHI for most Urgent Cares – 15 bucks to 100 bucks since 2016. What types of ‘cost savings’ are these four vendors suggesting to make the cost savings? What types of copays? What types of networks – diminished? New prior authorizations?

Geof Sorkin: I have NDAs. I am proud that I will not reveal who the potential bidders are. Benefit design: a number of things: looking to replicate to GHI, but also looking across the country and seeing how we could leverage things. We have not met with any of the bidders. Michael has said we’ve identified 4. One of the complexities is we are looking at the info they’ve provided and it’s not always an apples to apples comparison.

Due to the Moratorium Act, @uftnyc couldn’t screw retirees without doing the same to in service workers or he’d face litigation! We hear this week begins negotiations for the in-service workers healthcare plan and it’s been said they are eliminating all health care plans, except for HiP HMO and replacing the Emblem plan with Aetna. That’s it! First they came for retirees. Now they come for you....NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees Inc

Videos:

The @uftnyc #MLC might be coming for Active workers

Rally!! April 11th. Noon. City Hall

 

Is the UFT a company union? UFT/Unity act like Republicans: Anti-Strike, Anti-Public Healthcare; Becoming a Laughing stock of the union movement

There is still time to register for tonight's Retiree Advocate-UFT's meeting at 7pm on Zoom.  Register Here: https://bit.ly/3yr6M8K (Close to 250 people are already registered.)

DONATE TO THE UFT PETITION CAMPAIGN FOR A HEALTHCARE VOTE  - IT IS COSTING MONEY TO MAKE SURE EACH ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE WILL NOT BE TOSSED OUT BY THE UFT LEADERSHIP.

A Tale of 3 city teacher unions - and UFT/Unity are the losers

• You can't change DNA and the UFT will be toxic to progress until we change the leadership.... 
  

 

Sunday, March 26, 2023 - This  post is loaded, so sit back or just ignore and go out and get some sun

No matter the liberal blather from the UFT (we support the LA teachers for not crossing picket line but would jump off the roof of 52 Broadway of NYC did the same), we have an ineffective right-center UFT leadership compared to the left wing leadership in Chicago and Los Angeles and the compilation I've gathered below proves it, not only ideologically, but in terms of actual political and economic accomplishments. My comment above about changing the leadership does not mean dumping Mulgrew for another Unity Caucus hack but removing Unity from leadership. Note these articles.

• LA Teachers Don't Cross Picket Lines as Los Angeles School Workers Are on Strike, and Parents Say They Get It

• In Chicago Mayor’s Race, a Former Teacher Rises With Union Support - NYT - 3 23 2023

  Strikes Fuel Biggest Pay Raises in Labor Contracts Since 1990 - Bloomberg (coming from Bloomberg news, irony for sure)
  

  • Nearly 100 agreements included double-digit wage raises
  • Increased labor militancy gives unions boost in bargaining

In the UFT we have decreased militancy - actually no militancy. Well, if you  consider "wear certain colors certain days" as militancy. 

The increasingly militant autoworkers had their first direct election of a national president and an insurgent won - barely. He said:

“This is the end of company unionism, where the companies and the union work together in a friendly way, because it hasn’t been good for our members ---- President Is Ousted in United Auto Workers Election --

"Company union" increasingly strikes a chord when talking about the Unity crowd. When Marianne appeared on Brian Lehrer the other day, his first comment was how surprised he was that the UFT was teaming up with the Adams administration against its own members. 

We are not surprised.

A long-time UFT activist asked: What would happen if we had direct elections for presidents of the AFT and NYSUT? Right now only winner take all Unity delegates (750) vote in those elections. 

There is actually a new petition campaign in the UFT to bring a level of democracy with a petition campaign based on the UFT constitution calling for a member vote on healthcare changes (as opposed to Mulgrew backroom deals through the MLC).