800+ Unity Caucus Klones Shuffle Off to Buffalo for NYSUT Convention at Our Expense

My wife is from one of the schools that will be closed. She told me that the school were livid when they found out that the UFT is not even going to the PEP meeting. She doesn't undersand this. My wife is especially irate at Mulgrew (more than she is at the mayor)

Mailing envelope from Unity Caucus leaflets to chp ldrs

 Many UFT officials will be missing in action from the PEP today ---- but do me a favor if you are there and look under the seats to make sure. I hear Leo Casey is there all alone so say hello.

You see, Unity officials both high and low -- including your local Unity Caucus chapter leader at the school level and any other Unity Caucus slugs you work with, have shuffled off to Buffalo for the NYSUT convention where they will tell people how it doesn't really matter if teachers are rated based on kids who never show up (which the Buffalo teachers will be protesting with a walkout). Or how 20% is meaningless even if we all know value-added is all screwed up. And the other 20% -- who knows?

Let me explain exactly about this perk --- round trip ticket to Buffalo, a few nights in a nice hotel and meal money for the 800 elected Unity Caucus delegates to the conventions of NYSUT (yearly) and the national AFT(every 2 years with this July's junket coming up). And there will be staffers going too so make it 900. You do the math but the AFT Seattle 2010 convention cost a few million dollars from our dues.

Now I also want to keep bringing up the Unity Caucus leaflet that was sent out to chapter leaders at their schools to be put in the mailboxes. Check the envelope someone scanned for me and note the return address. To me this is a sign or worry as the leadership tries to keep the power of Unity to control the union under cover until election time which doesn't begin until Jan.

See the leaflets themselves in my recent post.
My suggestion is to make sure every single person in your school sees this lame effort.
 Did you hear Mulgrew's response when asked for how long teachers can be denied tenure? "If it goes beyond 2 years let us know." That ought to sell the young teachers on how Unity is defending them.

And remind everyone that the UFT/AFT/NYSUT leaders have so far refused to support the national reso against high stakes testing.

ADDENDUM: This comment was left on the previous post:

My wife is from one of the schools that will be closed. She told me that the school were livid when they found out that the UFT is not even going to the PEP meeting. She doesn't undersand this. My wife is especially irate at Mulgrew (more than she is at the mayor)....she can't believe that he has let NYC and NYC teachers down big time. She always believed in the UFT. Unlike the UFT, she is attending the PEP meeting with some teachers in her school. She was worried that no parents would go as transportation there and parking there is not very good. The UFT should have provided buses to all schools.

Holding another rally or whatever is futile and weak. NYC teachers need a union that represents them and that fights against injustice against teachers (and students). The closing of these 25 schools, blaming the staff for things that are out of their control (ie. students in poverty, students in gangs, students who come from junior high school with very low reading and writing scores or students and so on) and stating that the teachers' efforts are not good enough and that for these students graduating in five or six years is not indeed a victory....well, this is really for all citizens of NYC.

Anyone who is not rehired in their original school will be labeled as bad teachers Their careers will be in ruins. The powers that be, in collusion with the UFT. are destroying public education by making teaching an unviable and unattractive career. Within a few years, there will be major teacher shortages.

AFT/UFT/Randi/Mulgrew HAVE NOT Yet Supported the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing

But the NEA has. Does this confirm my contention that our union leaders have one or both feet firmly planted in the bed of the ed deformers? I started razing them on the high stakes testing issue with the UFT leadership well over a decade ago. What they do is toss off a few pieces of meat indicating they are upset at the testing for internal consumption --- just like Obama did to give people some hope he might change and dump Duncan and all will be right. Until the election is over that is. So why do our union leaders refuse to take a stand against high stakes tests? Leave a comment with your best answer.

National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing

From Monty Neill, FairTest

Inspired by a statement endorsed by more than 360 Texas school boards, FairTest, 12 other organizations, and prominent individuals have drafted a national Resolution on High-Stakes Testing.

We seek endorsements from organizations and individuals -- and ask that you both sign on and let others know about it.

To sign, go to http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/ -  where you can also obtain print versions to share with your organization(s).

The text of the resolution follows below.

RESOLUTION ON HIGH-STAKES TESTING  

This resolution is modeled on the
resolution passed by more than 360 Texas school boards as of April 23, 2012. It was written by Advancement Project; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; FairTest; Forum for Education and Democracy; MecklenburgACTS; Deborah Meier; NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; National Education Association; New York Performance Standards Consortium; Tracy Novick; Parents Across America; Parents United for Responsible Education-Chicago; Diane Ravitch; Race to Nowhere; Time Out From Testing; and United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries. 

We encourage organizations and individuals to publicly endorse it (see below). 
Organizations should modify it as needed for their local circumstances while also endorsing this national version.

WHEREAS, our nation's future well-being relies on a high-quality public education system that prepares all students for college, careers, citizenship and lifelong learning, and strengthens the nation’s social and economic well-being (1); and 

WHEREAS, our nation's school systems have been spending growing amounts of time, money and energy on high-stakes standardized testing, in which student performance on standardized tests is used to make major decisions affecting individual students, educators and schools (2); and

WHEREAS, the overreliance on high-stakes standardized testing in state and federal accountability systems is undermining educational quality and equity in U.S. public schools by hampering educators' efforts to focus on the broad range of learning experiences that promote the innovation, creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication, critical thinking  and deep subject-matter knowledge that will allow students to thrive in a democracy and an increasingly global society and economy (3); and

WHEREAS, it is widely recognized that standardized testing is an inadequate and often unreliable measure of both student learning and educator effectiveness (4); and

WHEREAS, the over-emphasis on standardized testing has caused considerable collateral damage in too many schools, including narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing love of learning, pushing students out of school, driving excellent teachers out of the profession, and undermining school climate (5); and

WHEREAS, high-stakes standardized testing has negative effects for students from all backgrounds, and especially for low-income students, English language learners, children of color, and those with disabilities (6); and

WHEREAS, the culture and structure of the systems in which students learn must change in order to foster engaging school experiences that promote joy in learning, depth of thought and breadth of knowledge for students (7); therefore be it

RESOLVED that [your organization name] calls on the governor, state legislature and state education boards and administrators to reexamine public school accountability systems in this state, and to develop a system based on multiple forms of assessment which does not require extensive standardized testing, more accurately reflects the broad range of student learning, and is used to support students and improve schools; and

RESOLVED, that [your organization name] calls on the U.S. Congress and Administration to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (currently known as the “No Child Left Behind Act"), reduce the testing mandates, promote multiple forms of evidence of student learning and school quality in accountability, and not mandate any fixed role for the use of student test scores in evaluating educators.

    - To endorse this resolution, go to http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution. 

Why We Need a New Caucus in the UFT- SOTU Meets Apr. 21

Find out more. Join us for: An Open Meeting

Sat, April 21st 12 – 3pm

Graduate Center for Worker Education, 25 Broadway

The single most important thing in defending teachers and public education we can do from inside the UFT is building a broad-based movement from the bottom up that can reach deep into the schools. I don't have to agree with everything that will emerge but as long as the process is democratic and everyone has a say I can live with not having everything go my way. This is impossible in Unity Caucus or the way they have run the union for 50 years.

Really nothing will change in the UFT until there is a viable alternative to Unity Caucus. As a matter of fact it will get worse.
I won't list the unwillingness or unwilligness of the UFT leadership to fight back. How ironic that principals are doing more to defend us on the evaluation menace?
(Today will be another dreary Delegate Assembly and nothing gets one more depressed  - or motivated - than these monthly travesties of democracy.)

It will take work and commitment. As in Chicago's CORE, this can be done with a few hundred committed people.

Are you ready?

Share the leaflet with your co-workers and help build this group from the ground up. Email me for a copy of the leaflet.

WHY WE NEED A NEW CAUCUS in the UFT

We believe our strength lies with our members, organized into strong chapters.
This requires an active effort to educate our membership about how their union works, and involve them in democratically determining its direction.

We believe in social justice unionism.

We fight for equitable public education and against racism in the schools.

Building an alliance of students, parents and community members as a key part of our strategy. The UFT must fight for our members and our students.
Our working conditions are our students learning conditions.

We prioritize members working together to build power in our schools.
Through collective struggles, our members will gain confidence and organization to mobilize an escalating series of actions, in our communities, city-wide and nationally, that can begin to take on the bigger challenges facing our union, educators and public education as a whole. Every educator in America knows that our profession, and our students, are under attack.

The onslaught of high-stakes testing, privatization, weakening or elimination of job protections, school closings and charter co- locations threatens the very existence of public education as we know it. Unionized teachers in particular have been singled out for demonization.

The strategy put forth by our union leadership to take on these challenges is inadequate. UFT officials rely primarily on lobbying, media blitzes and procedural lawsuits. When occasional mobilizations are called, they are organized without a long-term plan for escalating actions or increased membership involvement. The union leadership takes a concessionary stance in order to maintain its "seat at the table” with politicians and corporate forces like Bill Gates, who turn around and attack teachers and the union at every opportunity. Union leadership then sells serious concessions to the members as victories claiming - "It could have worse”.

Some of the key policy failures of the UFT leadership:
• Supporting mayoral control even in the face of the devastating impact
• A weak stand against closing schools
• A compromising position on charter schools and co-locations
• Giving up on the fight to reduce class size
• The acceptance of rating teachers based on high-stakes tests
• Agreeing to merit pay even though every single study shows the failure of this policy
• Steadily deteriorating working conditions and power in the workplace
• Erosion of job security and tenure protections
• A one-party undemocratic system that shuts out the voices of the members
We need something different. A union that fights for the rights of students, teachers and communities. A union that fights for racial and economic justice inside and outside our schools.

Find out more. Join us for: An Open Meeting
Sat, April 21st 12 – 3pm


Graduate Center for Worker Education, 25 Broadway

For more information email: sotuuft@gmail.com or look for State of the Union on Facebook.

Chicago: Puny Humans Strike Back Against Rhambo Terminators

Following on my post an hour ago (Tweed Terminates, Grady HS Resists):

Jesse Jackson joins union in protest of school closing policies as Dems chastise Mayor Rhambo as pointed out in this section from this Mike Klonsky report: Is Rahm falling from White House grace?

Following up on my post from Saturday, I'm told that Nancy Pelosi had a come-to-Jesus talk with Rahm Emanuel following her Saturday appearance at Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH. It looks from here like Rahm, the autocrat, has been taken down a peg by the party bigwigs and told in no uncertain terms to heal his rift with Jackson. .

It was only a little more than a week ago that Rev. Jackson openly sided against Rahm and with the CTU and community activists, who had packed a CPS board meeting to protest the board's decision to close more neighborhood schools and hand them over to a politically connected, private turnaround company, AUSL.

Jackson and CTU President Karen Lewis openly denounced  the policies of Rahm's hand-picked board as "education apartheid," a move which immediately re-framed the whole reform discussion and put Rahm and his cronies on the defensive. A day later, Rahm made his schools boss, J.C. Brizard get up in front of the media and deny that he was running an apartheid system.

Let me repeat this again:

A day later, Rahm made his schools boss, J.C. Brizard get up in front of the media and deny that he was running an apartheid system.

How great is that? Phony Brizard who spent some time doing ed deform here in NYC and in Rochester having to deny he is running an apartheid system? Notice by the way how the ed deformers are using black machines like Brizard and Walcott to to do their selling.

Now none of this happens with a politically savvy union. People ask me how is the Chicago Teachers Union different than the UFT given that they have not been able to stop Mayor Rhambo from closing schools or any of the other charter co-loco crap. For a group in power for a little over a year and a half and consisting of leadership that were classroom teachers right up to taking over, they shown a level of fightback against a vicious mayor we have not seen here.

When Rhambo tried to force feed a longer day down their throats a year earlier by trying to bribe individual schools to abandon the union's position of actually asking to be paid a normal wage for the time, the union managed to stop the bleeding by organizing teacher and community resistance.

That's because fundamentally, even though they have made some mistakes, they are adamantly and philosophically opposed to just about every aspect of ed deform and function within that context. Not to say they don't have to compromise at some points, but they are fighting a protracted war as the tiny band of resisters. Here in NYC -- and nationally with the AFT --- we are never sure exactly which side our union is on after making one deal after another that strengthens ed deform.

Here is the rest of Klonsky's very important and incisive report:

Pelosi then flew in to Chicago, stood side-by-side with Rev. Jackson at PUSH and then endorsed Jesse Jackson, Jr. in his congressional  re-election bid. The timing and place of the endorsement was an obvious slap at the mayor who then was forced to to come out himself and openly endorse Triple J.

The party leadership is obviously worried about Rahm's rift with Jackson as well as the growing resistance to Rahm's attack on public schools, especially in the black community. There's the risk that the growing school protests will spill over into upcoming Occupy protests scheduled here for May and possibly lasting up until election time.

Teacher unions are are a badly-needed ally of Democrats in the November elections. But Rahm's war on the unions, reminiscent of the anti-union assault by T-Party guvs like  Wisconsin Gov. Walker, is obviously becoming a concern of the White House. Yesterday, Brizard stunned many of his own supporters when he came out in favor of using federal education funds to be used to send CPS kids to private schools.

Chicago Reader pic

To make matters even worse for Rahm, the White House announced yesterday that it was pulling the G8 Summit out of Chicago and moving it to Camp David. The White House says the change was not in response to the possibility of protests, which means that's exactly what it's about. Rahm had essentially moved to suspend Constitutional freedoms during the May 18-19 Summit.

According to a report in the Monitor, Rahm didn't even learn about the change until yesterday making it pretty clear that he has fallen from grace in the party's inner circles.

Monday's announcement appeared to catch many in Chicago by surprise. A spokeswoman for Emanuel said the Chicago mayor was informed about the location change in a Monday phone call from a White House official. Chris Johnson, spokesman for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said his organization was "just as surprised about the announcement as anybody else."

Chicago will still play host to the NATO Summit, May 20-21at great expense (conservatively estimated at $65 million) to city residents, mainly for a massive police presence. Thousands of anti-war and civil-liberties protesters are still preparing to come to the city and make their voices heard, according to Joe Iosbaker of the United National Antiwar Committee in Chicago.

Check out the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky who has been writing the best local stuff on this.

Now we'll see if the CTU and it's allies can take advantage of this rift in upcoming negotiations and in support of legislative efforts to stop the school closings.

=====
Join the puny humans in fighting the machines
March 10 - STATE OF THE UNION PART 2: TIME TO FIGHT BACK

 ---- See Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.

AFT/NEA: More Sellouts to Ed Deform

Leo Casey and Pedro Noguera are both hypocrites; talking out of both sides of their mouths. Supporting charter proliferation, and at the same time spouting progressive BS denouncing privatization etc.-----anon. email comment on below

Netroots conference Dec. 19 at Pace

http://www.netrootsny.org/schedule

Privatize, We’re Watching You: Fighting Privatization UFT VP Leo Casey, Ken Bernstein

 Watching who? The theme should be: We are watching you... And not really doing anything about it.

 Or: We're making it look like we're watching you but really working with you - but don't tell our members.

They (NEA) explicitly embraced the notion that teachers should be responsible for student learning. - Rick Hess

This was posted on the NYCEdNews Listserve:

AFT local to authorize Minn. charters, as supported by AFT innovation fund; NEA supports merit pay and end to seniority protections for teachers. Rick  Hess (and I’m sure Bill Gates etc. approves.) NEA: seniority should only be a factor in teacher retention or assignment when all other factors are equal…   “The need for tenure is replaced by a peer review program that provides opportunities for improvement or, when improvement is lacking, ensures due process throughout dismissal."

What else is there to say?
Note that these policies are not allowed to be vetted within undemocratically run locals like the UFT where if we had open discussions I'm betting the members would question these moves. But with in essence a one party system where every single one of the 89 seats on the UFT Ex Bd are endorsed by Unity Caucus, we have little opportunity to get member input as voices of opposition are shut out. Thus, I am often amused by some commentators on the NYCEDNEWS Listserve - Unity Caucus members who have been part of that process and supported it who rail against the DOE abuses but let the enablers in the UFT off the hook. I think I read while I was away in a post by a retired union official about Eric Nadelstern having PROMISED something and going back on his word. Oh, the outrage at that. But I have plenty of outrage at a union leadership that aided and abetted the very policies (see support for mayoral control for just one) that have undermined the public schools in this city - spending most of the past decade supporting the closing of schools. And a union leadership that vilified those who opposed and tried to raise issues at various venues. And plenty of outrage at the rank and file Unity people who know better go along - like the 800 Unity members that jeered the people who walked out on Bill Gates at the AFT convention in 2010. If we had a democratic union I'm sure the membership would reject this move by the AFT. But with Unity Caucus here in NYC still licking at Randi's boots and refusing to allow discussions over these policy moves from the top, there is little hope of change.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2011/12/im_skeptical_but_intrigued_by_aft_initiative_nea_report.html

I'm Skeptical But Intrigued By AFT Initiative, NEA Report

By Rick Hess on December 13, 2011 7:58 AM

How Far Do We Go When Criticizing the UFT/AFT Leadership?

When we do so are we aiding the enemies of unions?

There are people who will argue that publishing negative information about our union leadership helps our anti-union enemies attack unions by providing them with ammunition on how corrupt unions are. Plus it undermines whatever faith union members still have left in their union, thus weakening the unions even further. The argument goes: with teacher unions under such attack, we must remain united by stressing the positive.

I am increasingly sensitive to these arguments. But where does adhering to this line lead us? Basically to where New Action, which was the leading opposition, joining in a partnership with Unity Caucus in 2003, thus removing a major voice of criticism and leaving the leadership to force through any policy it wants without open discussion or vetting.

How has that stance worked out over the past 9 years as we have seen devastating policies eviscerate so much of both education programs that benefit children and teacher rights along with the rights of parents and community to have any say in their local schools (something the union leadership is actually happy about)?

The "we are under attack and should mute criticism to stay united" is an argument George Bush supporters used to attack critics. (Why not cancel elections to mute criticism?) As a member of the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) which ran 3 campaigns after the New Action move into the Unity camp with intense criticism of the leadership over their capitulation to so much of the ed deform program we saw vicious attacks on us for doing so. And I'm told that these attacks from both New Action and Unity resonated with people as ICE was branded as being obstructionist.

ICE differs from even the group that has run with us - Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) – which has never come under the level of attack ICE has. Many of us see the UFT leadership as apart from the membership. Not only do we not view them on the side of the members, but many of us see them as being on the other side of the fence all too often, incapable of truly acting in our interests but with the ability – by dominating the total communications machinery to the members  – to fudge their message to the members to give them the impression they are fighting for them. It is mostly the few people who do the day-to-day hand to hand combat with Unity Caucus who understand the game being played on the membership by the leadership. But it seems to work.

This is not to say that even within ICE, there aren't varying degrees of feeling on this issue. The old hands like me who have been involved for 40 years tend to be the harshest critics, seeing the continuity from Shanker through Mulgrew. But as retirees we have the luxury to feel that way. People in the schools, even those who agree with us, have a different reality and have to walk the minefield of being critics since they often need the assistance of the union. And they often do find people who work for the union who are competent and who assist them in addition to the slugs (read: Washington Sanchez). They don't have the luxury to look at the bigger, long-term picture.

This polemic was inspired by a couple of recent events.

First was a debate I was involved with on the NYCEducation Listserve over my views of the union with no less than people like Deb Meier, Diane Ravitch, Leonie Haimson and others plus some of the internal debates I've been having with people in GEM, many of whom do not take as harsh a view of the leadership as I do, arguing that with a push from the rank and file the leadership can be made to move in a better direction. I totally disagree, thinking that the leadership will do something to MAKE IT APPEAR they are responding but in reality they will continue on the path determined within the narrow confines of the few people (maybe even one person) determining the direction the union is going in. I hope to publish some of the back and forth.

The second was the revelations of Jim Callaghan, not only in the comments section of Gotham Schools, but in private communications to me over the last year since he was fired by Mulgrew last summer. Truly a treasure trove of an array of accounts of cronyism between the UFT leaders and Bloomberg.

Jim Callaghan was the top investigative reporter at the UFT house organ, The NY Teacher. I have thought seriously about the role Ed Notes plays in disseminating this information and have hesitated, especially after the Wisconsin story, even though some of the actions of the union leaders leading up to and through that battle has been disturbing - we WILL NOT FIGHT YOU ON THE BEACHES type stuff until their backs were against the wall.

Sure I'm concerned when Eric Grannis, Eva Moskowitz' husband, tells me he is a fan of Ed Notes, mostly because of the union revelations. But I am on the side of full disclosure. UFT members should know what their leaders are doing behind the scenes and Callaghan is one of the few insiders to come out of the cold. I also think of the charges against Wikileaks. I personally think the amazing stuff coming out there has helped shake up the world for the better.

I don't want to do just a wikileaks like data dump. So I have been trying to parse the info and release it in some order, along with the background information I am aware of to flesh out the information.

Look for parsed releases of both published and unpublished information in upcoming posts.

Here's a tidbit from Jim:

Lots to come about malfeasance, nepotism, favoritism, incompetence, corruption, no-bid contracts and Mulgrew, Hickey and Weingarten allowing one of their top married  aides to  retire -with a Tier One and UFT pension---after he was caught taking kickbacks in the form of free hotel rooms so he could coerce his subordinate  into having sex with him on union time. She said she was going to the press and was going to file a lawsuit if he stayed (on the job). -----Jim Callaghan, former UFT staffer fired after 13 years.

By the way, many of us have known of this story, which took place during a NYSUT convention at the NY Hilton. The amount of money the person being referred to along with relatives took down in salary and benefits would make you scream. Have fun Eric.

=====================
Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Follow what is happening in Chile, where the Ed Deform Model Was First Tried

Why Chile? Well, if you know of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, Chile was the laboratory in the 70's for neo-liberalism and the privitization of everything they could get their hands on. I won't go into the details of the role our union played in aiding and abetting the process of repression by using front group teacher unions to undermine left unions - you know the drill - kill off militancy and Allende while you're at it. George Schmidt wrote a document in the late 70s documenting all of that stuff.

Here are some reports of the latest uprisings in Chile.


The students are being joined by many others/unions.  The student leader, Camila Vallejo is amazing.
Perhaps we can follow Camila Vallejo's lead.  Her words are direct and clear.  For example....

"We do not want to improve the actual system; we want a profound change – to stop seeing education as a consumer good, to see education as a right where the state provides a guarantee.

"Why do we need education? To make profits. To make a business? Or to develop the country and have social integration and development? Those are the issues in dispute.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/24/chile-student-leader-camila-vallejo

Angel Gonzalez writes:

Please watch links below see to articles, powerful pictures; videos of street protests in Chile this week and this past month. Inspiring to hear song (the people united will never be defeated)of the MIR and Allende 1970's era being song by huge throng of thousands. 

Two days of a general strike (students and labor united) this week included the demand of free quality public education.

Chile since the 1970's has been suffering from neoliberal reductions in the standard of working class living conditions, diminished labor rights,services and in particular devastated school system plagued by a private profiteering & voucher systems.

Conditions have reached intolerable levels and are at a boiling point, as evidenced by these recent series of massive protests.

We here with the Obama-Bush privatized education agenda (NCLB), using a massive and expensive media hype deceptive campaign, are being driven down that same road -  the failed Chilean model.

The privatized education model imposed in the 1970's in Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship was facilitated with the backing of the good-ol'  USA - CIA - AFT - AFL alliance

and under the tutelage of economist Milton Friedman's & his Chicago Boys (see Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein).

El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido.

Angel FG

  Go to this link to see series of photos:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/26/MNP61KS2M3.DTL

Thousands in Chile take to streets, demand change

Federico Quilodran, Associated Press

Friday, August 26, 2011

MORE 

Riveting Video: Jeff Kaufman Blows the Lid off Tenure Denial Scandal at Aspirations HS and UFT Bureaucrats' Attempt to Deflect Their Do-Nothing Policies by Blaming Kaufman

UFT Foils While Tenure Burns: A Case Study in DOE and UFT Perfidy

On July 12,  I interviewed Jeff Kaufman, one of the most knowledgeable union people I know. Whenever someone with a union problem contacts me I often send them to Jeff or James Eterno rather than the UFT. To say Jeff has a contentious relationship with the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership would be a gross underestimation. They despise him even more than they do me after his 3-year stint on the UFT Exec Board representing the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) where he regularly took apart the phony Randi Weingarten agenda.

In this riveting video Jeff takes us step by step through the process of how all 8 teachers at his school who were up for tenure had their time extended and now face the prospect of having to wait for a 5th year. The lies and perfidy of just resigned principal Matt Malloy (who often referred to these Teach for America young women as "Matt's Harem") and Superintendent Amy Horowitz who did zero supervision of Malloy while he did no observations and pushed almost all the administration burdens of running a new school onto these young and inexperienced teachers.

And then there are the UFT bureaucrats - VPHS Leo Casey and District Rep Charley Turner (one of the all time sleazeballs who even outranks Washington Sanchez in that category)  who instead of providing assistance to the teachers, attempted to use this as a way to undermine Jeff with his colleagues -a long-time tactic of Unity Caucus with people who oppose their policies.



Direct Vimeo link: http://vimeo.com/26575544

The video is mostly focused on the actions of the principal but it is a microcosm of not only what went on in so many schools but of the helpless reaction to this crisis by the UFT leadership. Jeff wrote a companion piece on the ICE blog July 16 focusing on the UFT and the tenure story.

UFT Fiddles While Large Numbers of Probationers Are Denied Tenure

Here is an excerpt but go read it all:

A note on tenure…

We have explained before, in this blog, what tenure is and what it isn't. Briefly stated the law defines tenure as that period of time, usually 3 years, where a teacher has performed satisfactorily. Tenure fundamentally changes the employment rights of a teacher from being an "at-will" employee while under probation and fired for any or no reason at all to one that is entitled to a due process hearing where the DOE must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the teacher should be fired before an arbitrator.

Education Law 3012 provides, in relevant part: "At the expiration of the probationary term…, the superintendent of schools shall make a written report to the board of education …recommending for appointment on tenure those persons who have been found competent, efficient and satisfactory, consistent with any applicable rules of the board of regents adopted pursuant to section three thousand twelve-b of this article. ...Each person who is not to be recommended for appointment on tenure, shall be so notified by the superintendent of schools in writing not later than sixty days immediately preceding the expiration of his probationary period."

The statute provides that tenure decisions must be made solely on a teacher's competence, efficiency and satisfactory service. The part of the statute which refers to State Regulations only refers to the new, 4 part, evaluation system, effective September 2011 which make no mention of probation or tenure at all.

So why is the UFT so conspicuously absent in the face of such a radical change in working conditions for so many teachers? Perhaps, their lawyers believe that since tenure is not a subject of bargaining there is legally little they can do. While, admittedly, legal avenues are limited although there are actions that can be brought if the Union knew or cared about its members.

Now, we must wait for a FOIL request to be filled (they can take months or even years) and teachers who have provided competent, efficient and satisfactory service must serve additional probation time or be terminated.

---------------------

Kaufman on E4E

I put up a separate excerpt of the video the other day where Jeff focused on the E4E people in his school and the contradiction between their support for that organization and what happened to them. In that short video Jeff points out how E4E is anti-union:  ICE's Jeff Kaufman Dissects Educators 4 Excellence and Judges Them "Antiunion" -

UFT Rolls Over When Eva Comes to Call

UPDATED: Tues. June 27, 2011, 8am

I find this infuriating. It expresses precisely why these battles have to be fought at the grassroots levels.


http://gothamschools.org/2011/06/27/charter-school-advocates-demand-uft-apology-but-get-debate/#more-62138

Leroy Barr, a union vice president, and parent Sabrina Williams and Lynwood Shell, a Morehouse College student who is working this summer in the education division of the United Negro College Fund, which works with Achievement First charter schools.

Williams and Shell accused the union of trying to diminish choice for families who have opted out of traditional public schools. But Barr told them that the UFT’s objection is not to charter schools or even to the concept of co-location, but to the process that the Department of Education has used to allocate school space.
“So why is the lawsuit not against the DOE?” asked a parent who had been listening in.
“It is,” Barr said. “You are a byproduct of our fight with them.”

Eva sends out her political operatives and the UFT lays on its back with its paws in the air. Pathetic. Like someone said - they are like a boxer who says "no mas" in the first 30 seconds of a fight. No wonder Eva is so emboldened.

You know, some people would say it is a brilliant move for the UFT to come out and offer snacks and coffee - I can live with that. But make the case for the ultimate goal of charters instead of nodding about how much they agree on. I have had dialogues with HSA parents and they actually agree with lots of what I say - but say they are doing what's right for their own kids. I tell them that they are the ones who are the key not HSA and that their kids would do well anywhere because if their interest in their child's education. I tell them it is fine to send their kids to Success but why are they allowing themselves to be used as political shock troops for Eva's personal ambitions. At least try to create a little doubt.

I tend to whine when I see no spine.

Press Ignores Inequality Issue and Charter School Political Manipulation of Parents and Students in NAACP Reports

Below are the links at Gotham this morning to stories regarding the NAACP suit. Most of them compare the numbers who turned out to the charter school protest compared with the much lower numbers who came to the press conference on Friday. Not one mentions that Harlem charter schools closed down for hours on the day of their rally and organized the parents and children who had no school to go to and were politically organized to attend the protest against the NAACP. A serious sign of omission in any story comparing numbers.

But worst of all, the massive testimony at the Friday press conference in front of Eva Moskowitz' Success Charter HQ pointing to the enormous unequal treatment of children was also ignored, receiving some mention only by NY1's Lindsey Christ.

The press should check out the video tape I put up - http://vimeo.com/24644676 - at the very least scroll through the 55 minutes and see how children are treated differently in charter co-locos, the main point of why the NAACP is involved.

UFT has TWO co-loco charters
Also note how the UFT is vilified as being against charters and co-locos but not one story mentions that the UFT has TWO charter schools in the East NY section of Brooklyn that are occupying space in public school buildings. Yes, the UFT has taken the hyprocritic oath. But where is the press on that angle?

Also note national NAACP head Benjamin Jealous defending the suit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-naacp-is-suing-new-york/2011/06/03/AG1W5PIH_story.html

Good piece except for: To spur the changes needed to help students succeed, we even stood with many of these critics when a Rhode Island district fired all the teachers at Central Falls High School.

• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
• State Sen. Eric Adams voted to increase charter schools but this year is suing to stop their growth. (Post)
• The Post says low attendance at the NAACP rally shows that its lawsuit involvement has little support.
• Stanley Crouch: The lawsuit shows the NAACP “has fallen” since its civil rights heyday. (Daily News)
• The UFT and NAACP want school closure and charter school plans stopped now. (GothamSchools)
• The NAACP is taking a somewhat more active role in local school policy fights than ever before. (NY1)
 

AFTERBURN
NYC EDUCATOR TAKES A SHOT AT JONATHAN ALTER:

Alter's been thoroughly refuted at the Public School Parents blog, both here and here, in Accountable Talk,  Salon, and in the ceaselessly observant Schools Matter.

READ IT ALL: In Good Company

NYC Educator Gives Thanks to the UFT

Really, what can you say about the UFT/AFT/Unity Caucus? If you've been reading my posts (Reggie Landau Faces Student Protest Over Treatment of Teacher (Chapter Leader) about the chapter leader at IS 216 who is among a few of them the principal has gone after, I am hearing the UFT seems as much concerned with who is speaking to me as with going after the principal. Funny how many people from this school over the years have come to be because the UFT has been so inept. But what can I do other than publicize this. Given that this guy has been running rampant for so many years, the fact that only one article has been written in the NY Teacher is astounding.

I will spend more time on the UFT's refusal to tie cases like this attack on the lifeblood of the UFT - see Peter Lamphere and others - to the LIFO fight.

We celebrate today's Delegate Assembly with this post from NYC Educator who pretty much sums it all up. I will be heading over there for to hear today's line being tossed out and the overwhelming majority of Unity Caucus members eat it up.

Thank You Sir. May I Have Another?

Over and over, we lie down with dogs, and marvel at the ensuing fleas. We invite Bill Gates to investigate what makes teachers "effective." He comes in and tests cameras in classrooms, because everyone knows those fowl teachers cannot be trusted unless you monitor them every second. We invite him to speak at our convention, and the following week he attacks the wastefulness of those bloated teacher pensions, wondering aloud why we can't eat cat food like other elderly folk who aren't Bill Gates.

We endorse mayoral control, because who knows how bad it can be, and besides this Bloomberg fellow goes to baseball games with Randi Weingarten. He must be OK. Then after it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster, we make a list of improvements we'd like before we'll accept its renewal. When we don't get them, we support its renewal anyway.

We allow them to get rid of seniority transfers, and give power to principals to have absolute veto over incoming teachers. We design an open market that allows anyone to transfer anywhere, as long as principals think it's OK. Who woulda thunk that principals preferred malleable new teachers at half salary to grizzled old opinionated veterans? After all, just because those are the only people that get hired in the suburbs, why should it apply to us? And when thousands of teachers end up rotting in the Absent Teacher Reserve, demoralized and demonized, we are shocked, and state because more teachers transferred in the new program than the old, it is an unmitigated success.


We make a deal to reduce class size. The deal is so full of holes a tank could drive through it, but we declare victory anyway. When class sizes go up anyway, despite our deal and almost a billion dollars in CFE funds, we wonder how it could've happened.

Finally, we make a deal to allow value-added be part of teacher evaluations. Sure, it has no validity, but everybody's doing it, so where's the problem? We cleverly allow it to be only 20% of our evaluation, while other states are making it 50, and declare victory yet again. When the state passes a law allowing it to be double, we say, gee, how the heck did that happen? And Governor Cuomo, our good bud, is gonna do a Race to the Top and withhold money if we choose to exercise our option to negotiate, and turn down whatever abysmal offer Tweed comes up with.

Gee, how could this be happening? I thought we'd had it all taken care of.

A commenter added the small schools story, which we in ICE started raising questions about as far back as 2005 only to be accused of being anti-small schools when in fact we were issuing warnings about what was to ensue, to deaf ears at the UFT I might add. Leo Casey even recently brought this up in relation to our critiques of charters which he defends if done "right." I have it all on tape and one day I'll take some time to put Leo's presentation together (which we will probably hear again on Sat. night at the film showing.)

Two years ago when the DoE decided to use Teacher's Data Report in grades 3-8, the union said why not.  At every chapter leader meeting, the D.R.s told the chapter leaders to tell teachers that "it's okay" to use as an evaluative tool of their students' progress.  In fact, they showed a video on the how to handle administration if there use the TDR abusively against a teacher.  Now they want to publicize the teachers' TDR, knowing that it is fraught with errors and inaccuracies.  Yet, every teacher mentioned that if it happened in California, publicizing those reports, where one teacher committed suicide, it will happen in NY.  Why the heck are we in court again? 

In 2002, large high schools, especially in the Bronx, were being broken into boutique/theme high schools.  H.S. teachers complained that these small schools would not bring about the a higher rate of graduation because those schools would be dealing with the same population of students and the solution was to help the large, comprehensive high schools with more fundings, resources (more CBO, more attendance teachers, social workers, etc), not close them.  Small schools got the creme of the crop, poor academic, special needs, and behavior difficult students were deflected from the theme schools arnd were placed in already overcrowding high schools.  The results were poor performance, low graduation rate, abysmal attendance rate, high incident reports; DoE's solution is to close the school.  Second result, ATR pool is drowning with senior teachers that no theme schools want because of the new "Fair Funding - Children First" budget, which Randi did not fight against.

I truly feel that teachers, not only got paddled hard, but they stuck it in good and hard, gave a strong twist, and asked us ,"how much do you like this?" because we continue to ask for it constantly. Ouch!

Another New Generation Activist Enters the Fray

In August, Julie Cavanagh asked me what was my long-time goal, aside from laying in the sun smoking a cigar. Not one to think about things too deeply, I responded, "To find 50 more people like you." (A whole bunch of us are fighting it out over who really discovered Julie, who a year and a half ago was only known inside her school community and in some ed policy groups.) Well, it certainly has been a pleasure for "grampa" (as Julie often refers to me) to meet an increasingly large group of new gen ed activists. That they all seem so much wiser than "grampa" makes me kvell.


Liza Campbell is one of this new generation of rising stars flooding the teacher activist movement in direct opposition to groups like Educators4Excellence. While believing in dedication to the classroom, these activists also believe they must fight outside the classroom, not for a narrow self-serving political agenda like E$E but for the social justice rights for their children and the parents of their children, along with their own rights as teachers. Reforming the UFT is also in their sights (and don't think this isn't making the Unity honchos nervous - they are badmouthing groups like GEM behind the scenes).

I only know Liza, a 25 year old 3rd year teacher, for a few months but have been extremely impressed with her creative energy, organizing skills and willingness to take on any task. And she knows so damned much in such a short time.

Liza was one of the leaders of the under 5 year group of teachers passing around a petition supporting LIFO. And she has been writing some great stuff at the Gotham Community section. Her last piece was Why I Love Unions, But Not Always Their Leadership.  This is an absolute must-read.
Liza closes with

Unions, as a collective representation of working people, can be an incredibly powerful counter-force to corporate interests. Individual working people can have very little impact on policy because they do not have the financial prowess on their own to affect national policy the way those with a good deal of money at their disposal can. I am proud to be a member of a union, and I am very proud of my fellow UFT members. But when union leadership becomes too far-removed from the lived reality of their rank-and-file members and spends a significant amount of their time with the very people who are pushing the policies they should be fighting, they run the risk of losing sight of their mission. If the UFT had a leadership with a social justice orientation that viewed its role as strengthening educators’ ability to educate and mobilize against misguided reforms, then I would not only be proud of my union but proud of its leadership as well.

But you have to read it all - and leave some comments. I want to include a comment from another older gen much-admired activist, Michael Fiorillo - watching Michael and the new gen activists like Julie and Liza mingling brings a big smile to my face since I have often been the connector (which  seems to be my main purpose in all this).

Congratulations on your fine analysis of the shortcomings of the UFT leadership, but things are unfortunately even worse than you say.

The aggressive attacks against teachers and public education in NYC would not have been possible without the dictatorial powers the mayor has over the school system, and these powers would not have been granted without the approval of the UFT, and Randi Weingarten in particular.

The union had in the past successfully repelled mayoral power grabs, but in 2002 Weingarten acquiesed to it. The fragmentation, destabilization and privatization of the system started immediately, as intended. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver propsed a bill that would have given the mayor increased power over the Board of Education, but with checks and balances in place. Weingarten rejected that, inexplicably choosing absolute control of the schools by the mayor.

Worse was yet to come. The initial law granting the mayor absolute control of the schools was designed to sunset in 2009, allowing for the issue to be revisited, based on Bloomberg and Klein's actions. By that time there was widespread dissatisfaction with what Bloomberg and his factotum Klein were doing to the schools, and stakeholders began mobilizing to rein in the mayor's power. There was also strong sentiment in the union that something had to be done to limit the mayor's power.

After all, isn't checks and balances what the US system of government is supposed to be about?

Weingarten, however, had no intention of allowing that to happen, having apparently gotten used to getting rides in the mayor's private jet. So, using the craftiness that she never employed against the DOE, she impaneled a union committee to come up with suggestions for governance of the schools, in anticipation of the 2009 sunsetting of the law.

This Governance Committee, of which I was a member, worked diligently to come up with an alternative to the executive dictatorship that is destroying public education in cities across the country. Although I felt that the Committee's report did not go far enough, and participated in drafting a minority roport that would have gone farther in restricting exectutive power and giving more control to parents, teachers and elected officials, the Committee report that was eventually approved at the unions' Delegate Assembly would have been a tremendous improvement over what we have now.

But even that was not allowed to be. Acting unilaterally, without consulting the membership or the community groups that had enlisted in the fight against mayoral control, Weingarten sandbagged everyone by approving the continuation of mayoral control with just a few meaningless adjustments. Not a word was spoken by Michael Mulgrew in opposition to any of this.

And here we now find ourselves, with the DOE aggressively closing schools, enabling charter invasions, working 24/7 to undermine teaching as a career with professional autonomy and turning the education into a joyless forced march to competition for poverty-level jobs.

The story of the decline of unions over the past 35 years is in large part the story of the decline of the United States, as it has allowed for accelerating income inequality and concentration of power by finance capital. It is only the labor movement, as a self-financed working class institution, that can act as a counterweight to the immense power of employers.

This is playing out everywhere today, but especially in the public schools, since they have been targeted as a market that has yet to be maximized, and as a potential source of public wealth that has yet to be extracted by private interests. Sadly, what the oligarchs and their lapdogs propose is nothing less than the near-total destruction of public education, which despite its many shortcomings, is a uniquely American experiment in democracy. And Randi Weingarten and the one-party state that is the UFT/AFT have been the enablers of that.

Mulgrew got about the same percentage of votes as Mubarek in Egypt in the last election. Watch the deluge when LIFO goes.

Pal'n Around With Bill Ayers - updated

UPDATED: Sunday, March 27, 7AM

Shhhhh! Don't tell Sarah Pallin who I was pal'n with. Well, not exactly pal'n. Ayers gave the keynote speech at the NYCORE conference today and I taped it. But in Sarah's world that's all it take to be pal'n.

Ayer's presentation along with artist Ryan Alexander-Tanner, was both political and pedagogical, pointing to new ways we should view the classroom and approach teaching. But rather than get deeper into it, I'll wait for the video to be ready - Ayers said it was OK to put it up.

I didn't get home until 8:30 and I left here at 7:15AM. But don't think it was all workshops and speeches. We all hit the local bar for a post-conference celebration of an exciting day. I mean hundreds of activists, some from all over the nation, but many NYC school teachers, often very, very young. There is some hope since so many of our newer brethren gave up a Saturday for this conference, which had the theme, "Whose Schools? Our Schools!" I've got a bag of tee-shirts I bought with the slogan on them and can't wait 'till summer to wear them around. I made sure to get one extra large since I am aiming to be the poster boy picture in the New Oxford American Dictionary which added the slang phrase "muffin top."

I attended a workshop run by Teachers Unite focusing on the union where a key topic was organizing at the school level. I got a kick when one teacher talked about her chapter leader who I know is one of the worst Unity slugs: pals around with one of the awful principals and can always be counted on to remove any material critical of Unity from teacher mailboxes. TU has a chapter building toolkit for helping people out.

In another workshop we showed about 15 minutes of our upcoming "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman." The buzz was out there as many people seemed to know about it. I was approached by some pretty high level institutions that were interested and we gave out forms for people who want to hold house parties - you can even invite me over too - if you have food that will get me to my muffin top goal.

The final workshop I went to (there were scads of them) was a standing room only on slaying the 5-headed hydra - the monster of ed deform. I worked in a break-out session with one current NYC teacher and 3 student teachers. As we talked it became so clear that the attempt to destroy neighborhood community schools, particularly at the high school level where these schools barely exist, but also at all levels by the use of charter schools which draw from a wide area outside the neighborhood, is a major cause of the instability and we all strongly endorsed a strengthening of the neighborhood school concept - I think we will see this theme emerge in the coming debated over continuing mayoral control. Another issue raised by one young lady was her discomfort with being forced to sell going to college as the only way to success considering so many poor kids don't have the means to pay for it or their aptitudes or interest level seems low. But she didn't want to be accused of the crime of low expectations, where the penalty is death of your career (I know one teacher who spent 15 months in the rubber room for making a comment to someone that was interpreted as low expectations and reported to the principal.)

Everyone at so many workshops seemed to want to talk about the union response, or lack of, to the ed deform attack. Lots of frustration a-building it seems. The Unity leadership always seemed capable under Randi to race around putting out fires. But now are there so many fires to put out. And Mulgrew just does not that seem that interested (or paranoid as Randi was) - figuring that with 90% of the vote in the last election he has plenty of ice left to skate on.

I heard a superb analysis of why the UFT won't mobilize even in the face of Wisconsin like attacks from one very savvy participant. It goes like this:

In order to fight back UFT/Unity would have to mobilize membership. If they mobilize the membership the level of activity will rise to the point Unity control will be threatened. I chipped in with: The Prime Directive: maintain control. Not only for personal reasons of power and money. They have an ideology that works to motivate their actions.

The discussion got into that ideology a bit with a few points of view being put out there but that's too deep to drill in this post.

A point was made that by building a rank and file that will be activated (which Unity doesn't want to see happen because it is a threat) the leadership can be pushed into more action from below.  "Victories" were pointed to - minor victories- but they give hope.

I took a counter point. I don't want to waste any time or energy trying to convince the UFT hierarchy to do anything. I just don't have enough faith in the UFT leadership to trust that they have good intentions. My view is that whatever actions they are forced to take because of ferment from below are aimed to distract and misrepresent and divert militancy. They want total control and you can't build a movement based on total control that can only be held onto by killing the very democratic structures that are crucial to mobilizing the members.

Basically, I prefer to see the internal critics within not call on the UFT do anything. Instead, just build, baby, build. Build a rank and file movement from the school level up. Unity will try to kill the fires but if you build enough of them they won't know where to turn. Every time you go to the leadership they will tie you up and delay you. Not to say that we don't raise resolutions at the DA as a way to bring issues in front of the delegates that have an independent mind - even those in Unity.

One of the problems I found over the years I've been working with ICE is too much of a sense of talking to the head and not the body - too much time going to Exec Bd meetings where there is no one to convince. Too much time addressing issues to the leadership. I don't believe in writing letters to Mulgrew to make him do something.

If a serious R&F movement develops (as it did so quickly in Chicago) an enormous struggle will ensue over the very life of the union. I've said this before, but Unity/UFT/AFT would rather see the union go into massive decline than give up power. I mean, I've seen people scratch their heads over Randi's actions - "Why would she not fight when faced with a loss of so many members to charters?"

The answer: They prefer to rule a remnant of the union rather than see even a strong union in the hands of others- others which will always include some leftists whom the UFT hierarchy so despise and red bait all the time.

My fear is the upcoming generation of activists will underestimate the UFT/AFT leadership, which will fight dirty in every way possible while they as social justice activists will be honest and open about what they do. I say, "Be careful out there. Be very careful!"
_____________


Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Why Won't Unity/UFT/AFT Leaders Fight Back? See Puerto Rico and Wisconsin

A union can't mount a rigorous battle unless it is a democratic union.

NOTE: Come and meet Puerto Rico Teacher union (FMPR) President Rafael Feliciano when he will be in NYC in about a week to 10 days - look for more info at ed notes

ACLU-PR Director Ramirez anti-police-UPR-terror event in NYC

I am constantly asked why Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew - or MulGarten - won't put up a fierce battle to stop closing schools and the invasion of the charters in order to defend teachers and public education. Recent events give us some insight into the power of government over unions and how they treat "good (cooperative)" and "bad" (fightback) unions.

In Wisconsin we are seeing an attempt to totally scuttle unions whether good or bad by removing collective bargaining rights, forcing a union election every year and taking away dues checkoff. Less drastic but certainly moving in that direction is what we see here in NYC with a massive attack on the basic protections teachers have with tenure and last in first out.

As we've been reporing, instead of a rigorous defense of LIFO (Why Won't Mulgrew Defend LIFO?), MulGarten has punted, talking about how we should tax Wall Street. Now this is certainly a move in an interesting direction for the union, which has always avoided attacking the bastions of the rich because, as staunch supporters of capitalism, they wanted to keep class warfare off the table. I remember writing about it the spring of 2008 (months before the big crash) when on the day the UFT held a rally at City Hall begging for a few hundred million in the restoration of ed funds, Bear Sterns - just a few blocks away - was being bailed out with billions.

Not one mention was made of the connection between the funneling of massive monies into private hands and the ed deform movement that purposely talks about "teacehr quality" as the key while disparaging solutions like class size reduction that might actually make a difference. (From the first time I heard Randi Weingarten sign on to this TQ idea I told her she was leading us down a slippery slope that has turned into a free fall.)

In order to fightback a union requires an informed membership and a democratic structure that makes everyone feel they have a real stake and say in union policy. But opening up to other voices is dangerous for a union leadership like Unity Caucus because it could ultimately threaten their control. So they make the choice to cooperate with the powers that be - to be known as a "good" union - rather than stand and fight.

A union can't mount a rigorous battle unless it is a democratic union.

Now, as you will read below, the governor of Puerto Rico, fed up with a union that has fought him - successfully - at every turn, has taken the drastic step of firing every leader of the FMPR which would  make them ineligible to run the union. This act is even worse than what is happening in Wisconsin, disenfranchising 40,000 teachers in PR.

This after failing to undermine them by removing dues checkoff, running a bogus group from SEIU against them and other tactics. I should report that the FMPR removed itself from the AFT in 2003 (just search this blog for FMPR or Puerto Rico to get a weatlh of articles) because they were paying enormous dues to a national union that wouldn't fight for the workers.

Here's the gory story:

Entire Leadership of Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) Fired from their Teaching Positions

Puerto Rican Education Secretary Jesús Rivera Sánchez dismissed the 11 members of the executive committee of the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR)  [unaffiliated with US teaching federations] from their teaching posts and blocking them from exercising their profession in public and private systems. 

The teaching licenses of the FMPR leadership were permanently revoked.

The union's president, Rafael Feliciano, together with the ten other dismissed leaders, characterized the measure as repressive and unprecedented, with the goal of destroying the union leadership and intimidating the teachers from struggling against the current administration's plans to privatize the schools and liquidate the teachers' retirement fund.

The struggle against privatization, against labor rights violations, the right to union, the right to strike, freedom of speech and assembly in Puerto Rico needs your solidarity.   The FMPR is an independent democratic social justice justice union that has defied their version of the repressive Taylor Law (Law 45) and have had successful strikes and continuously organizes walk-outs with parents, students and communities against the horrible school conditions. We can not allow colonial Governor Fortuño to destroy the FMPR with fascistic repressive & union-busting measures that serve to escalate the privatization of  public education (Kindergarten to University) and all public services.

Spread the word.  Angel Gonzalez
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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Mr. Mulgrew, Tear Down This Wall

Last update, Friday, Feb. 18, 11:45AM

"Who would ever think you guys could make such a big deal out of one stinkin' dinner? It's beyond belief."- UFT lead lobbyist Paul Egan in NY Daily News

If the union refers to the PEP Bloomies as "puppets" are Unity Caucus Clones any different?

By now, most readers will have heard of the Paul Egan Albany restaurant caper. If you didn't, you can catch up on my post the other day, which I have updated with the latest links: Everyday Math: How Many Quail Does it Take to Fill a Union Leader?

I know I had a little fun at Paul's expense but before I begin, let me say that I like Paul Egan. From what I hear he is one of the more capable Unity Caucus people. When he was Bronx District 11 rep I only heard good things. He put up a great web site with a number of resources that people say was the gold standard for providing information. He has charm and charisma and that Irish brogue doesn't hurt. I'm sure he does good work as the UFT's chief lobbyist. And the unfair attacks on him for a supposed cheating scandal are extremely unfair. For the Daily News and NY Post ((DN, Post) to connect a 10 year old cheating scandal is shameless. Especially when they ignore the official and unofficial rampant cheating going on every day, cheating winked at by Tweed and the State Ed Dept. (The Dirty Secret of Regents Cheating ...).

Egan was the guy who got up to oppose endorsing Bill Thompson for mayor, saying that at most a union effort on Thompson's behalf could move the needle no more than 2 or 3 points.

See below the fold for a  defense of Paul from retired UFT Bronx District rep Lynne Winderbaum.
Now, Lynne is one of the most respected people in the union, even by the opposition. I've never heard one bad thing said about her.

But both she and Paul just don't get it.

Paul may be right about making a bid deal about a stinkin' dinner. But this is not about a stinkin' dinner. It is about 24 people going out and using COPE money contributed by the members to spend $1800. The fact that Egan makes around $150,000 a year must also be noted. As one commenter said:

Teachers who attend the UFT dog and pony show called “Lobby Day” get up at 5 A.M, travel to Albany on a bus, get a box lunch and a bag of pretzels and come back the same night. Unlike the Mul-Dew flunkies, they don’t get to spend two nights in Albany, eat three or four meals a day and put their Egan-sized bar bill on their UFT padded expense sheets

This is about the arrogance and feelings of self-entitlement of power. That is what you get when you have a one party system running the union with no checks and balances with a rubber stamp Executive Board and Delegate Assembly.

For 3 years, from 2004-2007 when ICE/TJC had 6 members of the EB, there as actually a voice of the members even though they were only 6 out of 89. But when New Action and Unity teamed up to push them out, Lynne Winderbaum was one of the Unity people who replaced them. I wasn't there all that often, but did she step up and play a public role to check the excesses of power or challenge one disastrous policy after another that has led us to this abyss? Of course she couldn't because she would have been removed from Unity.

In 2005 there was a major battle over the contract that opened the door to the massive assault on seniority (ATRs were born in that contract). Unity send out hordes of people to steamroller people into voting for that contract and stifle debate within the union, even going so far as to stop us from getting literature into teachers mailboxes so they could hear the other side. Many of us were stopped at the door, not by principals but by Unity chapter leaders. I maintain that the DOE has to end seniority rules before they could start closing schools en masse, a first step before going after LIFO 5 years later. (Remember how when ATRs complained about being forced to be subs while first year teachers had jobs and the UFT told them to be happy they still have a job?) What did Egan and Winderbaum do during that battle?

Democracy is not an abstract concept. The lack of it is why the UFT and the AFT will never be a force opposing the ed deform movement because the membership has so little voice. If the members could vote do you think the UFT would have two charter schools invading public schools? Would they have gone along with UFT policy that led to us sitting by while one school after another was closed? Signing an agreement with the State Ed Dept. on test data being used to evaluate teachers?

Until the UFT begins to function in a democratic manner, some of the most eloquent and passionate voices in the UFT will oppose Unity Caucus no matter what words they say that makes them look militant. So I say:

Mr.  Mulgrew, tear down this wall.

But that will never happen and the UFT power and influence will continue to shrink. But the leadership's prime directive is to maintain power.

If the union refers to the PEP Bloomies as "puppets" are Unity Caucus Clones any different?

Below is Lynne Winderbaum's comments to the Daily News. I just wonder where she and other decent Unity people were when Unity did a vicious red-baiting attack on ICE/TJC presidential candidate Kit Wainer in the 2007 elections.

(See Breaking News: March 29, 2007 "Randi then gave Unity head Jeff Zahler the floor to engage in another round of red-baiting, saying he was proud to have sent that out and reading excerpts in an attack on Kit Wainer. He said accusations of mccarthyism are not true ...")

They all sat on their hands at that DA.

Also see: NYC Educator

What Your COPE Dollars Buy

  Winderbaum response online to the Daily News editorial and the recent articles in the News and the Post:

Why?

Why would the UFT/AFT not take a strong stand against charter schools and school closings since both lead to severe reductions in teachers belonging to the union and thus weaken the union? This was a question asked by a young teacher at a recent meeting.

My short response was that their prime directive is holding onto power and any fight back would require organizing the rank and file into a potent force which would require democratizing the union (once you wake people up they make demands) which would in turn threaten their hold on power. Thus they will readily accept a smaller membership - which they can control in a very tight manner. And after all, fighting the oligarchy pushing ed deform is one big job and isn't it better for the leaders to be on their good side and hope for some goodies from Gates and Broad (who gave the UFT charter $1 million) along the way. (Don't worry, they know you're with them and understand when you mouth off a bit for the benefit of the members.)

And then I came across this from a piece by Chris Hedges (Chris Hedges on Orwell and Huxley).

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake,” Orwell wrote in “1984.” “We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”

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