BMORE/CEDE Caucuses declared winners in Baltimore by AFT

Two social justice caucuses united to win the Baltimore election against an 8 term incumbent.
Baltimore Movement of Rank-and-File Educators Baltimore Caucus of Educators for Democracy and Equity

I reported on the election:

• Social Justice Activist Ousts Randi Ally, 21-Year Incumbent as Baltimore Teachers Union President - Antonucci
• Why Can't MORE B more like BMORE? - Radical Teachers’ Movement Comes to Baltimore

BMORE is affiliated with UCORE, the national social justice network of union activists. MORE is a charter member but BMORE decided not to be like MORE and actually ran to win and aligned with another group to do so, unlike MORE here in NYC which fundamentally destroyed the opposition to Unity here in NYC.

Frankly, I didn't expect this outcome but it indicates that Randi is covering her flank from the left social justice caucuses inside the AFT. It certainly helps that there in no threat from a social justice caucus in New York to the Unity machine, which is the key element in the entire AFT/NYSUT/UFT structure. In this report Antonucci predicts come stormy weather ahead since Randi ally and eight-term incumbent Marietta English had her appeal rejected. 
“This decision does an injustice to our union,” said English.

Get it how the AFT machine works -- you fall in line or get dumped. (See former NYSUT leadership). English is still president of AFT Maryland and if she causes trouble she might find herself out of that job.

Antonucci reports:

It’s Official: Baltimore Teachers Union Has a New President

The American Federation of Teachers ruled that the disputed election for the presidency and executive board of the Baltimore Teachers Union would stand. Challenger Diamonté Brown will take over as president of the 7,000-member union, replacing eight-term incumbent Marietta English.

“This decision does an injustice to our union,” said English.
AFT judged that while some minor violations had taken place, “We cannot conclude that this activity could have affected the election.”
The election may be settled, but trouble still looms for the union. Brown’s slate controls the teacher positions on the executive board, while English’s slate holds all the paraprofessional seats.

English also remains president of AFT Maryland, which portends a lot of internecine squabbling in the near future.

Baltimore Sun
https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-ci-union-elections-20190711-nyl2jv4yr5fy5mlyuf4yztkqf4-story.html

After election review, Diamonté Brown poised to be confirmed as new president of the Baltimore Teachers Union

An investigation into the Baltimore Teachers Union election found that a few members of the newly elected president’s caucus used some school resources to promote the campaign, but ruled the violations were “minor” and didn’t change the results.

The American Federal of Teachers affirmed Diamonté Brown as the winner on Thursday, rejecting losing candidate Marietta English’s challenge and petition to hold a new election. The AFT report, obtained by The Baltimore Sun, cited violations by the Union We Deserve caucus, which Brown is a part of, such as using employer email and facilities for campaign purposes.

In one instance, the report said, a member of Brown’s caucus sent out a notice promoting a union campaign event on her school email. The AFT report also found the that Brown’s caucus sponsored two events on school property. The third violation involved two delegates of Brown’s caucus participating as an observer in the balloting process.

“While the [the Union We Deserve] caucus did commit violations of the election rules,” the report said, “we find that these violations did not affect the outcome of the election.”

The AFT concluded that, “these violations appear minor in their scope."

The report marks an end to a contentious election season between Brown and the incumbent, English, who has held the position for more than 20 years.

English issued a statement before the results were officially announced and called the decision to not pursue a re-election “an injustice to our union.” She said the AFT report “clearly lays out that egregious violations took place during the election process and I strongly disagree with the conclusion that even with these violations a new election would not be held."

English lost the election held in May by a vote of 901 to 839. At the time, she claimed the election was riddled with rules violations and said she could not concede.

In May, the Progressive caucus, which English is part of, wrote to the BTU Nominations and Elections Committee, accusing Brown’s caucus of election misconduct.

The letter included a number of complaints, but only a few were found to be violations in the AFT’s final investigation. The AFT concluded that the other accusations, such as early campaigning, criticizing other candidates and house visits were all permitted under the AFT and BTU constitutions.

'I'm doing this for my students': Diamonté Brown elected next Baltimore Teachers Union president »

 

When asked about how this election would affect her relationship with English, Brown said, “We have a good relationship, and I hope to continue to work with her.”

Brown will lead a divided union. The executive board is split between teachers and paraprofessionals. Her slate captured the majority of teacher positions, but the English Slate took all the paraprofessional spots, according to the preliminary results. The English Slate’s teacher candidates are all also challenging the election results.

“There have been a number of challenges to the election process with each side demanding fairness,” Brown said at a news conference Thursday, “and the challenges reaffirm that we are committed to the democratic process.

“Now we will work together to advance members’ interest,” Brown said.

As the new president, Brown told The Baltimore Sun, her top goals will be to increase membership engagement, fight for equity and increase partnerships between the teaching professions, such as teachers and paraprofessionals.

Brown said her first action will be to speak with the entire paraprofessional slate one-on-one to “listen to what they have to say and use that to guide us toward being a united front.”

“Even if we’re not on the same page, everyone deserves to be heard,” she said earlier this spring. “I don’t think people have to be on the same page to get work done. Everyone has the same goal” of bettering the lives of teachers, students and families.

Why Can't MORE B more like BMORE? - Radical Teachers’ Movement Comes to Baltimore

Social-justice teacher caucuses have emerged in cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Paul, and now they’re banding together to help those in Baltimore... The Nation

Ed Notes has been reporting on events in the contentious Baltimore teacher union election where an alliance of two caucuses won the election over the 21 year incumbent head of the Progressive Caucus - a Unity like caucus who are contesting the election - but only in the divisions (the classrooms) that they lost. The AFT will make the decision and that there will be a new election is a best bet.

• Baltimore Union Election Update - Randi Talks Trus...
• Baltimore Election Committee Orders New Election f...

The left wing leaning Nation has an in-depth article on the election. Note in the subheadline above the lack of mention of a certain social justice caucus in NYC.

In the fall of 2016 the newly formed BMORE steering committee decided to launch their first campaign—a petition drive to allow absentee voting in BTU elections. That winter, they organized the official BMORE launch party at a local barbecue restaurant, wondering if anyone would even show up. Nearly 70 people did. “We knew then that this type of connection and work was resonating with people,” said Gaber. 

Think of this. A new caucus forms in Baltimore in 2016 and 3 years later they are running neck and neck for control over the union, similar to what happened in Chicago where CORE formed in 2008 and won in 2010 and in LA where a coalition of people formed a slate that won in 2014. In NYC MORE formed in 2011-12 and has gone backwards. Why? We'll address that issue and ask the first of the 4 questions: why is NYC different than all the others?

There may be many lessons to learn from the story in Baltimore about BMORE. That there is more than one social justice caucus is an indication of some sort of division politically even if they combined for this election. For political ed junkies like me this is fascinating stuff.

https://www.thenation.com/article/baltimore-teachers-union/

The Radical Teachers’ Movement Comes to Baltimore

By Rachel M. Cohen

June 7, 2019

Diamonte Brown's win to lead the Baltimore Teachers' Union is by challenged by the nine-term incumbent. (Rebecca Yenawine)

Support Progressive Journalism

The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.

In mid-May, 37-year-old Diamonte Brown won her bid to lead the Baltimore Teachers Union, defeating Marietta English, who has led the nearly 7,000-member union for most of the past two decades. The shakeup in Charm City school politics marks a victory not just for Brown, a middle-school English teacher, but the Baltimore Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (BMORE), a social-justice caucus that has been organizing since 2015.

Yet English, who was seeking her ninth term in office, says she cannot “in good faith concede” and has demanded a revote—alleging Brown and the slate of candidates she ran with committed a series of election violations, like illegally campaigning on school grounds. Critics say the incumbents have their own campaign missteps to account for, including writing rules that discourage challengers and trying to suppress the vote.

The American Federation of Teachers, the national parent union for the BTU, is stepping in, and plans to hold a formal hearing to adjudicate the complaints next week. The election drama reflects a stark departure from what are typically sleepy Baltimore affairs.
Still, with roughly 500 more ballots cast this cycle compared to the last, observers say the increased interest in the election should not go ignored, regardless of what happens when the AFT concludes its investigation.

BMORE says that no matter the outcome, they’re here to stay, joining a national movement dedicated to using teacher unions as a vehicle for broad social change. This movement first caught fire with the Chicago teachers strike in 2012, an eight-day protest of educators, parents, students, and community members who called for increased funding for public services. Similar radical caucuses have since emerged in cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Paul and now they’re banding together to help those in Baltimore.

BMORE’s story begins with Natalia Bacchus, an ESOL teacher who moved to Baltimore in 2013 after teaching in suburban Maryland for nine years. Bacchus was bewildered by the bureaucratic hurdles she encountered at nearly every turn.

“When I worked in Montgomery County, I didn’t know anything about our union, I was just like, I’m a public-school teacher, I’m a public servant, I have a unionized job, that’s cool,” she said. “Then I came to Baltimore, and I was like, wow—everything is a hassle every step of the way. And what do you mean kids can’t drink from the water fountain? And kids have to go to bathroom in groups? All these restrictions that would never fly in Montgomery County.”

Bacchus didn’t know many other Baltimore educators, and didn’t know if she was alone in feeling this way. Eventually she met Helen Atkinson, the executive director of the Teachers’ Democracy Project, a local education-advocacy group. In 2014 Atkinson invited Bacchus to become a TPD fellow, where she would research progressive teacher unions around the country.

The next year Bacchus and Atkinson started traveling to different cities to learn from activist teachers. In August 2015, they went to Newark, New Jersey, for the annual United Caucus of Rank and File Educators conference, and began asking more practical questions about what launching a union caucus might look like.
“I was like this could be big, and Chicago’s social-justice caucus was called CORE and New York’s was MORE—we should call ours BMORE!” Bacchus said.

That fall, Atkinson introduced Bacchus to two other radical educators she knew in Baltimore—Cristina Duncan Evans and Corey Gaber. Bacchus was then working at a traditional public elementary school, Gaber was a charter middle-school teacher, and Duncan Evans was teaching at a specialized high school for the arts. Their diverse experiences struck them as a powerful opportunity.

Together they started a book club, reading texts like How to Jump-Start Your Union, about the Chicago Teachers Union, and The Future of Our Schools, by education scholar Lois Weiner. Later that year they traveled to Chicago, to meet the CORE educators in person. That summer Samantha Winslow from Labor Notes, union-activist media organization, came out to Baltimore to lead an organizing workshop, and five Baltimore educators went to Raleigh, North Carolina, in August for UCORE’s next conference. Leaders describe BMORE’s beginnings as “a lot of slow, but really deep” organizing.

In the fall of 2016 the newly formed BMORE steering committee decided to launch their first campaign—a petition drive to allow absentee voting in BTU elections. That winter, they organized the official BMORE launch party at a local barbecue restaurant, wondering if anyone would even show up. Nearly 70 people did. “We knew then that this type of connection and work was resonating with people,” said Gaber.

Amplifying black leadership and centering racial equity, they stressed, would be at the core of their efforts. They created a closed Facebook group for members, and began holding regular meetings at different schools. By April 2017, they had formally met with their union’s leadership, receiving guidance from Philly’s social-justice caucus on how to approach that conversation. The BTU, they said, was surprisingly receptive to their group.
“Marietta even offered to come to our meetings, but we said no, that’s not how we operate,” said Bacchus. “We’re from the rank-and-file.”

BMORE’s organizing got an unexpected jolt the following winter, with local and national media reports on Baltimore students trapped in freezing classrooms with broken heaters. Some schools never even opened because of malfunctioning boilers, while others sent children home early. BMORE quickly organized and sent a list of demands to the school board and school district CEO, signed by more than 1,500 supporters. The school CEO, Sonja Santelises, wrote BMORE back with gratitude for “fiercely advocating for solutions,” and the school district largely adopted their recommendations. The next month BMORE joined educators in 20 other cities in hosting a Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, demanding things like more culturally competent curriculum and the hiring of more black educators.

Last summer BMORE leaders started discussing running their own candidates in the next union election—something that happens every three years. They decided to team up with another young social-justice group, the Caucus of Educators for Democracy and Equity (CEDE), and run jointly under the banner of The Union We Deserve. Diamonte Brown would run for president, and they’d run additional candidates—including Gaber and Duncan Evans—for the executive board. The Union We Deserve slate would compete against the Progressive Caucus, a slate that included Marietta English and which has held power in the union for years.
The insurgent candidates admit there are some things the BTU already does well. Baltimore teachers have some of the highest salaries in both Maryland and the nation, and their health-care benefits are notably strong. “At a time when people are going on strike over low wages and poor health care, the Progressive Caucus has pushed for even more salary increases and our good health care to get even better,” said Corey Debnam, the Progressive Caucus chair and a Baltimore educator for the last 19 years.

Still, the teachers with The Union We Deserve say they want more than an effective service union, and to prioritize more than just good pay, benefits, and professional development. They want to mobilize teachers into a political force for students and communities—through the ballot box, at the bargaining table, and through direct action.

“I taught American government for nine years, and 6,000 organized voters can really have a big impact on electoral politics when you look at the turnout in some of our races,” said Duncan Evans. Baltimore is a deep-blue city, and in the last Democratic primary for mayor, the winner emerged with less than 2,500 votes.

Whether the new social-justice educators maintain control of the Baltimore Teachers Union will likely be resolved later this month.
Marietta English did not respond to a request for an interview, but sent a statement saying she is glad the American Federation of Teachers is coming to oversee an investigation. “As I have said numerous times, there were egregious violations throughout this campaign process,” she said. “I am confident that this investigation will allow all members to have their voices heard and restore the integrity of our elections.”

Sandra Davis, the chair of the union’s chapter for paraprofessionals and school-related personnel (PSRPs), and a member of the Progressive Caucus, told The Nation that this election is extremely unusual, and that in her 30 years as a Baltimore educator, she’s “never seen anything like this.” If Brown’s presidency is upheld, Brown would serve over a joint-executive board—with the teacher chapter chaired by Duncan Evans, and the PRSP chapter chaired by Davis. “At this point, no one is including us,” said Davis. “We don’t have a clue what’s going on—we’re just in limbo.”

Natalia Bacchus, Corey Gaber, and Cristina Duncan Evans “make it rain” with signed petitions to allow absentee voting in the Baltimore Teachers' Union. (BMORE)

Davis and Debnam said union members contacted them to object to BMORE/CEDE supporters’ canvassing at their homes this past spring. The union’s election guidelines prohibit the BTU from sharing members’ personal contact information, leading some to view the canvassing as a violation of their privacy, even if BMORE/CEDE didn’t get the home addresses from the union itself.
“We have people who are really offended that someone late at night—at 6 or 7 pm—is coming to their home to campaign about an internal election,” Debnam said. “That’s just something we would never do.”

The Progressive Caucus is not just accusing BMORE/CEDE of wrongly canvassing at people’s homes. They also accuse them of illegally campaigning on school grounds. With additional election rules like prohibitions against teachers’ leaving campaign literature in educators’ mailboxes and sending campaign literature on work e-mail accounts, candidates are left with few ways to actually reach prospective voters. Critics say that’s by design, to protect those already in power. Bacchus, who resigned in 2018 and now works with the Teachers’ Democracy Project full-time, said The Union We Deserve’s main goal throughout the campaign was to spread awareness about the upcoming election. “Most teachers don’t even know that every three years there’s an election for BTU leadership,” she said.

BMORE/CEDE, for their part, say the BTU leadership tried to suppress the vote before and during the election, in part by limiting voting hours, removing a voting location, and denying a bulk of absentee ballots. On Election Day, local media also covered complaints from educators who said the ballots on their voting machines were designed in a confusing way, formatted as if to encourage reelecting the incumbents. Debnam of the Progressive Caucus said all candidates had the opportunity to meet with the elections vendor beforehand to see how the ballot would be formatted. “We have no say in how the machine looks, that’s Elections USA, and now there’s this really disturbing narrative that it’s we who have done wrong when in reality we ran a fair and honest campaign,” he said.

Duncan Evans says she isn’t entirely surprised their caucus’s victory is being contested. “The BTU has challenged elections in the past,” she said. “So I certainly knew this was in the realm of possibility.”

BMORE leaders say that if the election results are upheld, then they hope to begin meeting with individual members, to revamp their union website, and to bring full-time organizers on staff.
“I’m looking forward to people understanding more about how a union works, but I think a large part of transparency means us listening,” said Duncan Evans. “This is all long overdue.”

Baltimore Election Committee Orders New Election for but only for seats leadership lost - Antonucci

Don't expect this Baltimore outcome to be accepted by the caucus in power - Unity-like caucuses do not give up power easily.... Reminds me of when Mike Shulman won the high school VP position in 1985 and Unity protested the election they ran and actually got a new election - which they then lost.... Ed Notes, May 17, 2019 - Social Justice Activist Ousts Randi Ally, 21-Year ...

By a strange coincidence, the members of the election committee were appointed by the current BTU officers, and only the election for president and the teacher seats will be rerun.... Antonucci

So what else is new? I reported that something like this would happen - I should have put "ousts" in quotes. If the opposition were ever to win here in NYC, Unity just wouldn't give up power but go to the mattresses.




Mike Antonucci has a follow-up where he compares this case to the Baltimore-based "The Wire." (McNulty just played Jean Valjean in Les Mis on PBS - and maybe Randi can show up as Javert to save her pal and AFT VP Marietta English.

New Case for McNulty and Bunk

The Nominations and Elections Committee of the Baltimore Teachers Union has decided a new election for union officers is necessary.

The election was noteworthy for the defeat of 21-year incumbent president Marietta English and her Progressive Caucus slate for the teacher seats on the union’s executive committee. English’s slate won all the support employee seats. By a strange coincidence, the members of the election committee were appointed by the current BTU officers, and only the election for president and the teacher seats will be rerun.

It’s possible that the opposition caucus violated the union’s election rules. Weigh that possibility against the ballot set-up approved by the election committee.
To vote for English and her entire slate, a BTU member had to punch a single button on the first touchscreen. This image depicts what a member had to do to vote for the opposition slate:

It seems clear this contest isn’t so much an election as a street fight. English’s opposition should look to Omar Little for advice.

Social Justice Activist Ousts Randi Ally, 21-Year Incumbent as Baltimore Teachers Union President - Antonucci

The Union We Deserve slate, which is an alliance of two opposition caucuses within BTU – the Baltimore Movement of Rank-and-File Educators and the Baltimore Caucus of Educators for Democracy and Equity. Both caucuses have a social justice focus....
Brown is the latest in a string of candidates who have managed to defeat established union incumbents with a social justice platform. Though not strong everywhere, such candidates have had their greatest success by forming coalitions to present a united opposition..... Intercepts, Mike Antonucci

How much irony that the Baltimore MORE united with the other opposition groups while our own MORE divided the opposition here in NYC.

Let me point out that I and others called for a similar alliance of all forces here under the banner of a united front to confront the Unity monster in the recent election disaster in the UFT where MORE finished behind a ghost caucus. Maybe studying the Baltimore situation will be a lesson, though I doubt the wounds can be healed, especially as long as the ISO faction that took control of MORE is still dominant - which I expect they are despite the dismemberment of ISO - expect former ISOers to regroup somewhere else.

In Los Angeles a similar coalition of groups united under Union Power to win in 2014. Pay attention to the lessons of history which I tried to point out up to my final moments in MORE.

The Union We Deserve

The Baltimore coalition of two caucuses combined to run against the long-entrenched Unity Caucus-like leadership in Baltimore (it's called the Progressive Caucus - the same name as the Unity version in the AFT), defeating a 21 year incumbent and Randi ally who is a VP of the AFT. More lessons for us here in the UFT.

a preliminary tally shows a 901-839 margin for Brown. BTU has approximately 7,000 members.

Looks like the turnout might be less than here in NYC.

Antonucci has an interesting point:

The opposition slate appears to have won almost all of the teacher seats on the union’s executive committee, while the incumbent Progressive slate seems to have captured all the education support employee seats.

Interesting -- the opposition won the schools while the incumbents won what we would call the Functionals.

The strategy here in NYC has always been to go after the school divisional seats where retirees don't vote -- and I bet retirees don't vote in Baltimore - or anywhere else most probably -- and my point has been to win the 3 divisions and then go to court to fight the retiree vote - but that will never happen here as long as the opposition is divided and inept.

Don't expect this Baltimore outcome to be accepted by the caucus in power - Unity-like caucuses do not give up power easily. They will probably go to the AFT to adjudicate -- and Antonucci makes this point:

Whatever the ultimate outcome in Baltimore, English remains the president of AFT Maryland and one of the many vice presidents of AFT national.

"English, in a statement, pledged to challenge the preliminary results. “Throughout this campaign, there were egregious violations of the elections process,” she wrote. “I can’t in good faith concede this election.”"

Right - Her caucus ran the election. Reminds me of when Mike Shulman won the high school VP position in 1985 and Unity protested the election they ran and actually got a new election - which they then lost.

The opposition protested too:

Teachers who supported Brown’s slate of candidates said the union election was not conducted fairly. They have accused the elections committee of attempting to suppress the vote by having limited voting hours and locations, and denying the majority of absentee ballot requests. They also say educators had to use a confusing ballot that favored English’s team.... Only by the third page did he get the option to vote for people on the Union We Deserve ticket. Daniels was frustrated and upset — just imagine, he said, if the Democratic party tried to get away with that style of ballot during a citywide election.
Union We Deserve was not able to fill an entire slate, because some of its candidates for the executive board were rejected by the elections committee.

We know the AFT has a history of goon takeovers of locals, so this may be a big mess. Watch carefully - a new election wouldn't surprise me.

By the way -- our local conspiracy theorists always complain about the mail ballot we use here but look at the issues related to in-school voting which would take place on one day -- and in fact today's Chicago election is also taking place in schools.

That there are two caucuses coming together for the election should be interesting. Why are there two social justice caucuses? Hit the links to see where they stand - and will this alliance break down under differences?

Baltimore Movement of Rank-and-File Educators and the Baltimore Caucus of Educators for Democracy and Equity.

BMORE seems very similar to MORE in focus and is probably part of UCORE. CEDE is a facebook page and seems to be a less ideological group -- so it is possible to combine a heavy duty SJ caucus with others in a united front.

Today is the election in Chicago where CORE, the granddaddy of social justice teacher caucuses, to win as the incumbent against Members First (Chicago Teachers Union CORE Caucus challenged). There are attempts to brand Members First as right wing in the left wing press -- as if people calling for more attention to be paid to basic working conditions is right wing.

When CORE won in 2010 it was the most broad-based caucus and did not unite with other caucuses running against the Unity style leadership - but that was a special case - there were 5 caucuses running, 2 of them a split leadership and one pretty irrelevant -- and there was a run-off --- so the CORE strategy was based on finishing 2nd and gaining the support of the other key opposition. It was like the Democratic primaries coming up -- the more the merrier as long as you finish 2nd and then unite the rest.

Funny how a long-time voice in the opposition used the example of CORE as an excuse for MORE to run alone --- a specious argument that ignores what really happened in Chicago.

Mike Antonucci has the short report based on a Baltimore Sun article and both are published in full below the break.