UFT Caucuses: When to Hold and When to Fold, UFT Members Assembly - The ABCs of Better Pay

I agree (Union Activists - Are We Weird?. )  Prioritizing building an all-inclusive coalition is a losing game. We've seen where that goes and the fact that UFC evaporated shortly after the last election is all the evidence that anyone needs to know that these types of marriage of convenience strategies aren't built for long term organizing. How many UFC officer candidates left the DOE post election? This pattern of squabbling between elections and trying to come together last min is a real bummer.... Anon. comment on Ed Notes

A very incisive comment from someone who seems to be on the inside. And after the public service announcement below I will delve into the 50 year failures of election coalitions in the UFT - believe me I know. I helped put them together multiple times, only to see the coalitions come apart for years before they awaken like a bear out of hibernation to redo the same old thing once again when the election bell rings, the so-called Einstein def of insanity. Or the Pavlov dogs of the UFT. 

 

The current caucus structure even with one slate can't win - and if they did imagine each caucus doing what they always do - retreating to their corners to use their position to build their caucus so the next time they could ice everyone else out to try to win the whole thing for themselves. MORE is in a much better position than NAC to do that. After the 2022 election all pleas to MORE to keep meeting were ignored. It took most of the year for the break with New Action on the exec bd to come. MORE sits as far away as they could from NAC. (maybe now they will sit together to show a united front while they  gnash their teeth. So imagine this shot gun alliance now. Just like UFC the day after the election, win or lose, infighting and positioning will start. It's in their DNA. Only RA doesn't have to do that because a) it's an oligarchy and b) they have no competition from another caucus so they can act with impunity.

 

There's still time to register for today's ABC Member Meetup zoom.

We’re excited to invite you to an important UFT Members Assembly: "The ABCs of Pay: Let's Talk!". In this Zoom meeting, we will dive into one of the most pressing issues for educators - fair compensation.

Surveys show fair compensation is the leading issue for UFT members. This meet-up will focus on the nuances of pattern bargaining and how to break it, plus other ideas on how to increase compensation. Within two hours of posting this meeting, 100 people signed up. You can't run in an election calling for better compensation without an actual plan on how to win that and developing a strategy that differs from the Unity strategies. Explore the options and compare to how the current leadership approaches the issue - Hands up, surrender to the pattern. What is the Municipal Labor Committee and how do we break its stranglehold on pattern bargaining?

RSVP, Tuesday 12/10 @7PM: UFT Members Assembly - The ABCs of Better Pay

Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Time: 7-8 PM
Location: Zoom [rsvp.uftmembers.org]

RSVP: 12/10 Member Assembly

rsvp.uftmembers.org

UFT Members

 

Future meetups will focus on other issues. Tent Date for next one on How to win changes in Tier 6 is Jan. 7.

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024

 

UFT Caucuses: When to Hold and When to Fold

 

UFT Caucuses come and go - except for Unity. And there are some signs of lower level desertions.

 

Here's a little history of UFT oppo groups, over 55 years of observance where in most elections coalitions were built and ended the day after the elections.

 

My 1970s caucus, Coalition of NYC School Workers, was extremely active for a decade and was a one-third component of the New Action Coalition, a united front of 3 caucuses that came together every two years to run in UFT elections from late 70s through early 90s and then went their own ways between elections, often competing with each other for a scarcity of activists. The other two caucuses were New Directions (founded in 1976) and Teachers Action Caucus (c.1968) and merged c.1995. This pattern, while eventually winning some exec bd seats, which often seemed the sole purpose of running, made no progress in building a serious caucus to challenge Unity, a consistent fatal flaw.

 

The School Worker Coalition's key organizers began to lose interest in the early 80s - I bought a house in 1979 and began an MA in computer science and taught at Brooklyn College that took up the rest of the 80s into the early 90s. We didn't try to breathe life into a dying caucus corpse. The core stayed together and began to meet and eat socially - which those of us still alive still do. The main organizing we did was menus. But we continued to talk about the major issues and stayed informed. Discussions still ran deep and incisive and when I re-emerged those talks gave me a base with which to organize in my own school.

I came back to life in the UFT in 1994 when I became chapter leader, but my focus was on my school and district where I had to battle a principal and try to woo a district and local union leadership that had viewed me as an enemy in the 70s - and I was fairly successful in neutralizing them since they knew I could still be a problem for them if I did exposes. I did not have much time to do central UFT work other than go to the DA.

Not until 1997 when I was no longer teaching and working at the district did I have time and energy to do central union organizing work with the debut of Ed Notes, the newsletter. But I was a lone wolf in a sea of caucuses. I relished the freedom but understood you need a caucus to move the ball. The lone wolf phase lasted through 2003 when NAC sold out to Unity and I helped found ICE, not a caucus loaded with limits or norms (except me) in response. 

 

New Action was composed of the other two wings of the original election New Action Coalition that functioned from 1979-1995, TAC and ND.

TAC and ND continued as separate active caucuses through the 80s and early 90s. The original coalition, not the caucus New Action but the coalition of caucuses, began to win the high schools and the biggie came in 1985 with winning the HSVP and then 1991 winning the 13 HS and MS exec bd. But they lost it all in 1993 which opened Unity to taking away the right for divisions to choose their own VPs.

Then came the 1995 contract battle and the voting it down, led by TAC, ND and independents. (I played little part in that for reasons I can't remember.) Apparently talks for a merger of TAC and ND had been going on and that led to the current edition of New Action - New for ND and Action for TAC. Both groups knew it was time to fold into something new and it worked, attracting people like James and the future Camille Eterno. And Lisa North. So TAC and ND folded for something better - more big tent than either ND or TAC (which was considered the left at the time.)

There were other caucuses called PAC - Progressive Action Caucus. c. 1997. They were focused on teacher who were having trouble passing the license exams and they existed through the 2004 elections when they ran with ICE. They had a big court case and when that was lost they folded -- but funny thing they recently won on appeal 2 decades later.

And Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) which was founded in 1992 but didn't participate in UFT elections until 2004. More on them later.

Now let's leap ahead to ICE - Independent Community of Educators -  which came out of a meeting I called on Halloween 2003. We attracted those who quit New Action like the Eternos, Ellen Fox and Lisa North plus very newly active UFTers like Jeff Kaufman and Julie Woodward, but also what was left of the core people from the old 70s School Workers Caucus. I was impressed by how many independents there were who were not interested in New Action, PAC or TJC and were looking for something that ICE seemed to offer - an Independent point of view freed from caucus hierarchies. And I will say, ICE has never had hierarchies.

 

This combination in ICE proved dynamic - for a few years. And then it wasn't after the 2007 election when we clearly began to shrink. Meetings of 50 went down to 12. While others persisted I read the cards. We had no real future as a traditional caucus but could continue in some ways to have influence in the UFT, even today. Despite my reluctance we gave it one more try in the 2010 elections, when we ran with TJC. It was time to fold as a traditional caucus after that, to the consternation of people like the late James Eterno and Ellen Fox.

Oh, TJC - Teachers for a Just Contract. They were around since the 90s but came to life as a caucus for the 2004 elections when ICE and TJC ran separate slates except for the high schools where we ran the same candidates and won. BTW - a formula for running two slates in the coming up election with enough candidates on both slates to win a majority of exec bd and ad com. A possible solution to settle differences. But leave that for another time. The older ICE socialists were very much opposed to the TJC version of socialism and  I would say ICE formed as much to stop TJC from representing the opposition. ICE was a bullwark to both NAC and TJC. To say TJC was pissed is putting it likely. They viewed ICE like ABC is viewed by the legacy oppo today.

TJC was the hot, younger thing then while ICE leaned older. So they may have had legs but also faded when the younger International Socialists (ISO) abandoned the older socialist Solidarity segment and by the 2010 election they could only field a relatively small number of candidates. It was clear that both ICE and TJC had no future.

In 2009, some of us in ICE founded a new non-caucus group called GEM - Grassroots Education Movement - a group that had no intention of running in UFT elections but was an advocacy group for public education. GEM attracted new people not interested in UFT politics and, unencumbered by the burden of trying to build a caucus, GEM took off like a rocket - we accomplished more in a 2-3 year period than any caucus I've seen - totally focused, not on positioning, but united on key issues. Even parents were involved. GEM had legs but we got waylaid.

Then came the 2010 Chicago victory of CORE, a caucus founded only two years before as a union study group. Suddenly some eyes in GEM lit up - we need a CORE in the UFT - and that folded GEM, sadly, and all groups linked to the UFT were invited to discussions of what became MORE - Movement of Rank and File Educators. I was involved in choosing that name - I always wanted to see the word Educators or workers in group names.

The day of MORE's first big meeting, TJC folded, but ICE people were a major presence in the founding of MORE. And don't think many ICEers weren't reluctant. Gloria, Lisa and I led the push for ICE to give up our autonomy and veto power as we entered MORE. James Eterno was a skeptic. The recently passed Ellen Fox never failed to remind me she opposed ICE giving up autonomy. She wanted to see MORE as a coalition of groups instead of a caucus. Sadly, I now think she was right.

But as MORE grew, ICE continued to function -- at times were accused by some in MORE of functioning as a caucus within a caucus which was LOL since we are the most undisciplined group of anarcho-socialists. Rice pudding over politics. One thing I learned in MORE was there were highly disciplined factions in MORE that did operate semi-undercover as a caucus within a caucus and were using MORE to recruit for their own outside groups. 

 

In 2014 a segment of MORE split off to form Solidarity Caucus, which is still around today. Solidarity was very dependent on the leadership of Francesco Porteles and Lydia Howrilka and when they left Solidarity has floundered. After MORE/NA won the 2016 hs seats (where they functioned fairly well together despite MORE steering attempts to interfere and "steer" the exec bd, to no avail - which led to the future troubles and the purging of ICE. 

So, I gave you a history of most UFT caucuses (I'm leaving out Retiree Advocate for now) and how they merged or folded or became something other than a caucus. 

 

The conclusion: I'm clearly not opposed to caucuses. I do push back against caucuses when I consider them fundamentally ineffective. Ed Notes once rated a caucus as A caucus in Need of Improvement. I reserve the right to be critical of caucuses  - some for external policies, but also for those with clunky over burdened internal process that bog them down in minutia and too many rules and norms - I hate norms.

I can only say my best experience in caucuses and uncaucuses had been when there is dynamic conversations on issues of concern to NYC educators -- while some caucuses spend a lot to time talking about themselves. 

So far my ABC non-caucus experience has been much more of the dynamic conversations with ideas flowing freely. I care more about that process at this point then imposing a formal structure on the UFT election process. 

The State of UFT Elections: Membership Assembly - Who Are These People? Will Dormant UFT Members Arise?

The Membership Assembly is having ripples at my school.  One of our delegates and I were recapping it for people at lunch.  They want to know more. 

John Q. Teacher: I, and the other teachers at my school are confused about this. Are these meetings going to be used to organize a group of people to run in the upcoming election against Unity? "Making our voices heard" is nice and all, but is completely meaningless unless there is an organized group to run in the election. If Unity runs unopposed, they won't give a rats a** about a bunch of folks making demands. 

Anon:  Where are the caucuses? This seems ok but it's kind of worrying that none of the groups that I expect to see are represented here... is this group trying to be a spoiler? are they all gonna work together? what's going on???

Monday, Nov. 4, 2024

Will UFT Dormant Membership Arise?

These comments above were in response to the  Urgent Call to Action: RSVP for the UFT Members October Assembly which had almost 300 registrants and about 150 attending. One chapter leader came up with the lame excuse he had free tickets to the Yankee World Series game. No excuse. He could have zoomed from the Stadium. And they lost anyway.

 

My quick response:

Caucuses have been involved in some way - they have a process for making decisions - this group includes people from the caucuses but are a bit more impatient to get moving and not bogged down in caucus bureaucracy and also want to be more open to new voices and not only rely on the usual suspects. This is not a spoiler group. It only makes sense to run one slate against Unity or not run at all. What if there is no juice out there? Comments on blogs won't do. Needed are real bodies in the schools. Come on down.

I've talked about the state of oppo UFT caucuses in the past:  UFT Resistance Caucuses: We Need Them, But Why Not One Big ten

I've been a critic of the way most UFT caucuses operated even when I was in them, some of which I helped found. I tried to see beyond the often narrow confines of a caucus, with their rules and structures, which often (and still does) drive colleagues crazy. That is why I was most comfortable in the more free-flowing ICE, which I and James Eterno sort of ran (I drove him crazy too). But let's face it, there can be no organized resistance to Unity Caucus without caucuses, so love 'em or leave 'em, we need 'em. In fact in today's UFT world, the more caucuses the merrier. 

So what about the caucuses and the role they would play in a UFT election? I'm sure those caucuses that choose to run (not every caucus seems enthusiastic) will play a role.

Who are these people? Many are the usual suspects though in different configurations.  Sorry, you have to wade through a whole lot of preliminary crap in order to get the full context in follow-up blogs.  I understand the confusion, so let me try to clear a few things up, though there are still things I can't talk about -- you'll have to read the book.

Where Are the caucuses? the 1%

Ask the people you work with to identify UFT Caucuses - even Unity and see what they say. Ten percent might be able to give a cogent response -- actually more like 1%.

 

Let me state right up front. I'm in no way opposed to caucuses being involved in this election. I am opposed to any plan for the 3 self-identified major oppo caucuses meeting behind the curtain for months and deciding on the platform, the candidates and the format of the campaign  - the 6 men (and maybe a few women) in the room, and then sometime in January springing it on UFT members, going into 6 weeks of petitioning mode, then a few months of stuffing mailboxes (with little effect) and in May begging people to vote - which mostly they don't. Oh, the yawn!

In order to avoid caucus bureaucracies why not try something else? Gather a group of interested parties, hopefully with people from the caucuses, and start talking. Which is exactly what has been happening over the past past few months. Informal, ad hoc, open to people through the network. And over the past few weeks, that group has been expanding. And that has led to some of the most invigorating discussions I've seen in the UFT in some time. And I say this with some trepidation: Ex-Unity people have brought a lot to the table in terms of knowledge and analysis. And how little most of them know about the traditional oppo. I think the Unity people thought of oppo as a blob - they didn't distinguish the various components. Boy are they learning fast.

 

So why am I, who followed that model for election after election, now pushing back? One reason is that each caucus has its own procedures for making decisions. So imagine every major decision going back to some steering committee, or if not that, a tiny group of decisions makers at the caucus level and then going back to the election steering group to hash things out. Go watch grass grow.

A tiny group of decision makers (and I admit to being one at times) leaves out the 99% of working UFT members who wake up one day to find a slate - or two - or 3 - running against Unity. I could live with this process if it actually had some success in the past. But as one deeply involved in elections, the turnout  and votes for the oppo proves my point. Look at this chart below and how few in service people voted, especially in the 2022 election when all the 7 or 8 oppo united for the first time to force the first clear opp vs Unity face-off in decades. I went in expecting all these groups to pull people out in their schools and reach deeper into the 99%. 

It didn't happen.

 

No signs of a ground game -- except for James Eterno whose Queens network pulled hundreds of HS votes for UFC.

The results in terms of oppo votes were mostly the same as in 2016 when the oppo was much weaker. Sure UFC gained in % because Unity lost support, support that did not flow to the oppo, which if there was a real ground game, should have.  

 

Look at these numbers and compare to 2004 - other than retirees of course. Some of the discrepancies are due to D. 75 teachers being unfairly lumped into functional instead of their school chapter so they don't get counted for elem, ms and hs. Also the lower ms due to k-8 being elem and 6--12 as hs. Also note that from 2004 to 2022 there are 40k more UFT members while  turnout dropped on all levels.

Let's face it. No matter how many caucuses there are out there, the biggest one is over 70% non-voting DGAC- Don't Give a Crap. Let's take the 30 year RA out of it because we are no longer in the schools. NAC is 30 years old, MORE is 13 years old and has actually shrunk in size over the past 2 years while NAC has grown a bit, some from those leaving MORE.  ICE has become a minor player though we can play a role, as has Solidarity, which is still in business. Is the oppo stronger or weaker today than in 2022? (I will delve into this issue in a follow-up).

 

An election run solely by the caucuses had been a proven failure with "success" being electing the 7 HS Ex Bd out of the 102 members. After attending exec bd meetings after our "big win" in 2022 and seeing the energy drained from the oppo voices, this model has serious flaws unless infused with new people and new energy.

 

Let's win with the retiree vote is a dead end strategy

Now admittedly, things have changed since the June chapter and TRS elections (UFT's 3 Consequential Elections), offering people hope that the entire Unity machine can be defeated. 

 

But there is a fallacy in relying on the retiree vote to carry the day even if the DGAC numbers don't change much. If everything is equal and the retiree vote is the same as in June (not a sure bet), an oppo group might just eke out a win even with a lack of fundamental support in the schools. That thought seems to be driving some of the thinking in the oppo. And our leadership in Unity seems to actually be buying this argument and is running so scared they are actually making a lame attempt to service the members with school visits and love letters from Mulgrew. You might even notice improvements in healthcare --- score one for the oppo.

Let me blow a further hole in that thinking. RA won 63% based on Medicare, which Mulgrew is in a full scare propaganda blitz claiming he agrees. Will it work with most? No. But it might with some Unity people who deserted in the election and won't vote oppo in a general election that would make Unity lose control of the union. Expect some Unity votes to come home.

Also interest in this election by the new voters RA gained - expect some loses there.

And how much support does Marianne lends to this effort and activate her network of UFT retirees, a significant factor in the RA win.

Yes, I think we can win by holding some line in the retiree vote - and don't forget the para vote (though very low turnout usually) IF we get a significant growth in turnout in the HS, MS and Elem schools. And for that we need to REACH into the schools.

A new paradigm is needed to win the 2025 election

Are people out there who want to be involved in the UFT elections other than "just give us your vote"? People who could participate from the earliest days of a campaign? Imagine choosing candidates in an open forum instead of a back room. Sometimes I'm shocked at how little the union leadership AND the oppo leaders mistrust the membership.

If the apathy is the same,  the winning caucus is Don't Give a Crap. And Unity.

So, some people have advocated a different kind of election. Sure the caucuses need to be involved, but we need to get at least a portion of the former unreachable 99% involved in the election process from the very beginning of the campaign. Open up the process and let the sunlight in. 

A campaign based on individuals - most of them from the caucuses of course - and inclusive of those who are in or recently left Unity plus ICE, Solidarity and independents. 

 

A melting pot that would be inclusive, not exclusive of a broader based UFT membership than we've seen before. Of course the conundrum here is what if we issue a call and no one answers? The DGAC caucus wins again. 

There is actually such a group of people in a nascent stage of organizing who have been meeting and were behind the survey and the membership meeting. And so have the caucuses with communication between them.

Coming next: How we got here and where we may be going. And avoiding a horror show.

 

I'm glad Halloween is over.

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

You can still fill out the survey:

Prep for UFT Elections - Fill out a Survey for UFT Members - What Are Your Concerns?

The Caucus Role in UFT in Elections: The ICE Experience

The Caucus model works very well for Unity over 62 years. Not so well for the other caucuses. 

The premise for his and succeeding series of posts is that caucuses in the UFT are a necessity, but I question whether they should be the main driving force in UFT elections. I agree with their argument that they have the infrastructure and I don't preclude them using that infrastucture to support the effort. But they want control and that is where I push back.

That model hasn't worked very well but this time after the retiree and para and TRS elections, which had some caucus, but not all support, there is a feeling the model can work this time if there is a coalition like UFC from 3 years ago. I disagree. The vote totals for UFC were not much better than they were in 2016, but Unity votes slipped. A coalition might win this by default instead of a mass show of support. That would still be a leadership even if not Unity from the top. Without a major influx of new blood, mimicking the success of RA (which did have a massive influx of new blood even if from old people) will be impossible. Also can RA hold onto its 63% support if the Medicare issue fades.

Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024

Technically a caucus is any two or more people who come together over common interests. But in the UFT they mean a group that competes in UFT elections. A group that isn't interested in elections is more of a club.

The very fact there are competing groups that only come together for UFT elections to challenge and otherwise go their separate ways is the best friend Unity Caucus has. Let's face it, caucuses with a major aim of recruiting, generally put their own interests over the bigger picture, which is ending Unity's reign over the UFT. In fact over the 55 years I've been active in resistance groups, there have been few between elections examples of caucuses working together, Unity's best friend. This year, things may only get worse.

Why ICE was different

Let me just say that ICE was a factor in UFC in the 2022 election with James Eterno leading the way. Without James I have no stomach for making a case for ICE to have a share equal to other groups. ICE is not a caucus anymore in the traditional sense but still a collection of people with influence. In fact we are meeting on zoom tonight.

• UFT tribute to James Eterno: https://ufthonors.uft.org/eterno/
  

My experience in helping form ICE in late 2003 was a bit different than how other groups began. It was sort of serendipity.

The major oppo caucus, New Action, had just made a deal to work with Unity. I ran into Michael Fiorillo at a joint Unity/New Action rally and he was shaking his head. "What do you make of the NAC argument that Bloomberg is such a threat we need bipartisanship?" I said that kills the voices of resistance. We should get some of the gang together to talk about it. And so we did.

Teachers for a Just Contract had decided to become a formal election caucus. I had met a bunch of people who were not happy with TJC and its ideoligically driven program that at times seemed to be grafted onto the UFT but didn't touch on so many issues of concern, so I called them together, not to form a caucus, but to discuss the situation. Was NAC right to ally with Unity? Did TJC politics, molded by the ideologies driving the group, work for people? Some of us had attended a few TJC meetings and came away unhappy. 

This pre-ICE group meeting attracted over 20 people, including James and Camille Eterno, Ellen Fox and Lisa North who had left NAC (or been asked to leave). Most people were leftists of some sort but also pushed back against the TJC line of what they saw as a shallow, ideology driven program - which some recognize remnants in the current program MORE, with roots back to TJC, offers today. 

ICE decided to run in the 2004 election to raise crucial issues ignored by others

The meeting and those that followed were very program driven on issues no other group were focused on: the danger of mayoral control, high stakes testing, closing schools, attacks on teacher control of the classroom, class size, and others, all issues fundamentally ignored by the other caucuses. Three weeks later, we decided to form Independent Community  of Educators (ICE), not as a permanent caucus, but for the election in order to put forth our program in the NY Teacher. We did unite with TJC on the high school candidates only and surprisingly we won those 6 seats. It was only after that election that the group decided to stay together as a caucus and be active at the Exec Bd to support Jeff Kaufman, James Eterno and Barbara Kaplan-Alpert out winning HS candidate.

• Independent: Left leaning, we are non-sectarian and not tied to any party or tendency.
• Community: We are part of a broader community than UFT members in a school.
• Educators: We are broader than just teachers and include secretaries, paras, etc.

There is some irony that I helped found yet another caucus when I had always advocated bringing everyone together into one big tent, which I had tried to do with Ed Notes back in 2001 when I called all caucuses together for a few meetings to work together for the next election -- before a fistfight broke out and I gave up.

ICE Uncaucused

The caucus model did not work out very well for ICE. We ran with TJC in 2007 and 2010 with little progress (NAC was still in alliance with Unity and was granted a number of exec bd seats and jobs), which is why we shifted to a non-caucus group called GEM (Grassroots Education Movement) where we did amazing work for two or three years - not focusing on  UFT stuff, we fought charters, high stakes testing, closing schools and made a great movie. Then we got sucked into forming a new caucus (MORE) and GEM died. Some of us think that was a major mistake. It turned out the new caucus model hasn't worked out very well either in terms of taking power in the UFT.

Coming next: 

So why don't all the groups form one big caucus? 

Examining other UFT caucuses on their success and failures.

Offering a New Paradigm for the next UFT election.

 

 

Elections Have Consequences: PR Blitz to Breathe Life Into Mulgrew, Make UFT More Responsive (finally), Unity Tries to Avert Defeat

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024

The recent Unity major losses in elections has created a sense of panic in the upper halls of the UFT, and some shake-ups. At the AFT convention in Houston in July Staff Director LeRoy Barr lectured the staff, blaming them and absolving leadership, telling them the opposition was well organized and coming for their jobs and they better start campaigning immediately. 

Calling the opposition well organized shows how much LeRoy doesn't know - but I actually have faith that LeRoy knows the opposition real well and was just blowing smoke to scare the staff into worrying about their jobs. (Don't worry boys and girls, those who actually do their jobs instead of being Unity shills will be safe if the oppo wins.)

So, the best thing Mulgrew has going for him is the state of opposition. But expect a Unity full court press- like this:

Need someone to talk to? We're here

I think of the Reagan comment about government and we're here to help. After decades of not helping,  Unity lost an election and now wants to help? But do they even remember how?

Mulgrew never takes responsibility and puts blames on others

Mulgrew supposedly reamed out the staff before school started and shook up the hierarchy. Anthony Harmon is off to NYSUT and Ellie Engler has been brought back to be co-staff Director in his place. Where does that put LeRoy Barr? Probably not in the dog house with Mulgrew's dog, but Mulgrew may have ordered him to get rid of his cat if he has one so as not to come on a certain VP candidate's radar. Is Mulgrew blaming LeRoy or his cat for the recent big election losses? Mike Sill, who I like (the kiss of death) has moved into something or other. Insiders say morale has sunk at 52 where people see these moves as moving deck chairs. 

At a staff meeting, staff actually received copies of the Labor Notes, "Secrets of a Successful Organizer," a bible on the left, especially in MORE where for years I sat through bouts of the same Labor Notes training where we were told to keep a tally sheet of our staff, something I managed to figure out on my own in the 1970s. After all that training I didn't notice an enormous uptick in organized schools in the last election, but if you want to see a preview of the lessons your beloved UFT rep will bring to your chapter, see the list at the end of this article - and even read up to prep for their visit -- and be ready for How to Be a Good Listener.

See how well they listen to you and how they tell you they can really do nothing about your principal.

So what irony that Unity is trying to emulate the "successful" organizing of MORE,  a caucus in its 14th year of existence and not in a position to run head to head against Unity - and never will be no matter how much Labor Notes training they undergo. 

Thus MORE may be forced against its will to work with other caucuses and groups in a potentially winnable year, though I imagine from my last days in MORE when I pushed back against those who wanted to run not to win that there is still a faction that either wants to run alone (the Greta Garbo group) or not run at all. The latter is ironic since I was one of the few voices in MORE's first election in 2013 urging MORE not to waste resources on running and use the time to build its infrastructure as a new caucus, one of the many battles I lost in MORE. In the decade since, MORE did build infrastructure, but given the size of the school system, it's still a blip. Maybe next decade. 

What's left of UFC? New Action and Retiree Advocate and maybe MORE which is still deciding

The other main strands of the opposition is a resurgent New Action back from the 2019 dead and the new king of the hill, Retiree Advocate, whose victory and 300 delegates are game changers in the UFT. They may be the heart of the oppo movement this year. I will have a lot more to say in about a week on where the election movement stands at this point.

ICE is an open end discussion group -- a listserve and a dormant blog - but we did zoom Sunday night to discuss the state of the UFT election. Always a great and eclectic group of people that ICE attracts. I always come away from an ICE event feeling better -- a reason to keep us getting together where we hear some of the smartest analysis.

Solidarity is trying to make a claim but has internal battles and I maintain without the force of Lydia's personality and leadership it can't be more than bit player -- but watch the squawks of some of them claiming equality with the other caucuses. Squawk away since one of the requirements may be for caucuses to show they are legit by showing at least 25 CL and delegates as proof they have people who can get elected in their own schools.

So fundamentally, the hope from the UFC coalition from the 2022 election would have opposition infrastructure in place for this election died soon after the election ended when MORE lost interest and the rest of the group drifted. That UFC in essence died is the best friend Unity has in its chance of winning as those wanting to defeat Unity were set back to ground zero. 

Unity will flood the schools with staff offering to help and Mulgrew promos, but will that help or hurt?

Unity relies on a chain of command -- central - borough- district - school Unity and associated CL to get the message to members. Even in the 2022 UFT election, the Unity vote totals dropped as most rolled their eyes at the glossy flyers. The problem for the oppo was that the members also generally rolled their eyes at them too. The goal for the oppo this time is to turn those lonely eyes to them if they expect to win. And to vastly expand he base from the usual caucus suspects. I ruminated on this point on Aug. 7:

• What it will take to Change the Leadership in the 2025 UFT Election? Build it and they will come, and if they don't come be very worried

Expect many visits from your District and borough special reps. But also expect most people to yawn. There are weak links in this chain - some clueless Dist reps and most importantly, a waning loyalty at the school level from the Unity faithful. Seeing the possibility of the opposition actually winning next year, some in Unity "light," as they are known, may be rethinking their options. Why not give up your paltry after school patronage job and sign up with the oppo to get an early foothold?

The weakest link in Unity is still Mulgrew himself.

Reports from UFT Chapter Leader training, Aug 28:

It was like a bad PD, person after person talking and I zoned out;

they meant well but they lost the new people like me....

Mulgrew’s rambling about cell phones. It’s not coherent - but maybe that’s because I’m starving. Now he’s talking about “we don’t always go Democrat in fact maybe we will vote Republican one day.” Now he's talking what why it's not that big of a deal if they get rid of the Dept of Ed at the federal level...Aside from the minor detail of civil rights being violated all over the nation, what could go wrong? Thinks ranked choice voting is stupid and dangerous... Elizabeth Perez gave him this big intro and said “he has squirrels in his head” and I can’t stop laughing.... Squirrels in his head would explain a lot. Sounds even worse than RFK Jr.'s brainworm.... Michael droned on and on and talked about how a high percentage of teachers get cancer. The whole thing was awful. And then asked who wants time for questions? No one raised their hand. Who wants to leave? The whole room...MM is the Manchurian Candidate

Oy! Mulgrew so Trumpian and is fundamentally a Republican, so I'm not surprised -- he probably wished he had been invited to the Republican convention. By the way -- while the AFT and NYSUT have geared up to back the Dem ticket, the usual UFT political operation has been dormant until recently.

At one point people believed Mulgrew might be replaced. In the last election two years ago they hid Mulgrew with no photos of him on their leaflets (in contrast to the 2019 election when his photo was all over the place). Then came the disaster of last spring's chapter elections - we know the para and retiree results, but have little data on the school levels -- how many Unity were replaced? How many activist CL and Del were elected? I hear MORE caucus claimes over 100.

If Mulgrew were to be replaced that would have happened already to give the new person some serious time as an incumbent, so that train has left the station. Some think he would take something in the AFT but he's a fish out of water there. And besides, Unity doesn't have a very big bench. Like who can replace him? See if you can come up with potential replacements.

Here are some promos for Mulgrew for your joy of reading.

From congestion pricing to Medicare Advantage, the politically nimble leader of the teachers union seems to always come out on top, Bob Hennelly, City and State.... WTF

 

How about this puff piece from City & State?

Michael Mulgrew: “Shrewd Political Instincts and a Willingness to Pivot”

Class politics

* United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew’s political flexibility has enabled him to almost always come out on top when it comes to the most contentious issues facing his members, from the pitched battle between retirees and the city over Medicare Advantage plans to the ongoing debate over congestion pricing.

 

Peter Goodman,  minister of propaganda for unity reprinted the article on The Wire, prompting this response: 

reads like an article in The Onion. The "shrewd political instincts" of Michael Mulgrew delivered us a sub-inflation contract (aka pay cuts), an all-out attempt to move municipal employees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage Plan, and an impending watered-down healthcare plan for in-service UFT members. In May 2025 we need to vote Unity caucus and its CEO, Michael Mulgrew, out of office.

 

 What next? Mulgrew for Mt. Rushmore?

 

Arthur has been doing a daily hit on Unity and Mulgrew. 

Here is his latest:

What Union Does: In stark contrast to what Unity does

You should subscribe. And a few oldies but goodies:

 

UFT Unity's Rehabilitation Campaign

City and State paints a fawning, thoroughly incomplete portrait of Boss Mulgrew.

Arthur Goldstein

Aug 26, 2024

Unity Thinks They Own Our Union

They don't, and this must change.

Arthur Goldstein

Aug 29, 2024

Unity Prohibits a Dangerous Sign At the Labor Day Parade

Bennett Fischer, newly elected RTC Chapter Leader, had been working for weeks to get signs printed for the RTC. He had to get them approved here. He had to get them approved there. They had to be this size, not that size. You have to make sure this person knows about it. Also, don’t tell that person until that person knows. Red tape galore... On Friday, UFT Snowflake-in-Chief Michael Mulgrew told Bennett that the signs would not be acceptable. He contended all signage must be on message with the Central Labor Council's theme for the parade. So the RTC, the leadership of which was elected on the basis of opposition to Medicare Advantage, was blocked from expressing what we stand for.

Prompting this comment from Sean Ahern:

The RTC’s program to defend Medicare was blocked by UFT leadership at the rally. I think the RTC chapter will have to be more forceful in the future. It was like Unity is the Principal who just says no to the chapter leader who is representing the members grievance. Where is the pushback? I hope a plan for the Oct DA will not be so quiescent. 

Secrets of a Successful Organizer Handouts

We've made all the handouts and exercises from our best-selling book Secrets of a Successful Organizer available for download. Feel free to print them out and share them with your co-workers or use in your next union meeting. Disponible en español.

What it will take to Change the Leadership in the 2025 UFT Election? ? Build it and they will come, and if they don't come be very worried

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024

The prospect of defeating the 62 year Unity Caucus machine in a UFT election may seem like a field of dreams, but breaks in the Unity facade after the recent retiree, para and TRS elections (UFT's 3 Consequential Elections) offer glimmers of hope. But only glimmers.

Is there enough anti-leadership buzz at the teacher level in the schools similar to what we saw in the retiree and para chapter elections this  past spring? Did similar uprisings take place at the recent school chapter elections or was it the same old, same old? 

I haven't a clue. There is an every 3rd year turnover year and Unity Caucus tries to incorporate new CL as soon as they can and subject them to their own internal propaganda machine to make sure they don't drift to the opposition. CLs know they need some level of support from the Dist Reps (who are the main recruiters) and are often reluctant to get involved with oppo if they even know they exist (oppo footprint is fairly small). In fact many new CLs don't even know what Unity is. The DR line is: Psssst, do ya want some free trips to conventions or a PM staff position?

Thus the opposition has never been able to reach very deep into the schools and when election time comes we know that having a strong voice in a schools advocating for the oppo and getting out the vote during the election directly affects the vote totals. The standard method the oppo has used of racing around to hundreds of schools where there are no contacts and stuffing mail boxes has had very little effect on vote totals. Most of this work has been done by the active caucuses and their supporters. 

That has never been enough and I maintain will never be enough (other than in high schools which no matter the caucus over the past 40 years has almost always voted oppo). I've been arguing that unless this base of an active oppo voice expands way beyond the current caucus outreach, Unity will continue to win at the middle and elementary school levels. Even if we won an election due to retiree votes but lose the bulk of the school vote, it would be a weak win and a strong win is necessary to transform the UFT. (In Chicago and LA, there were strong wins and no retiree votes.)

We might know more at the October 16 first DA of the year or at a September chapter leader meeting. Leadership always gets a head start by organizing borough CL meetings at the end of this month. I suggest that people who want to build a winning team try to reach out at these meetings and test the waters.

What I term "the usual suspects" (TUS) in the opposition seem a bit too optimistic for my taste, with some discounting the difficulties of putting together a winning coalition and relying on the same old, same old. I sense that they think putting together similar coalitions as in the past will work this time under the new conditions based on recent election outcomes. I'm the Debbie Downer in that sea of optimism. I'm looking for the unusual suspects.

I've been posting in this issue recently 

• Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? 
• UFT 2025 Opposition Election Update: What are the Possibilities? A slate of people, not caucuses

and have received push back from some of TUS, many of whom are long-time activists in the opposition, with the major disagreements coming from the caucus people who think my calls for broader participation in the process of organizing is disparaging the work of caucuses. 

That is misinterpreting my position. 

I do think active caucuses that actually want to win the election (not always true in the past - see 2019 election and MORE Caucus) must be a necessary component of any effort to unseat Unity. The question is what is left of the 7 groups from 2022 that are still active? ICE without James and Solidarity without Lydia are dormant. 

So, we have Retiree Advocate, New Action and MORE, and from what we hear there are factions within MORE that either want to run alone as they did in 2019 or not run at all so they can focus on their agenda, though the majority seem to want to not miss the boat in case the oppo does win. We don't know yet if MORE will be on board. So what is left of UFC? NAC and RA, which itself is cross-fertilized with NAC.

And then there is a growing list of open and behind the scenes Unity defectors -- at least at the school level - call them the Unity Light Underground Caucus. 

Plus consider that there are independents who do not want to be connected to a formal caucus but might be interested in playing a role in the election.

I have disparaged the process of caucuses in the past, even my own caucuses because the process of operating a caucus bogs down the ability to act -- I won't get into details but I no longer have the patience to wait for the caucus process to play out in an election campaign. 

The democratic process caucuses operate under sometimes are not so democratic as power is distributed to a few at the top no matter how "democratic" they supposedly are. I know, because at times I have been one of those few. Most people who sign up for a caucus do not want to do much heavy lifting on a regular basis and power flows to those who do.

So fundamental decisions in the caucuses are mostly made by a few people and putting these few people in control over the election process shuts out potential voices of the rank and file.

The 2022 UFC coalition followed this pattern and I keep contending that the actual vote totals in each division (other than retirees) fundamentally didn't change from the 2016 election where MORE and New Action teamed up. 

Supposedly with 7 groups involved in 2022 one would have expected a surge in votes for the opposition. Instead we saw the % go up due to Unity drops in votes but the oppo didn't pick up those votes. Even in HS which we won, the total votes for oppo went up only by 300 votes (2650) over 2016 despite a massive focus and blitz on member mail boxes. There are almost 20k high school teachers and the poor totals show a failure to GOTV in significant numbers even in schools where UFC members were located. 

The entire process involved relatively few people in the negotiations though of course the caucus members may have been involved to some extent, and relatively few people actually active in the campaign (more were involved in the petitioning, which is always draining). Last time the 3 major caucuses were Solidarity, New Action and MORE, with ICE joining in and the Eternos playing a prominent role. And there were other groups and individuals involved in the UFC organizing committee. And UFC did run 400 people but relatively few of those played an active role in the election.

A process where caucus leaders decide on platform, candidates, and election strategy behind closed doors and then spring it all on the membership leaves the latter in a position of not being involved other than being asked for their votes. The failure to involve a broader coalition beyond TUS will keep the election limited to the outreach each caucus has -- limited outreach that does not go very deep into the schools. Not a winning strategy.

A new paradigm must be found that runs deep into schools beyond where TUS reside and engages more of a rank and file, not only to vote, but to get involved at ground zero of a campaign. I will repeat: Relying on caucuses to plan and run a UFT election campaign ends up being in the hands of a few people who become the dominate players and deciders in the election, a process that excludes 99% of UFT members other than asking for their votes.

I'm urging a big reach-out to the vast unknown of the rank and file to check the pulse to see if something similar to retirees and paras is brewing with teachers. Unlike past elections this one can be a serious attempt to change the UFT leadership. Is there's a buzz out there with people stepping forward who would be factors in organizing in their schools and districts? Or the usual apathy? If so, Unity may have nothing to worry about.

There needs to be deep roots into the schools and not just the surface roots the caucuses offer in order to win the entire election and dislodge Unity once and for all.

And if that happens? Keep an eye on how a winning coalition transitions from challenging Unity to running the UFT. I hope I'm around to watch it happen.

 

UFT 2025 Opposition Election Update: What are the Possibilities? A slate of people, not caucuses

Can a broad coalition be built without caucuses controlling the process? Let's avoid having a narrow group of people make fundamental decisions.

 

Anonymous comment: Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? What was right and wrong with the UFC Coalition

Sun Tzu famously said that battles are won or lost before they begin. The general UFT election is now one year away and currently there is NO organized group right now ready to take on Unity. That fact alone is bad enough. The other fact is that another coalition effort will probably face the same challenges it did last time. Add to that, MORE has turned off a lot of rank and file UFT members with their radical/world political agenda that has nothing to do with our working conditions. Unity can be beat but a hardcore force must start NOW. Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 11:38:00 AM ED

Norm health report: I ate a giant cheeseburger last night. 

 

Norm social report: After a doc appt and breakfast with my cousin visiting from Israel (only family, no political talk) I will head down to 52 to visit Bennett Fischer in the new RTC office on the 17th floor.

Wednesday, July 24

This is a follow-up to my June 26 pre-op post (Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? What was right and wrong with the UFC Coalition) and I know I repeat myself but time is growing short and attention must be paid.

 

I've helped build 3 opposition caucuses in the UFT over the past 54 years (CSW in the 70s, ICE in the oughts and MORE a dozen years ago). And I was involved in the process of building a coalition of caucuses for the 2022 UFT election campaign (United for Change). 

 

I'm not a fan of the latter process, nor giving relatively few people from the caucus steering committees control. I don't think the steering committees of the caucuses should be the controlling force for this crucial upcoming election, especially since there is wide disparity in the different caucuses' approach. 

 

The landscape has changed in two years. James Eterno is gone and ICE is fundamentally me managing a listserve and getting things posted on the ICE blog occasionally and holding meetings every two months.

With Lydia, the heart and soul of Solidarity, out of the DOE, we have heard little from them. I know they do have a council, but other than that, they have not had any imprint on the UFT.

That leaves New Action and MORE as the caucuses with active UFTers and Retiree Advocate as the remaining members. RA with its big win is now very influential and also reps the biggest block of people in the UFT. 

A new game in town is the Fix Para Pay group that won seats overwhelmingly in the recent election. Paras represent a major block of 27k members in the UFT and a slate in next year's election must include them. If retirees and paras go oppo that is major and puts the 19 functional Ex Bd seats into play.

And there are new players emerging, though I'm not sure where that's going yet.

As for EONYC - the Daniel Alicea operation, he has joined New Action. But The Wire has great outreach and will be influential. Daniel is not limited by New Action in independent activities.

 

The MORE Problem

There are reports that there is a hard core group (a minority at this time) in MORE that doesn't think running in elections is worth the effort and oppose making coalition with groups that are not aligned with their politics. In my last days in MORE in the fall of 2018 when they wanted to run alone (a disaster as I predicted) I proposed they don't run and mess it up for the groups that did want to run. They decided to run a small campaign with the aim of not winning anything and fundamentally shit the bed. MORE learned its lesson and worked with the rest of the oppo in 2022. But who knows where they stand now?

For a deep dive on where MORE might go, read Ryan Bruckenthal May 16 (pre-RA and Para elections) and Peter Lamphere June 23 post election analysis at the MORE blog:

• The Movement of Rank and File Educators and the Case for an Inside/Outside Strategy to Build a Progressive Big Tent Within the UFT

• What could a grassroots UFT election campaign look like?

Both are influential in MORE and seem to favor coalition. Ryan even looks at working with Unity on some issues. I have some positive and negative analysis of both pieces but I'm too busy eating cheeseburgers to dig deep.

 

The problem seems to be how the other oppo people feel about the perception seeping into the rank and file that MORE's politics may be too far off the mainstream and working with them would cost votes: A feeling that MORE has taken its eye off the prize of focusing on the needs of UFT members. (See anon comment leading off this article.)

 

There are still questions over whether MORE will decide to work with others (see below for how that's worked out over the past few years), will go it alone or won't run at all. Frankly, with the big RA and Para election victories, which MORE supported but did not play a major role in, I don't see how they can miss the opportunity to win the overall election next year and thus be left out in the cold.

 

I still see some people compare MORE to CORE in Chicago, which won the union election less than 2 years after its founding. It's hard to believe, but as a founder of MORE, we started meetings to found MORE in 2011 -- MORE is over 13 years old and has no glimmer of winning a UFT election on its own. 

New Action has revived

In the 2019 4 caucus election, New Action finished last behind MORE, was packed with retirees and looked dead in the water. But they began to revive in the 2022 election and with powerhouse people like Nick Bacon and Daniel Alicea and others who have left MORE, New Action is back in the game. And key NA retirees are also involved with Retiree Advocate. What NA has is a very energetic outreach program to CL with a big mailing list covering hundreds of schools.

Retiree Advocate has astounded the UFT world with its recent 63% win in the chapter election, so some think RA holds the cards and the key to the 2025 UFT election. As a core member of the RA Organizing committee, I certainly have influence but I have mixed feelings about retirees playing the major role in a UFT election. We always criticized Unity for using retirees to control the election. But facts are facts. The retiree vote is major. Jonathan did an analysis that showed if retirees voted for us by the same margin in the 2022 election, we would have won by a narrow margin.

Still, I think relying on retirees to carry the day in forming an election slate is the wrong approach. But RA members must have a role but active UFT members must lead the way. But where will they come from? I would ask how many CL and Del to NA and MORE have after the recent chapter elections? I have no answers yet but those numbers would be a key to how much outreach an oppo would have in the schools. (Though in 2022 other than high schools I didn't see much growth in the elem and ms despite the CL in the caucuses.)

 

The UFC process in 2022 was too narrow and restrictive and never figured out how to reach into the rank and file to broaden the coalition. The stagnant vote outcomes in 2022 was proof of this failure. It will take going deeper into schools to shake the tree and build to a victory next year. Thus, I think an open call for people to get involved early might spark a reaction beyond the usual suspects. But the usual suspects may be reluctant to yield control to what might be an unknown mass.

 

Meeting secretly and hammering out a slate and springing it on people seems counterproductive but I don't have a simple alternative. Some way must be found of getting more people beyond the usual suspects involved in the process, necessary to win a resounding victory. RA won the RTC election by getting deep into the non-activist wing to gather 17k votes. Getting 300 people to run was one key factor.

We'd need almost 800 to fill a slate next year. That won't happen without a broad appeal. (Some are saying don't worry about the AFT/NYSUT delegates - let Unity have them. I absolutely disagree. That would be like RA only running officers and letting Unity have the DA.

 

The genesis of UFC for the 2022 UFT election

Just about 3 years ago, private calls went out to all the caucuses or semi-caucuses (New Action, Solidarity, MORE, ICE) and other independent sources (EONYC) to start meeting to form a coalition to run against Unity in the spring of 2022.

Meetings with 2 reps from each group ensued to knock out a platform (relatively easy) and come up with a slate of candidates (hard). And the games ensued with a lot of angst, some blowups and lingering resentment. But once the candidates were settled by early January, the UFC coalition (mostly) came together for the petitioning (which I coordinated - so I saw first hand which individuals in which groups were doing the work). As for the campaign, there was some coordination but the campaign was mostly the same old, same old -- run around the city stuffing leaflets in mail boxes. I'd bet if we did no mass stuffing and just focused on the schools where we had live bodies to get out the vote, we'd do better.

The election outcome with the big win of the 7 high school seats and rising percentages in other divisions were cheered by many in UFC, but not by me as the UFC totals in middle school (under 1000 votes) and elementary schools and probably functional fundamentally matched the MORE/New Action numbers from 2016 - except the retiree numbers which hit 30%. Given the amount of groups and people involved in the UFT effort, I viewed the 2022 election as a dud.

Here were quick takeaways from my May 22, 2022 post:

• Unity got slammed, losing votes in all divisions compared to the past.
• I thought newbie UFCers who actually thought we would win would be crushed - instead many were excited and already talking about 2025.
  
• UFC didn't pick up what Unity dropped (except possibly in retirees and a little bit in high schools), just about matching the 2016 oppo numbers. Beware of those calling this a great victory. At this rate of growth I will be 101 when the oppo wins in 2046.
  
• UFC gained from 2019 oppo disaster and restored a sense of an opposition, getting the most votes the oppo has ever gotten, winning the high schools with 55% and almost winning the middle schools with 44% and closing the gap in elementary and winning 33% overall, the closest in a long time.  Despite the gains, UFC did not get out the vote as well as I expected. I began the campaign thinking we could win all three teaching divisions. While we did get 44% of the teacher vote, that is due mostly to Unity's failure to bring out its vote, not due to UFC getting a big turnout - matching 2016 is still status quo - as is winning the 7 HS Ex Bd as we did in 2016. Let's say UFC could win in 2025 or 2028 -- with these numbers? I'm not sure there is enough of a union underneath to deliver.
  
• Is spending enormous time and money flooding teacher mail boxes with lit - for both Unity and oppo - really worth it. Also - we thought social media would bring out votes -- it didn't. Few will agree with me on these points but I will continue to stand by them. The numbers prove it.
• Possibly the biggest achievement of the 2022 election may be the very existence of a United for Change broad coalition. While formed as a temporary vehicle for this election, there are signs UFC will continue in some form while giving each caucus space to develop. The 7 electeds represent all the groups and the candidates have pledged to continue working together. I love that they come from MORE, Solidarity, New Action, ICE - but also they are broad-minded to see outside their own caucus. Preliminary meetings indicate excitement at working together.
  

Well, I was right on everything but the last point about UFC continuing in some form. Turns out the primary aims of some caucuses (guess which?) was their own growth and development and UFC was forgotten the day after the election. Calls for UFC to meet fell on deaf ears in some quarters - but UFC did continue through the high school reps meeting and communicating - for the first year before things began to fall apart this school year, totally fragmenting the UFC high school reps.

Thousands of UFT members voted for UFC, not for any one caucus. I remind you of the 2019 disaster when 3 caucuses ran independently. So the rank and file want a coalition and are not happy with fragmentation. Caucuses should not get the idea it was them. It was the idea of a united opposition that got these vote.

So only some kind of coalition is necessary. But I do not trust the same process as took place in 2022 - behind closed door secret meetings where each group had veto power - an unworkable situation going forward.

 

So can Humpty Dumpty be put back together again? I say no. We need a new paradigm that is inclusive of people from caucuses but does not give any caucus itself major control of an opposition group. A slate of people, not caucuses.

 

Thus I propose moving towards some ad hoc group of individuals that put something together with people from all the caucuses involved but not slaves to caucus veto or controls. This is not easy because caucuses are so proprietary -- though I feel RA is less so than others.

But say we did cobble together a coalition of sorts, and won, here is a warning:

France’s Left Has a New Star, and a Fresh Crisis

Marine Tondelier, leader of the Green Party, helped bring the left together to win France’s parliamentary elections. Now can she help keep it from falling apart?

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/18/world/europe/france-green-party-marine-tondelier.html

 

“Our voters are screaming, ‘Do not betray us!’’’ Ms. Tondelier said in an interview last week in the modest headquarters of the Greens in the 10th District of Paris, an area once known principally for its two big train stations but which has, of late, acquired a hip reputation. “We have to be a government of combat, a government of action, of social justice,” she added. “It won’t be simple, easy, evident or comfortable, but we must make the effort.”

 

the parties of the alliance — the Greens, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party and the far-left France Unbowed of Jean-Luc Mélenchon — squabble. They have deadlocked over nominations for prime minister, taken to reciprocal insults, broken their promise of unity and generally floundered.

France Unbowed, whose pugnacious Mr. Mélenchon sees himself as the figurehead of the entire French left, has accused the Socialist Party of “vetoing any candidacy from the New Popular Front with the sole aim of imposing its own.” Olivier Faure, the Socialist leader, responded that he did not see “why the word of one should be imposed on all the others.”

All this has been too much for Ms. Tondelier, who by Wednesday was in an incandescent mood in an interview with the France 2 television network. “I am angry, disgusted and fed up,” she said. “And I feel desperate at the spectacle we are offering the French people.”

Every minute of the “ridiculous” internecine fights of the left only “won votes for the National Rally,” she said.

The left’s travails and divisions are nothing new. But for the seven million people who voted in the decisive second round of the election for the New Popular Front, the current disarray is dispiriting. Ten days ago, they danced in the streets. Their hopes were as varied as an improved minimum wage and protection for disappearing bird life in the French countryside.