Bernie will take away your healthcare plans - Union Leaders (Mulgrew, Randi) Need to Answer for Opposition to Medicare for All as layoffs and loss of health care mount

As even those with good health care plans are laid off and lose

them, there is a lot to answer for opposing and even mocking Bernie Sanders' single payer ideas that would have protected all those with much loved health plans (Not). As for how he would have paid for it -- where's your God now, Moses?

Remember those much loved health care plans union leaders were defending in their attacks on Bernie? Remember the "how will you pay for that?" arguments by anti-Bernie Dems and union leaders and even some of my friends? Bernie's answer was that in his plan it doesn't make a difference where you work and if fired or laid off or if changing jobs, you still were covered. As for how we would have paid for Single payer --- Triple LOL. Joe Biden's comments about expanding Obamacare are double, triple LOL. And how about paying for Corona virus treatment? And how about the insane world of profit in the healthcare industry which Bernie attacked at every opportunity.

Now we see a cone of silence with the only words that Bernie should drop out, not that he was so correct. And in the midst of this Biden says he still would veto a Single payer bill but Bernie is expected to drop out.

And also in the midst of this are attacks on Bernie supporters who might

not rush to Biden, people forgetting that the very reason Bernie attracted so many young people is precisely because of his medicare for all plan. So fagetaboutit - Like there is no burden on Biden to move in their direction - that this is only about Trump.

As for our own union leaders who defended the current system of health care, they may think UFT members are fairly well protected in terms of health care. Well let's think of the massive budget cuts and layoffs coming in the fall and how many UFT members will lose their much loved health plans whereas they would still be covered under Bernie programs.

Hey, you anti-Bernies - you have a lot of splainin to do.

Instead of calling for Bernie to drop out you should hide your faces in shame.

Listen - I do believe Bernie's rhetoric and refusal to vary his argument and be more nimble in his responses. His self-branding himself as a democratic socialist is not even accurate. I heard Noam Chomsky call him an Eisenhower era Republican and Chomsky asked "why would you use the word "socialist" in this country  when at most you are an FDR traditional Democrat?

Jacobin:

There’s Never Been a Better Time for Us to End Private Health Insurance Than Right Now

NYSUT Update: Kiev on the Hudson as Randi Plays Role of Ukraine President Yanukovych

Randi is behind the so-called NYSUT insurgency multiple and trusted sources have informed us. I don't have particulars but this info came in response to my comments the other day in this post (The Battle for NYSUT: Ebbs and Flows)

While some think Randi must be behind the move of the UFT to take over NYSUT completely and totally (they pretty much have a lot of control now) this doesn't have her fingerprints. What does she have to gain from trying to push out Iannuzzi - who she helped put in? Or pushing out Maria Neira who she promoted from the UFT Exec Bd to a NYSUT VP?

You know, I should have trusted my instincts all along but the total level of how nonsensical this is in terms of Randi's own self-interest led me out of the real world into fantasy land -- that Mulgrew might have stepped out on his own. These quotes from Reality-Based Educator:

Literally up is down and black is white. The less aggressive "challengers" are getting supported because the Iannuzzi regime hasn't been aggressive enough.....Orwellian beyond belief - but par for the course at the AFT/NYSUT/UFT. ...  Reality Based Educator at PerdidoSS

My sources say that Randi could not accept Iannuzzi and crew's blatant rejection of Cuomo which would leave her without a role to play with the big boys on the state Democratic Party level. My sources say that it more important to her than even considerations of splitting NYSUT.

But my guess is that she didn't think it would go this far and that Iannuzzi would cave or play ball. The interesting story is NYC Unity Caucus member and former UFT Exec Bd member Maria Neira, who was promoted and pushed into the NYSUT VP position by Randi, now feels she represents the interests of the teachers in the state and keeping NYSUT united is in their interests. The Andy slate came up with newly minted UFT VP and Teacher Center head Fortina to go up against Neira.

Neira was a popular person in Unity and I imagine many of them will have to swallow to vote against her. But they will. Swallow, I mean.

What this means in the long run is this: in the 35 years or so of NYSUT history -- where Shanker and Hobart merged the AFT and NEA on the state level -- Shanker's way of going around the enormous national NEA hostility directed at him and his dream of running one national teachers union -- there has NEVER -- Say it again - NEVER - been a contested election for NYSUT state office. That is because there is only one statewide caucus - Unity. There is no equivalent of MORE at the state level ---- and now one may very well emerge. And even if it is relatively small on the level of MORE that is major.

First of all I should point out that these are not rank and filer union members but union presidents and their elected delegates who we are talking about. So this is an entirely different kettle of fish and something MOREista observers, committed to rank and file organizing have commented on. Other MOREistas are supportive, especially given the increasingly close relationship we have been developing with Port Jefferson Station TA --

Me and my adopted political son Mike

The official website of the PJSTA over the past few months -- thanks to the work of Mike Schirtzer in MORE who has worked with the great crew over there.

At issue is an increasingly widening rift between the UFT leadership and the smaller locals who have gotten chopped by Cuomo with the other big cities up for grabs by both groups over time. Thus even if they go with the Pallotta/Mylgrew/Randi side this time they will be looking for results, results that Andy can't deliver on.

Cuomo's pre-k support plan robs Peter to pay Paul given that many if not most small locals don't even have full-day kindergarten, let alone pre-k. Thus, Cuomo's plan to take state money and pour it into NYC pre-k while upstate and Long Island poorer locals get less state aid has caused a major divide. Thus, the De Blasio plan to raise taxes on the rich inside NYC to pay for the plan makes perfect sense to them -- but not to the UFT/Revive NYSUT crew. I'll get more into those weeds in another post. (And also talk about the role MORE might decide to play in all this.) The Cuomo property tax cap is a killer for small locals.

The incumbents and their growing allies are the real insurgents in NYSUT, not the Mulgrew/Alan Lubin/Andy Pallotta "Revive NYSUT" make-believe. It is funny to call the incumbents led by Dick Iannuzzi the insurgents but as time goes on you will see what I mean. Once he was freed from the UFT muzzle he has shown some chops - and clearly had the support to push forth the headline breaking news of withdrawal of support for John King and an attack on the common core, which Randi tweeted in her usual manner, she was so "thrilled" at -- while that entire incident only helped STRONGER TOGETHER.

When Mulfrew and crew call themselves insurgents just go back and read RBE at Perdido Street School

And Yet Three More Oldies But Goodies: Michael Mulgrew Defends John King's APPR Teacher Evaluation System - Because I'm in the mood for oldies this afternoon, here's three more UFT gems coming to you from back on September 4, September 5, and September 13.

 

Angel Gonzalez Stars in The Taking of PEP, One, Two, Three

In this third posting of video I took at the Dec. 17 PEP meeting, Angel Gonzalez of GEM and ICE stars as he takes over the meeting and pulls a real deaf ear and a rubber stamp out of his pocket while ICE/TJC presidential candidate James Eterno and another ICEer hold up the ICE/NYCORE banner we made last year calling for the end of schools closing, the defense of ATRs and an end to high stakes testing.

Later I'll put up more video with Leo Casey's statement - compare it with Angel's on the militancy meter from zero to ten. Casey, by the way spent the meeting with his head down texting as much as Klein did - probably to each other. (A New Action blogger had a cryptic hint of similar criticism without mentioning Casey by name - of course. Don't want to jeopardize those Exec Bd seats, you know).

By the way, note how Mulgrew is now saying "Fix schools, don't close them." How creative Mike. I guess you has been [sic] reading Ed Notes and ICE and GEM material. If we thought the UFT would take a militant position beyond just words, we would be glad to see them adopt our positions. Do not hold your breath.

There is some commentary from me on my trek to the Bronx and a few words at the end. WARNING: holding the camera in front of your face up close and personal can make you look even more grotesque than usual.

More PEP videos on Ed Notes
PEP Rally for Patrick Sullivan

PEP Boys (and Girls) December Meeting: Cracks Show in the Bloomberg/Klein Monolith

PAVE's Spencer Robertson: Billionaire Slimebag...and Liar Too

There is such an important post at the CAPE blog, that I am cross-posting it here below. The parents at PS 15 held a demo yesterday. Spencer (daddy, give me a school) Robertson didn't take it too well.

CAPEers think old Spencer is showing cracks. Head on over to CAPE and add your comments.

Oh the outrage that the NYCDOE gives Robertson $26 million to build his play school because daddy is a billionaire, just a sliver of the massive corruption under BloomKlein. And they talk about the awful old decentralization days when a local school board member took home a dilapidated piano.

As a companion piece, read another brilliant post by Leonie Haimson on the NYC Public School Parent blog titled:

Charter schools: the new polo ponies of the wealthy

Leonie points out that daddy Robertson is the 147th richest man in America. Why should he have to give Spencer a job when he can get we tax payers to foot the bill?

Follow this trail:

....Julian Robertson himself is careful not to pay NYC taxes , by making certain to spend under 183 days in the city. The state recently brought a lawsuit against Mr. Robertson senior for failure to pay taxes, but Robertson won this case, by proving that he had carefully worked out the minimum number of days he would reside in the city and having his scheduler keep records of this:

"...Mr. Robertson designated an assistant, his scheduler Julie Depperschmidt, to keep a careful count of where the Robertsons were from day to day in 2000 and to make sure they did not spend 183 days or more in New York City."

Spencer Robertson's wife Sarah is Director of Talent Recruitment at PAVE , and head of the board of Girls Prep Charter School, which has caused considerable controversy of its own by seeking to expand within a District 1 public school building.

Another member of the Girls Prep board is Eric Grannis, husband of Eva Moskowitz, who makes more than $300,000 a year, operating another string of charter schools and who herself has been eager to expand her schools even further into the buildings of existing public schools in Harlem.

Leonie points to "this article about a "secret" meeting that took place last May, between Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, Julian Robertson and other members of the Billionaire Boy's club, about how to coordinate their charity "efforts".

UFT: Silence of the lambs
Before you read the CAPE piece, let me point to the silence of the lambs at the UFT on these type of issues no matter how much Leo Casey whines about real estate grabs. Note the same Bill Gates the UFT is partnering with in a plan that will lead to evaluating teachers.

And note the name Eli Broad as part of the crew above. He gave the UFT charter schools $1 million. And he was a major factor in the publication and publicity campaign for Richard Kahlenberg's "Shanker was right about everything" bio, which was designed to soften teacher unionists up for "the program." (Read Vera Pavone and my review of the book if you want to know more.) So who is in bed with who(m)?

Dammit, I wanted to write a piece that the real mismanagers have been the UFT, not the DOE, where BloomKlein have managed the dismantlement of teacher rights and the take over of swaths of public schools for private interests. Now, Under Assault's assault on the UFT has beaten me to it:

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THE UFT IS THIS STUPID

"MISMANAGEMENT CENTRAL is Unity Caucus, which is taking us whitewater rafting down a very long and angry river without paddles, lifesavers, or strategic thinkers at the helm."

Finally, one more point made about the UFT leadership by South Bronx Teacher in this post:

....the top 1,400 sycophants working for Joel Klein will be getting raises totaling $12 million dollars, including 475 that already make over $100K. That is bugging me, but not as much as something else I read in the Daily News article.

What is bugging me, perplexing me, annoying me the most is Mike Mulgrew's response. Mulgrew, and I must think of a pet name for him, blabbered, "The chancellor has the right to make his own judgments about what his managers deserve." No outrage Mike? No stern consternation? Not even a tsk tsk?

CAPE: Will the Real Spencer Robertson Please Stand Up
12/19/09

Today a group of parents picketed PAVE. They used their voices to demand accountability and honesty from the DOE and PAVE's founder Spencer Robertson. Teachers stood by on the sidelines, as not to participate in political action on the school block, but wanted to support the parents who braved below 20 degree weather to exercise their civil rights. Spencer Robertson chose to exercise his mouth and showed who he really is.

We should start by noting that Mr. Robertson's cracks began to show earlier this week when he told the school's building council that PAVE had all the money they needed to build their own building and that they would sign a contract for their space in 45 days (interestingly right in line w/ the timing of the PEP vote- maybe we can expect another grand announcement like the one we experienced this fall at the CEC meeting when they fake announced their space plans for the umpteenth time). What is even more interesting is one of PAVE's board of directors announced yesterday, they need an additional six million dollars to build (in addition to the 26 million in taxpayer dollars they have already been awarded by the DOE and the six million they have already fundraised). The board member also noted they already own a property in Red Hook on Henry and Mill Street. So, now we know for sure the real Spencer Robertson in a liar.

It is important to note that all of this discussion about a space or no space, building or no building, money or no money is irrelevant considering the agreement was made to the community for a two year co-location, which expires this June. Instead of acknowledging the fact that they, Spencer and his board, have misled the community and had no intentions of leaving in two years, they act like they are doing PS 15 a favor in assuring everyone they have every intention of leaving... some day, but they can't say when and the details of where and how change daily. Robertson ignores the negative impact his school and his actions have had on the educational programs at PS 15 and further the division it has created in the community. So, we know the real Spencer Robertson believes he is not accountable to the people of Red Hook or the children of Red Hook. We know his only interest is his charter empire.

This morning, as parents picketed outside, Spencer called the police and PAVE parents wrote on blogs demonizing PS 15 parents for standing up for what is best for their children, both denigrated PS 15 parents and teachers calling their actions political and tried to shame them for supposedly involving and scaring children (it is important to note this picket was purposefully set to begin after PAVE students arrived at school so no children would be forced to walk through the picket). What was happening inside? PAVE students were led in chanting, in PS 15's auditorium while our children arrived and our teachers and families set up our holiday fair in the gym next door, ...we are a charter, a mighty, mighty charter, this is our school, you can't move us... So now we know Spencer is not only Orwellian, but he, unlike the teachers and parents at PS 15, actually does indoctrinate his students with propaganda.

During the parent picket, Spencer stood next to the only two white men on the line and presented his case, women and tan people need not be spoken to. He thought he was reaching his good 'ole boy network, instead he got an earful. Apparently this shook him so much, his only recourse was to attack the dedicated teachers, who said and did nothing, who merely stood in silence, separate from the picket, to support parents who were standing in freezing weather, to highlight their true commitment and dedication to this community they proudly serve. As the teachers filed in the building to pick up their students, Spencer turned to them and said, "So this is what it takes for you to get to school on time." Oh no he didn't! Now we know that the real Spencer is a desperate man, a cynical man, and too low for words.

The teachers at PS 15 are one of the most dedicated and hardworking groups of educators in the city. Despite tremendous obstacles, and by every measure, they succeed with their students. You value test scores, take a look. Some of the highest reading and math scores in the city. You want programs; take a look, many teachers volunteer their preps, lunches, and Saturdays organizing and running programs for students, parents and the community. While Spencer Robertson pockets 26 million dollars from the DOE, teachers at PS 15 scrounge for paper and write grants at nights and on weekends to make up for the more than 10% cuts the DOE has placed on our budget in the last year. This man has the nerve to defile our teachers in this way?! We should note this isn't the first time he has done this; in an email earlier this year he called our teachers lazy.

Late and Lazy. Hmmm. How many of his teachers work with parents in the community? How many of his teachers volunteer their time? How many of his teachers have been serving Red Hook for ten years or more? How many of his teachers buy their own supplies? How many of his teachers procure their own funding for the school? Do we see his teachers or for that matter him on Saturdays or Sundays or in the evenings in Red Hook? It is the typical neo-liberal/neo-con strategy: say it is so and so it is. You have to wonder if these people believe their own lies, or if they are so cynical the lies easily slide off the tongue without a second thought.

Spencer Robertson has painted himself as the son of a philanthropist who cares so much about children and inequality he gave up a privileged life to help minority children have access to a better education. The real Spencer Robertson needs to stand up. The truth is, Spencer Robertson is the son of a billionaire who is used to getting what he wants and will protect his own interests and will propagate his own agenda at the cost of anyone or anything that gets in his way. His strategy, along with BloomKlein and the entire charter/privatization movement, is to divide communities, demean and demonize teachers, disenfranchise parents, and dismantle existing successful public schools, particularly in minority communities that have a history of limited organization and mobilization.

Spencer and his cronies picked the wrong school and the wrong community to manipulate and mislead. Regardless of what happens over the next month, as long as this man is in PS 15, and most likely as long as he drives into and out of Red Hook each workday, he will face an outspoken group of people who know who he really is. We will be his mirror, maybe he can hide from himself, maybe he can even hide from the PAVE families who entrust their children to him, but all darkness comes to the light. Eventually the cracks will accumulate to a fracture and the facade will come crumbling down; the real Spencer Robertson will be left standing, most likely alone, on display for all to see. Hopefully the parents and teachers of PS 15 will still be around to pick up the pieces.

Blogger "Under Assault" Takes Mulgrew to the Whipping Shed

UFT Prez Michael Mulgrew wrote us today about how terrible Bloomberg's recent speech in Washington was.

Sure enough, he talks a good line about ATRs, rubber rooms and test scores, but who can believe what these union managers say anymore?


When the ATR pool was created, he says, the union had "warned the DOE that faulty implementation of the process would leave hundreds or even thousands of teachers without permanent assignments."

There is no better example of the Department of Education’s mismanagement and failed leadership than this group of dedicated and experienced teachers.

Sure looks to me as if he's denying the union's role in negotiating a contract that handed us the ATR situation on a platter.

Let's be clear about this. Randi Weingarten, backed by her indefatigable Unity Caucus, signed a deal that gave principals the right to pass over any or all excessed teachers.
----

Unity management works behind our backs and lies to us.

As nice as Mulgrew's letter sounds — and it does sound better than Weingarten's claptrap — I don't believe anything Unity says anymore. Not one word.


The above are excerpts from a superb piece that exposes Unity (and don't forget their allies New Action- see if any of their literature is in any way critical of the UFT on so many of these issues - and they joined Randi at her wine and cheese party screwing the ATRs as Under Assault refers to).

I agree that Mulgrew is skating on his use of less cloying language than Randi. But the ice is getting thin and do not expect him to deviate one iota from her policies. He will get away with this for a time, certainly through the upcoming UFT elections, where many Randi-haters will argue they should give him a shot.

They shouldn't.

Read the full piece: MM Pinocchio

Mulgrew Profiled in Times, With Quote from Eterno

As James Eterno says in Jennifer Medina's profile of UFT leader Michael Mulgrew in today's Times.

“We’re not expecting any major change — it’s still the same machine that is running the U.F.T.,” said James Eterno, who is making a long-shot bid to challenge Mr. Mulgrew. “In some ways, it does not matter who the head is, you know that they are going to toe the line and not fight for many changes for teachers.”

Give Medina some credit for talking to James. The press generally ignores the fact that there is internal opposition in the UFT. I don't know why she didn't include this great photo of James and Camille Eterno and two month old daughter Kara Teresa, who will be running against Leo Casey for HS VP in the UFT elections, the youngest candidate in history.

Oh, I forgot. The story was about Mulgrew.

There certainly will be some cosmetic differences beyond the obvious ones in the transition from Weingarten to Mulgrew.

Medina touches on what I would term the all around Weingarten fatigue from within and without the UFT (have fun you guys over at the AFT in DC), even in her own Unity party:

Mr. Mulgrew cuts quite a different figure from those who came before him... And the distinctions are not just physical. His predecessor, Randi Weingarten, was known for her work-around-the-clock ethos and frequent news conferences, and seemed to relish rising to the balls of her feet and shouting to make a point.


Internal sources at 52 Broadway, commenting on the immediate differences between them at last week's Delegate Assembly, made the point that Mulgrew came down to the meeting on time (Randi would have traipsed in at 5pm with no worries about keeping a thousand people waiting and would have talked for another hour) and got the business done. Of course, the usual business was introducing politicians who get more speaking time at DA's than people who disagree with the members.

One education official who spoke only on the condition that he not be identified for fear of angering Mr. Mulgrew — or his predecessor — contrasted the two by saying that Ms. Weingarten often seemed to be calculating several moves ahead when she spoke. Mr. Mulgrew, the official said, says exactly what he is thinking. Asked to respond to the comparison, Mr. Mulgrew gave another belly laugh: “I can’t answer that one without getting myself in trouble — maybe it’s a good idea people believe you say what you’re thinking.”

Pretty funny for a guy being touted as someone who says what he is thinking to say, "I can't answer that one without getting myself in trouble." Go ahead, Mike. Get in trouble. Say what you're thinking. Randi was a pain in the ass.

Of course, the same Unity machine mob mentality still exists (when Randi took over she promised major reform and turned out to be more undemocratic and more of a demagogue than either Shanker or Feldman) and it took a point of order by Eterno at the DA to get the floor.

[CORRECTED BY JAMES ETERNO]
Eterno got to say his piece but with numerous interruptions by Mulgrew. Weingarten was notorious for never letting people finish as she interrupted repeatedly with points she disagreed with and Mulgrew must feel he has to show his muscle to the Unity hacks by doing the same.

There were Unity Caucus and full time staffers hooting and hollering as they guarded the isles. We actually have a copy of the floor plan of action they lay out before each meeting.

The crazy mob scene and truly dumb increase in security in the lobby (with one sumo wrestler type with shaved head standing with arms folded blocking the stairs) and hallways of 52 may be a sign that Mulgrew's lauded attention to detail failed him in this first major test of running a DA. Changing from a chapter leader to a DA at the last minute and holding a meeting in a room that holds 850 when there are over 3000 delegates (the reality is that between 1000 and 1200 were expected to show was not a good introduction for the 350 new chapter leaders and countless new delegates.

If we at least get some straight shooting from Mulgrew instead of Weingarten's whining, that will be an improvement. But as James Eterno points out, Mulgrew will be stumped on the big issues because he is running a union structure with an ideology that just cannot win improvements for the members and the children of NYC (and for you troglodytes out there, yes I am linking the two).

Medina quotes Leo Casey:

Leo Casey, the vice president of high schools for the union. “Leaving aside the huge budget gaps, he also has to figure out how to mount a response to the charter school movement that accepts the best of what they should be, but really turns back the attempt to use charter schools to privatize education.”

Gee, Leo, ya think? Casey is one of the architects of the failed UFT policy on charter schools (and the open market system, atrs, rubber rooms, seniority, etc), with two UFT charters occupying space in public schools, leaving teachers in school being invaded by charters on their own to fight back school by school.

Here's a simple prediction: Mulgrew will not be able to turn back the use of charter schools to privatize education and the Unity Caucus leadership is a major obstacle in organizing teachers and parents to be able to do so.

Casey rose on the tails of Weingarten (he was her chapter leader at Clara Barton HS for the 10 minutes she taught). Will he fall now that she is gone?

Hey Mike, tell us what you really think of Leo Casey.

Related:
See Anna Philips' profiles of Eterno and Mulgrew at Gotham Schools.

If You Knew Mulgrew Like I Knew Mulgrew

Hi Norm,

Read your piece about Mulgrew. I know him a bit. He shouted me down at a meeting he held at my school to "discuss" the '07 contract extension. I asked why the "cost containment initiatives" phrase had been added to the extension. He called me a conspiratorialist and fear-mongerer (those probably weren't his words...I don't think he uses words containing more than 3 syllables), said I was spreading lies by asking my question and told me to shut my mouth when I continued to repeat the same question until I could get an answer.

I don't bother with his union meetings anymore. I learned my lesson -the fix is in and I'm not going to get riled up over something completely out of my control.

BTW, at the same meeting where I walked out, two more of my colleagues had run-ins with him and walked out publicly too.

In my opinion, he's a creep and a goon and cut from the same crooked, corrupt cloth as Weingarten. I have seen his "heavy-handedness" if you will.

It Really Wasn't Personal, Randi

Reminder: GEM Happy Hour today from 5 to 7 PM.

at Jimmy's no. 43: 43 E. 7th (downstairs), between 2nd Av. and 3rd Av.

We will have an area in the back near their kitchen. Jimmy's serves food.

On The Two Labor Day Days, Mulgrew and Randi

I was asked by people at the DA yesterday about my report regarding the 2 restored days being only for 2009. While I'm still getting some mixed signals about exactly what has to be renegotiated in the next contract (expiring in Oct.) it appears (for now) this is permanent.

What tickled me at the DA was how many people genuflected to Randi for getting back the two days she herself agreed to take away in the first place. Of course she made it seem the UFT had nothing to do with it. Sort of like having someone take money out of your pocket and you thank them for putting it back.

Naturally, the mass of delegates were overwhelmingly in favor. But there was one hell of a gutsy speech from Jonathan Halabi, who strongly raised the issue of union solidarity with future teachers and the creation of divisions between people. Because he is a member of New Action, I sometimes tweak him. But people in the besieged math department at Bronx High School of Science praise him to the sky for being the most supportive voice out there. And his blog is the place to go to find out schools you should not apply to because of vicious principals.

The attitude he expressed yesterday about union solidarity on a general basis and regularly on his blog is a sorely missed component from this union.

On Mulgrew
One point on the article on Michael Mulgrew at Gotham, in which I was quoted. It was basically half of what either I said or wanted to say.

“He comes across as a non-waffler,” said union activist Norm Scott. “For people who despise Weingarten, there’s already a sense of, ‘Oh, maybe Mulgrew will be better.’

Add this part: "But while this change in style will work for him for a while, it is a change in style not substance and ultimately will make little difference in the UFT's inability to make a stand against all the anti-teacher and anti-union attacks going on."
I don't know Mulgrew at all, having almost no direct contact, so all information I have is second hand. Many people I know like him. Others say he is the ultimate Unity hack. Some say he runs Executive Board meetings when Randi is not there with a heavy hand. I know of one incident at Grady in relation to union elections where he showed a heavy hand. Other than that, he will be a breath of fresh air in terms of style, at least for a while.

On Randi
Some people consider me a leading Randiologist. Education Notes has spanned her entire career and I believe is a chronicle of her tenure. So if anyone is thinking of writing a book on Randi (Randi Weingarten, Semi-Tough Liberal), Ed Notes is the place to go. One day I'll get them all online.

I'll do a more in depth piece on her legacy when I get a chance, but here are a few quick thoughts.

Randi took disagreements personally. In our years of email correspondence, I kept trying to tell her it was not personal and we functioned in the same manner with Al Shanker, who never whined about personal attacks and brushed us off like the fleas we basically were.

Not Randi. She raised every single issue, no matter how minor, into a hysterical pitch. We all used to look at each other at Ex bd and DA meetings as she would contend on points that were laughable. I hope that Mulgrew will not view criticism in that way and take more of Shanker's approach.

She helped make Education Notes the thing to read at the DA by saying, "I love to read Ed. Notes." That was in the early years when she was real insecure and not sure of the full support in Unity, where a number of old-line Shanker people resented a lawyer being in charge. In her first year or two she was also unsure in running the DA and I managed to establish my ground early on and began to play a role. After a while she learned the tactics that ended up making her more undemocratic than Shanker or Feldman, who at least followed some basic rules. Randi started making them up as she went along. Today, the UFT is at its lowest state of democracy I've seen in the almost 40 years I've been involved. Her true legacy.

Her ruthlessness and demagoguery evolved as her power grew. In the early years it was different. She once did an unprecedented thing (in Oct 2000, I think, possibly at the same meeting that Hillary Clinton appeared) when I raised a resolution calling on the NY Teacher to print every over-the-limit class size every year. She called me up to the front and gave me her microphone, giving me the opportunity to address the Delegate Assembly from a unique position. The resolution passed overwhelmingly, though the NY Teacher only printed the data for only two years, and only after I reminded them. So much for DA resolutions.

That was the height of our relationship and it went down hill in the months that followed over her push for merit pay (she avoided calling on me for months when I wanted to make an anti merit pay resolution and my early warning system went up) and mayoral control in the spring of 2001.

Ed Notes turned extremely critical in the 2001/2002 school year. After I retired in 2002, Ed Notes went city wide in an attempt to reach out to people who would be willing to fight her and Unity. Out of that effort, ICE was born. Thus, Randi's actions spawned ICE. We call her "Mom."

In one of my last emails to Randi years ago I told her about how my principal also used to say my activities as chapter leader were personal. After I left the school to take a district job (when my new boss told her he was hiring me, she said, "My car was stolen today, but this makes up for it") I returned once a week as a computer support person. My principal started greeting me with hugs and kisses and even gave me money for Ed Notes. Our relationship was fine once we were out of each other's faces.

I told Randi that when she left to run the AFT this too would happen and she would come to see there would be little change in our approach to her successor. But somehow I do not expect her to change her mind about it being personal instead of political.

So I won't expect Randi to follow my principal's example and give money to Ed Notes. Or hugs and kisses to me. Besides, when Randi gave me her microphone at that DA back in 2000, she had a vicious cold – which I caught. I'd take the money, but I'll pass on the hugs and kisses.

Related:
Accountable Talk has some thoughts on Mulgrew and Randi

Randi's Options Restricted by UFT 2010 Elections

Randi Weingarten's supposed decision to turn the UFT presidency over to Mike Mulgrew sometime this summer is being squeezed by upcoming UFT elections for officers and the Executive Board. The election season traditionally opens in January (2010) with ballots going out in March and the results announced, appropriately, around April Fools Day. So if she is to give Mulgrew a chance to funcion as president before the election, time is running out.

Let's remember that the UFT has been run by 3 people since the mid-60's and each functioned as both AFT and UFT president for a period of time, Al Shanker for 11 years and Sandy Feldman for 2 or 3 years. Both ran for re-election while they were AFT president and soon after turned the job over to their hand picked successor (rubber stamped by the Exec. Bd.) who could function in the job for a time before having to run on their own. Pretty undemocratic, but good strategy.

If Weingarten leaves with only a few months before the election, she will be breaking the pattern. Mulgrew, who has been racing around meeting with people all over the place so they get to know him, is still not the president until she is really gone. I predicted she would have had to get off the stage last January to give Mulgrew a good year in the job. With every passing month, his time as a fully functioning president is constricted.

Was Randi forced to move up her timetable based on a recent secret UFT survey reported on by NYC Educator that may have shown she was so unpopular that a relative unknown like Mulgrew would do better than she would?

Now, before we go on, at the risk of being labeled a defeatist, there is no chance - I mean zero chance - and yes, you do have a better chance of winning the lottery - that Unity could lose anything other than 5 or 6 seats on the executive board (out of 89) in the 2010 election. Their control of most chapter leaders and their unlimited access to all the schools has been solid, though based on anecdotal evidence, there may be some anti-Unity slippage in the elections just being completed now. But they are always able to recover and get to these people at weekends full of food at chapter leader training sessions where they recruit them into the Caucus and cover them with the cones of silence, training them to put the interests of the Caucus over those of the people they work with.

So why the angst? And believe me, there always is much angst. Think of the effort and money that has gone into buying off New Action, which was only getting around 22% of the vote when they gave up? Randi spent enormous amounts of time scheming and meeting with them and making them think they were important.

Unity Caucus leaders are very concerned about the stuff that is important to them. Or course, that concern doesn't include the conditions of the rank and file, unless they perceive some threat to their power and control of the union. They have always made sure to try to keep any opposition movement from gaining traction.

So even though they always win the total vote with 80%, they worry about an opposition forming that begins to reach 1/3 of the vote, which begins to make them viable.

Maybe Randi stays on long enough to screw people with another sellout. Tier 5, paying more for health care, a final solution for the ATR problem? Then she can skedaddle so Mulgrew doesn't get all the blame.


Related:
Reports are beginning to trickle in about Mulgrew's performance as chapter leader at Grady Vocational HS. Oy!

Is Mulgrew Really the One?

No reporter tracks goings on in the UFT like the NY Sun's Elizabeth Green. Friday (July 18) she wrote, "Ms. Weingarten named [Mike] Mulgrew the union's new chief operating officer [COO] in a memo sent to union officers yesterday [July 17] evening." Mulgrew will run the UFT while Randi is out of town, but I do not think he will be the UFT president in the foreseeable future for reasons I have laid out in the past. (See the 2-part "Randi's Succession Obsession" in the sidebar on the right. Also read our June 16th post "Unity Tail Wags the AFT Dog.")

Of course, if Elizabeth had been reading Ed Notes regularly, she would have learned of the staff changes in our July 3 posting, "UFT Staff Changes: Mulgrew is the Boss."

She seems to think highly of Mulgrew as she gave him a premature promotion by titling the article, "An Apparent Heir to Weingarten Emerges at N.Y. Teachers Union."

In the old Shanker days, we used to see the heir apparent of the month.

Randi reorganizes as often as Joel Klein
Just note how many staff directors (one of the most stable pre-Randi positions in the UFT with Feldman and then Tom Pappas occupying the job for decades) the flighty Weingarten has run through in the past 3 years since Pappas retired.

I count 6, including the new tripartite Leroy Barr/Ellie Engler/Gary Sprung arrangement, which we also sprung on our readers in our July 3rd post. Sprung was often despised as Pappas' hit man and will play the role Pappas played for Sandy and Randi.

Sprung has apparently survived the Unity critics carping at his talking and joking with me (I think I was the only one who liked him), but he has wised up and now makes sure to ignore me when passing. But Gary is in my age range and we can't expect him to be there forever, though they could embalm him and leave him standing as a statue to continue to scare the staff.

One interesting aspect has been the down-grading of Michael Mendel (who last year was designated as Randi's 2nd in command) and recently resigned elementary school VP Michelle Bodden who for years was viewed as Randi's logical successor. (Ed Notes also broke this story on June 26 even before many people in the UFT knew.) Michelle will now run the UFT elementary charter school.

That these were two of the most liked and respected people in the union hierarchy should not go unnoticed.

Ed Notes has been predicting all along that Weingarten will be very reluctant to hand over the real power in the UFT/NYSUT/AFT.

Once Randi gives up the UFT presidency, she becomes a head without a sure body of support. Shanker was able to do that after 11 years of doing both jobs because he became such a big player on the national scene. The NY Times column played a major role and Randi is trying to establish the same credentials. But she has along way to go until she reaches that status and her notorious paranoia and micromanaging will be a big factor.

In a recent conversation I had with Green I repeated my thesis that with the real power in the AFT and UFT resting on the control of the UFT's Unity Caucus, Weingarten, like Shanker before her, would not let go easily. If she intended to have Mulgrew run for the presidency in March 2010, she should have moved much faster to declare Mulgrew as the heir. We would have to see her resign from the UFT and appoint Mulgrew within the next 6 months to give him an opportunity to function as UFT President. Both Shanker and Feldman resigned soon after they were elected. So the timetable for a 2010 candidacy for Mulgrew must be executed ASAP.

"But didn't Sandy Feldman turn over power to Randi when she became AFT president," Green asked?

"Yes she did," I replied. "But she groomed Randi for almost a decade. Everyone in the union, in the DOE and in the halls of power in the city treated Randi as the heir apparent, so she didn't just walk into the job after Sandy left. Despite that, there were some conflicts when Randi ignored her advice. Randi also moved quickly to replace some of Feldman's people with her own. That is not lost on Randi and with Mulgrew being an ambitious fellow, what would stop him from doing the same thing?"

You can't compare the relationship between Al and Sandy with that of Randi and Mike. There would be no way the same level of trust. Clear signs will be whether Mulgrew gets to run UFT Executive Board and Delegate Assembly meetings, a role Mendel has filled very effectively.

Green says a few interesting things about Mulgrew:
Mr. Mulgrew is known in the union as a "fighter" who stands out for being bold enough to stand up to Ms. Weingarten when he disagrees with her.

Sure. We've seen what happens to people who disagree with her.
"I think he's extraordinarily talented and the right person," a union vice president, Leo Casey, said.

Now there's a good source of independent thinking, Leo Casey, who could find justification for UFT policy even if it included devouring children for lunch. (Can't you just see, "I think Jeffrey Dahmer is extraordinarily talented and the right person," said Casey.)

Green adds:
Mr. Mulgrew seems already to have won the disdain of the union's internal opposition caucus, the Independent Community of Educators, or ICE. An ICE leader, Jeffrey Kaufman, said Mr. Mulgrew allowed the department to get its way in its overhaul of special education schools.

I don't know enough about Mulgrew and have had limited personal contact to hold him in disdain, but give me a chance (see Randi, like I told you 7 years ago, it's not personal.)

In the meantime, you can read more of Jeff Kaufman's take on Mulgrew at the ICE blog, "What Is a Chief Operating Officer Anyway?"

Jeff, I think a COO is the guy who turns off the lights at night.

Or the chief pigeon.

Follow-up: Mulgrew: Effective leader or typical Unity hack?
We'll explore this question in an upcoming post.