Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
RETIREES' VALENTINE TO MAYOR: DON'T BREAK OUR HEARTS WITH HEALTHCARE SWITCH
Hello CROC supporters,
Thank you for endorsing and joining us at our Valentine's Day event at City Hall, at which we insisted that Mayor Adams disavow the plan to move city retirees to the so-called "Medicare Advantage Plus" medical plan. Our message was loud and clear!
And thank you, Prudence Hill for creating this wonderful video of the event.
Learn how the UFT took a secret vote to put us into a Medical Advantage plan. Marianne is the woman who led this whole movement and got us a top-notch lawyer.
It's a long video, but very informative on why Medical Advantage isn't Medicare!!!
Watch the first few minutes to learn her background.
Do
Mulgrew and company really believe that dues-paying members would have
voted down an electronic voting option that would increase our union
participation and give members increased access?... Mulgrew’s caucus-laden
executive board used arguments against our members’ further
enfranchisement that were reminiscent of those seeking to suppress and
obstruct increased voting rights and voting access in our national and
statewide elections. ..... EONYC
UPDATE - Jan. 5, 2022 - Word has filtered through that there was another dissenter in the vote in addition to Mike.
Let me explain to Mulgrew -- when someone is making a profit on our healthcare that is privatized - just like people running charter schools are making a profit but are calling themselves public schools. So the wonderful people Mulgrew is raving about are private insurance companies scamming and scuttling the public Medicare plan. And behind the rising costs of healthcare which Mulgrew is abetting.
I will have more to say about Mulgrewcare - which apparently is going into effect on April 1 - Mulgrew comes off as a sleazy used care salesman. Did you see this NY Focus piece from Dec. 9?
Hundreds of thousands of
retired New York City employees received incorrect information from
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration regarding a key provision of a new
health plan that the city wants to replace their current insurance with
— and, citing a “global paper shortage,” the city is declining to mail
out the correct information. Legal documents
show that under the new plan, health care providers will have to get
approval in advance from insurance companies before conducting certain
doctor’s office visits, mental health care treatments, home health care
services, and tests such as bloodwork and x-rays, along with dozens of
other procedures or treatments. But the city mailed enrollment guides falsely
saying that these and other treatments would not require pre-approvals
to all retirees who will be covered by the new plan.
Mulgrew silence on this aspect of Mulgrewcare. Then there was this NYC Focus report from last night:
Mulgrew is actually bragging as if this was his idea instead of retirees hiring a lawyer to go to court. I have opted out and will remain opted out at the added costs for both of us of almost $400 a month. Actually, in terms of the UFT election, the delays help Unity because the full effects of the change will not be in effect long enough to piss people off. So maybe it was Mulgrew's idea though I imagine he would have preferred June 1 when the election is over.
Electronic voting Nixed by Ex Bd 99-1--- Mulgrew Says NO video
If you went to any school in the city and took a poll on electronic voting would 99% oppose it? This is a true indication of how the UFT EB represents the 1% union bureaucrats, not the 99% membership.
Arthur Goldstein reported - I'm not including the lame Unity arguments -- you can read them at NYC Educator--
Michael Shulman--(Election Committee member; Head of New Action,
not on Executive Board)Thanks LeRoy Barr for invitation. Thanks Carl
Cambria for chairing. Wants to discuss balloting. Favors voting
electronically due to low voter turnout. That is key. Not a caucus
issue. Big issue is getting membership to participate. Important to be
proud of union democracy. We are not moving with the times. About 25% of
our membership vote. That is unacceptable. There have been proposals to
GOTV, but we are lagging.
Since pandemic, our union uses
secure electronic voting for DA, for CL, for SBOs. Not a radical new
proposal. Other public sector unions doing this. We have capability, not
as sole source. We could use both. If someone votes both, we could
distinguish which came first and that would take precedence. I come from older generation. I believe many younger teachers use electronic voting. Snail mail alien to them.
I put Shulman's entire comments down below, followed by the 13 points.
Mike Schirtzer (Independent)--Agrees with Shulman. PSC (Professional
Staff Congress-CUNY union) has option of online voting. We are in a
battle to enfranchise folks who lost right to vote. Eric Adams is
looking to union bust. Need to show we are strongest and best union. DA
and Town Hall numbers are staggering. We trust AAA to get it right.
Teachers under 30 don't know where mailboxes are. Need to open options.
Mike was elected on the Unity line in 2019 but has remained independent and it showed here. Mike has been nominated to run on the UFC slate for Ex Bd. I trust Mike's political instincts and actually would support Mike if he decided to run on the Unity line, which would make sense for Unity to be able to claim they have one independent voice on their slate
Here is Shulman's comments to the Ex Bd:
A Missed Opportunity! Unity Votes Down Electronic Voting
By Michael Shulman, Chair, New Action Caucus
The UFT Executive Board had
an opportunity to strengthen union democracy at last night’s (Dec. 13) meeting.
Instead they clung to time-worn arguments that there was no evidence electronic
voting would increase voter turn-out. My request to speak at the Exec. Bd. was
agreed to, as I had fully expected. Unity would not leave itself vulnerable to
the charge of being undemocratic. After 51 years of union activism, I was
certain publicizing a negative reply would only embarrass Unity. They frankly
would never allow it. And as an appointed member of the UFT Election Committee,
I was in a unique position to make a presentation to the Board.
My arguments were pretty
straightforward: Electronic voting would increase voter participation.
In city-wide UFT elections
around 25% of the membership usually vote. I stated that this was not a caucus
issue (of course, I suspected otherwise) since it was in everyone’s interest to
want higher voter participation. I pointed out that since the pandemic our
union was utilizing secure electronic voting at delegate assemblies, voting for
chapter leaders and delegates, and for school based options. I pointed to the
fact that other public sector unions, such as the Professional Staff Congress,
are now using this method for their general elections. I concluded with the
reality that the younger generation of educators are using electronics on a
daily basis. Why couldn’t we use both – electronic voting and mail-in ballots.
Here are some of the
responses from our Unity colleagues:
1)Nothing indicates electronic voting would increase
turnout.
2)There are a couple examples of voting in functional
chapters that did not produce more voting.
3)Members will use DOE email and cause problems.
4)Voting on SBO’s has not been a success. We’re not
there yet.
5)The voting in one district is poor and did not
increase voter participation
6)There isn’t time to institute. It is questionable
whether it would work. It is an untried idea.
7)The head of the Retiree Chapter stated it is not
certain it would work. We must campaign like Hell. We must do better outreach.
The retiree chapter election produced greater turnout.
Only one member of the UFT
Executive Board spoke in favor of my proposal. With one exception the motion
was denied. Another victory for union democracy?? VOTE UNITED for CHANGE in the
spring election. Run with us!
Daniel Alicea of Educators of NYC, a UFC coalition member, came up with the case for electronic voting. He may nail the 13 points to the door of 52.
Do
Mulgrew and company really believe that dues-paying members would have
voted down an electronic voting option that would increase our union
participation and give members increased access?
The
proposal asks that in addition to our union members voting using a
traditional mail-in ballot that we also have an option of securely
voting digitally, in lieu of the paper mail-in ballot.
Only 1 executive board member stood up in support of those making the proposal.
Do
Mulgrew and company really believe that dues-paying members would have
voted down an electronic voting option that would increase our union
participation and give members increased access? Who are they
representing? Not us.
Mulgrew’s caucus-laden
executive board used arguments against our members’ further
enfranchisement that were reminiscent of those seeking to suppress and
obstruct increased voting rights and voting access in our national and
statewide elections.
Last fall, we fought side by side to ensure states like George did not
suppress the vote, and yet here is our own union leadership making
arguments similar to the voting obstructionists and suppressionists?
Why
would they refuse to allow electronic voting in our next election? We
can only surmise that large voter turnout threatens Mulgrew and
company’s tight grip and hegemony over our union affairs.
The reasons for our union membership being extended access are plentiful, reasonable, and beyond sound.
Since
the pandemic, we are currently using electronic digital voting in our
local chapter leader and delegate elections and for SBOs (School-Based
Options).
Since
the pandemic, our union is currently utilizing secure electronic voting
at our virtual and hybrid delegate assemblies among those delegates
using the remote option.
The
recent use of virtual technology has significantly increased member
participation in our delegate assemblies and town halls to unprecedented
numbers in recent history. Thousands are participating in union
matters and union business that were not previously engaged.
An
electronic voting option would markedly increase member voter turnout
and promote greater democratic participation in light of our triennial
general elections being typically underrepresented with only about 25%
(sometimes less) of the total membership casting a paper ballot.
Other local public-sector unions, such as PSC, are now conducting their general elections safely and securely through mail-in and electronic means.
In the final cost analysis, it may be a more cost-effective means. We
have spent millions in printing mail-in ballots and in paying for
workers to help tally the paper ballot votes.
When
the COVID-19 crisis began, 14 major union organizations, including our
umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO, asked the National Labors Relations
Board to allow for an electronic voting option within private-sector
unions. The subsequent support by our unions for the Protecting to
Organize Labor Act, which was recently passed by the House of
Representatives, asks for electronic voting as a provision to be
codified into law
We
are disaffecting an entirely new generation of educators by not using
the electronic means they use daily for every aspect of our lives. Our
elections are over-represented by retirees who may still be using
traditional snail mail but we are not capturing the will and votes of
our younger in-service members.
Today we can apply, sign and pay a mortgage electronically. Many no
longer use snail mail, at all. There's no reason that if these types of
secure transactions happen daily that we can't vote in our next
election, electronically and securely. The technology is readily
available.
The transition to an electronic voting option would be seamless with the American Arbitration Association,
the company our union has used for years to conduct fair and secure
elections. They offer an electronic voting option and use many of the
reasons we delineate why this is an optimal and preferred option.
With an antagonistic new mayoral administration being sworn in, in
January, we need a union that is energized, active, and mobilized.
Nothing more would signal weakness than if our union feels disconnected
and disengaged and that it displays apathy by not turning out in huge
numbers for our union matters.
We are seeing a new surge of COVID-19 this winter and our own state has
tightened up on mandates once again. We don’t know what things look
like for us in the spring and with the United States Postal Service in
the midst of flux, shortages, and increased delays relying on mail-in ballots, right now, is not the most reliable or safest method.
Ultimately,
increased member voter participation fosters trust and an empowered
democratic voice to build a better and stronger union.
It’s time we vote out Mulgrew and Company. Vote United For Change in the Spring 2022 elections.
Meanwhile,
let’s make sure we mobilize now and tell Mulgrew and our union
leadership that WE DEMAND an online electronic voting option for our
next election.
Send them an email. Call our union office. Let your district and boro reps know we will not relent on this option.
AAA details the benefits of online electronic voting. This is the company the UFT presently uses for conduct its elections.
The
views expressed by the individual authors of The Wire are their own.
They do not necessarily express the views of The Educators of NYC
community.