The Friday Night Unity Purge/Massacre: Rally for Leah and Ashley @Queens UFT HQ at 6PM Today

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 - Queens UFT - 118-35 Queens Boulevard 7th Floor Forest Hills, NY 11375

I'm heading out soon to the Queens UFT office for the 6 PM rally - they say get there at 5:30  to defend fired District rep Ashley Rzonca, sponsored by the District 30 Community Education Council, a parent group, not an insignificant factor. And as I pointed out in my post yesterday _ UFT DA Tidbits - Endorsing Mamdani, ABC and ARISE/...  she is also getting support from a number of D. 30 CL and UFT members. Firing her over perceived disloyalty and friendship with the fired Amy Arundell, her former boss at the Queens office.

- I'm taking a new route as I hate to drive more and more despite my new car. I will drive to Howard Beach station to get the Airtrain to JFK and then transfer to the one to Jamaica where I will pick up the E to the UFT. 

Click on the link to Talk out of School to hear interviews.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-out-of-school/id1490313171?i=1000718209710  

The D. 30 CL and Delegate protest at the July 9th DA Mamdani endorsement was not insignificant.  

Ashley Rzonca speech at CEC 30 meeting.  

Everyone knows Amy revitalized that office when Mulgrew moved her out of 52 almost 10 years ago. At that time I saw that as indicating some differences between them - even though it came with a big raise, getting her out of the center of action. She built a loyal following until she was removed in late 2023, but those relationships came home to roost in helping build the A Better Contract (ABC) and its subsequent relative election success. 

I had heard from a Unity source months before the firing that Ashley was in trouble due to connections to some of the CLs in D 30 who ran with or supported ABC, which was due to the Amy connection. 

Yet Ashley was appointed to the recent UFT election committee as one of the "thousands" of Unity reps on that committee, ran, and was elected, on the Unity slate for the UFT Exec Bd and as an AFT/NYSUT delegate for the next 3 years. 

It will certainly be interesting to see what Ashley does - will she take on the role of the missing opposition, along with fired para Hector Ruiz, Jr. who was also elected to the Exec Bd and AFT/NYSUT? A third fired official (who has asked to remain nameless) was also elected to AFT/NYSUT. (Para Migda Rodriguez, who ran with ABC and is an elected Para officer, was also fired -- I will address the fired paras in a separate post.) 

What does it mean that 3 of the 6 fired were chosen to run with Unity back in February yet fired in June? Did they not hand out Unity flyers with enough vigor? Or did vote totals in District 30 have anything to do with it? The big jump in elementary school votes for ABC might have been a factor since many probably came from D. 30. I asked for school vote totals when I was on the election committee but Unity rejected that request, opting for district reports. The president of GES told me he had that data -- did Unity get that data but deny the rest of us - and examined it and found something in the D. 30 results?  

Even though I was on the election committee with Ashley, I had my first conversation with her on July 9th after the DA and was impressed by her passion and smarts. I have to be honest - I used to view District reps, and indeed, the general Unity crowd as being sycophants and some real slugs. Having contact with a bunch of Unity disaffected has opened my eyes to see Unity people in a new light. I bet there are plenty more of them - some have even been in contact sub rosa. (Let Mulgrew start looking under the hood with a flashlight.)

There's a petition campaign: http/bit.ly/reinstateashleyrzonca 

I'd call for them to have an election. 

There are DR slugs of course, but Rzonca has an impeccable reputation and if an election were held would win hands down. I don't envy her successor. In fact, if she goes over to ABC, I'd bet a bunch of CLs and members in Dist. 30 would come along with her. I know of some who did not run with ABC but were a big help with petitioning - dynamos that will be a force if active in ABC.

Amongst Amy's and Ashley's admirers is CL Leah Linn, who Amy had hired as a PM staffer. Leah ran with ABC as an officer and was fired soon after the election was over. Leah has helped lead the resistance. I never met Leah until this past February and became increasingly impressed with her leadership skills and her smarts. 

Leah as a CL in Ashley's D. 30 and her defection to ABC is probably one reason Rzonca was fired. Did she fail to use the Unity Caucus whip and threaten Leah for running?

 

Summary:

 

The Friday June 27th purge was a cleansing by Unity Caucus of its perceived dis-loyalists. Mulgrew and crew, when faced with waning popularity, instead of trying to fix it, they resorted to fear tactics to try to cow potential internal opposition into silence and obedience, but has resulted in lots of loathing. 

 

Fear tactics might work for some but over time these tactics alienate people in the club, even if they remain on the job. From all reports, Mulgrew has created a toxic environment inside the union and this only exasperates that toxicity. The attacks on Amy, going back years, brought enough people into ABC to make it a viable opposition. 

 

If anyone in Unity didn't notice the drop to 53% and the energized ABC campaign infused with Unity refugees, that are fooling themselves. Repression and fear-mongering engenders resistance or a cleansing-- I won't use a banned word for cleansing in Arabic.

 

While in the long run, union staffers having a union and due process rights seems like a good idea, there are also complications in that idea. Shouldn't the party in power be able to hire the people they want? That was the argument made by Unity when they killed district rep elections in 2002. But that's the argument principals make, so no dice. District reps are a special kettle of fish. They used to be elected by chapter leaders for decades before the change and the union was better off for it. If ABC had won we would have moved immediately to hold DR elections. 

 

So the firing of district 30 rep Ashley Rzonca, who ran and won election to the Exec Bd and AFT/NYSUT rep on the Unity slate, is  unfair - based on "perceived" disloyalty and not cancelling Amy, her former mentor and boss -- this is where Unity crossed the line. Did Rzonca fail to stuff enough mailboxes with Unity glossy election leaflets? Were the vote totals for D. 30 too low? Were the ABC elementary totals too high? 

 

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See: The Purge: When Standing Up Gets You Removed

By Katie Anskat

 

Comment from a D 30 CL 

Being a union member, and in my case a Chapter Leader, we are taught how to navigate the inner workings of toxic administration. We are told to document, to stand our ground and when the time comes, we are taught to come together and make our voices heard. We are told to have union representation when we are called into meetings with administration in order to protect ourselves. Our District 30 Representative, Ashley Rzonca helped us to build these tools to ensure that we maintain a safe work environment where we are free of bullying and harassment. 

 

We’ve trusted our union to stand by the values that give our collective its strength and purpose, but it’s become painfully clear that the UFT has abandoned those values.

Ashley Rzonca was called into a meeting where she was told she would meet with UFT leadership. Instead, she was met by Human Resources. She was lied to. 

 

Ashley Rzonca asked if she needed to bring anything or anyone to the meeting with her and she was told it wasn’t necessary. She was deceived. 

 

Ashley Rzonca was asked not to return to her position at the UFT. When she asked why this was happening or if it had to do with her job performance, she was told they were “unprepared” to answer those questions. This is unacceptable.

 

Ashley Rzonca reached out to report harassment in her workplace and instead of being supported, she was terminated. This is retaliation. 

 

If this exact scenario were happening in a school building with a UFT member and a principal, we would immediately call it what it is: retaliation and an abuse of power. If a member met with administration to ask why they were being discontinued and the answer was “we are unprepared”, we would be up in arms about ineffective administration. We would be advocating for this member to remain in their role and demand accountability. Why should this be any different? 

 

The UFT can not give us the tools to push back against ineffective leadership and expect us to stay silent as it unjustly terminates a dedicated unionist who has served with integrity and excellence in her leadership role. Ashley Rzonca’s termination is not only unwarranted, it is a betrayal of the values we hold dear in our union. 

 

I am demanding that Ashley Rzonca be reinstated to her position as District 30 Representative. 

 

I will not stand by. I will not be silent. I will speak out and demand immediate action. Our union is only as strong as our willingness to defend what’s right.

UFT DA Tidbits - Endorsing Mamdani, ABC and ARISE/Unity Reactions Differ, District 30 CLs Protest Firings

Sunday, July 20, 2025 

I started writing this on July 9th, the day after the special endorsement delegate assembly and nice weather and wasting lots of time watching TV at night led to avoidance. Plus others kept writing on the issue and I kept adding links to the point this has become a mess. I will not be deterred. For those intrepid souls willing to wade through this, I offer, up front, a few key takeaways while I put most of what I've been writing on hold for a follow-up. 

I am struck, though not surprised, at the very different reactions of the ABC crew compared to the effusive praise coming from both the Unity and the ARISE coalition members (MORE, Retiree Advocate Organizers, New Action). 

Unity people fall in line. If Mulgrew had endorsed Cuomo you would see the same level of effusivity. If he endorsed Adams, the same. Nosferatu? Hell Yes.

ARISE coalition members adhere to ideology over process (and democracy). People from the ARISE coalition groups supported Mamdani all the way and are extremely excited to see their fave endorsed by the UFT. Let's point out that Unity, MORE, New Action and Retiree Advocate are all legacy caucuses and if you don't support the basic ideology of the caucus (as I often have not) you are made to feel extremely uncomfortable - as I have been made to feel within the dozen member RA Organizing committee, which has operated on consensus, except when it doesn't.

The 3 oppo legacy caucuses echoed their UFT election misjudgements and jumped to support a bad process because of their caucus' support for a particular candidate who comes close to their groups' ideological favorite. 

A MORE tweet bragged: This is what a real Delegate Assembly looks like -- and posted this graphic  

The delegate red area included almost every officer in the room getting to speak plus assorted other Unity stalwarts. But the first speaker on the phone just happened to be a prominent MORE and ARISE and Mulgrew made sure to call on the co-chairman of New Action -- shades of bipartisanship.

The entire charade was "caucus member driven", not rank and file member driven.  

I'm sure MORE and New Action did not have time to take a vote of their members. MORE didn't have to.  It would be very unlikely to be in MORE and not be for Mamdani. No zionists left there. What about New Action? Their co-chair spoke for Mamdani at the DA but not for the caucus. As far as I know NAC did not formally endorse. But when it comes to RA, which is almost half made up of NAC, it did endorse. That is problematical since there were 300 people elected with RA and were not consulted. Only the 12 member RA Organizers (a steering committee of sorts) endorsed. I was the lone voice of opposition and while I personally support Mamdani, I objected to branding RA in this manner by ignoring voice of RA supporters, many of whom are concerned about confusion around Mamdani's support for the retiree struggle.

ABC does not view itself as a caucus with a firm set of beliefs one has to adhere to in order to "join." Actually there is no "joining". Anyone, no matter where they stand - within reason of course, is welcome under the idea of "leave your personal politics at the door", which came under much criticism from ARISEers. So while many ABCer affiliated support Mamdani, some do not. ABC believes in a big tent, which seems to enrage some ARISEers who turn up their noses at mingling with what they consider "deplorables". Imagine if ABC tried to engage in an endorsement process --- oy! 

So that is how ABC looked at the UFT endorsement process on such quick notice without internal discussion -- 

At the July 8 emergency DA I handed out this leaflet from ABC, making the point that I personally supported Mamdani:

• The UFT’s Endorsement Process Is Broken:  We need a member-led process with transparency, healthy debate, and accountability. We stand on our platform position that members should vote for major political endorsements. Creating a transparent, member-led endorsement process

 ABC made this prediction and it came true:

There may be some scripted debate. A rushed vote. But the outcome is already decided. And this outcome has the potential to damage our solidarity. This is not a democratic process. It’s a performance. And it’s insulting.

 One ABCer, a Mamdani supporter, did get a comment in at the DA and pointed out he would like time to get input from the staff at his school that elected him - and urged a delay until September to try to engage people and build support -- give some scrutiny to the awful alternatives and time to counter some of the ridiculous attacks like free buses (but not free Staten Island ferry) is socialistic.

Cheering the 63% vote at the DA is a false flag as to where the members stand. For all we know a majority may be against and how does that play out in the context of the UFT endorsement - often a kiss of death to a candidate? Some have been pulling COPE in response. Double OY!!

Revolt in District 30 (Astoria and Jackson Hts): 

Oh, and don't forget the not insignificant revolt from District 30 over the firing of their district rep. 

While attention was focused on the Mamdani endorsement, another significant event occurred at the July 8th DA when CL and Del from District 30 (Astoria and Jackson Hts) protested the firing of Ashley Rzonca, their District Rep.  Was she viewed as too friendly with Amy? Others were fired for what looks like similar reasons. Mulgrew's crackdown is in line with other dictators who instead of reading the tea leaves  - 54% Unity vote - Unity defectors being a significant factor-  and redressing the issues, Mulgrew has doubled down, using fear which leads to loathing. Consider the District 30 firing a major unforced error. I pity the district rep they put in her place.

If you are free Tuesday, come on down: 

 

 

Ashley Rzonca speech at CEC 30 meeting:

 

See a video of protest.

 

 

 

District 30 Delegates Protest Firing of Dist Rep

 

CL Leah Lin Raises Point of Personal Privilege over firing of D. Rep Ashley Rzonca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mulgrew had her mic turned off. 

 

Leah Lin video. I have to talk some more about the growth of Leah as a leader over the past 6 months - but not today.

 

Friendship with Amy led to Firings.  Coming soon to Unity Caucus?  Polygraphs to test loyalty.

More Leah Lin:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL5mtkESWKk/?igsh=MTJ0ODJqN2ZtdzY5Nw%3D%3D    

 

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. 

From 25 Years Ago: The UFT After Shanker by Lois Weiner and Bruce Markens

A lot to interesting insights about the UFT and the opposition from Lois and Bruce in this document published in 1990. Some good lessons for the new generation of teacher activists looking to challenge the half century of Unity Caucus control - well, maybe the lesson is the more things change the more they remain the same.

Lois Weiner and Bruce Markens were 2 of the most respected independent voices in the UFT. Bruce is truly the only independently elected district rep in history - he served for a decade as Manhattan HS DR despite repeated attempts by Unity to defeat him. He was so despised by Unity that when he retired I asked Randi to say something at the DA about his years of service and she refused. He was the reason she ended Dist Rep elections 2 years after he retired. Bruce and I are getting together with Mike Schirtzer and some others after the New Year to pass the historical torch so Mike can tell the story in 25 years -

and Mike met with Lois, Julie and some other MOREistas last week to get her current point of view.

I only met Lois after she had left the system and went into academia. She was the one who recruited Vera Pavone and I to write the review of the Kahlenberg Shanker bio which was published in New Politics. http://newpol.org/content/albert-shanker-ruthless-neo-con

Lois and Bruce have written an important historical document about Unity Caucus and the opposition from the point of view of a generation ago.

One of the things we see being sold by some today is the umbrella group idea where each caucus operates on its own and then comes together for elections or certain issues. Coalition caucus politics has been a failure throughout the history of the UFT opposition. ICE and TJC learned that lesson after a years of wrestling with each other and finally came together in MORE. Though there is still some internal wrestling, there is the sense that even a shotgun marriage is better than what was there before.

Here Bruce talks about how that worked out between 1981 (really since my group the CSW worked with TAC in the 1977 elections) through the writing of this article in 1990. NAC was the coalition of 3 caucuses initially and then 2. New Action was the result of the merger in 1996.

Imagine - in those years the opposition could pull high vote totals in middle and high schools but could never make a dent in the elementary and functional and of course the retiree divisions. In fact, in the elections following this 1990 article, the opposition won 13 Ex Bd seats  - its highest totals ever.

After New Action formed from the merger of TAC and New Directions in 1996 it had some success in the high schools by winning those seats through the 2001 elections. But seeing their advantage slipping away they jumped at the deal offered by Randi - don't run against her in exchange for Unity not running against NA for the HS seats. In 2003 I and others, unhappy with the state of the opposition - New Action, a fairly nascent TJC at that point and a 3rd caucus - Progressive Action - focused on one major item - teacher licensing - formed ICE as yet another alternative. (Hey - do you believe in choice?) While there was initial excitement that faded by the 2007 elections and ICE drifited into inactivity and into GEM and MORE. A real lesson for me - and others - which ultimately has led back to an attempt to create one unified opposition voice in MORE.

Attempts to brand Solidarity as a bridge group between New Action and MORE and a mostly dormant ICE will come to naught and maybe in 25 years someone will write this version of history.

If you have trouble reading the document below, go to this link where it will be larger.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/247106770/The-UFT-After-Shanker-Lois-Weiner-and-Bruce-Markens

The UFT After Shanker, Lois Weiner and Bruce Markens