Mulgrew Does the Purge: The Jim Callaghan Firing at the UFT

UFT calls cops on 13 year reporter Callaghan. Claim he was fired for attempting to unionize NY Teacher. It goes even deeper than that. (Read Rachel Monahan's report below my comments.)

There's going to be lots of mud flung around over Callaghan's firing. If you are amongst the few people who read the NY Teacher, you may have noticed that Jim was the only real investigative reporter. He was the guy who exposed principals from hell. I have lots of background information that I won't go into all in one post.

In Rachel Monahan's Daily News piece today (see below) we learn the UFT actually called the cops to have Callaghan removed. Reminds me of the principal at my former school who had a parent call the cops to arrest a teacher over nothing – but why would be expect the goons at the UFT to behave any differently?

Insiders have been telling me for years that calls on the NY Teacher to expose the actions of principals or to go after BloomKlein in a serious way have been rebuffed by the union leadership and that Callaghan was one of the more vocal voices calling for more exposure.

Callaghan was a member of the 3 person so-called UFT SWAT team created by Randi to go into rubber rooms along with Betsy Combier and NY Teacher reporter Ron Isaac who used to be the notorious Red Hog blogger who defended the 2005 contract in exchange for a job. Isaac had run with ICE for middle school Executive Board in the 2004 elections but sold out for filthy lucre.

Unfortunately, I've never been able to get confirmation from Callaghan because he has refused to talk to me for many years. I was never clear why because other NY Teacher staffers have been very friendly but I suspect it was because of ICE attacks on the SWAT team as being a joke. Reports from rubber room people as to the effectiveness of these 3 were mixed.

When inside Unity moles began to post while we were in Seattle (and I tracked many of these IP addresses as coming from Seattle - so it was truly insiders) there was one post that struck me as odd. It was so full of praise for Callaghan, it was as if he had written it himself. A Unity slug then followed up by actually charging that JC wrote it. So I was immediately suspicious that someone was trying to put a hit on Callaghan.

At the same time Betsy Combier was fired from the UFT. That she has been silent is unusual and there are reports that she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement when she got the job at the UFT.

There is some deep background stuff I have access to about Betsy's hiring and firing that might relate to Callaghan's firing but I am holding off until I nail it all down. I have heard that one person in particular at the NY Teacher has been after Callaghan's job for a long time and is a prime suspect. I know this individual and am not surprised at all.

Now insiders have been coming out with anonymous comments and with other inside information. I can't confirm it all but as usual will throw it all out there.

Here are some of the comments from last night's posting announcing the firing, where someone claiming to be a NY Teacher staffer attacks Callaghan followed by another staffer defending him. Since there are not that many staffers it shouldn't be hard to sort things out.

Here are a few comments:

"Why aren't the writers unionized? It goes back to Shanker. Norm, do you remember why? The Shanker bio went into it but I forgot what it said."

Shanker got a ruling that higher level staffers are classified in a way that exempts them from being unionized. I got into this because in Chicago, CORE, the new guys in charge of the union, are left with legacy staffers from the old party in power because they are in a union. I heard thst UFT district reps at one time were lobbying for a union but Shanker sent in the spies and they killed it.

Here is another:

JC was a very good investigator and writer. If he was fired it has to be due to internal politics at the UFT. Just as Ron Davis was demoted for no apparent reason Jim was let go as Mulgrew is purging the UFT of anyone he suspects who will not be beholding to him. Watch the new rep's and staffers who are hired. Mulgrew is a thug, Jim's quotes in the news article are true. Someone should let the cat out of the bag regarding Dave Hickey the former PBA staffer who has a big say at the UFT. Investigate how he was fired from the PBA for kickbacks regarding health benefits and how he is now lining the pockets of Mulgrew and Barr. Maybe Jim should write about that.

The Dave Hickey story has legs and I got it directly in a phone call from a Unity insider just a few weeks ago. Any good investigative reporter should be able to uncover how Hickey was escorted out of the PBA and Randi was practically at the door to meet and hire him. If one checks the LM-2 reports they will find that Hickey makes over $200,000 a year - check that out because I am too backed up to do it now.

Some paper in NYC should get smart and hire Jim Callaghan immediately as an investigative reporter covering the DOE and UFT. (Callaghan by the way, broke the story about abusive principal Leo McCaskill at Brooklyn Tech, among many others.)

Now here is one full of fun stuff:

I work at the UFT and Jim talked to me and others about joining a union and he showed me the letter from his lawyer to Mulgrew saying he was starting a union for those of us who are have no rights-in a union! Several of my colleagues were afraid to join because they were worried that Mulgrew would fire them-for joining a union at a union! How prescient were they? 

The previous post is typical Mulgrew/Hickey COINTELPRO Nixon dirty tricks, which Mulgrew is famous for. 

Ron Davis, a pro among pros, is black. Natalie Bell, a talented, well-liked black writer was fired by Deidre McFadyen with made-up stories and told to get out of the building in a half-hour. They wouldnt even let her take her stuff.

Get people to leak you the McFadyen memos to her staff about time and attendance---- worse than any principal in the system. She is a tyrant and a liar and a nasty back- stabber and has given another full-time reporter no work to do for the past year- This is dues money down the drain! And Mulgrew let's her do it.

Jim's firing- with no due process and cops, is exactly why writers here need a union. Yesterday, the lawyers Adam Ross and Carol Gerstl (Joe Bruno's "very close" pal) told the NY Teacher staff that we are not allowed to talk about Jim! Even if he dies? 

Everyhing else from the Mulgrew schemers and scammers are lies, like they lied about Ron Davis ONE YEAR after Randi made him press secretary after he worked for her and Feldman for 18 years without one blemish. Everyone loves the guy -except and Mulgrew who hated Davis for no apparent reason. 

I and the others at the paper as well as the hundreds of people Jim has helped over the years- on his own time and not for the paper-will testify at the NLRB, the EEOC and in Jim's lawsuit. Deidre hates "seniors" because they are independent and talk back to her. She always has to be right. 

Post her salary if you have the LM 2 forms.

I hope Jim writes about all the financial sleaze going on here. It will be a Pulitzer Prize. D.R.'s staying home all day, faking time sheets with their principals (It's called stealing publlic monies), the booze in people's offices, the lies Mulgrew and his flunkies tell members. Jim will be busy for years exposing these rackets.

P.S. How do you steal from cops? 

Jim also told me he has videos of Randi calling him one of the best historians in New York and her ace investigative reporter. She also told 40 ALJ's -who he helped organize-"the consiciense of the union."

Jim's firing- and the low life way Mulgrew handled it-is so filled with irony because Jim is the champion of the underdog and Mulgrew is the protector of lousy principals. 

Read BRill in the Times a few months ago when Mulgrew admitted he doesnt think his "at will" staff should be in a union!

Find out how much money -tens of thousands- Randi and Mulgrew cost the union in overtime for non-UFT printers because they cant make the deadlines!

Here's a fun one:

she[mcfayden] ... has given another full-time reporter no work to do for the past year-

Who could this be? Has anyone seen one word written by Ron Isaac recently? Maybe as anonymous postings on blogs, but certainly not in the paper he is getting paid to "write" for.

Ironically, Jim Callaghan's last piece is published in the NY Teacher I received yesterday has a photo of the teachers at PS 193 doing their dance in front of the school. I shot that video and there is a link in the story to you tube but not directly to the video itself. Here is the link the NY Teacher conveniently left out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v5u9-D_Rtg

Here is Rachel Monahan's story in the Daily News. 

Writer Jim Callaghan says UFT booted him for trying to unionize his colleagues

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, August 13th 2010, 4:00 AM

Mecea for News

Jim Callahan (above) says he was fired from the United Federation of Teachers for trying to unionize his writer colleagues.

The city's powerful teachers union fired a staffer Thursday for trying to organize his colleagues, the spurned worker said.

Longtime staffer Jim Callaghan, 63, who wrote speeches for UFT presidents and articles for the New York Teacher newspaper, was booted from headquarters Thursday afternoon.

And he's convinced his firing stems from his efforts to unionize fellow writers working for the union.

"[Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew]'s the most hypocritical person in the school system right now," Callaghan said. "He doesn't want us to have the same rights as teachers."

Union officials strenuously denied the firing was related to any unionization drive, saying Callaghan's dismissal was related to "serious behavior issues."

Callaghan isn't buying it, though, and intends to take his case to the National Labor Relations Board, as well as filing an age-discrimination suit, he said.

The UFT veteran, who said he'd been with the organization for 13 years, was fired at 1p.m. and told to get out, he said. After cops were called, he was later allowed to pack up his things, he said.

The NYPD confirmed that officers were called to the union's headquarters at 52Broadway at 1:03 p.m. to resolve a dispute. No one was arrested.

Callaghan gave the Daily News a copy of a June 7 letter from his lawyer to Mulgrew, which said Callaghan feared retaliation for his work encouraging fellow writers to join a union.

UFT spokesman Peter Kadushin rejected Callaghan's claims that organizing led to the firing.

"We responded to Mr. Callaghan's attorney citing Mr. Callaghan's failure to live up to professional standards in his office behavior," Kadushin said.

Kadushin also noted that "the overwhelming majority of people who work at the UFT are represented by unions, including Local 153 OPEIU, SEIU Local 32BJ, Local 94 Building Engineers and Local 1L Amalgamated Lithographers."

Callaghan called his ousting particularly hypocritical since Mulgrew recently blasted the firing of teachers who had been organizing at Merrick Academy Charter School in Queens.

rmonahan@nydailynews.com