Unity Caucus Threats Against ABC and its Members Continue - I Get Reported to HR for Fighting for the Right to Put Lit on the Table at the Delicate Assembly

“The delicate assembly.”  It sure is delicate.  A bunch of “snowflakes” in Unity Caucus.  Anyone who asks their dear leader a question is “rude.” Or a liar. That’s their favorite adjective. .. Comment of a not delicate Delegate

Is a cornered party as dangerous as a cornered rat? We should be sober: the political winds are blowing hard against the "ruling party". Unity is staring at a meltdown... defections may mount and internal chaos spreads throughout leadership. ... Tom Hartmann   

More Mulgrew Purges as District 30 Parents, Teachers, and Local Politicians Rally to Defend Fired UFT District Rep As Internal Resistance Grows... ed notes

the attorney’s letter states they will sue each UFT member individually, for having publicly stated we are UFT members. 

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 -- Delicate Assembly Day - Ho Hum

Mulgrew and crew have been rehearsing, probably all day, for the DA so he knows where to point for the required sneak attack Unity reso to start the new motion period. But he has to act like this is all spontaneous, and he was absent for the acting lesson. One of the fun things is to pick out their reso from the stack. The goal is to waste as much of the 10 minute New Motion time as possible. And monitor how much speaking time goes to staff or Unity apparatchiks.

Frankly, I'm getting a bit bored by the DA, but the chance to engage with Unity slugs is too delicious to miss plus seeing lots of old and new friends. But I need an umbrella to keep from getting wet from the snowflakes. 

The answer by authoritarians when cornered is repression and increasing attacks to try to suppress voices of opposition. Or just put a photo of the leading oppo candidate for president in a urinal in the mens room at the UFT during a delicate assembly:   Misogyny at the UFT Delegate Assembly 

We are sure to hear bragging today on how effective they are on the para pay issue which has been locked up in the city council, thus forcing them to hold "massive" protests in front of the Adrienne Adams' office, who was scared to death at this turnout.

Now this is organizing.

PissGate Report

The union issued a report of its 6 month investigation of Piss Gate, (see here), that led to nothing. Apparently some strange guy they cannot identify was hanging around the men's room that day but the cameras can't seem to identify him. Probably just prostate problems. 

They are actually trying to pin it on me or someone from ABC - I think I was the only man from ABC there that day - because, you know, Unity people have such integrity.

I was told to go in and check the bathroom around 6PM after the first photo at 5:12 was found and I removed it so they can claim my fingerprints are on it. Like there's no Unity hack capable of doing this? There is video footage and there were only so many guys at the meeting. I shared my suspicions of the possible culprit with the lawyer.  

I entered the men's room to find the photo in the urinal, the second one that day and extracted it after taking a photo. I still have it and the investigator wanted me to turn it in so they could check for prints but I wasn't giving them the evidence unless I could observe the taking of the prints.

Unity motion to muzzle chapter leaders

Don't forget this gem from the Nov DA where they wanted to gag school chapter leaders like they gag CLs of functional chapters, notably Bennett Fischer of the RTC. This was their sneak attack reso. 

 

It was voted down by a slim margin, which means even some Unity CLs voted against it, which must really piss them off since the clicker we use allows for anonymity, something we didn't have in the past as the District reps had their CLs sit near them so they could monitor how they voted. 

Fighting for the right to put lit on the table 

I got a call from a union official that an HR complaint had been filed over my confrontation with a Unity hack over the restriction of needing LeRoy Barr's permission to put lit on the tables in. the lobby. She should have filed the HR complaint against LeRoy who gave her such a ridiculous assignment. 

Historical note: We had a table for non-official UFT lit for 25 years until the increasingly authoritarian LeRoy Barr barr-ed the oppo table and any lit he doesn't want displayed on the official table. When asked why, be first blamed Covid and then enemies of the UFT. You see, if you dare to criticize their worships you are an enemy -- Trumpism comes to 52 Broadway.
 

I posted a photo of the Barr henchwoman using our dues to guard the table in a recent post  Growing Authoritarianism at the UFT as Unity continues to take Lying shots at ABC 

 

Fact is she has been nasty and arrogant (confirmed by others in the UFT)  and she complains to UFT HR about me? As if I work for her and the UFT when in fact she works for me. But the UFT leadership act as if the membership works for them, so maybe they are confused. 

Talk about delicate snowflakes. She goes whining because an 80 year old 58 year member of the UFT spoke to her in a loud voice? If she can't deal with that she need to get a new job. These are the people who are supposed to defend us against Trumpism?  

 

Unity views ABC as the real threat, the legacy oppo as supplemental - but they need to find ways to stay relevant

 

I wrote about the increasing repression at the UFT the other day in this post: Growing Authoritarianism at the UFT as Unity continues to take Lying shots at ABC

 .... where I made the point that the biggest threat to Unity hegemony is coming from within the caucus, as the numerous defections to ABC in the last election proved. ABC only existed for months but garnered 32% of the vote while the 3 legacy caucuses, with 100 years of combined experience, of trying to organize in the UFT, got only14%, thus not constituting a threat to Unity, but a necessity for Unity to keep around as a counterweight to ABC. Thus, the "Unity light" label applied by some to elements of ARISE - remembering that for a dozen years, New Action was Unity light.

A key to the vast difference between ABC and ARISE was, I believe, the infusion of defecting Unity CLs who brought their staffs along to vote for ABC. Since the ARISE coalition will never get Unity defectors en masse, the demonstrated ability of ABC to do so is what makes ABC such a threat and has led to the constant attacks in Unity lit -- look for another one today at the DA.

 

Unity threatens to sue ABC and all its members individually

 
Thus, the latest round is threats and more threats for daring to say ABC is an active group in the UFT, while other groups that use the UFT logo are ignored. The geniuses at the UFT in full force where

the attorney’s letter states they will sue each UFT member individually, for having publicly stated we are UFT members. 

The letter from the lawyer also states:

“Further, throughout your website and on your social media, you refer to the A Better Contract organization as "A Better Contract - UFT" and "A Better Contract - UFT Members," signaling that the organization is a faction within the UFT when it is not.”

Mulgrew should look up the word faction - 

a small organized dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics.

 

On the other hand, Unity Caucus using the UFT logo is fine:

 

And how about MORE?

Here is the ABC post where you can get details of the threats. 

Unity UFT Leadership Threatens to Sue ABC-UFT

And they're using your UFT dues to do it.

A Better Contract

Dec 09, 2025

 

https://abettercontract.org/p/unity-uft-leadership-threaten-to?

Michael Mulgrew and Unity UFT leadership, a political group that has controlled our union for more than sixty years and who continue to preside over diminishing returns for educators across the city, have hired the corporate law firm Norton Rose Fulbright to threaten legal action against A Better Contract (ABC-UFT). Their claim is that we, the committed educators and proud UFT members of ABC, do not have the right to refer to ourselves as UFT members.

This is not the first time Mulgrew and Unity UFT have used our dues money to threaten UFT members. In June 2025, Unity UFT hired the same law firm to file a complaint accusing A Better Contract of infringement for referring to themselves as UFT members. That complaint was rejected by an independent arbitrator, who determined that ABC-UFT’s statement of being UFT members, which we are, is legitimate and protected.

Rather than using dues to improve working conditions or strengthen our union, Mulgrew and Unity UFT leadership have chosen to use those dues to attack UFT members who are advocating for a more democratic and responsive union. 

Members can read more about that decision here: ABC Wins Arbitration

I will close with a comment on Arthur's substack:

When Mulgrew lays on his phony tough guy shtick, it does have an air of wannabe third-rate mob boss. It's pretty ineffective, though. I don't feel intimidated at all. Maybe it's working better with UFT staff at 52 Broadway. They all seem to be running scared.

ARISE Pro-Unity Positions Proves ARISE never AROSE: Don't Waste A Vote That Helps Unity Win - VOTE ABC

Saturday, April 19, 2025 - ARISE SINKS!

Proof is in the pudding. ARISE is not running against Unity but against ABC. 

Holy Cow - ARISE's Bacon increasingly takes the same line as Unity - this time on the Intro 1096 City Council law that so many retirees want to see passed to protect their Medicare. And engages in an attack on Marianne Pizzitola and her enormously successful organizing of retirees to battle for their medicare. 

Of course the motivation is that Marianne is supporting ABC and only wishes she would back ARISE and if she did you would never see him writing these comments. Even more interesting to me is that 2 of the 3 legs of ARISE - Retiree Advocate, and his own caucus New Action, are loaded with retirees - in fact 25% (140) of their candidates are retirees, many of them elected to the DA in the massive retiree win in last year's retiree chapter election, which they won with what Nick Bacon would call a "myopic" focus on the healthcare issue - and they won due to the massive support Marianne and her troops gave them. That election and the 75% win by Fix Para Pay are amongst the main forces driving the possibility of defeating Mulgrew -- note there are 70k retirees and 27k paras -- about half the total voting UFT membership. 

That FPP is aligned with ABC -- with 120 paras running with ABC - over 20% of the 560 candidates - unprecedented in the history of the UFT - irks ARISE which had reached out to FPP to ask them to run with ARISE, especially since ARISE does not seem to have many - or any - paras on their slate.  

Yet, ARISE continues to join in the Unity attacks on ABC for focusing on the issues of most concern to UFT members and attempting to create a broad-based non-sectatarian inclusive movement. Shame, shame, shame.

How does the position of ARISE on intro 1096 - which many of the 300 elected RTC delegates and Exec Bd members support - play out with them or even with the 140 retiree candidates?

This was posted by Dan Alicea on FB:

Whether fueled by political/personal vendettas, unabated paranoia or Mulgrew’s Unity talking points, Nick Bacon, the caucus boss of New Action, now believes full support for Intro 1096 is short-sighted and could adversely hurt active members. 

 

This despite an overwhelming majority of UFT retirees voting in favor of a reso in full support of Intro 1096 and their calls for our union to lobby and commit its resources to it.

 

This is strange since many of those who support the bill and the RTC resolution are RA, and even New Action (NAC) UFT retirees.

 

https://arthurgoldstein.substack.com/.../uft-retired...

 

Bacon thinks that we need a task force of UFT labor lawyers to decide our futures. Despite, MLC/UFT lawyer, Alan Klinger, on an audio recording not willing to call 1096 illegal but rather that he worries it would impact future options of the MLC to negotiate retiree benefits for active service benefits and wages.

 

UFT retirees, a vote for ARISE is a wasted vote. 

 

ARISE never AROSE. 

 

Nick has shown his MORE-led, caucus-first coalition is willing to ignore the will of UFT retirees. They are willing to bow to Mulgrew for political gain and election season posturing by pitting actives against retirees.

 

If you think it’s time to replace Mulgrew because our healthcare, pensions and benefits are too important to risk, only ABC offers a steady hand of seasoned union leaders and the unwavering commitment to support the issues that matter to retirees. 

 

On May 1st ballots will be mailed to our homes. In May, we take back our union and make MEMBERS FIRST, again! 

 

Vote for A Better Contract (ABC)

Learn more: http://abettercontract.org

 

 

Teacher Mike Schirtzer Celebrates Paraprofessional Day

For Unity, MORE, and New Action, this is an election gimmick...Mike S.

April 2, 2025

Mike, a candidate for HS Ex bd on the ABC slate, didn't mention that over 100 paras are running with A Better Contract through the Fix Para Pay group. This is the first time in UFT general election history that paras have joined groups running against Unity and Mike points out the failures of the past and even some current caucuses in their failures to work with paras - certainly United for Change in the 2022 election, of which I was involved, failed in this regard. I always wonder about all those teachers in the caucuses  and whether they talk to paras at all in their schools. Retiree Advocate has few if any paras associated with it and I'm trying to come up with paras who ran for the 300 delegates to the RTC. Note: This is also a failure on my part and had been for decades so I don't take myself off the blame list.

 

 

There is no bill yet and the 10K bonus is non-pensionable and looks like an election bribe but we still support them getting that money and despite Unity attacks, ABC has supported the 10K and signed the petitions while also being critical of the tactic of using bonuses that are not pensionable.

 

Some schools are holding celebrations:

Holy Paraprofessional Day! by Mike Schirtzer

As an ICT teacher for almost 20 years, I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible it has been to work with so many amazing paras. Every single one I’ve worked with has made my students’ days brighter and better. They’ve helped me become a better teacher. They are the backbone of our schools.

And let’s be clear—the foundation of any union is negotiating strong contracts. That’s why we pay dues. It’s so our union leadership can sit across from the DOE and fight for real raises, benefits, and protections. That’s how it’s supposed to work.

But what are we being told now? That we have to beg City Council for a raise because our union leadership can’t get it done at the bargaining table? That’s an admission of failure. You’re telling me that every other union in this city negotiates raises for its members, but for paraprofessionals, the best we can do is hope and pray politicians throw them some crumbs?

Crumbs in our weekly paycheck—and we’re supposed to be thankful? We’re supposed to rally and wear blue, but whatever you do, don’t bring up the shady backroom political deal. Don’t bring up that it’s not pensionable. Don’t mention that we’re not doing this for school aides and parent coordinators in DC 37. Just smile, say thank you, and keep paying your damn dues.

And even if this raise, bonus, City Council gift, or whatever we’re supposed to call it actually happens—it’s not pensionable. So when paras retire, they’re left high and dry. This is the same scam they pulled on teachers with those garbage bonuses that don’t count toward pensions. Who in God’s name gave Michael Mulgrew the power to hand out non-pensionable “bonuses” like some Wall Street CEO, while refusing to fight for real raises?

And one more thing—because my brothers and sisters in A Better Contract (ABC) have been too kind about this: Let’s talk about New Action and MORE, running under their front group Arise.

New Action has been around for 40 years. MORE for over a dozen years. And now they’re running around pretending to care about para pay? Have they ever made fixing para pay a priority? Hell no. For Unity, MORE, and New Action, this is an election gimmick. For us, it’s about a union doing what it’s supposed to do—fighting for real raises and making our paras’ lives better.

We have worked alongside the leaders of Fix Para Pay—not only including them, but taking our lead from them. Isn’t that how a real union works? A real union listens to its members and fights for their needs. Unlike Unity, MORE, and New Action, who treat para pay as a political prop, we believe in doing the real work to make our paras’ lives better.

This isn’t about political maneuvering—it’s about securing fair, pensionable wages through proper collective bargaining, not backroom deals or non-pensionable bonuses. Our paras deserve respect and real compensation, not empty promises.

Meanwhile, ABC has been fighting to fix para pay from day one. We’re running actual paras for the Executive Board because we believe they should have a real voice in this union.

Unity, MORE, and New Action haven’t cared about para pay—yesterday, today, or tomorrow. Don’t be fooled.

 

ABC, To me, Seems Like One Two Three, Join ABC Member Assembly, Tue, 1/14 at 7 PM; Join the ABC election slate

Amongst all the furor over the two slate situation and the angst it seems to engender, I keep wondering why I find the endeavor with ABC so energizing. Here's one reason:

You're invited: Join our UFT Member Assembly via Zoom on Tue, 1/14 at 7 PM; Join the ABC election slate

We will speak about the erosion of our healthcare benefits and what we need to do to stop it. http://rsvp.uftmembers.org

300 registered so far. Join the crowd.

 

The turnouts for ABC have been excellent due to networking ability to extend its reach, an original intent of coming together in the first place: To attempt to reach deep into the schools to break the 80% non-voting active members (39% of retirees vote). 

• Our Finalized ABC-UFT Platform: Forged by All of Us, Together
  

I'm not opposed to caucuses but for this election especially I feel their model of organizing will not win. I've said it time and again - the ability of the current caucuses to reach deeper than the surface into schools has not been successful as reflected in the most recent UFT election two years ago and the fact that over decades they have shown little growth, massive turnover and some shrinkage. New Action is 30 years old with roots back to the 60s and MORE, the hot new thing when it went public 13 years ago after over a year and a half of behind closed doors negotiations, are stagnant.

 

When people ask how is ABC different from other groups running --- look at the outcomes so far in terms of attracting attention and supporters because ABC was free of restraints to act and did not get bogged down in caucus negotiations fed through a narrow group of steering committee members who are a gate though which decisions are made.

Look, since my diagnosis, I no longer am looking at living to 125. So I don't have time to watch the slow drip of caucus negotiations. When ABC began to meet in earnest in August with members of all caucuses in the room, I wanted the campaign to start in September but caucus issues kept delaying us until early November when the caucuses exited ABC and what was left of ABC said: Enough - and came out of the box publicly in mid-November, declaring it was running, while the caucuses spent the next 6 weeks deliberating in secret and made their first public announcement as the XMAS vacation was about to start.

 

This is the basis of my analysis as to why a caucus dominated election will not win. What has been accomplished since New Action left their 10 year alliance with Unity in 2016 when they joined with MORE to win the 7 hs exec bd seats, and again with UFC in 2022 -- the holy grail of oppo election politics -- winning 7 out of 100 exec bd seats? That is no longer good enough.

Don't get me wrong. I was an avid participator over decades as a member of MORE and before that ICE in elections from 2004-2022. I just don't want to do that again.

Now, with the big retiree and para wins in the chapter elections, everyone's hopes for a big win have been raised. I think a win would only be possible by building new alliances and not just count on those results to carry the day.

A key to this election would be to reach out to the 80% of in service teachers who rarely vote and the current caucuses with actives in previous elections did not have enough outreach into enough schools to beat Unity. Of course everyone was thinking of the ace in the hole -- the retiree vote. But with Tier 6 being such a catastrophe for over half the working UFT members, there are issues beyond health care, though for both retirees and actives, healthcare is still a top level concern. 

Which reminds me: ABC is doing a healthcare zoom tonight.

You're invited: Join our UFT Member Assembly via Zoom on Tue, 1/14 at 7 PM; Join the ABC election slate

We will speak about the erosion of our healthcare benefits and what we need to do to stop it. http://rsvp.uftmembers.org

Hey folks! Last month, we covered the ABCs of PAY. This month, our focus is on HEALTHCARE.

Whether you're a UFT Retiree or an In-Service member, our premium-free healthcare is at risk, while our existing coverage continues to erode and we pay more and more out-of-pocket.

Let’s come together to discuss the current threats and challenges facing our union, and talk about what we need to do to protect and expand our premium-free healthcare for the future.

Tuesday, January 14th at 7 PM.

Register here: http://rsvp.uftmembers.org

Join us! Let’s work towards A BETTER CONTRACT that protects and improves our healthcare. Everyone is welcome.

Register for Member Assembly

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Run With ABC in the 2025 UFT Geneal Election – Slate Signups Still Open!

---

We want you (yes, YOU!) to join us in the upcoming UFT General Election.

We're inviting all UFT members, no matter your political views or caucus affiliation, to be part of ABC’s non-partisan grassroots movement. We’re all about demanding A Better Contract — both with the City of New York and our union leadership.

We're looking for candidates for UFT officer positions, Executive Board, NYSUT Representatives, and AFT Delegates. Read the UFT 2025 election notice to learn more about these positions and qualifications.

Do you want to read our platform, first? Click here.

Our officer and executive board spots are 90% filled with some of these positions still available. Still, we most definitely want to run a full slate, so sign up today.

Head over to slate.uftmembers.org to sign up, and we'll be in touch soon with more details.

Sign up for the ABC Slate

---

Thanks so much. We’re looking forward to connecting with you soon and getting back to work on transforming our UFT.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or want to get more involved, don’t hesitate to reach out. Together, we can create a stronger, more equitable future.

Stay updated with us at: http://abettercontract.org

To run on the ABC slate for the 2025 election, go to: http://slate.uftmembers.org

To join our organizing work groups, go to: http://join.uftmembers.org

Download, share and print a flyer to post at your school/work site: flyer.uftmembers.org

And follow us at:

• facebook.com/abettercontract

• instagram.com/abettercontract

• x.com/abettercontract

• tiktok.com/@abettercontract

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

Wednesday, July 24

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The MORE Problem

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

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

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

• What could a grassroots UFT election campaign look like?

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

New Action has revived

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

The genesis of UFC for the 2022 UFT election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

UFT Elections: Boycott?- Why Run at all if Unity stacks the deck? - The Sunday Special

You know that bogus Einstein quote about the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes.

One thing never tried it a total boycott of UFT elections.

Sunday, Sept. 12 -- I keep asking myself this question every single election cycle. What's the point of running if you are bound to lose? Over 30 years the best the opposition could do was once win 13 Ex Bd seats (1991) and win the 7 high school seats most of the rest of the time. History counts -- the vote totals on all the elections are pretty consistent. 

Why is this year different/ (I know, it's Yom Kippur coming up, not Passover.) 

Well, there is the always eternal hope that there will be a head to head confrontation between a united opposition and Unity -- which we had (sort of) in 2016. Then there is the unpopularity of Mulgrew. Then there is the mishandling of the pandemic by the UFT on so many fronts. Then there is the union's turning off so many retirees, the lifeblood of Unity, by taking away their medicare. Then there was the OT/PT functional chapter revolt where MORE swept the chapter leader and delegate positions, a sigificant event. Then there is word from other functional chapters. Then there were the school chapter elections last year where anti-Unity voices made some headway. Then there is Educators of NYC run by Daniel Alicea who actually voted for Unity in 2019 but has become a strong critical independent voice. I bet there are a bunch of people out there like Daniel.

Then there is  ...... PLEASE STOP TRYING TO CONVINCE MYSELF TO PUT ANY TIME OR EFFORT INTO ANOTHER UFT ELECTION.

There is the history of elections where no matter how I get my hopes up the outcome is pretty much the same.

I was deeply involved in UFT elections in 2004, 07, 10 (ICE), 13, 16 (MORE). I was out of the 2019 elections as I was in the process of being purged from MORE for publicly disagreeing with the faction in control of MORE that engineered the decision not only to not run with other groups but to purposely run in a way to not contend for any winnable positions - A minimalist campaign for what purpose I still can't figure out. Ed Notes covered the contradiction in their position in March, 2019.

My final words to the MOREs was to either run with everyone in a serious manner to maximize the anti-Unity vote with the aim of winning the high schools and taking a serious shot at the middle schools or not run at all but use the election (which occupies a great deal of time) time saved as an organizing tool for the caucus. I told the MOREs that an election is like a high stakes test for a caucus. At the very least it must hold its own in vote totals but most people other than hard core organizers (like I was) get discouraged if these numbers don't grow. I can't tell you how many people I saw pass through the groups I was in over these 50 years.

I have been urging boycotts of UFT elections in every election since 2010 to emphasize the undemocratic nature of the UFT itself where winning an election is almost impossible. Why run of the outcome is pre-decided? John Lawhead from ICE and now Solidarity Caucus came up with the idea of uncaucusing for the elections and focusing on issues of concern to the members without engaging in the cumbersome and often distracting election process. Behind my idea was to leave the membership with no options on the ballot other than Unity as a wake-up call. I know that prospect actually scares the Unity people because it exposes them. If there were no opposition running Unity would make one up.

I was overruled every time and ended up throwing myself deep into the elections. I ran the petitioning campaigns for MORE in 2013, 2016 along with Ellen Fox. The MORE decision in 2019 relieved me of all that work and sitting out the election was a relief.

Now we are upon yet another UFT election cycle for 2022 and we are in the same position  - will the opposition come together this time with a united front challenge to Unity? So far most of the various caucus and uncaucus groups have spoken as Retiree Advocate, ICE, Solidarity, New Action, Educators of NYC - and even this lonely spot - Ed Notes - have endorsed that idea with rumors that MORE was taking a membership vote that ended Friday on a positive note.

The hard part would be to put everyone together in a room and lock the doors. The best thing about this election is that I will be outside that room blocking the exits.

Previous Ed Notes

Everything you wanted to know about UFT Elections ...

UFT Elections (Part 1) - Historical Analysis - Comparing the 2016 success and the 2019 disaster

UFT Slate Ballot 2016                   

    UNITY

    MORE/New Action  

 

UFT Slate Ballot 2019

    UNITY

    Solidarity

    MORE

    New Action

The real losers in all of this Norm is the active teacher base... Comment on Ed Notes 2019 UFT election report, May 23, 2019

As we approach another UFT general election cycle in the spring of 2022, I've been looking back at the various coalitions and where I've stood. 

I've always been ambivalent about the election process, though until the last election in 2019, I had thrown myself deeply into the battle since 2004. A group of independents, unhappy with the then state of the caucuses, formed a new caucus, ICE/UFT, specifically to run in that election, mainly because the predominant caucus, New Action, had made a deal with Randi that enraged the other anti-Unity forces. TJC was already out there but many felt they were a closed box, undemocratic and dominated by a few voices with a narrow agenda. People were upset at both TJC and NA.

The creation of a new caucus went against my normal grain. When I began Education Notes in 1997 I tried to make it a unifying force and in fact soon after the 2001 UFT elections I called a meeting of all interest groups and independents in the UFT to unite for the next elections, but also to begin working together instead of in separate silos inside the UFT, especially at Delegate Assemblies. After an almost fist fight at the second meeting I have up and instead began to drift toward bringing people together around some of the principle issues I was addressing in Ed Notes, which led to the formation of ICE a few years later.

Generally I have always been in favor of caucuses uniting, either permanently as in 1995, when New Action emerge out of the merger of New Directions and Teachers Action Caucus and in 2012 when ICE and Teachers for a Just Contract merged into MORE (along with other groups). 

At the time, MORE looked like it could unite most of the anti-Unity forces and form one umbrella opposition caucus - a big tent. Unfortunately, within a few short years divisions opened up and the alliance of ICE and TJC proved to have weak bonds -- MORE is now controlled by many of the original TJCC people while ICE is out in the cold.

I've taken various positions regarding UFT elections in 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, at times advocating a boycott and using the election as a means to pointing out how it is rigged in Unity's favor. But few agreed with me, their juices running at the very thought of an election, even if the process occupies months of time where organizing actually doesn't take place -- I base this on the outcomes of previous elections where some people not in the opposition literati get active briefly with the expectation we could win and then when the reality of seeing Mulgrew get 80-85% of the vote, fade into the woodwork.

I changed my mind in 2016 when New Action left its alliance with Unity and joined with MORE in an election coalition and we knew we could win the 7 high school seats. And we did win those seats. Barely, but we won. I remember arguing with some of the resisters in MORE who liked to run only if they wouldn't win anything that winning even 7% of the Ex Bd offered hope to the anti-Unity rank and file. And our electeds did yeoman duty - holding open pre-ex bd meetings and bringing a wide range of  people to advocate for their causes at the meetings.

That model of winning even 7% of the Ex Bd - as opposed to the outcome of 2019 where Unity won 100% - is a prime motivating factor in an attempt to bring all groups together to win those seats -- and hopefully some others in the middle and elementary schools. If all three teacher divisions were won, that would be 23% of the Ex Bd.

Outside the internal literati of the UFT, the average UFT member doesn't have much of a clue as to the differences between the various caucuses -- or even give a much of a shit. Fundamentally they often ask, "Why can't you guys get together? You are asking us to vote for you instead of Unity and even small groups like you can't come together?" Don't forget, 70% of UFT members don't vote, even higher in the teacher divisions. A non-vote is in essence a rejection of Unity and the opposition. And I believe that multiple caucuses running against Unity suppresses the vote further.

In 2019, after a successful 2016 campaign by a coalition of MORE and New Action, MORE inexplicably decided to break that alliance and run a lone campaign that was designed to purposely NOT win anything. 

In my last months in MORE I was taking part in these debates and offered two options -- either run as a united front with other caucuses and indepenents so voters face a clearly defined choice between Unity and an opposition, or don't run at all and use the election to focus on issues. Both ideas were rejected and eventually I was forced out of MORE for writing about the debate.

The outcome was a disaster from the point of electoral politics as MORE finished third behind Solidarity which had not even been able to have enough candidates to get rccognized as a slate in 2016. 

A big question on the minds of the usual suspects thinking ahead to the 2022 elections is will MORE make the same mistake, a mistake that the caucus has not been open about -- or even informed its many new members, some of whom have been in touch asking what happened?

In 2016 MORE/New Action had about 10,600 votes and a non-slate candidate for president had 1400. That was 12,000 votes against Unity, a number matching some of the better outcomes for the opposition over history. 

The total vote of three opposition caucuses running independently in 2019 was less than 7,000. How did such a disastrous outcome occur over a 3 year period? See theEd Notes Election report

The only way to challenge Unity is to have one slate go head to head, not a smorgasbord of opposition groups that only confuse the membership.

I've been hearing from people who listened to my discussion with Leo Casey and Daniel Alicea of UFT history in its early decades on the "Talk Out of School" WBAI broadcast last Saturday. 

Some have pointed to our not getting to the issue of opposition groups in the union that were opposed to Unity Caucus since 1962. And there have been quite a few such groups over the decades. I've helped found three or four (depending on how you classify them) since the 70s.

Having a clean choice of Unity vs one opposition is important for the average, non-involved in UFT internal politics voter - or non-voter.

UFT Slate Ballot 2016                   

    UNITY

    MORE/New Action                        

*Solidarity did not have the required 40 to be listed as a slate, but did run as individuals.  

 

Outcome: MORE/NA received almost 11,000 votes and the Solidarity presidential candidate 1400 votes. MORE/NA also won the 7 high school Ex Bd. seats

 

UFT Slate Ballot 2019

    UNITY

    Solidarity

    MORE

    New Action                                                                                              

Outcome: No ex bd seats - total of all opposition groups less than 8000.

The 2019 UFT election with 3 opposition slates on the ballot was an absolute disaster to have slid back so far after the gains of 2016.

So with elections coming up next year, here we are with the same situation,

I have examined my thinking over the years and firmly believe that I and many of my colleagues from back to the early 70s have tried to bring the opposition forces together for UFT elections and in other areas, like the Delegate Assembly.

The caucus system has often interfered with thee goals. Every small pond must have its big cheeses. But let's agree that there will always be one of more opposition caucus in the UFT, as there has been since the 1960s. The most successful outcomes have come when caucuses came together for general elections -- and of course I don't mean actually winning the election since Unity has had control since the inception of the UFT in 1960 - but in vote totals and winning some seats on the Ex Bd.

One of the most successful coming together elections was in 1981 when three competing caucuses - New Directions (ND), Teachers Action Caucus (TAC), Coalition of School Workers (CSW) - plus independents -  joined to form New Action Coalition - taking one word from the name of each caucus. (In 1995 New Directions and TAC merged to form the current New Action.) We signed up a full slate of 800 people to run - see photo below. And we held large petition signing events attended by hundreds who also picked up literature to distribute in their schools. That election coalition lasted though the 90s and won the high school VP position in 1985 and high school and middle school ex bd seats in the 90s - in fact has continuously won the high schools on the whole -- until 2019.

We truly all didn't get along very well but put aside the rancor of the 70s and even if it took years, this coalition began to make some headway, culminating in winning the HS VEEP in 1985 and 13 Ex Bd seats in 1991.

Many of us believe we are in a unique moment in UFT history, with signs there may be some slippage in the retiree vote and Unity fumbling on a host of issues, putting the high school and middle school ex bd seats in play. And some signs of elementary school disaffection. 

With so many teachers not voting in the past, a GOTV campaign using the many retirees who have become activated and working through the Retiree Advocate group, which itself has cross caucus people from New Action, ICE, a few former MOREs and independents might offer a change to make a dent in Unity, even if winning the whole thing may not be in the cards.

Election lit, 1981: