UFT News and Views: RTC Ex Bd, TRS Election, Electronic Voting

Thursday, June 4, 2026

 

Busy days here at Ed Notes central. I was at the RTC Exec Bd meeting on Tuesday and following the TRS election and also talking to people in the UFT about the Mulgrew assault on competence to insure personal loyalty in the union, along with firings and threats of any hint of independent voices.

 

I'm back on chemo and had my second treatment yesterday - I'm on an every 2 week schedule. I even took my computer and worked on this item while I was there for a few hours and walking back to my apartment passed a street fair on E. 46 and look what I found: 

 

I came back to Rockaway in the afternoon and want to get this out so I can go outside and do some yard work. The steroids are still working and I'm hoping to have energy to video The Crucible at Rockaway Theatre Company tonight. I saw part of it the other night.

 

TRS Election

I've seen preliminary results of the TRS election but DOE has to release final totals. I can say Tom Brown won, David Kazansky finished second, showing some organizing muscle. Analyzing the results will be a fun thing to do and I have a lot more to report after talking to many people. The legacy caucuses in the ARISE coalition mostly sat out the election, except for some individuals. 

 

Unity/ARISE Reps Reject electronic voting

As for electronic voting, the bogus committee formed when I, as a member of the election committee in 2025, called for electronic voting, was turned down in exchange for a bogus committee, which I declared bullshit early on, predicting they would find ways to reject electronic voting, which is exactly what happened. The surprise was the two ARISE reps voting with Unity. The ABC reps put out a must read report that tears apart every Unity argument.

...many of the challenges associated with current methods, lost ballots, outdated addresses, inconsistent administration, chain-of-custody concerns, are exactly the kinds of problems modern electronic systems are designed to reduce. Secure platforms can incorporate verification, encryption, audit logs, and protections against duplicate voting in ways that strengthen accountability and transparency. But we didn’t seriously examine whether those tools could improve the process. Instead, the ARISE/Unity majority recommendation assumes that older methods are more reliable simply because they are more familiar. 

  UFT Election Task Force Minority Report..  

A Better Contract Jun 01, 2026

BTW, Unity had 10 members, ARISE 2 and ABC 3. You know, fair. 

 

Unity is now bragging they led the way on electronic voting - by saying no -- and by the way were joined in saying now by reps from the ARISE group - MORE and New Action/RA. These groups had supported our initiatives in 2022 and 2025.

 

I wrote on Nov. 28, 2024: UFT Election Committee

I pushed hard for an electronic voting option but naturally there are loads of roadblocks. This time they came up with the constitution wrinkle - some language in the constitution that says you have to use written ballots. Christina Gavin pointed out that written can also mean electronic.

Anyway, I pointed out the low vote totals for previous elections and handed out the ugly story on a chart. Like less than 20% of actives voted while 40% of retirees votes. After all the reasons we couldn't do electronic voting were pointed out I said I had raised this same reso 3 years ago and they promised to look into the issue but did nothing so we are back to ground zero.

 

I also pointed out that in previous elections the leadership could count on the retiree vote to carry them through, now with that vote in potential jeopardy, the leadership should want very much to increase in-service vote for their own protection. But don't expect any creative ideas to come from the moribund leadership. They looked like turtles turned on their backs. 

The best they could come up with was Queens District Rep James Vasquez with a reso to form a task force to "study" the issue. He also placed blame on the oppo people over the past 3 years for not bringing up the issue during that time. Duhhhh, James -- we know you guys never want electronic voting and you will forget all about your task force.

But Vasquez did not lose the opportunity to put out a dumb blog post attacking the opposition and blaming them for his own party's failures. That attack can be termed, "I'm scared shit we will lose and I will have to go back to the classroom and teach a full load instead of my one or two periods a day - and lose my second pension." 

Sure, Unity led the way on electronic voting -- right over the cliff.

 

Arthur reported on the process as reported on ABC:

They met only three times and closed the book on facing the issue. They didn’t bother to study the processes of other unions that used electronic voting successfully, let alone why so few of us vote. This looks like nothing more than a setup with a clear, predetermined outcome. Apathy is Unity’s best friend, and they won’t risk giving the 72% of members who don’t vote a voice.

Instead, Unity bosses will enable live voting only in Unity strongholds, where their paid patronage cult members can tacitly remind folks where and how to vote. Most disappointing is that the two ARISE members on the committee, MORE’s Olivia Swisher and Retiree Advocate’s Michael Shulman, voted with Unity. Shulman is also a leader of New Action, which has been pushing electronic voting for a decade or more. What happened? You’d have to ask him.

Only ABC members Chad Hamilton, Daniel Alicea and Katie Anskat voted no on Unity’s restrictive voting plan.  

 

RTC Exec Bd Meeting 

Yesterday I attended the RTC Exec Bd meeting. There are 25 people on the RTC EB and that includes the 10 officers. There are no Unity reps because RTC elections are winner take all - 25 EB and 300 delegates. Retiree Advocate, now an official caucus with $50 dues structure and a 15 member steering or organizing committee won that election in an alliance with Marianne Pizzitola. It was a great partnership. Shutting off the former 300 Unity delegates who gave Unity absolute dominance of the DA was a major outcome. Over the past year and a half that alliance has frayed which has made Unity bold with hope they can retake the chapter in next year's election. 

 

 

RTC replaces delegates as per its constitution 

Bennett Fischer, RTC CL:

The results are in from the RTC executive board vote to fill RTC delegate vacancies. There were 21 people running for 11 spots. The 11 winners are: Renee C. Airhuoyo, Jocelyn Brathwaite, Michael Broucum, Laura Calamuci, Chris Griffin, Peter Matsoukas, Sonia Silva, Carolyn Tacey, Linda Weissman, Hazel Fershleiser, and Amy Arundell. We will submit your names to the union for certification.

And therein lies a story. RA recruited 300 delegates to run with us two years ago and we wiped out Unity. I recruited about 30 people to run with us, including a former colleague who doesn't live in NYC. Unfortunately he came down with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and died in March 2025 but we know in October 2024 he wasn't interested in the DA and I notified people we needed to replace him, along with a few others I recruited who wanted to drop out and only ran as a favor to me because they never thought they would win.

Apparently some people at the UFT were telling Bennett we did not have the right to replace delegates even though former Unity delegates told us former RTC leader Tom Murphy just did it when there was a vacancy without even bothering to follow the RTC constitution which explicitly says the RTC Ex Bd nominates and votes on replacing elected positions. 

Only in the last few months has the RTC leadership gotten more aggressive on this issue. Not always transparent (the constitution says any RTC member may attend Ex Bd meetings but Bennett never announces that or sends out a link other than those who are aware), this time Bennett made an announcement at the RTC meeting and there were 21 candidates, including a few from Unity, one of whom I actually voted for, though I had nominated LeRoy Barr who told me if I did he'd buy me a drink but he declined the nomination - but still owes me a drink. 

Note that Amy Arundell did squeak into the final position (there was rank choice voting, indicating a level of hostility to her from the many ARISE connected RTC EB members. She should have been a slam dunk but the level of mistrust still reigns almost a year after the UFT election. In my opinion, the only way the Mulgrew administration continues to survive is due to this mistrust. Witness the story above about how ARISE voted with Unity. If Mulgrew was smart like Randi (which he isn't) he'd offer to work out a joint slate with ARISE in the next election. After all two of the 3 caucuses had a 12 year arrangement with Randi. (And by the way, Mulgrew broke that arrangement that helped Unity keep control of the high schools within 5 years of taking over --- see my recent blog on the level of incompetency - Mulgrewism is the UFT Version of Trumpism MAGA.

Bennett was not 100% this would be a slam dunk. Imagine if Unity refused to seat our democratically elected delegates, like the Mississippi delegation at the 1968 Democratic convention. I know the RTC leadership doesn't have the guts, but if we can get at least 50-100 people there to demand our delegates get seated and then walk out en masse if they don't. Good luck with that. And I say that in reference to the following item.

Arthur had a reso calling for us not to have to pay $180 a month for a prescription drug plan that included a petition some of us have been circulating that already has 6k signatures. 

The RTC Exec Bd supported the reso but there was push back on the petition, which has ties to ABC and you could sense the hostility from some of the leading lights with questions like "who is this going to?" and concerns over how the petition would be used. 

I'll let Arthur tell you about it.

RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer moved my resolution, demanding the UFT pay for our prescription premiums, up to number one on our agenda. I was pretty happy about that, and I’ve posted it below. It’s a mixed victory though, as the RA folks all voted to drop the second resolved, decoupling it from our online petition that’s already garnered over six thousand signatures.

This is a botched opportunity to build on a solid foundation and reach further.

It’s outlandish to leave six thousand signatures on the table.

Retiree Advocate is repeating an error they made early on. When we were first elected, they willingly surrendered the official UFT Retiree page, which had 6,000 followers, to a Unity Patronage Cult Member. After two years, they haven’t managed to recruit half that number. In failing to link to our petition, they toss away 6,000 signatures we’ve collected.

ABC is all about organizing. In September, we will take that petition into school buildings and build on it. No one in service wants to pay these exorbitant premiums. Members will read it and say oh HELL no.

It will be good to pass the resolution, but the RTC action that comes along with it, I’m afraid, could be as lackluster as that for 1096.

There were several rationales offered. Bennett said when he first saw it he thought it may have been created by teenagers who wanted to make trouble. It wasn’t my turn to speak. I really wanted to say I’m not a teenager, but yes I want to make trouble. Making trouble, you know, is how you get stuff done.

If you don’t believe me, ask Marianne Pizzitola, without whom we’d all have an inferior Medicare “Advantage” plan right now.

Several people asked who wrote the petition. I kept raising my hand to show I did, and it took a while before people understood.  

Another objection was you can’t put a “hot link” on a resolution. Several people seemed to agree, but I was not among them. Better to start with 6,000 than zero. What could they be thinking?

RTC has not been great with petitions. When I tried to have them start a petition in support of 1096, the RTC Executive Board voted to “table” the suggestion. That’s a polite way of saying we are doing nothing, and indeed, aside from one strongly worded letter, mostly written by me, we have done nothing.

The comment about not putting links in a reso drove me wild because the link is an organizing tool and their mentality seems to be to lobby at the top - send strongly worded letters to Mulgrew - and not organize at the bottom. A reso that goes nowhere seems to satisfy them while many of us think a reso without an action component is a form of pounding your chest.  

End Winner Take All - Install a Proportional rep

Back in the 70s when we raised proportional representation as an alt to winner take all, Unity hacks (and Shanker) would say that's how Hitler came to power. Allowing space for a variety of viewpoints and giving people a voice leads directly to Hitler. Sure. Proportional representation is a version of the parliamentary system. If there are a 100 positions you portion them out to each group running based on their percentage. It's not all that simple but worth exploring. We all say when we run for UFT elections that if we were in power we would democratize the union but as we've seen with RTC, once you smell the roses of power, changing things to share with a group like Unity takes some of that nice smell away.

 

As oppo people we always opposed the winner take all approach and when we were winning 30% of the vote we felt we should one third of the delegates, the officers and the exec bd. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, we are in the drivers seat and it makes meetings like we just had easier without Unity attempts to undermine any initiative that counters the Mulgrew line. Unity people are free to attend the monthly RTC meetings and they have boldly tried to undermine any hint of variance from Unity orthodoxy. To distract the chapter from issues like protecting our healthcare or eliminating co-pays or relieving us of the over-expensive prescription drug plan they bring up resos on fair housing or protecting social security -- duhhhhh! Like just passing their reso will accomplish something.

 

Bennett has been fairly tolerant to Unity, even bending over backward to be fair and not act like Tom Murphy did. That extends to criticizing those of us who go on the attack against Unity playing games (Kumbaya - we are all union members). After all, the Unity goal is to get us out of office and go back to their own dictatorial running of the chapter. The Unity crew had asked to have their fair housing reso put on the main agenda so they wouldn't have to try for the new motion period -- oh how beautiful to see them whining while Mulgrew does the same thing to the oppo by filling the new motion period with mom and apple pie resos from the leadership. RTC EB discussed it, with Bennett and a few other voting to put their reso on the agenda but there were objections from people who wanted to amend their motion, with the result that they decided to write their own version and we did and voted to put that one on the main agenda. 

 

This seemed to outrage the Unity crowd. Like how dare we act like Mulgrew? To add insult, I spoke at the May RTC meeting and added a little wrinkle that I knew would enrage them further. To make housing more affordable, my amendment called for abolishing co-pays. Now you'd think I'd tossed a stink bomb. They demanded to have a speaker opposed after the question was called and Bennett didn't recognize them - which I felt was a mistake - let Unity make the case for co-pays (I say this as I am getting chemo and will be billed for a co-pay.)

 

Our platform called for some system of proportional rep - ending winner take all - and we have a constitution we can amend - and I'm sure the UFT leadership would put obstacles in the way since they expect to take back the chapter in next year's election. I should point out that in the 2021 election we asked the Unity people to give us 5 out of the 300 delegates so our 30% voters get some representation. They said NO. But I'm more generous. At the vote count in June 2024 when I watched the Unity people look crushed, I told one of their leaders if they had prop rep their 37% they would have gotten over 100 delegates. He gave me a sour look.

 

Since we won I have pushed our new RTC leadership - of which I am one (sort of) - to change the constitution to allow for prop rep but it didn't seem to be a priority - some seem to think they will win again next year. I think we are in a 50/50 split with Unity at this point - as long as we have Marianne with us, and given the RA crowd hostility to her, that is not a sure bet. 

 

Bennett did mention taking a look at this as a project for next year. With it being an election year and so much going on, it is unlikely that the process would be complete by the time the election takes place, especially since Unity would try to stop it - unless all retirees get together and remake the alliance with Marianne Pizzitola, at which point Unity might see they might lose and take a half loaf.

 

Stop Fraud. Not Dissent.

URGENT CALL TO ACTION: Tell Albany to Protect Union Democracy

A bill moving rapidly through the New York Legislature—Senate Bill S.9577-A, sponsored by Senator Jessica Ramos, and Assembly Bill A.10835-A, sponsored by Assemblymember Judy Griffin—is being promoted as a measure to stop fraudulent communications that falsely claim to represent labor unions and their representatives.

As detailed in The Wire’s investigation, the concern is not hypothetical.

In recent years, disputes have emerged involving UFTMembers.org, an independent publication critical of UFT union leadership. Other controversies have involved parody, satire, and internal political disputes within labor organizations. Reform caucuses and member advocacy groups routinely use union names to identify the members they represent. Independent newsletters, blogs, podcasts, and election campaigns frequently discuss union leadership, governance, elections, and policy decisions.

Those activities are not fraud.

They are part of union democracy.

Yet the legislation currently contains no explicit protections making clear that criticism, reform advocacy, parody, election-related communications, and internal organizing remain protected.

Read URGENT CALL and sign petition to amend the law.

Sign the Petition & Contact Legislators

👉 unionvoices.educators.nyc

Read Our Full Investigation

👉 thewire.educators.nyc/p/new-yorks-union-communications-bill

Stop Fraud. Not Dissent.

 

This bill smells to me - Unity etc and other union leadership are trying to brand internal critics as outside agitators, the classic manner of dictatorships. Remember how civil rights workers were branded as outside agitators. Our crew behind this amendment has had great outreach to explain it all.

 

Here is a link to Arthur's report of the RTC Ex Bd meeting and his petition.

Bits and Pieces: The good, the bad, and the absurd

Arthur Goldstein

Jun 03, 2026

UFT Welfare Fund Should Pay for Retiree Prescription Premiums

Whereas, UFT retirees are on fixed incomes, and,

Whereas, $180 per month is a high premium, and,

Whereas, many UFT retirees pay for other family members as well, and

Whereas, this rate went up a whopping 50% over a two-year period, and,

Whereas, this is a hardship on many UFT retirees, and

Whereas, other union Welfare Funds, including those of FDNY, NYPD and DC37 cover prescription premium costs for members, and

Whereas, UFT officers frequently mention “premium-free health insurance,” and,

Whereas, UFT officers speak of our Welfare Fund as the best in the country, be it therefore,

Resolved, that our Welfare Fund must cover retirees just as other Welfare Funds do, and be it further,

Resolved, that we actively support and encourage signing of the petition at https://stopchargingretirees.org/ demanding UFT Welfare Fund cover the costs of pharmacy insurance premiums for retired members.

At the suggestion of RTC Exec. Board member Alan Stein, who pointed out members get $900 back, I proposed the following addition:

Whereas this costs members a net $2160 a year, or members with spouses 4320 a year,

 

UFT DA and RTC Back to Back Meetings: The Stockholm Syndrome

Recent retiree: My first retiree meeting and I am appalled. 

Retiree delegate responds: Yes.  The only thing that could have made it worse would have been a Mulgrew visit and, I guess, a Tom Brown performance.  It made me want to cry.

Recently Retiree: Yes. It made me very sad. All that work to win a historic election and this is what they do with it. Arthur reports on DA and RTC

Retiree Michael Brocoum: I attended the RTC meeting at 52 Broadway. Bennett Fischer stated that The UFT is trying to deal with the copay issue. With all due respect that is laughable. Copays exist because of Mike Mulgrew. Mulgrew asked the City to institute copays to free up some money for active worker raises essentially pitting active workers against retirees. Additionally Bennet Fischer asked for people to man phone banks to support the UFT's (Mulgrew) pick for District 3 City Council. The union (Mulgrew) supports Carl Wilson. You can be sure that to get the UFT (Mulgrew) support he had to agree to not actively fight to protect retiree healthcare. I rose up to speak and asked attendees to vote for Layla-Law Gisiko who is supported by Marianne Pizzitola. We still have our traditional Medicare because of Marianne. Please vote for Layla-Law Gisiko and ignore any calls from the UFT phone banks.  Bennett Fischer was not pleased to hear my statement and criticized me for mentioning Mulgrew in this healthcare fight. Sad. 

Norm: Did you notice Bennett attacking Mike Brocoum for going after Mulgrew, labeling it as a personal attack -- the Unity crowd heckled Mike but no word from Bennett about them. What next, getting reprimanded for being critical of UFT policies? Could Bennett have objected to mentioning the "union Leadership that made the deal to force us into Medicare Advantage" or the "union leadership" that went to the city council to try to amend the law that guarantees health care coverage for all municipal employees and retirees and their dependents - to put retirees in a different category so they could force us into MA or make us pay for our Senior Care if we wanted to to stay in traditional Medicare?

Arthur Goldstein report of RTC Meeting: It was pretty remarkable to hear Bennett Fischer stop a speaker from saying that Michael Mulgrew imposed copays on us, deeming it a “personal attack.” That, in fact, is not a personal attack. It’s a statement that, as far as I know, is true. The copays were put in place to make his crappy Medicare Advantage plan look better. A personal attack would be saying your adversaries spout fairy tales. It would be saying some people can’t handle the facts. It would be saying your adversaries make everything a conspiracy, or that those who disagree with you are enemies of the union. Michael Mulgrew said all those things at a UFT Executive Board meeting I attended. 

Norm: Watching Bennett over the past year and a half, he bends over backwards to defend Unity and criticizes their critics - in public, while privately he will be critical. I can be the only one with my hand up and he will avoid calling on me because he's concerned I may go after Unity (which I will).  I've been Tom Murphyized by Bennett.  

Retiree Delegate after the meeting: I debated paying the $50 to join Retiree Advocate and decided not to. I paid what I thought were dues for years and found out I was not a member. I'm not giving them more money.

Friday, April 23, 2026 

 

Oy! Having spent 4 hours over 2 days at Albert Shanker Hall listening first to Mulgrew and then endless reports that chewed up most of the RTC meeting, I said thank goodness for the chips and oreo cookies. Above are some of the comments from retirees. I have a lot to say about both but not enough time to write it all down. So I will focus here on the DA.

 

Arthur covered both meetings remotely in depth. 

Unbelievable--April UFT Delegate Assembly: Michael Mulgrew and his Unity ducklings instruct us on just what we are and are not allowed to know.

Arthur Goldstein

Apr 22, 2026

At RTC Meeting, We Help Everyone But Ourselves: We've entirely dropped the ball.

Arthur Goldstein

Apr 23, 2026

Both meetings exposed the differences riling both retiree and active UFT members opposed to Unity Caucus. The ABC DA chat group during DAs is worth the price of admission (free). While I gnash my teeth at DAs, I don't expect very much from the Unity leadership. Or from the RA-RTC leadership and their dwindling core of delegates. One of the delegates I respect a lot resigned recently. People are saying "what's the point?" I'm thinking the same but go for the entertainment value.

 

Mulgrew will talk forever. A faux Unity unsigned reso will be placed on the new motion agenda. Most of the people called on will be full or part-time UFT staff. And even if a new motion from a non-Unity gets raised and even approved, it will get buried and put on the bottom of the agenda for the next month. Or year. Or decade.

 

There were a few big issues: 

David vs Unity Goliath in TRS Election as Fear and Loathing Works as Unity Delivers 30K Petition Sigs for Tom Brown

I'm not coming to the DA today because I resigned as a delegate. I couldn't take all the unkindness anymore.... A (former) retiree delegate.

One day I'll get into how Retiree Advocate and the RTC leadership frittered away the potential power of electing 300 retiree delegates, many of whom don't bother attending. I'm too dumb to get the message and I'm racing to finish this before heading off to another scintillating Delegate Assembly, or Derogatory Assembly.

I’ve worked with David (Kazansky) for nine years, and it’s been an absolute pleasure. We have had the opportunity to attend many meetings, travel around the country, you always attending the defined benefit pension plans. David has always acted as a true fiduciary, always had the interest of our members, any time we debated anything, he would always say, how would this benefit our members? He’s taken care of a lot of specific issues with our members, helping members..... Tom Brown 

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

I graduated from the 8 month training program at Brooklyn Botanic

Garden Tour guide program last week and here is the treat of the season there - but with more to come as spring moves on. Maybe see you there one day.

The Teacher Retirement System (TRS) race is one of the more interesting I've seen in the UFT. Recent discussions about investing pension funds in city housing and other investments have raised the issue of exactly what role our pension reps play on the TRS. Do they share investment info or strategies with the membership and if not why not?

David vs Unity. Goliath

David Kazansky Gets 2500 sigs, Frank Panebianco, 1400. Needed was 1,000. Kazansky had been a pension rep for 9 years before he was moved out by Mulgrew and subsequently fired. He is currently teaching elementary school in the Bronx. 

He is running as an independent with the backing of ABC as the only group to back him officially while the legacy oppo groups sit on their hands. (though some individuals have been on the campaign). Better dead than red is an old anti-communist theme. A version has infected the old legacy UFT opposition: Better Unity than opposition that doesn't meet the purity test. That is the theme of most of the oppo, which has been embalmed in a left wing ideological tomb for decades.

Panebianco, also back to teaching after being a UFT staffer fired by Mulgrew in a reign of terror. It seems to have worked, as the Unity machine saw the threat David presented and went hog wild in getting 31k signatures for Tom Brown, who is also a UFT officer. Unity is feeling enough heat to have run a massive campaign for Brown.

Of course petition signatures don't necessarily translate into votes when the election is held in a few weeks. Having third candidate Panebianco in the race certainly makes David's chances very slim. Is Panebianco a Unity stalking horse to assure a Brown win? Did they help him get the 1400 signatures? Sources say probably not. 

I'm actually pretty impressed with the campaign David has run - his approach and his organizational abilities - 2.5k sigs is pretty impressive and also shows that the ABC network is still operating. Note that petitions can be challenged and last year Unity managed to knock the opposting candidate off the ballot and no election was held. I don't imagine Unity will challenge Panebianco's signatures this time and David has too many sigs for a challenge to work but they may try to go after the main threat anyway.

There are 3 teacher pension reps, all for a 3-year term, staggered so that every year one of them has to run - if there is an opponent. For decades Unity has controlled all these positions and in fact there was never an election because no one ran against them. For many years I and others have advocated for someone to run against the Unity candidate. A victory or even a serious dent in the Unity vote would break the monopoly of the TRS teacher reps who are as subservient to Mulgrew's wishes as the Trump cabinet is to his. 

There are strict rules around the election process and the petitioning. The DOE, not the UFT, runs the elections in the schools on a day in early May. Ironically, retirees play no role in the election. Supervisors and college teachers can vote, so it requires a broad network. Two years ago, an hoc group of UFT members organized a vigorous campaign for a candidate who volunteered to run and with a tiny organizing effort he got a third of the vote. But Unity did not do a lot in that campaign.  We did not necessarily expect to win that election, but to use it as a learning experience for a future run. Last year there was a challenge on some minor issue and the candidate was knocked off the ballot. So this year is the first time of a real potential election. (Expect another election next year.) 

The election is run in the schools in one day by the DOE and the last one two years ago was so terribly run there was a law suit. Don't expect this one to be run much better. One interesting aspect it the results show how each school voted -- how many votes each candidate gets so there is a lot of room for analysis. Expect the Unity machine to hold its in school people and district reps accountable for the votes.

On the surface it may look like a slam dunk for Unity and it probably is. Now it's down to GOTV and let's see how well the candidates do. Unity might get 80% or 60%. Remember the 54% in last year's election. This will be a test of the Unity machine's GOTV operation, which a year ago was not too effective -- which I think led to the firings and warnings and even some demotions. But I will say that the tactics being used may work for a short time but fear and loathing of such tactics will lead to rising resistance. 

I'm working on a future blog titled: Will Unity defectors become the face of the opposition in the UFT? My thesis is - and actually has been for 30 years  - that Unity can never be beaten until there are cracks that lead to breaks -- and instead of trying to heal these cracks, Mulgrew has cracked down and over the long run -- those cracks and crackdowns will turn into an earthquake.

======

Afterburn: The Legacy Caucus sit on their hands

After initial reluctance, some key members of New Action supported the campaign two years ago, but MORE sat it out because their main concern is about BDS - dumping Israeli bonds. When I brought the issue to RA, one member refused to let them consider supporting the candidate over the potential BDS issue too. 

This year RA and MORE are again sitting it out, while there is some support from a few people in New Action. 

Ideology once again triumphs over winning, one reason the oppo in the UFT will always lose to Unity, which is already planning the 100th anniversary party of holding onto monopoly power in the UFT in 2062.

Retired Teacher Chapter Exec Bd meets gets sad news, Analysis of Texas Dem Primary - Surprise - Real Progressive Won, Is Iran winning?

The Kazansky/Brown race for TRS heating up as hundreds attend an ABC info zoom -- report coming soon. 

 

Respect Means Retirement Security... David Kazansky Mar 7

Monday, March 9, 2026

 

I attended the March 3rd (my birthday) Retiree Teacher Exec Bd meeting on Tuesday after rushing back from a weekend jaunt to attend The Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation's oldest and largest horticultural event, held annually since 1829. Most people I know think that I'm nuts and after attending the meeting I agree with them. 

 

There was an election taking place and I wanted to be there to stand up for the candidate I favored in a 4 way race. (She didn't win.) The RTC constitution gives the EB the right to replace any elected position, though when we try to replace the dozen delegates (out of the 300 we elected), the UFT says we can't -- you know, because they say we can't. We were told by a former Unity delegate that when they ran the chapter and had vacancies, Tom Murphy just replaced them. They make rules up as they go along.

 

The lack of aggressiveness by the RTC leadership only emboldens bullying by the UFT/Unity leadership. I think it goes beyond that and detect some fear by the ideologues in RA of adding new delegates who might not be pure enough ideologically --- but that's only my guess. One RTC Exec Bd member pointed out that adding a new batch of delegates would invigorate our contingent at the DA which has been shrinking to the point of irrelevancy, perhaps the major failure of the RA hierarchy.

 

There was an opening on the RTC Executive Board due to the resignation recently of Daniel Harkavy due to an illness - cancer that seemed to escalate quickly. We found out on Tuesday that he died on February 20, a real shock to many of us who had enormous respect for Daniel for his sense of humor, smarts, and judicious non-partisan advice. I wanted to touch base with him after he resigned and am kicking myself for failing to do so. Daniel taught chemistry at Brooklyn Tech for 26 years. 

 

At the RTC EB meeting last Tuesday, Arthur Goldstein, who got to know Daniel, paid an impassioned tribute to Daniel and followed that up with this post.

RIP Daniel: Daniel Harkavy passes:  Arthur Goldstein- Mar 06, 2026

I'm not sure how Daniel came to be part of the RTC EB - I didn't know him before. He tried to steer a neutral course during the UFT election follies last year, signing petitions for both ABC and ARISE, and attempted to run with both slates but was made to choose by ARISE. He ran with ABC because he felt ABC had the better chance to win but remained cordial with everyone. 

 

When ABC had a petition signing in Bayside, where Daniel lived, he showed up and met Arthur and was introduced to one of our officer candidates who is also a chemistry teacher who graduated from Brooklyn Tech a year before Daniel began teaching there. He was thrilled to meet her. 

 

For someone I barely knew, his passing was especially upsetting because when he posted he was in the hospital I intended to touch base with him as a fellow cancer patient who went through some tough days over the 6 months of chemo. To have been stricken with a deadly cancer at such a relatively young age - he was 63 but count the time leading up to it - is so sad and makes me feel relatively lucky at having reached 81 recently and still be fairly mobile and active. 

 

I barely knew him but will miss him.

 

Daniel was open and respected for openly saying that if he felt ARISE had the better chance he would have run with them. The ABC crew respected him for that view and we felt that if he would have been allowed to run on the ARISE too, he would have gotten 46% of the vote, the highest total of any non-Unity person in history. 

 

I advocated running hundreds of people on both slates and might have actually sneaked a few people in. At some point the people who made that decision for ARISE need to be held accountable. Actually, the entire leadership of ARISE.

 

As to the election for his replacement, as I said, my favored candidate who also ran with the ABC slate did not win and lost to someone who had no connection to the movement we built among retirees over the past 5 years. A very nice guy, by the way. But a message was sent by the New Action/Retiree Advocate dominated RTC EB and the result is not a positive development for a united front in the 2027 RTC chapter election. Details next time.

 

 =======

 

The Texas Primaries

I'm a political nerd and follow both mainstream and alt media.

 

On the broader political front,  I get some of the best political analysis at breaking points, an alt media outpost that includes the left and the right, with the great reporter Ryan Grim and Krystal Ball representing the left. But it's always good to see what the right is thinking, though this is not MAGA right. 

 

I've been getting about 10 messages a day from Talarico -- I want to send him some money, but then I will get 20 messages a day. 

 

Wednesday's discussion of the Talarico/Crockett primary was fascinating and for a deep dive I urge you to check it out: https://youtu.be/5ttTwSR60L0?si=ms2W31EGQwDyprjb 

 

Not knowing enough beforehand, I did not have a dog in the race, other than the sense that Talarico had a better chance to win than Crockett, whose performance-based political acts has never resonated with me. Some view her as squad-oriented but and someone said to me she was like AOC. Far from AOC or the squad, she is more cultural than economic left. And in fact it turns out according to the analysys below that Talarico made the better economic left case.

 

Mainstream media painted the race as the left (Crockett) vs the center (Talarico) and therefore a lesson for Dems to stay to the center. This analysis actually paints Talarico as a sort of left because he ran an anti-corporate Bernie type campaign, albeit with some religious twists while Crocket despite her performativeness actually avoided the wealthy vs the rest of us and was more of a Dem cultural

 

   

 

Republicans already spent more than $71 million to try to push Cornyn over the finish line, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm. But all that money got him to only 42% in the primary against Paxton, who has been impeached, indicted, and rocked by multiple cheating scandals. 

• The New Yorker: In the Texas Primaries, a Good Night for James Talarico, and a Bad One for John Cornyn  

Cornyn, still the establishment conservative, raised roughly sixty-nine million dollars; Paxton just four million. In the final stages of the primary, the incumbent, still trailing in the polls, released a spot for the ages, which opened, “It’s voting time, so let’s cut through the bullshit. Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She’s divorcing him on Biblical grounds.” Paxton’s camp deployed the candidate’s daughter in a last-minute response ad, and called Cornyn “a desperate shell of a man clinging to power.” But, on Tuesday night, neither candidate managed to get fifty per cent of the vote, which means they’ll face off again in a runoff, in May. In theory, Republican voters might have been ready to throw out the last vestiges of the pre-Trump party. But not for Ken Paxton. At least not yet.

Crockett’s challenge to Talarico had less to do with ideological difference than with style—a somewhat repetitive January debate between the two candidates kept returning not to policy but to the question of whether it was better to establish common ground with some conservatives in the hope of winning their votes (Talarico’s position) or simply to rally your side by making clear what you opposed (Crockett’s). Crockett seemed to see enemies everywhere, and closed her campaign lashing out at certain political consultants and reporters. The congresswoman’s team expelled Elaine Godfrey, who’d published a critical profile of the candidate in The Atlantic, from an event for being a “top-notch hater.” The resulting back-and-forth on social media, between the campaign and its liberal critics, consumed much of the race’s final days. 

Who's Winning the Iran War? A surprising view differs from mainstream media from the left and the right.

 

The left view - Ryan X Tim Dillon: https://youtu.be/3lTk2SOHeVM?si=TR1ZbwOmoACNLiI5

The right view from Saagar and Tucker on Iran winning - Saagar X Tucker: https://youtu.be/Dl78cDjOIRM?si=CTGDRVtSzXWTJYSJ

 

 

Cults: Unity Caucus Channels Republicans as UFT Delegate Assembly Echoes Trump State of the Union,TRS Election Adds Another Purged Unity Defector

Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

Watching the Republicans leap up for joy at every Trump lie and bit of misinformation at the SOTU brought echoes of recent UFT Delegate Assemblies where we see a similar reaction from (fake) jocularity from the Unity Caucus cheering committee. The longest SOTU and most boring speech in history reminded me of some of Mulgrew's long-winded reports at the DA.

There was no better example than the Feb. DA where the main item was the endorsement for TRS of Unity candidate Tom Brown as one Unityite after another rose to give praise - and oh the cheers when the vote was taken to endorse him. Oppo people, like the Dems at the SOTU sat on their hands. There just weren't many of them and even for those who were there, there was no coordination. More and more oppo people are just not bothering to attend -- a boycott of sorts, like the Dems who stayed away from the SOTU. 

The only group that had a strategy - sort of - was ABC people, but I was lukewarm to not opposing Tom Brown on the grounds he was one of 3 Unity shills who would do whatever Mulgrew tells him to do. The argument for David Kazansky is that he would now be an independent voice - and yes, for 9 years he was a union leadership voice - publicly - but I suspect behind the scenes he was willing to ask questions about the fees we were paying, the role of private equity and investment strategy.

MORE on the whole has never felt the DA was an important venue. And the vaunted 300 Retiree Advocate delegates that replaced the Unity 300 in the June 2024 supposedly game-changing election which has not changed the game very much have been disappearing from the DA in droves, thus negating the impact of that election. MORE claims 100 DA. members but few show up, so the Unity staff and loyalist CLs dominate the room. Remember ARISE? No signs anywhere that they are alive since the embarassing 14% vote in the 2025 UFT election.

Even I, an over 50-year DA attendee, even when I wasn't a delegate, no longer see it worth it to hand out leaflets. I like to attend for social reasons to schmooze and  hang out with my pals.

The real changes in the UFT are happening underneath the covers and I am glad to be part of the various fragments of people connected to ABC. 

Mulgrew helps build the new opposition in the UFT

 

What the hell is happening at the UFT that 2 former pension reps are challenging the Unity candidate for TRS rep? 

 

Former UFT special rep Frank Panebianco is joining former 9-year Teacher Retirement System rep David Kazansky, pushed out of the job by Mulgrew two years ago and fired last June, in the race for TRS rep against Unity loyalist Tom Brown. Panebianco was among those staffers fired by Mulgrew. 

 

Is he a plant by Unity to divide the oppo vote? The guess is he is not but genuinely pissed off at the leadership. Is Unity cheering his candidacy against David? I'm thinking not as he is popular and  may well draw votes from Unity and turn this into a 3-person race. And of course David is popular in Untiy and will also draw votes. In a secret ballot, no matter the pressure from the leadership, there will be defections. Unity may punish district reps who don't turn out the vote -- we get a post-election report on the vote breakdown for every school. The key for Kazansky is to build a strong network of schools that will vote for him - right now there are 6 weeks to get 1000 signatures for each candidate. He has a shot at winning no matter what, but even if Brown wins the network built in the campaign can be used in the future. 

 

That two long-term Unity pension experts have challenged Unity candidate Tom Brown is indicative of the same kind of cracks we have been seeing in Uniy over the past few years. The massive retiree and para oppo wins in the 2024 chapter elections were clear indicators - the removal of Amy Arundell from Queens started a trend and her ability to bring some serious elements of Unity along with her in last year's union election has created a potential new oppo block in ABC outside the usual caucus suspects. 

 

Despite the firings by Mulgrew last June, while scaring some of Unity back into the fold, has still left some people seething. (One well-known school-based Unity recently declared privately "I'm done with them." Are they ready to be openly part of an oppo group like ABC? That may take some time and also depends on how capable ABC looks over the next few years. And don't forget that Unity 54% vote in the election. It takes some time for people who have been in a cult to wean themselves off. 

 

This look good for Unity - short term on the surface - but many of these people have actually learned some organizing skills, albeit in the rigid confines of Unity. But once freed, the creativity flows and excitement at the freedom grows. It is up to the legacy oppos to figure out how to join forces if they want to defeat Unity. There is a soft strucrure in place within the ABC coalition by the alliances built in last year's election and ties that bind continue to be built. 

 

Learn more about David at WeTrustDavid.org 

 

The Mulgrew reign of terror may work to keep staffers in fear and in line but the firing of well-liked and competent people also sends a message and degrades the structure from underneath. The firing of District 30 rep Ashley Rzonca has riled chapter leaders and rank and file in the district and is creating a cloud of resentment that will ultimately morph into open opposition. I never knew Ashley until she was fired last June and have come to see her abilities in various strategy sessions. 

 

Then there is Pissgate where a photo of Amy was placed in a men's room urinal at the Delegate Assembly and the culprit wasn't found despite months of investigation by an outside lawyer and despite cameras. 

 

There is a lot of residual fear and loathing of Mulgrew and his administration throughout the ranks. LeRoy Barr's retirement and the flippant way he announced it at the January DA that surprised Mulgrew won't help as he was able to keep many of the troops in line. Will LeRoy loyalists begin to jump ship too? He is still in charge of Unity Caucus so he will be a factor. Some say the simple solution for Unity is to replace Mulgrew and some see the Mike Sill rise as a solution. BTW- Mike was once a protege of Amy Arundell who was his boss. 

 

The woim toins.

 

Do you want to build your caucus or do you want to win an election? That was a question asked of leaders of the RA caucus and unfortunately it looks like caucus first. The same with NAC and MORE -- they will gladly take 14% of the vote forever as long as they can control their caucus. At a recent meeting one non-UFT person told me "it's all about control - having power in a small fishbowl." 

 

If the legacy caucuses wake up and join a movement like ABC, Unity would be in trouble.

 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-out-of-school/id1490313171?i=1000751049681 

 

David Kazansky speaks about the responsibility of the TRS Trustees.

https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=63921

A substantive, no-spin conversation about retirement security for NYC educators and retirees. 

 

Former three-term TRS Trustee David Kazansky.was interviewed by Daniel Alicea on WBAI in part 1 of a 2 part interview on Sunday. 

 

• David’s storied career as an educator, unionist and trustee

• What really happens inside the TRS boardroom

• Private equity and pension transparency

• Fiduciary duty and divestment

• Tier 6 and what reform would actually take

• The upcoming TRS trustee election — and what’s at stake

Part 2 also drops here next week and will be aired the next time Daniel hosts Talk Out of School.

Let’s stay informed.

— Dan Alicea

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Learn more about David at WeTrustDavid.org

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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.