Will NYSUT ST Caucus Impact AFT? - Welcome to Stronger Together Caucus - MORE Gets Seat on Steering

NYSUT has 600,000 members and is by far the largest component of the AFT's 1.5 million membership. NYSUT has always been a reliable Unity Caucus rubber stamp for NYC Unity Caucus, which has used its control of NYSUT Unity caucus to control the AFT and its Progressive Caucus version of Unity.

Thus the shakeup in NYSUT since Randi and Mulgrew pulled their Revile Slate knockdown of their former allies, Iannucci and crew. Their boy, Andy Pallotta has been like a bull in the chinashop, managing to alienate everyone he comes in contact with beyond the usual sycophants. And there is always good old Alan Lubin around to pull the strings.

The rocket rise of Stronger Together and Beth Dimino to the leadership of the first opposition to NYSUT Unity/Revile has the potential to be cataclysmic for the national teacher union - or not. I know ST first got together a year ago, I was still disappointed that it had zero presence at the AFT14 convention in LA. But after last week's RA, things are really looking up.

First - Beth and Brian St. Pierre reached out to MORE in the fall of 2013 and it was lucky for all of us that Mike Schirtzer was astute enough to get on the case and build a strong relationship with them. There were a whole bunch of MORE people who actually argued against getting involved -- I don't even know how to categorize their views - some kind of supposed analysis on organizing based on studying ancient, dusty tomes, which somehow haven't actually resulted in very successful organizing. But I'll leave that for another day.

Luckily, there are some rational MORE people like Lauren Cohen (see her video) and Jia Lee and Julie Cavanagh and James Eterno who jumped into the pool with Mike and Beth and Brian. They were joined by non-MORE Arthur Goldstein and shook up the NYSUT RA at the Hilton last year. James has a piece up on ICE today: JOIN STRONGER TOGETHER
It's only 10 bucks and sends a message to Unity if lots of NYC teachers join.

There is a reason ST reached out to MORE and elected Schirtzer to the steering committee. They want to build alliances between the state and NYC  opposition to Unity. But they are not stopping there. They are also getting involved with the national groups MORE has been working with - United Caucuses of Rank and File Educators (UCORE). I have been attending various versions of UCORE meetings since 2009 and I'm still waiting for something to happen -- they will meet in Newark in July.

But if ST and UCORE actually do make an effort at the AFT`16 convention in Minneapolis, we may see some shaking of the tree when Unity tries its bully tactics. I'm basing my continued support for UCORE based on their willingness to organize for AFT16. (There are sticky issues here since CTU president Karen Lewis must be in Randi's Progressive Caucus in order to hold onto an AFT Exec Bd seat and that puts CORE Caucus, Karen's caucus in Chicago, and also a key component of UCORE, in somewhat of a bind as to how active they can be in opposing Progressive Caucus. Some even say that these kinds of entanglements make UCORE into a discussion group only. UCORE (still unnamed) was non-existent at AFT14 and in fact I believe there was some kow-towing to Unity at times.

See my AFT14 reports:

• LA Confidential: AFT Travel Day, Part 1 - Posted Fri, 7/11/14 6AM
• AFT Convention Roundup: Travel Day Part 2 - Common...Posted Fri, noon.
• AFT Convention Update: Chicago CC Reso Goes Down O...Posted Fri 5PM
• Breaking - AFT Rumor - Reso on Duncan Coming? Rand...Posted Fri 5:30 PM
• AFT Convention 2014 Video: Randi Laugh Riot - on P...Posted Sat. 7AM
• #AFT14 Report - Recaps and Trends - Posted Sat
• #AFT14 Report: When Will the UFT/AFT Reclaim the Promise of a Democratic Union?
• #AFT14 Report - Tidbits
• #AFT14 Report - Common Core Debate - Epic Battle B...

• #AFT Convention - I apologize to non-slugs in Unit...
• #AFT14 - Randi says - AFT and NEA to For...
• #AFT14 Video - LATU Caputo-Pearl Lays Out Vision o...

Brian St. Pierre has written a wonderful must-read guest piece at NYC Educator.

ST Caucus Brings Real Grassroots Unionism to NYSUT

I'm not going to parse Brian's piece right now as I have to run to Botanic Gardens for the final day of the plant sale. But there is so much meat there and lessons on how Unity functions on the local, state and national levels I will do a follow up examining how they will try to buy out and coopt ST to try to turn them into New Action, light.  Like jobs or a stool at the table, anyone?
 
And here is the ST call to join:

Dear ST Caucus Members,

We were thrilled with the support the caucus received at the NYSUT RA in Buffalo.  Over 500 delegates joined, 145 of which were local presidents.  Our inaugural caucus meeting was standing room only with incredible enthusiasm and support for our resolutions and democratic reform within NYSUT.  Our bylaws and a slate of caucus officers were approved.

While our constitutional amendment proposals were defeated, we were able to get the RA House of Delegates to pass three resolutions that address the flawed nature of the standardized tests in New York State.  The resounding voices of the Delegates at the NYSUT RA in favor of these issues will now compel NYSUT leadership to do the right thing for New York's students and teachers by supporting the opt out movement!

1. Resolution to support the "I Refuse Movement"

2. Resolution to recognize and thank opt-out parents

3. Resolution calling for the replacement of the  college and career readiness benchmarks 

As we move forward, we will be revising the voting amendments dealing with democratic reform within NYSUT for the RA next year. Please feel free to reach out to caucus officers regarding any concerns you might have as the year progresses. We truly want rank and file members to utilize this avenue because it will help focus our positions and determine our resolutions for the next RA. 

ST Caucus is open to any NYSUT Member in good standing, delegates and non delegates alike.  Please encourage every member in your local to join--a membership form can be found here.  T-Shirts in sizes M,L,XL,2X and 3X are still available for a $20 donation here.  We will continue to keep you informed of new developments.  In the meantime, please share information about the caucus with your local and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

In Solidarity,

Chair: Beth Dimino—President Port Jefferson Station Teachers' Association

Treasurer: Beth Chetney—President Baldwinsville Teachers’ Association

Secretary: Laura Spencer—President Smithtown Teachers’ Association

Membership Chair: Michele Bushey—PAC, Saranac Teachers’ Association 

Vice-Chairs representing NYS by region 

1)   Central NY/Southern Tier: Angelee Hargreaves—President Port Byron Teachers’ Association

2)   Capital District: Megan DeLaRosa—President Shenendehowa Teachers’ Association

3)   North Country: Nate Hathaway—President Malone Federation of Teachers

4)   Tarrytown/Mid-Hudson: Mike Lillis—President Lakeland Federation of Teachers

5)   Nassau/Suffolk: Kevin Coyne—President Brentwood Teachers’ Association

6)   NYC:  Mike Schirtzer—UFT Delegate; MORE CAUCUS

7)   Western NY (Buffalo):  Joe Karb—President Springville Faculty Association

8)   Western NY (Rochester): Orlando Benzan—President Brockport Teachers’ Association

Sellout Fever: Newly Elected Revile - er - Revise NYSUT Officers Get Special Pension Deal From Cuomo, Klein and Skelos

NYSUT is proud to announce the first pension enhancement since 2000. After a long string of pension setbacks our legislative office has finally “turned the tide” and won a remarkable benefit for some of our most needy members....
Despite overseeing the creation of Tier V and Tier VI NYSUT First VP Andy Pallotta was undaunted and insisted we take this fight on. When asked why he was so slow to put out a statement (it was signed by the Governor into law July, 22) regarding this huge victory he humbly pointed out that he has been remarkably busy working with Senators, Klein and Skelos on their endorsements....
                           (Satirical) press release....

NYSUT Sellout Fever not yet under control

Sellout Fever, running rampant through the "new" NYSUT leadership, is turning into a worse epidemic than Ebola. A team from NIH wearing hazmat suits has been called to Albany.

NYSUT officers got their pals, Klein and Skelos, to pass this law giving them leaves of absences at full pay, all of it pensionable, and get Cuomo to sign it at the speed of light - for the NY State legislature.

1. INTRODUCEDJun 9, 2014
2. PASSED ASSEMBLYJun 19, 2014
3. PASSED SENATEJun 20, 2014
4. SIGNED INTO LAWJul 22, 2014

A 10019

AN ACT to amend chapter 675 of the laws of 1984 relating to providing fringe benefits for certain employees of school districts and boards of cooperative educational services, in relation to leaves of absence...

Oh, who may these "certain employees" be?

The salary paid shall be the salary the employee would have earned and received had THE EMPLOYEE remained in service in the position

A. 10019 2

1 which THE EMPLOYEE held as a full time employee at the time
2 THE EMPLOYEE was first elected as an elective officer, prior to the granting of the leave of absence based on the salary schedule in effect for the negotiating unit during each year of the leave of absence.
This act shall take effect immediately.

Why the newly elected NYSUT officers - of course, this is a priority matter. They will now get their full salary they from their old local (with pension credits) while they are state officers in NYSUT - the union reimburses their locals, but may not be asked too if the NYSUT state leadership sells out at a fast enough clip.

The law can be read in full here -

http://openstates.org/ny/bills/2013-2014/A10019/ -- if you have the stomach.

The NYSUT leaders also failed to announce this news at recent state meetings, and given passing any legislation at all would call for a victory party, there are some thoughts Karen Magee, Andy Palotta, and gang were pulling a coverup.

WARNING: SATIRE ALERT, SATIRE ALERT

Some anonymous oppositionists in NYSUT took umbrage and wrote this satirical press release with this intro:

The REVIVE team has actually had some success they just have not been transparent about it. They managed to get a pension enhancement bill http://openstates.org/ny/bills/2013-2014/A10019/ signed into law on July 22. The quotes and press release above are fake, but the law is real.

Press Release Press Release Press Release Press Release

August 20, 2014,

Albany, NY: NYSUT is proud to announce the first pension enhancement since 2000. After a long string of pension setbacks our legislative office has finally “turned the tide” and won a remarkable benefit for some of our most needy members.

Despite overseeing the creation of Tier V and Tier VI NYSUT First VP Andy Pallotta was undaunted and insisted we take this fight on. When asked why he was so slow to put out a statement (it was signed by the Governor into law July, 22) regarding this huge victory he humbly pointed out that he has been remarkably busy working with Senators, Klein and Skelos on their endorsements. He additionally wanted to credit the NYSUT legislative team and all of the new Officers for how quickly they were able to get this done.

When asked for a comment NYSUT President, Karen Magee said “This is what we campaigned on. We took a tough stand with the Governor and we demanded he do the right thing for these NYSUT members. That strategy really paid off here.” The new law allows, up to four, members of NYSUT who are on leave from their teaching positions and are elected Officers of NYSUT to continue to accrue time in the NYSTRS, if NYSUT reimburses the district for the Officer’s salary. Since NYSUT has it’s own pension plan for Officers this amounts to a legislative fix to allow for “double dipping”. When asked to comment President Magee said “ As a trustee to the NYSTRS I have witnessed the benefit of great pensions. If you can gain time in two systems simultaneously, all the better”.

If you are wondering if this new pension enhancement will help you in retirement, call the NYSTRS and see if you have the following name;

Karen Magee

Paul Percorale

Martin Messner

Some serious follow-up questions with my comments in [].

-What did Jeff Klein receive to get this into the senate? [UFT Endorsement].

-What did Dean Skelos receive to get his members to vote for it? [I can't imagine - a pony?]

-What did Andrew Cuomo get to sign it? [NYSUT neutrality].

-As a matter of principle shouldn't the officers of NYSUT refuse a pension deal until the Tier v and vi members are taken care of?

-Shouldn't a NYSUT officer resign their teaching position to gain independence from their home district? They need to serve all locals equally, we should not have to check and see that their district did not get more aid in order to keep the board and Superintendent willing to extend the leave. When you are a statewide officer you cannot have two masters!

-Who authorized the legislative department to push for this (It was not done at the RA or Bd of Directors Meetings)?

-Who wrote the legislation?

-Does NYC have comparable legislation in their retirement system?

-If this is good policy why doesn't it apply to the employee's retirement system, if an SRP became an officer shouldn't they be allowed to benefit?

----------
Some more commentary from the ether:

Much was made last year by the REVIVE campaign that NYSUT needed to make itself much more grass roots oriented and reflective of the needs of the rank and file teachers.

The REVIVE slate campaigned on:

• opposition to the common core
• opposition to Cuomo
• the need for greater transparency in the union.

The last month has shown just how disingenuous those arguments were. We now see that the new slate of officers are running NYSUT in a way that many feared. Rather than a revival this was the old guard (Randi and Unity Leadership) reclaiming control of the union's power to do it's unique bidding, membership be damned.

At the AFT convention we saw how Karen Magee when given a chance to oppose the common core, instead fought passionately to defend it. Including a nonsensical claim that without the common core we would have no standards at all. This absurdity flies in the face of the history that New York has had in developing standards.

The next campaign promise was to oppose Cuomo, instead all they have produced is tough talk about Cuomo when talking to NYSUT members but when it comes to actually opposing Cuomo there is silence. Twice in the last month we could have endorsed a candidate, Zephyr Teachout, that will stand against testing abuse and for school funding fairness. The REVIVE team marginalized the voice of teachers by remaining silent.

The reasonable question would be, Why? After so many legislative and policy failures at the hands of Andrew Cuomo, why wouldn't NYSUT take a proactive stand like our brothers and sisters in PEF.

Buffalo Teacher Exposes Phil Rumore and NYSUT Sham Militancy

[Buffalo Teachers Fed president] Phil Rumore manned up courageously and strode into #45 with a roll of BTF stickers handing them with bravado to all the teachers and enjoining them to affix them to their raiment as a fierce show of unity, solidarity and power in the face of the evil doers....Phil thinks we should all cover ourselves in them to scare away the woman married to the Loew's hardware heir....The very people we shouldn't be taking shit from, the ones who are paid well to advocate for us and have our backs seem to be working against us more than they are for or with us. This shit needs to stop. I can only hope this post pisses off a few of them half as much as their lameass version of unionism is pissing many of us off. Member driven union on the march, my arse.....B-LoEdScene

AFT/NYSUT/UFT: Driving Members Off the Cliff

As we predicted from Day 1 of the Battle For NYSUT, the noise-makers were just making militant-sounding noises for public consumption. Now they have to deliver some show events but as revealed by Sean (and others), when pushed they go wimping away. In a few months Iannuzzi will look like he was a revolutionary compared the the current crew (I don't have the time and patience to give you the dozens of links I put up with the back story -- if you are new - look through the archives since January for NYSUT stories -- and if you have time to write a book, hop to it.)

This is so good I an cross-posting because I don't want you to miss one precious word. Remember how Rumore puffed out his chest and attacked Iannuzzi and Stronger Together for not being tough enough and then backed the MulGarten total takeover of NYSUT Regurgitate slate.

Note how WeinGrew and crew are now re-branding themselves from Solutions Driven Unionism to the MORE/CORE -social justice "member driven Unionism."
Just another phony attempt to co-opt the growing movement against them, as expressed so well by the B-Lo blog.

MulGarten's got it backwards given that what they are really doing is driving the membership off the cliff.

Some relevant posts I put up before you go on to Sean's full piece.

[And by the way - Stronger Together is meeting soon - hopefully they will include plans to put a dagger to some people's hearts. Rumore wouldn't be a bad place to start the ball rolling - and work themselves up from there.]

A Parent Exposes New NYSUT (Revive) Pro-Cuomo Lead...

Rallies Scare Cuomo into Meeting with Stronger Tog...

NYUST and BTF Are Too Chicken to Protest a Visit from Scary Meryl

Regent Bennett Appears to be Battling Flatulence Again. Madame Tisch Appears to Be Suffering from Tartive Dyskinesia while ASSemblyman Ryan is Simply a Politician and a Wanker. 

We missed a good opportunity today to give Meryl Tisch a little of the Chuck Foreman treatment B-lo is infamous for providing its unwelcome guests. Not that we still have much snow lying around but imaginative folk that we are it seems a suitable substitute projectile could have easily been produced. Rumors began flying Tuesday that Assemblyman Sean Ryan was planning to escort the Dowager Chancellor into School #45 where she could observe all of the unseemly little brown, black and yellow foreigners there trying to NCLB their way into English fluency before the 3 year cut off. I am sure Empress Tisch kept her distance, after all, these weren't her gardeners, pool boys and cleaning ladies so she couldn't be sure they had all of their shots. It struck me and several like me that this would be a great opportunity for our dues collecting union leadership to take advantage of the fact that they are not obliged to be teaching in classrooms during the visit. Ergo maybe they could do a brother a solid and go holler at Tisch, hold up a correctly spelled sign and tell her Common Core blows and so do she and John King. O.k. choose your own pithy epigrams but that one's mine. 

Rallies Scare Cuomo into Meeting with Stronger Together

As momentum built toward’s the April 28th rally at Villa Lombardi’s to protest Governor Cuomo, one of the governor’s top aides, Joseph Percoco, reached out, through an intermediary, to the President of the Connetquot Teachers Association Tony Felicio.  Percoco offered Felicio, one of the rally’s organizers, a meeting with the governor to air his grievances in exchange for canceling the rally.  Felicio rejected the governor’s offer, telling him that the rally would go on and that if the governor wanted to meet they could do so after the rally. ...PJSTA

Here is a followup to my earlier post: A Parent Exposes New NYSUT (Revive) Pro-Cuomo Leadership Phony Militancy at Lake Placid - check it out before reading this.


How interesting that Stronger Together, the losing slate in the recent NYSUT election, gets a meeting with Cuomo on THEIR terms. They refused the meeting and held the rally and are doing another rally, which Cuomo "suggested" they cancel. They won't. NYSUT's new leaders didn't attend the first rally for fear of offending Mr. Charter.

Funny when you consider that Revive which won the election attacked ST for not being willing to talk to Cuomo. What they really meant - they, unlike Revive, would only talk to Cuomo standing up and looking him in the eyes, not on their knees.

Stronger Together is not going away - we'll have details on what is going on in a few weeks.

First a report from PJSTA President Beth Dimino that she sent to her members followed by the PJSTA report.

Yesterday, Tony Felicio, President Connetquot TA, Kevin Coyne, President Brentwood TA, Laura Spencer, President Smithtown TA, Tim Southerton, President Sayville TA and I met with Governor Cuomo in his office in NYC. I believe that the one and a half hour meeting was productive. I explained to the Governor that the reason I agreed to
attend the meeting was because I did not believe he fully understands the impact of his agenda on working classroom teachers and students. Each President had a topic to present. I'm sure it comes as no surprise to any of you that I spoke about the testing. I told the Governor that he needed to decouple the testing from the APPR. I clearly articulated what I believe are the problems with Pearson's unfettered stranglehold on NY State's children and I encouraged the Governor to decouple unfunded mandates from the tax cap by either fully funding those mandates or by making those mandates exclusionary under the cap. Both Kevin and Tim fully fleshed out the negative impacts of the cap on LI districts.  Laura spoke eloquently about the APPR and Tony clearly explained that the Governor's anti-teacher rhetoric was not helpful to anyone. Cuomo shared his points of view and the meeting was truly an exchange of ideas. We all spoke and everyone listened and now we wait to see what happens.
Cuomo said he wants to meet with eight teachers from around the State to discuss yesterday's meeting points further. Both Tony and I volunteered to be part of that cadre of teachers and we recommended that Cuomo contact NYSUT President Magee to make the decision about the teachers who would participate. Cuomo said there are twenty more session days for the legislature and he will work with members of both parties to make changes to CCSS and APPR. And now we wait to see what happens.
But while we wait, we must recognize that the reason that we were allowed an audience with the Governor is because we had more than 2,000 voters attend a rally at CHS in August, we helped organize and joined more than 1,000 voters in the fall at a rally in front of Flanagan's office, and we helped organize and joined more than 2,000 other LIers in front of Momma Lombardis on April 28th. I told the
Governor that we are helping to organize and will be at The Save Our Schools Rally in NYC on May 17th and we will help organize and will be at the rally in front of the Melville Hilton on May 21st.
The Governor and ALL of the LI elected officials that are up for election this November are paying attention Folks! We must capitalize on this momentum and keep this movement going!
We do that by showing up for rallies and most importantly by VOTING! School Board elections are May 20th. It's imperative that you vote in your home districts and that you vote yes to the budget and for the candidates that each local is endorsing. That will send a clear message to every politician that we mean business and that we will
VOTE TO SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION!
The PJSTA asks that every Comsewogue tax payer vote yes for the budget and vote for Gordon, Sanchez and Rennard for the open BOE seats.

This report from our pals at Port Jeff Station TA has the delicious details --

Stronger Together’s Meeting with Governor Cuomo

Posted on May 9, 2014 by thepjsta

 

As momentum built toward’s the April 28th rally at Villa Lombardi’s to protest Governor Cuomo, one of the governor’s top aides, Joseph Percoco, reached out, through an intermediary, to the President of the Connetquot Teachers Association Tony Felicio.  Percoco offered Felicio, one of the rally’s organizers, a meeting with the governor to air his grievances in exchange for canceling the rally.  Felicio rejected the governor’s offer, telling him that the rally would go on and that if the governor wanted to meet they could do so after the rally.

You will recall the rally did in fact go on.  Despite the fact that it was not supported by NYSUT, an estimated crowd of 2,500 gathered outside Villa Lombardi’s to protest Cuomo’s education reform agenda.  The rally clearly sent a very powerful message to the governor that the parents and teachers of New York State will “remember in November” the havoc that his policies have wreaked on the children of our communities.  Unless he displays a startling and dramatic change of course regarding his education policies in the very near future he can count on no support in November’s election from the people in New York State who value public education, whether NYSUT endorses him or not.

Following the rally, Percoco once again reached out to Felicio to request a meeting with the governor.  Cuomo’s re-election campaign clearly is rattled by the tidal wave of support for public education that stands in clear opposition to the reform agenda he has helped to force upon our community schools throughout his term in office.  Felicio agreed to the meeting and arranged to bring a few trusted friends in the fight for public education.  Yesterday five Stronger Together local presidents, including Felicio, Tim Southerton (President of the Sayville Teachers Association), Laura Spencer (President of the Smithtown Teachers Association), Kevin Coyne (Brentwood Teachers Association), and our very own Beth Dimino were joined by Brad Lindell (Vice-President of the Connetquot Teachers Association)  at a meeting with the governor.

At the meeting the team raised concerns about high stakes testing, APPR’s, the tax cap, charter schools, Pearson, and RttT, among other things.  Dimino told the governor that given his actions up to this point she could only assume that he didn’t know the truth about the harmful agenda he had been pushing.  After the group gave him the perspective of real classroom teachers they suggested potential solutions to the disastrous situation his policies have created.   Dimino then warned him that he now knew the truth and that there is no excuse for the continuation of such policies.  She stated that there would be a price to pay if swift action is not taken to undo much of what has been done up to this point.  Dimino explained to the Governor that there were two things he could do immediately to mitigate the devastating impact his agenda has had on NYS students, first decouple the testing from teacher evaluations and then decouple all of the unfunded mandates from the tax cap, either by funding those mandates or by making them exclusionary under the cap.

Cuomo, who was polite, respectful, and attentive during the meeting that lasted nearly two hours, responded with a lot of “I didn’t know” or “It’s not my fault” types of answers.  He also told them, “I thought everybody loved charter schools?!”  Additionally he warned that we may want to cancel the rally scheduled for the New York Democratic Convention on May 22nd in Melville so that we don’t upset other Democratic politicians.  Let me be very clear here: The rally will go on!  As Felicio warned on April 28th, the Lombardi’s rally was just a warm up for a bigger, louder, more intense one on May 22nd.

Finally Cuomo pledged to create a task force of classroom teachers to more deeply investigate the issues discussed.  He said he would be in touch with NYSUT President Karen Magee to create that task force.  Unfortunately Magee is no fan of the PJSTA, so don’t expect Dimino or many other NYSUT members critical of the Mulgrew/Pallotta/Revive NYSUT coup to make the cut for the task force.  Of course we have been down the task force road with Cuomo before.  Typically what happens is that any voices of truth who speak for teachers and students are ignored so that Cuomo can stock his war chest with big money from Wall Street, Pearson, and Eva Moskowitz.  In the end the losers are usually public schools and the communities they serve.  Color me skeptical when it comes to any meaningful changes being made.  Still, for a change, it was nice to know that our message was sent to the governor yesterday, loud and clear.

Dimino at the April 28th rally.

A Parent Exposes New NYSUT (Revive) Pro-Cuomo Leadership Phony Militancy at Lake Placid

The most obvious giveaway that NYSUT had completely sold out came when the NYSUT photographer wanted to take a picture of a child who was wearing a sign that said, I "heart" public school, but he wouldn't take a picture of the child's brother whose sign said, No Mo Cuomo. The photographer explicitly stated that NYSUT wouldn't publish anything against Cuomo!.. NYC Parent, Change the Stakes

We all knew this was happening but to have actual proof. Here is her full email to CTS and my response:

Norm and other savvy union members, please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that:

• UFT and NYSUT will endorse Cuomo
• In return, they'll get some temporary reprieve from APPR (a moratorium) or some fix in the formula

As has already been reported, the UFT-backed NYSUT slate got a boost from Cuomo in exchange for their silence on the charter deal.


At NYSUT's rally at Lake Placid, it became painfully obvious that NYSUT was not there to challenge Cuomo -- all the rhetoric was directed at DFER and the Walton Foundation. None of the rally speakers said anything about Cuomo (or even Gates!). The most obvious giveaway that NYSUT had completely sold out came when the NYSUT photographer wanted to take a picture of a child who was wearing a sign that said, I "heart" public school, but he wouldn't take a picture of the child's brother whose sign said, No Mo Cuomo. The photographer explicitly stated that NYSUT wouldn't publish anything against Cuomo!
If all this is true, union leadership is even more effed up than I thought....

My response:

I am still in the minority on this but I view the union leadership at city, state and national levels as functioning basically as agents for the other side. This goes back to the early history 50 years ago when union resources were used with the CIA to undermine left leaning teacher unions abroad.
Shanker supported ed deform when Nation at risk came out in 1983. Randi and Mulgrew continue. When you hear militancy it is rhetoric to mislead. Always watch what they do not what they say. Your story nails what they are all about.
Will they endorse Cuomo? They will check the internal political wind to see if they can get away with it. If not they will sit it out. Cuomo will understand. Unless his numbers are falling and he needs them. Then they will paint the Republican as a monster.
Norm

And Lisa says:

I am not up on the inter workings of NYSUT, but it would be in line for the UFT/NYSUT to endorse Cuomo. Remember they endorsed Pataki when he came up with a small amount of money (perhaps $100,000) for the teachers contract, but at the same time would not give a penny for settling the CFE lawsuit. The lawsuit would have given NYC BILLIONS of dollars! 

NYSUT in Sea of Red Ink

On paper, the union reported a $30 million deficit on its most recent 990 IRS form. Union officials say that cash shortfall was really less than $8 million. Either way, it’s a flow of red ink that union officials acknowledge continues today.... Capitol Confidential

In Chicago when CORE took over - after running on a promise to reduce salaries of union officials - they found the union $4 million in debt. After one year (Karen Lewis took an big cut in pay) - the debt was basically wiped out.

We may have tilted towards Stronger Together over the victorious Revive, but both are responsible for this mess. It is not just the super high salaries over 300 thousand but note the familiar UFT names taking their share -14-20 grand each for many of the Unity Caucus leadership. Many of them also get a cut from the AFT budget too. So we are paying some of them 3 times. You'll see some very familiar names.

Don't look to them to do what CORE did in Chicago. 

A major threat to teachers here in NYC is how NYSUT legal which provides NYC teachers with free legal, will be affected. Some insiders think that with the UFT firmly in charge at NYSUT, and not having shown the highest interest in teacher defense, NYSUT legal will be the first to get hit by cuts.

Here is the article from Capitol Confidential, followed by the 2010 report (what numbers will the 2013 report show?) which points to a 35,000 drop in members since 2008 -- with the new charter laws hitting us look for a bigger acceleration of that loss.

[By the way -- the UFT is also facing massive debt - which they are covering up -- but don't look to any salary reductions there either].

NYSUT has been squeezed along with the school districts that employ its members, said E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute. He said NYSUT has a direct financial interest in lifting the cap.
“The union exists to deliver benefits to its members, including pay increases,” he said. “Their focus all the time is getting more and the tax cap limits the more.”

On paper, the union reported a $30 million deficit on its most recent 990 IRS form. Union officials say that cash shortfall was really less than $8 million. Either way, it’s a flow of red ink that union officials acknowledge continues today.

NYSUT has 600,000 members. It estimates 35,000 educators have lost jobs since 2008 as school districts across the state laid off staff, a process expected to accelerate under tax cap restrictions.

NYSUT had 507 employees as of August 2012, including 26 who worked part time. The forms show the total amount the union spent on salaries, benefits and other compensation rose to $110 million from $96 million in a year, according to its most recent 990 IRS form, which is dated September 2010 to August 2011.

About 300 employees earned gross salaries of more than $100,000, according to NYSUT’s latest federal LM-2 disclosure forms, dated September 2011 to August 2012. Of that number, about 15 employees earned more than $200,000.

NYSUT990 by Scott Waldman

Video - NYSUT Update: MORE's Lauren Cohen and Mike Schirtzer Rock the House

The video you have been waiting for. I'm so proud of our MORE next-generation union activists. Lauren and Mike are the new rock-stars. Lots of comments over at NYC Educator as to the level of Lauren's petiteness (UFT-Unity Caucus Demonstrates How It Handles Dissent) ....

I have never viewed Lauren as petite because from the day I met her I viewed her as a giant. When she was so desperate to get away from a beast of a principal she was ready to quit and go teach in Korea - but on her resume she put down she was an activist and test resister - "I don't want to work for a principal who wouldn't want someone like me." And she found such a principal in Liz Philips. To me that makes Lauren a giant.

As for Mike -- my adopted son will get a separate post.

Here is a summary MORE posted on you tube:

The NY United Teachers union is comprised of more than 1,200 local unions across NY State. This year the Movement of Rank-and-file Educators (MORE) ran six candidates for the Board of Directors. NYSUT Elections have been uncontested since 1979. The six candidates pooled their speaking time and were represented by Lauren Cohen and Mike Schirtzer. Behind them were James Eterno, Julie Cavanaugh, Francesco Portelos, Jia Lee from MORE and our union sister from Port Jefferson Teachers Association Beth Dimino.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbkqXmDz62Y&feature=youtu.be

NYSUT Election Update: Message to Revive: Now that you broke it, you own it

Well, Revive certainly broke NYSUT with the claim that the Stronger Together leadership wasn't militant enough -- one very big joke. So now they own it.

And Revive will come under the very same attacks they used on Stronger Together starting ---- yesterday. Even with 100% of the Unity block voting for him, Revive's Martin Messner won with 53.7% of the weighted vote while Stronger Together incumbent Lee Cutler came in with 46.3%.

In fact the Julie Cavanagh vs Mulgrew numbers (Julie Cavanagh Defeats Mulgrew Outside NYC With 52.3% of Vote) show just how soft the support for Revive is -- let's split the baby -- say half of Julie's votes were due to people knowing her and the other half anti-Mulgrew. So even the big cities had some clear drift toward the Stronger Together candidates.

James Eterno at the ICE blog (REVIVE WINS; MORE DOES VERY WELL OUTSIDE NYC) shows how Stronger Together incumbent Lee Cutler beat Martin Messer (whose tweets put him in slug territory) with 70% of the vote outside NYC. James explains:

A detailed look at the numbers for the election, which we have said was run on as tilted a playing field as a UFT election, shows it was much closer than most people expected.  Outside of New York City, Revive candidates either lost or only won by a small margin.  The difference in this election was the New York City UFT Unity Caucus bloc of votes. 
These Delegates are bound by their caucus obligations to support the decisions of their caucus in public and union forums (the so called Unity loyalty oath) so we knew 34% of the vote (the percentage the UFT has in this election according to what we looked at) was going to Revive from the start. That is a healthy head start.
For Secretary-Treasurer, Revive's Martin Messner won with 53.7% of the weighted vote while Stronger Together incumbent Lee Cutler came in with 46.3%. We got to know Lee Cutler during the last month and found him to be a decent guy who did a pretty good job as an officer. We are not surprised that he won a huge percentage of the vote outside of New York City. Let's look at some of the details.
There were 328,014 weighted votes that were cast in the election for president.  It was less for other offices which is not unusual in any election. Since 34% of the votes were from the UFT and this was a non secret ballot, we can safely assume that all of the UFT votes were for Revive's Martin Messner.
Outside of NYC we can conclude there were 216,489 weighted votes by simply subtracting 111,525 (34% of the total weighted votes cast) from 328,014 (number of weighted votes cast for president).  Now subtract from Messner's totals the same NYC 111,525 weighted votes from his 175,790 total and he is left with 64,275 votes while Cutler keeps all of his non NYC weighted votes which add up to 151,526.  Outside of NYC, where the election is not a top down mandate from Michael Mulgrew, Cutler won easily with 70% of the vote to Messner's 30%.
The same holds true if we take out the NYC votes from the other officers. Stronger Together's Maria Neira, Kathleen Donahue, and of course Dick Iannuzzi won easily outside of NYC. It was also very competitive outside of the city for Arthur Goldstein against Andrew Pallotta for Executive Vice President.

NYSUT Election Update: Julie Cavanagh Defeats Mulgrew Outside NYC With 52.3% of Vote

Michael Mulgrew and Julie Cavanagh replayed the 2013 UFT Election here at NYSUT for an at large Board of Directors seat.  Mulgrew garnered 197,081 weighted votes while Cavanagh received 93,830. 

Now take out the 111,525 NYC Unity votes (I think we can safely assume that no NYC Unity voter would vote against Mulgrew in an open ballot) and Mulgrew is left with 85,556. Cavanagh keeps her 93,830 . The percentages work out to 52.3% for Cavanagh and 47.7% for Mulgrew.
Outside of NYC, Julie Cavanagh defeated Michael Mulgrew!.... James Eterno, ICE blog

James' full report where he does some of the math at:

NYSUT ELECTION RESULTS: REVIVE WINS; MORE DOES VERY WELL OUTSIDE NYC

Of course James is doing some extrapolation here. But the results were remarkable for MORE, which was not on the Stronger Together slate - even with the big cities stacked for Revive, when it came to individual battles there's lots to mull over.

From what I hear, based on her appearance Saturday at the NYSUT RA (she didn't speak, ceding her time to Lauren Cohen and Mike Schirtzer) Julie is still a rock star -- MORE was originally approached by people in the state partly because of Julie's status -- but she has been very busy with Jack, who will officially hit the terrible Twos in July. (No one is waiting for summer more eagerly than Julie.)

Her name carried some serious weight and according to James' analysis got more votes than Mulgrew outside of the NYC Unity Caucus block.

For those who think the NYSUT rift will be healed soon, they are blowing smoke. Stronger Together did not disband and will be holding a meeting soon. What used to be a solid NY State Unity Caucus block at the AFT convention (July 11) will now be split into 2 camps - roughly a 60-40 split. Since the minority caucus pins much of this on Randi Weingarten/Mulgrew, if there is any serious opposition to Randi on national policy and even a serious candidate against her in the election, watch some fur fly.

NYSUT Update: MORE's Lauren Cohen Stands Up to Bully Tests and Bully Unity Slugs

Yesterday morning I watched from the audience as Lauren Cohen, a petite young woman from the UFT MORE caucus, got up and addressed the NYSUT Representative Assembly as a candidate. When Lauren mentioned the UFT-Unity Loyalty oath, my 800 brothers and sisters from UFT-Unity tried to drown her voice with loud boos. The moderator had to get up and explain that it was not in the best traditions of public forums to prevent people from speaking. Lauren stood calmly, and continued undeterred after waiting a moment for the noise to subside. She demonstrated grace and thoughtfulness, neither of which was evident in the audience that saw fit to shout her down in the full view of UFT President Michael Mulgrew. ... NYC Educator, UFT-Unity Caucus Demonstrates How It Handles Dissent

The MORE presence and the Unity response exposed goon tactics to the entire state... even some Unity people were embarrassed and came over to Lauren to apologize. I believe Peter Goodman, one of the 800 Unity delegates, is urging unity after they split the state. Consequences, consequences, consequences -- you reap what you sow....Ed Notes

You mean THIS Lauren Cohen -- not that long ago, seemingly a bit shy -- gets booed, waits calmly and then rocks the house. Thus the power of being in a group like MORE - watching the growth of wonderful new leaders like Lauren.

Only Unity Caucus would boo someone who loves puppies.

There was much irony in the massive booing on the part of Unity Caucus goons and slugs as MORE NYSUT candidate Lauren Cohen began her speech Saturday at the NYSUT RA. I wasn't there but I heard she mentioned the Unity Caucus loyalty oath, prompting boos and shout of "No MORE".

Lauren was a victim of Unity Caucus perfidy way before Saturday, suffering, until she escaped, for years under an abusive, bully principal who has driven a number of staff, parents and children out of the school, all while the UFT/Unity leadership twiddled (and continues t twiddle) its thumbs. Thus Lauren has suffered a double dose of abuse from the union leadership, which by the way, made bogus claims it defends chapter leaders at the March Delegate Assembly. While Lauren was not CL, the previous gaggle of CLs at the school came under the evil eye of the principal -- again the UFT did nothing.

Both Lauren and her pal Jia Lee, also a MORE NYSUT candidate and a fugitive from the same school, came to MORE as a result of the abuse they suffered at that school and to Change the Stakes due to their stand against testing policy.

Below is Lauren in a shot from TV on Friday outside her new school, PS 321, making a very public stand against testing at the rally. She was also interviewed on TV. Less than 24 hours later, she was standing in front of her Unity Caucus fellow UFT members being booed.

This is the way of the goon mentality we face in battling against the evil empire (video will be up soon.) Booing one of the teachers with the guts to stand up to all bullies - the kind of person who would never be tolerated in the caucus. MORE continues to attract people like Lauren. I will highlight some of the others this week.

A photo of the MORE crew at the NYSUT RA with friends-- and many more were made over the weekend as the MORE presence and the Unity response exposed their tactics to the entire state.

Arthur Goldstein, next to Julie Cavanagh, the indomitable Beth Dimino, far right, Mike Schirtzer and Francesco Portelos, back-center next to James Eterno, to the right of Sean Ahern. Jia Lee, center (blue) next to the always awesome Megan Moskop. Others - Joan Heymont, Don Doyle, Sal Notera, Rob Pearl (VP Port Jeff Stn TA)

NYSUT Update: EIA Analyzes NYSUT Delegate Vote

My unscientific extrapolation estimates Revive NYSUT holds about 56 percent of the delegates, Stronger Together 24 percent, and 20 percent are unknown or undecided... EIA

Mike Antonucci crunches the numbers based on endorsement of big local presidents for the Mulgrew/Weingarten Revive Slate.

Is he missing something by assuming the rest of the delegates from the big locals will vote the way their leaders want them to like the Unity clones? What if that 56% doesn't vote as a block? Other than the roughly Unity controlled NYC 32% the other 24% will not hold firm because those local presidents don't have the control over their people like Unity does.

Other than a few Unity people defecting because they want to leave Unity anyway and maybe some PSC (Prof. Staff Congress - CUNY) defections, we are hearing that there may be a lot more defections from UUP (SUNY), Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and maybe even Yonkers.

I at no point believed Stronger Together will win, but have believed that anything from 70-30 to 60-40 is a defeat for Randi with some talk of leaving NYSUT and joining the NEA by some locals. Anything above 40% approaching half the vote is massive.

In case you are not aware, Arthur Goldstein running for Exec VP gets to address the convention Saturday morning -- some of these delegates are bound to be impressed. In addition, MORE, not running on Stronger Together, will send 2 speakers to the podium to explain how the Unity machine operates, amongst other issues  -- Mike Schirtzer and Lauren Cohen -- the new faces of the opposition here in NYC. MORE's other candidates (Julie Cavanagh, Jia Lee, James Eterno and Francesco Portelos have yielded their time). Expect at least some withering away from the big locals. Maybe not enough to win but ....

Here is Antonucci's post with a great graph -- if NYSUT was run like the US Senate where each state gets the same vote it would be a landslide for Stronger Together. Not that I am advocating that. But imagine if our election here in NYC elected delegates by our local school districts rather than winner take all? A reform that might be worth fighting for.

Why Iannuzzi Is Toast by EIA

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 07:34 AM PDT

More than two months ago I posted my thoughts on the New York State United Teachers election headlined “Iannuzzi Is Toast.” My conclusion had nothing to do with the policies of the incumbent NYSUT president or his slate, nor did it take into account the policies of his challengers, Revive NYSUT. I simply took a look at the number of delegates and the locals pledged to the challengers, particularly the largest teachers’ union local in the nation, the United Federation of Teachers.
In recent weeks Iannuzzi’s slate, named Stronger Together, has trumpeted its growing list of endorsements by NYSUT local presidents and boards. We started to see graphs like this one.


That’s an impressive show of strength and it would be decisive if the NYSUT Representative Assembly assigned a single vote to each local. But the votes are weighted according to the size of the local, and that’s where Stronger Together gets a lot Smaller Together.

I don’t have a list of delegates and I have no special insight into how individuals might vote on the open floor (no secret ballot in NYSUT). But the two slates are using local endorsements as a proxy for voting power and I will, too. I know how many teachers are in each district they represent and can usually add pretty well.

I took a look at the list of 300 or so local presidents on the Stronger Together web site and discovered: a) there was some double-counting of locals; and b) the total number of teachers those locals represented came to about 60,000.
UFT by itself has 64,000 active full-time K-12 teachers.
So if UFT stood alone, Stronger Together would have a fighting chance to pick up votes from the rest of the delegation. But the Revive slate also boasts the endorsement of virtually all of the largest locals in NYSUT: the Professional Staff Congress, the United University Professions, and the K-12 unions in Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers and Syracuse. Stronger’s largest declared local is the Brentwood Teachers Association, representing about 1,100 teachers.

My unscientific extrapolation estimates Revive NYSUT holds about 56 percent of the delegates, Stronger Together 24 percent, and 20 percent are unknown or undecided. Iannuzzi’s slate would have to capture all of the undecideds and peel off about 11 percent of Revive’s delegates while holding on to all of its own.

My prediction: Revive NYSUT picks up at least 60 percent of the vote. If it climbs to 70 percent, I would not be surprised.

NYSUT UPDATE: UFT Sells Out on Charter Law in Exchange for Cuomo Tossing a Bone on Evals to Cut Iannuzzi

It will be even more interesting to see how the election results affect the delegates and the union. Will they all close ranks behind the next regime? Or will the divisions opened up during the campaign linger on?.. Mike Antonucci, EIA

Insiders are telling me that Cuomo throwing Mulgrew an olive branch on teacher evals yesterday was a way to slap Iannuzzi and help Mulgrew in NYSUT election - a sign it is closer than we thought. Mike Antonucci seems to think so too.

In exchange, UFT was quiet as a mouse in disastrous charter deal that will end up costing the UFT thousands of working members over the next few years as charters grow into a much as 10% of the school system. Actually, I'm predicting that this new charter enhancement bill will have a tsunami effect -- think accelerating greenhouse effect and global warming -- ice pack melts, etc.

This is the charter equivalent -- watch charters grow to 30% in a decade as the state legislature keeps expanding the charter cap -- see millions in commercials spent on that coming soon. UFT will barely organize any of them and end up losing 15,000 members.

If Dick wins, no NYSUT endorsement for Cuomo.

If Mulgrew wins and NYSUT endorses Cuomo there will be a revolt - esp w Cuomo support for charters.

Mike Antonucci who gave Revise a slam dunk not long ago now sees a closer election.

Mike is right on that but wrong on a few things in not bringing up the Cuomo issue. He is also wrong that national AFT has little impact on local stuff. National AFT and local UFT are one and the same -- under the control of the same people on all levels.

Mike doesn't see that the key is Randi's ties to Dem party. Randi still controls Mulgrew and UFT. This is her deal as much as anyone's -- she wants to be a player in Dem party and Iannuzzi revolt threatened that.

Summing up:

• UFT/Randi have sacrificed long-term interests of union for short-term stool at the Cuomo table.
• No matter what they have fomented a permanent split in NYSUT that cannot be healed -- though watch them attack the people they just finished going after for being "divisive."
• This will carry over to the national AFT as alliances are built between the NYSUT anti-Unity crew and others around the nation wanting to challenge Randi's leadership.
• Ed Notes will be there to cover everything as I continue to not have a life.

 From Antonucci EIA:

NYSUT Election Will Be Held Saturday Evening

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 10:53 AM PDT

The incumbent has the support of more than 300 locals, and the challenger has the support of all the largest ones. Barring something utterly extraordinary, Karen Magee will become the new president of New York State United Teachers, but by a less-than-impressive margin.
Almost all of the union’s business will be conducted prior to the election on Saturday evening, and it will be interesting to see how much the battle between the two caucuses affects other areas.
Former NYSUT president Tom Hobart will be receiving an award. He has endorsed incumbent president Richard Iannuzzi. AFT president Randi Weingarten will address the delegates. Her local, the United Federation of Teachers, is the driving force behind the challenger. John Stocks, the executive director of NEA, will also speak. The national union has little influence on NYSUT, and its staunch support of Common Core has hit swirling rapids in New York.
It will be even more interesting to see how the election results affect the delegates and the union. Will they all close ranks behind the next regime? Or will the divisions opened up during the campaign linger on?

As the NYSUT World Turns: Some NYC Unity Caucus Delegates May Bolt and Vote Stronger Together

Leroy Barr Offer to Unity RA Delegates

Reports are surfacing that a small faction of Unity may just vote their conscience and damn the consequences at the April 5 NYSUT Representative Assembly.

Unity Caucus held a meeting at 52 Broadway (UFT HQ) after last Wednesday's (March 19) Delegate Assembly - with dinner served (were they using our dues money - did they pay rent? Can MORE hold caucus meetings there too?).

Leroy Barr strongly reminded the 800 Unityites who were elected as delegates to state and national conventions in the March 2013 elections that they were expected to vote as a block for the Mulgrew/Weingarten instigated Revive slate in the April 5 NYSUT election and they would be watched due to the open ballot.

There are early signs that Barr's message did not go over very well with at least a few of the Unity faithful, soon to be classified as traitors and drummed out of the Caucus if they should dare cast their vote for Stronger Together on April 5.

Barr also admonished them that they should not miss sessions to traipse around the city, as usual, using their meal money to eat at local restaurants. "Bring your own food and snacks into the convention hall" - paraphrasing Barr's comment from someone who was present. I'll bring them a bag of peanuts when I stop by late Saturday afternoon on April 5th after I work the FIRST LEGO League robotics tournament at the Javits Center.

Too bad I'll miss Arthur Goldstein's early morning speech that day. Arthur us running a piece this morning (On Timeliness and Learning) chronicling  his travels around the state speaking and making new friends as he goes head to head for NYSUT VP against former UFT District Rep Andy Pallotta, who by the way makes around $350,000 a year. I gotta hit Arthur for a loan when he wins - and by the way, if he does I bet we see Arthur make a move to reduce those crazy salaries of our union leaders, just as Karen Lewis did in Chicago.

Arthur has a funny piece running this morning on
The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo Voters with cartoons yet.




That Barr had to make this point so strongly as a reminder to the Unity faithful (and those soon to be not so faithful) is a sign there is some unhappiness inside Unity Caucus (in the UFT) with the way the NYSUT split was fomented.

In some of my personal contacts when the subject comes up there is a rolling of the eyes. Sometimes a shrug. Clearly, little enthusiasm for the initiative to dump the current NYSUT leadership minus Andy Pallotta, a leadership that has one of their popular former members - Maria Neira - being dumped too. Maria still has a lot of supporters in Unity. Her integrity is well-known and counts for something when she sticks with Dick Iannuzzi when she probably could have deserted him for what could have been a guaranteed win if she ran on the Revise slate.

We always know that there are some decent Unity Caucus people with a conscience, but a conscience that will be put on hold when it comes to supporting dictums from the top. (I remember on the bus to the airport in Seattle after the 2010 Bill Gates AFT convention, some Unity people approached me and said they agreed with Ed Notes on many positions and trashed Randi and the Gates appearance. That didn't stop them from booing the people who walked out on Gates.)

There are some Unity people planning on leaving the caucus on their own and this vote will be their form of resigning. If they are thrown out of the caucus before the AFT July convention in LA, do they still get to go, given they were elected? In 2010, a Unity delegate and chapter leader who had invited my pal Angel Gonzalez to her soon to be closed school was tossed from the convention trip because she hadn't paid her Unity dues on time. She sent me off to Seattle with a scathing criticism of Randi/Mulgrew and Unity and joined GEM (the pre-cursor to MORE and Change the Stakes).

How interesting if even a sliver of Unity actually joins Stronger Together, the first even minor break in Unity here in the city since the mid-to late 60s. (We saw in the 2013 elections a large rank and file desertion of Unity - votes that MORE was not able to pick up.)

There is so much going on behind the scenes that I can't talk about yet - if I did I would have to kill you. But you will read it here first.

Stay tuned to "As the NYSUT World Turns."

NYSUT: MORE Challenges Unity, VP Candidate Arthur Goldstein to Appear at PSC Candidate Forum Tonight

Overall, Revive did not look ready for prime time.  If this is the best they can do, then we may be in even more peril than now if they take over NYSUT in April.  The four incumbents in Stronger Together and Arthur Goldstein looked very comfortable up on the stage while Pallotta and his Revived challengers appeared to be overmatched at times... James Eterno report on Long Island Candidate Forum

To fully explain what is going on in NYSUT would take some time for those not following reports on ed notes. Here is the skinny.

• Statewide Unity Caucus splits into Stronger Together (4 out of 5 incumbent leaders including President Iannuzzi) and Revive - Exec VP Andy Pallotta, supported by the UFT/Mulgrew and Weingarten.

• Stronger Together takes a rigorous anti-Cuomo position in addition to pointing to the legislative failures of Pallotta, blaming him for being ineffective in fighting Cuomo's local property tax cap which has hurt smaller locals depending on that tax.
• Revive positions:  bogus bullshit -- (we never claim to be fair.)
• MORE teams up with the crew from Port Jeff Station out on Long Island to run for certain non-officer at-large positions as independents - at this time - though some (not all) may run on the Stronger Together slate. Julie Cavanagh gets to challenge Mulgrew directly once again for one of the NYSUT election districts - though NYC teachers cannot vote for her - the 800 Unity votes will go to Mulgrew. Same with other MORE candidates: Francesco Portelos, Lauren Cohen, Mike Schirtzer, Jia Lee, and James Eterno - see their statements in the NYSUT paper and at the MORE blog.
• MORE has been in deep discussions as to the wisdom of joining the slate (if asked) and the current proposal is to allow each MORE candidate to make his or her own decision (unlike Unity Caucus which binds people). (I'll get into the angst this issue has caused within MORE at another time.
• Arthur Goldstein, of NYC Educator blog fame, runs against Pallotta for the VP position, possibly on the Stronger slate if asked - that is to be determined.
• Big city locals plus the statewide college local leaders have endorsed the Revive/Mulgrew slate but other than the NYC local Unity Caucus, have freed their delegates to vote as they wish.
• Candidate forums are being held around the state. Arthur reports on the meeting here. See Eterno's report of the one on Long Island, where Arthur kicked Pallotta's ass. IANNUZZI'S STRONGER TOGETHER & ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN ARE CROWD FAVORITES AT CANDIDATE FORUM
• PSC, a supposed liberal caucus, endorsed Revive and is holding a candidate forum tonight. Reluctantly, they were forced to invite Arthur. (More on that later). You can see Arthur's statement in the NYSUT paper and at his blog: Statement of Candidacy for NYSUT Executive Vice-President

Here is the MORE release from this morning.

MORE Challenges Unity In NYSUT Elections

March 18, 2014 — 

MORE CAUCUS OF UFT TO CHALLENGE CURRENT UFT LEADERSHIP IN STATEWIDE UNION ELECTIONS

RANK AND FILE EDUCATORS WILL BRING REAL CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE TO UNION POSITIONS

 New York – The Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE), the Social Justice Caucus of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), best known for opposing UFT’s President Michael Mulgrew and his Unity caucus in the 2013 UFT elections will now offer a positive alternative for leadership in the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) officer elections. This is unprecedented- never before has the Unity caucus or a sitting UFT president been challenged in NYSUT elections.

MORE is running in this election against the Unity Caucus because, according to candidate special education elementary teacher Julie Cavanagh,

“…Rather than collaborating with those who seek to destroy us, we must harness our collective power and stand with parents and youth to end destructive education policies and fight for the economic, racial, and social justice our teachers, students, and society need and deserve.”

In a break from his union’s leadership, MORE candidate and high school teacher Mike Schirtzer calls for an immediate repeal of the Common Core State Standards,
“Teachers did not develop it, nor does it have the best interests of our students at heart.”

The standards have been supported by the current union leadership despite they way they force classroom teachers to do ever-increasing amounts of test preparation at the expense of real instruction. Students are bored with the the constant “drilling”, which deprives them of an authentic, engaging education.

MORE is challenging for statewide union office in order to initiate a change in direction, towards standards developed by pedagogical experts and field tested before implementation. MORE candidate and elementary school teacher Lauren Cohen adds,

“The Common Core is fundamentally undemocratic – not only in its implementation but in its conception. Handing teachers rigid, scripted curricula benefits corporate interests while neglecting students’ need for a developmentally-appropriate and well-rounded education.”

Public school parent, teacher, and MORE candidate Jia Lee explains that she is running for this position because,
“Our union leadership has allowed for the high-stakes use of invalid standardized tests, putting an entire generation of youth, educators, and schools at risk, and has promoted a culture of fear. It is time for democratic policies that respect the diverse needs of New York’s public schools.”

Our union leadership has done precious little to stop the over-reliance on testing, even though a plethora of research proves that measuring students only on test scores does not provide a complete picture of what a child has learned.

Mike Schirtzer reiterated,
“The Unity caucus strategy has been political lobbying; they have not mobilized the UFT membership, even as schools are closed, high stakes tests proliferate, and student data is sold to the highest bidder. “

MORE believes our union must stand up in defense of our students. Reducing class size, funding the arts, offering a wide array of after-school programs, and providing full social-emotional and medical services for families would be the type of reform that would truly move our schools forward. Addressing poverty, racism, sexism, and other issues that our children face every day is what real union leadership is about.

Unfortunately, Unity caucus is stubbornly clinging to obsolete tactics that have resulted in the nearly unopposed corporate takeover of our schools. NYSUT and UFT must fight to allow working educators, students, and their parents, to determine educational policy. Policy should no longer be determined by those who seek to profit financially from our public education.MORE is challenging Unity in order to offer a slate of candidates that truly represents classroom teachers. Any policies the MORE candidates negotiate will affect them directly, because they are in the classroom each school day. That is not the case for the small clique of high-ranking Unity grandees currently dictating UFT policy.

Each new bureaucratic diktat, from Common Core to the cookie-cutter Danielson rubric to High Stakes testing, has resulted in less time for grading, lesson planning, and collaboration with administrators, parents, and colleagues.

These failed policies have buried teachers under mounds of useless paperwork that do not positively impact our students. A new NYSUT leadership that includes the MORE slate will mobilize rank and file educators in the five boroughs and locals from around the state to take back our schools. Education policy should never be dictated in corporate boardrooms or political back rooms. It should be created with the input of the real experts- working teachers and parents.

The elections will take place April 5th, 2014 at the NYSUT representative assembly held at the New York Midtown Hilton. Local union presidents and delegates from around New York state will converge at this convention to cast their ballots and determine the statewide union’s direction. MORE is running an independent slate of six candidates for Board of Directors At-Large representing UFT members; Julie Cavanagh, James Eterno, Jia Lee, Mike Schirtzer, Lauren Cohen, and Francesco Portelos. They have also endorsed the candidacy of Arthur Goldstein for NYSUT Executive Vice President and Beth Dimino, President of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, for a Director At-Large for Suffolk. Only elected delegates from last year’s UFT election may vote in the NYSUT election, not rank and file members. MORE represents thousands of UFT members (including over 40% of high school teachers based on the 2013 election results). UFT’s undemocratic rules do not allow for  proportional representation, therefore all the NYC delegates at NYSUT convention are from the Unity caucus. These are at-large positions, meaning that any NYSUT delegate may vote for us, including those not from the UFT.