UFT Election Committee Sets Election Dates, Drops Non-Profit AAA for Wall St. Holding Company, Queens HS Dist Rep blog - LOL

Did a desperate Unity leadership hire a fly by night Wall St Holding company to run the UFT election?

 

See The Wire for a more comprehensive look.

 

NEW DATA: Friday Nov. 29:

Does it surprise you that the UFT/Unity leadership, tied to the corporate/donor class controlled Democratic Party, a leadership that tried to shift us from non-profit Medicare to corporate controlled MedAdv, would go the same route for an inexperienced, in debt, for profit for this crucial UFT election? And the data of every UFT member will be in the hands of this company. 

Who do you trust to help Unity cheat? The longstanding, respected non-profit American Arbitration Association or a Wall Street holding company.... Comment 

What - me worry?

Unity blamed AAA for sending out the Unity retiree flyer instead of the Unity para flyer with the Para ballot. Fix Para Pay ended up with 75% of the vote. It couldn't be due to the poor para pay that they won. Unity blames the AAA for sending out the wrong flyer when the story is the Unity hierarchy made the mistake in giving the AAA the wrong flyer. This is a pretty flimsy excuse but we sat there and were helpless to oppose or knew what questions to ask. Someone should go to the next UFT Exec Bd meeting and raise questions.

 

UFT Election committee did not review the RFPs but were told by the Election Committee Chair that a selection had already been made. It will be rubber stamped at next UFT exec board meeting. This process might cause problems. GES was used by a DC 37 local to run a controversial rerun election … there was a complaint that they were not legally hired. The complaint was dismissed because the arbitrator said that the RFPs were brought to the election committee and exec board.

In our case, the RFPs were NOT brought to the election committee or the exec bd.

Thanks to Daniel Alicea for the in-depth research. See his tweet down below.

AAA OUT:

 

The other story is Unity opposes electronic voting because they don't want more people to vote -- you know, the 80% of in-service people who don't vote. They are viewed as a threat. In the past Unity could rely on the 40% return of retirees. Now what? I pointed this out at the meeting - since Unity can no longer rely on retiree votes their best chance in the election is to increase in-service. Did I detect a note of panic on some faces?

 

Happy Thanksgiving - November 28, 2024

 

I attended the UFT Election meeting Tuesday along with 6 other oppo reps and and double the gaggle of Unity reps, all on the clock 'till 6. They made sure the meeting ended by 5:30 despite my best attempts. I rate the snacks, other than the fruit cups, as low-grade. How about a sandwich?

 

We raised a number of issues at the meeting but first here is the skinny on the dates, all to be ratified at the next UFT Exec Bd meeting.

• Ballots mailed May 1, 2025, counted May 29.
• Petitions available at the Feb.12 DA and must be returned by Monday, March 17 - wait, isn't that St. Patrick's Day? I hope the returnees don't make a pit stop on the way in with petitions. They added a requirement that every candidate must sign their name to every petition their name is on.

Boy am I glad I won't be involved with petitions this year. In 2021 I devoted almost 2 months of my life to the petition campaign. My basement was covered with petitions folders. This year I'm doing jigsaw puzzles in the basement.

The BIG News: AAA out, GES in to manage election

The big news is that the UFT is dropping the AAA and using a new vendor, GES - Global Election Services. That should be a fun experiment. They used a mistake by AAA in not sending out election materials for a para candidate as the reason and inside baseball people said the error was due to a higher up in the Unity chain. A flimsy reason and a suspect replacement? Why am I not confident? Imagine the oppo wins and Unity calls for another election due to "irregularities"?

 

Does this change meet the sniff test? 

 

See below for some GES history, only 9 years old. AAA is tied to hundreds of certified arbitrators…GES has far from a similar record. 

 

Does it surprise you that the corporate tinged tied to donor class of the Dem party would shift to a Wall St controlled company?

 

The shift to GES slipped by us as we had no real information, not that we could have stopped it. If we came up with all this data below at the meeting, every Unity clone would have voted us down. 

 

Candidate debate, protections for those stuffing mail boxes

At the meeting John Lawhead repping Solidarity,  raised the idea of a candidate debate and referred to the debates Randi held in 1999 and 2001 elections, where she did not fare very well. Maybe why they canceled them.

 

Bobby Greenberg (RA rep) pushed for increased protection for those who stuff mailboxes, not only from principals but from chapter leaders. Stuffing boxes is another chore I won't be doing this time because I believe it does little good in getting out the vote - though I did get sucked into doing it last time. Bobby also wants the oppo reps to have the same access as LeRoy who double dips as UFT and Unity when he talked to AAA in past elections without us being there.

Christina Gavin (EONYC Rep), who filed a 70 page complaint last time, pushed on the idea of UFT officials using time on clock to engage in campaigning. 

I revisited the push I made 3 years ago for school data on turnout rates, pointing to the low turnout deserts and how the union would benefit from this info - last time Unity turned that down but did go for district results (UFT Election 2022 Results - Districts).

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." 

Arthur will address the story on Friday and I will chip in a separate post in case Arthur misses something.

But here are a few comments on the Vasquez post from the RA listserve:

Ill-informed. The NLRB doesn’t even oversee UFT.

Hohohohohohoho! This is too rich for words!

Among the gems: 

"Back in 2021, members of the MORE, ICE, New Action, Solidarity and Retiree Advocate caucuses proposed and voted for a motion for the Election Committee to add the word "electronic" to the election notice....These caucuses decided to take no action on this issue whatsoever over the past three years. This pattern of inaction has become all too familiar. These groups prioritize their political gain over the well-being" of UFT members

The caucuses were supposed to take action?  I thought resolutions passed at the Delegate Assembly were instructions for the UFT leadership to take action! If this comment on their part were not so stupid, it would be pathetic. Ok, so it's both.  What actually galls me is that Unity in their broadside below is trying to get out from under the pressure that is building currently and historically underway to move to a more modern and more easily accessible voting system being proposed by opposition groups.

They acknowledge that it was already proposed in 2021 and they didn't do a thing about it. Now they are suddenly waking up, in light of their defeat in the Retiree election, and realizing that they need to actually do something about demands they thought previously they could discount and ignore. And they blame the very groups that brought this matter up for their inaction!

 So after 3 years of inertia , they now insist that decisions about the feasibility of such a system are still years away. What happened to the 3 years they decided to waste? 

And Unity still has the chutzpah to declare, essentially, "Well, let's not be hasty!"Retired Sheila

James Vasquez calls us irresponsible for asking for electronic voting. He certainly didn't  say that to our faces at the Election meeting.

 

Background on GES

John S. Matthews
Chairman of GES from its inception in 2015, where he has supervised the development of elections software and hardware applications covering registration, tabulation and reporting.

He has a history: Global Arena Capital Corporation Owner Token Suspension for Private Securities Transactions

 

John S.
Matthews is currently the Chairman, CEO, CFO & Controller at Global Arena Holding, Inc. since 2016. He is also the Chairman at Global Election Services, Inc. since 2015, the Director at GAHI Acquisition Corp. since 2015, and the Director at Tidewater Energy Group, Inc. since 2019. In the past, Mr. Matthews served as the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Weatherly Securities Corp. from 1996 to 2000. He was also the Chief Executive Officer & Director at China Stationery & Office Supply, Inc. from 2010 to 2011, the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Global Arena Capital Corp. from 2007 to 2014, the Chairman at JSM Capital Holding Corp. in 2003, the Chairman at Ehrenkranz King Nussbaum from 2001 to 2003, and the President at Clark Dodge & Co., Inc. in 2006.

 

Parent company is partially owned by Bacardi:

 

What’s the biggest election GES has handled … even if mail-in ballots?

 

Lots of chatter in this forum about him being a scammer:

 

From SEC filing about the parent company:

The Company has generated recurring losses from operations and cash flow deficits from its operations since inception and has had to continually borrow to continue operating. In addition, certain of the Company’s debt is in default as of December 31, 2022. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The continued operations of the Company are dependent upon its ability to raise additional capital, obtain additional financing and/or acquire or develop a business that generates sufficient positive cash flows from operations. The Company continues to raise funds from the issuance of additional convertible promissory note. Management is hopeful that with their ability to raise additional funds that the Company should be able to continue as a going concern.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1138724/000175612523000686/R7.htm

A holding company:

 

 

 

Do you trust your data with this guy:

 

 

 

Read through to the end for Daniel's tweets for more.

EONYC Tweet on GES:

Educators of NYC

@educatorsofnyc

Emerging Election Scandal —  

 

This past Tuesday @UFTUnity used its outsized power on the @UFT election committee to say that they were changing vendors for the monitoring and election balloting of the UFT’s 2025 citywide election.  This came as a surprise to many union insiders as for years non-profit arbitration stalwart @ADRorg AAA has monitored their elections as they for most of the major NYC unions. 

 

They announced that a 9 year old Wall Street holding company, General Election Services, Inc would now be in charge of the mail in balloting process for the UFT’s  nearly 200k members. There was talk that @UFTUnity was upset with AAA for allegedly messing up the para chapter election when a Unity caucus retiree flyer was sent out with the mail-in ballots, instead of their Unity para flyer. 

 

Fix Para Pay, the opponent caucus’ flyer was mailed out and we all know that FPP trounced Unity garnering 75% of the vote. They announced that a 9 year old Wall Street holding company, General Election Services, Inc would now be in charge of the mail in balloting process for the UFT’s  nearly 200k members. 

 

There was talk at the Tuesday election committee meeting that @UFTUnity was upset with AAA for allegedly messing up the para chapter election when a Unity caucus retiree flyer was sent out with the mail-in ballots, instead of their Unity para flyer. 

 

Fix Para Pay, the opponent caucus’ flyer was mailed out and we all know that FPP trounced Unity garnering 75% of the vote. It’s unclear if the snafu was AAA’s or a mistake by the Unity caucus leader and UFT secretary, LeRoy Barr

 

So who is General Election Services and their chairman, John S. Matthews? … take a look at their shady website, first.  Then their parent company’s, Global Arena Holding Inc, SEC history. Deep dive incoming---

General Election Services has limited experience in running mostly paper ballot elections for organizations, owned by Global Arena Holding, Inc. It claims 40 years “combined experience” in elections, the truth it’s been around since 2015...  

The GES chairman is John S Matthews, who has a controlling interest in several other companies, including its parent company, Global Arena Holding Inc. GES and Global Arena board of shareholders includes Barcadi owner, Facundo Bacardi and former NBA player, Kiki VanDeWeghe. Matthews has been fined and suspended from in the past for his past business dealings: “John S. Matthews of New York, New York, the former owner of Global Arena Capital Corporation, was fined $25,000 and suspended for six months from association with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member after consenting to findings that he engaged in unauthorized private securities transactions.” And the 2022 SEC filing for the parent company and related holdings sounds an alarm about the viability of this entire enterprise: The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, which contemplates the continuation of the Company as a going concern. The Company has generated recurring losses from operations and cash flow deficits from its operations since inception and has had to continually borrow to continue operating. In addition, certain of the Company’s debt is in default as of December 31, 2022. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The continued operations of the Company are dependent upon its ability to raise additional capital, obtain additional financing and/or acquire or develop a business that generates sufficient positive cash flows from operations. The Company continues to raise funds from the issuance of additional convertible promissory note. Management is hopeful that with their ability to raise additional funds that the Company should be able to continue as a going concern.”

GES’ claim to fame is handling the logistics 2020 North Dakota democratic primary election in which on 14k North Dakotans voted. It’s unclear if GES has ever handled a union election for over 200k members with its hundreds of candidates, like the

@UFT

Who should UFT members trust more to handle a fair and honest election…? 1. AAA — The not-for-profit American Arbitration Association® (AAA®)-International Centre for Dispute Resolution® (ICDR®) who is the largest private global provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services in the world. Whose arbitrators and reputation are legal experts. 2. A fly by night Wall Street holding company that is in default for debt?

@UFTUnity

wants us to trust them to entrust GES and Global Arena. Bizarre.

 

UFT Retired Teacher Chapter Meeting Takeaway: This is What Democracy Looks Like, Despite Unity Attacks on Those Who Have Saved Retirees Thousands of Dollars

What did we learn at the RTC meeting?

 

UNITY wants us to pay more for healthcare ....as they criticize lawsuits that's saved every retiree thousands of dollars so far. 

 

Oh, and they don't oppose co-pays, coming Jan. 1. Marianne's suit saved us from co-pays for over a year. Why does the Unity Caucus hate her? She is still fighting co-pays. See her latest update today here: https://youtu.be/FX6Vl5mKaRQ?si=30leWdjli7ma7vhb.

• Don't forget to register for a town hall: Urgent Call to Action: RSVP for the UFT Members October Assembly Tuesday, October 29, at 7PM

And don't forget to listen to Talk Out Of School:

What’s going on with the UFT Welfare Fund?- with Marianne Pizzitola and Ronnie Almonte

Here is the RA leaflet

After a slow start, the room was rocking with cheers and howls of approval at the appearance of Marianne Pizzitola. Going in, the room seemed divided roughly one third Unity, one third leaning our way and one third neutral. As Unity unveiled their attack dogs on Marianne, there was a palpable shift as people rose to applaud her responses and showed up in the 75% favorable votes on our reso calling for healthcare changes to go to a vote at the DA. 

Video montage of the RTC meeting: https://youtu.be/y_cDGILTlU0

Monday, October 28, 2024

Everyone seems to agree that the major reason Retiree Advocate won an overwhelming victory (63%) in the June chapter election, was due to the Medicare issue.

I agree. Some oppo pundits who I won't name think RA will be doomed to insignificance once the MeDAdv issue goes away. While it is possible the Unity majority will assert itself in the spring UFT election, there is another factor. Democracy.

Democracy is a dirty word in today's world. But if we drop the ball on that issue we will be just like Unity. We need to show UFT members that there is a difference from a Unity run machine. One of the best things about the RA coalition is we don't all agree and will contend with each other. No democratic centralism from the top for us. Well, maybe not from all of us as there are some strands on our side that would love to shut people like me up.

We will be doomed if we screw up running the RTC because there was outrage  at the lack of democracy in the imperious and arrogant manner Unity ran RTC meetings, which turned so many off. (We can only hope there is the same outrage directed at Unity over how the DA is run - DA Takeaways: All About Control as Mulgrew talked ...)

As I roamed the meeting, I pointed out to leading Unity retirees that they were given opportunities that we were denied by Tom Murphy for years. Some seemed to agree as Bennett bent over backwards. I even told them I miss them at the DA and if we had proportional representation, Unity would have gotten over 100 delegates out of the 300 we won. 

OK, I really don't miss them.

Led by chapter leader Bennett Fischer and the newly elected 25 member RTC Exec Bd which met before the meeting to solidify the agenda, we demonstrated how to organize and run a meeting with possibly 2k attendees even with Unity challenging guest speaker Marianne Pizzitola and lawyer Jake Gardener for NYC Retirees. 

Compare the RTC meeting with the DA and you can see what a change in leadership of the UFT can bring. So when Unity attacks us as bringing chaos, toss them reports (even from Unity slugs) on how well this meeting was planned and run. And btw - a big talking point for any group running against Unity in the next election - you won't go to a DA and have to listen to someone talk for an hour and a half. But keep expecting Unity to try to undermine RTC meetings.

Arthur, who was remote due to an illness, made the point in his comprehensive report, At First New RTC Meeting, We VOTE and PASS a Resolution:

A sea change from Unity-run meetings, where we had neither voice nor vote. A sea change from the tightly-controlled UFT DA as well. A sea change from Unity-run meetings, where we had neither voice nor vote. A sea change from the tightly-controlled UFT DA as well.

It’s a new day in our Retired Teacher Chapter. Our voices are no longer quashed. By a measure of three to one, we voted to take control of our health care. It may or may not come up for a vote in Mulgrew’s DA, but we’ve made our statement.

In a remarkable new hearing of both sides, Unity voices were allowed to speak in equal proportion to ours. From what I heard, they were out to delay so that we would not get to our resolution. They did not succeed.

Our voices are strong. We are strong. We are the first group of retirees to take a stand against Unity, and we won’t be the last. Bennett is clearly nervous and kind of needs to get his sea legs. That said, he led the meeting in an honorable and open fashion, giving more voice to the minority than was ever given to us, the majority, under Unity control.

One Unity person accused us of being uncivil. They are not accustomed to being outnumbered. Given their outlandish treatment of Marianne Pizzitola, I’d say they were being uncivil. Given Marianne’s rapid and assured response, I’d also say they wasted their time. Marianne is very smart, with an instant command of detail. She’d have made a great teacher.

I'll admit, as one of the planners of the agenda, I was concerned. I knew Unity would be there and put up resistance but I did not know just how strong they were. After all, they had been in charge for decades. 

I was heartened by their pathetic leaflet (right) which bragged about Mulgrew no longer supported Medicare and how he was the ONLY one in the MLC to pull out, while we all know he was the instrumental force in the MLC for MedAdv for years and browbeat smaller unions.

In case you can't see it, read these whoppers, with my comments in red:

"Despite the future of retiree healthcare still being fought in the courts [by the NYC Retirees who we have and will do everything we can to undermine, including asking questions at today's meeting challenging their integrity], the Unity Caucus and its UFT leadership's opposition to the city's Medicare Advantage plan remains firm [As firm as we were for the city's Medicare Advantage Plan for the past 3 years until we lost the RTC election]. We have and always will stand alongside our membership..." [LOL, LOL, LOL]

We saw at the meeting and in leaked documents just how they were "standing alongside the membership" with their attempts to harass and embarrass Marianne, even demanding she leave the room while we debated a motion. The day after the meeting I received confirmation that Unity had a plan of attack when an anonymous source sent me internal memos - see my comments in red. As you can see from the leaks, they have no boundaries. 

• Leaked: Unity Caucus strategies and questions for Oct 22 RTC Meeting from LeRoy Barr and Vinny Gaglione

Arthur went deeper on Saturday:  

 

A Unity Member Finds a Conscience And anonymously sends the caucus lesson plan to Norm Scott

 Unity attacked Norm Scott a few weeks ago, misrepresenting his position. Last week someone with a conscience emailed him their marching orders for the RTC meeting. Those wheels of karma just keep on turning. 

If we don’t show up and make our presence felt, we risk handing over control of the Retiree Chapter's operations to a group that doesn’t reflect our values.

Actually, you “risk handing over control” to a group that was elected by an overwhelming majority. Cede control to members? Cede control to elected representatives? 

You can’t argue those things with her without a battery of facts that take so long to recite that you lose the audience before you start. Stay away from arguing about the plan. We are not experts on it.

The “battery of facts” I keep hearing from Unity is a battery of lies. And Unity members, who have sold us into Aetna’s Medicare Advantage without allowing us to vote on it, are not experts on it. Still, they had no qualms about telling us how great it was, or even forcing us into it. Aetna admitted, in court, that it would deny care, yet Unity still tells us it would not.

My head hurt from smacking myself each time a Unity clone spoke at the RTC meeting with the most illogical, ridiculous comments and questions. The worst offender was one of the Unity stalwarts who testified at the infamous City Council hearing where a gang of 5 Unity people who had previously defended the MulgrewCare MedAdv plan begged the Council to change the admin code so they wouldn't be forced into that same MulgrewCare by preserving their option to opt out and pay $200 a month for the same Seniorcare we have been getting for free. Huh?

You can see the Unity policy - Beg for higher healthcare costs. 

To top if off, she had the nerve to ask Marianne why she opposed the admin code change, meaning she was upset over not being able to pay more, instead of thanking Marianne for saving everyone thousands of dollars over 3 years.

You can't make this stuff up. 

Even better was a Unity long-time on the payroll hack, now a retiree but I'd bet is still on the payroll, had the nerve to ask how much Marianne is making off the backs of retirees who have saved these thousands of dollar? The place broke into an uproar and when Marianne answered how she makes nothing, she got rousing cheers.

 

I got to speak for the motion to call for a vote at the DA for major changes to our healthcare and a gaggle of Unity lined up at the mic to speak against. Of course they don't want a vote, even at the DA they control. They were hoping to stall out the clock for the 3PM adjournment.The question was called because Mulgrew was waiting to give his report -- he was at schools all day -- yes, Unity is working hard to counter the wave.

 

 Halabi has the numbers on the vote:

the vote on zoom was 909 - 208 to call the question; in the hall it was 231 - 47 to call the question. And at 1140 - 255 (82%) the question was called. On the resolution the vote was 186 in favor and 91 against in the hall, and 881 in favor to 277 against on zoom, for a total of 1067 in favor and 368, and the motion carried with over 74% in favor.

So, here was a test of Unity strength and 75% against sends a strong signal that the waning of Unity support in the June election was not a one-off.

 

Oh, and the most important thing about the meeting? Our own Michele Ravid has been working with the UFT food people and made sure there was improved food. 

 

Yummy.

Afternurn

A Unityite called a point of order - should non-union members be in the room - Bennett agreed and asked Marianne to wait outside. Even when she went outside to the lobby a Unity hack harassed her and demanded she leave the building, but was interrupted by the numerous attendees who came out to express their gratitude to Marianne and even hand her donations, some in front of Mulgrew, which is funny since Unity tried to question her funding source, hinting that some nefarious right wing anti-union group was backing her. Sure, anti-union groups are so anxious to defend out healthcare.

Arthur hit Unity again today: 

History Is SO Darn Unforgiving, And it's a long, slow learning curve for poor UFT Unity

Leaked: Unity Caucus strategies and questions for Oct 22 RTC Meeting from LeRoy Barr and Vinny Gaglione

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2024

 

Oh my, the caucus that keeps giving. Expect this to be a regular feature at RTC meetings. Unity in the opposition is so gauche.

 

Note this point from LeRoy:

Those undecided or not closely aligned with any factions should hear our reasoning and concerns.

He was right that there was an unaligned faction that heard their reasoning (ha) and concerns and they totally lost the room. Keep em coming guys. I toss in a response in red every so often.

 

First up is LeRoy who I hear may have had a few glum moments at yesterday's meeting. I love LeRoy - seriously -- and would have tried to cheer him up. I was back of room with Mike Sills trying to keep his spirits up.

Dear Retiree Members,

This is a reminder about today's important Retiree Chapter meeting at 1 p.m. As it is a hybrid meeting, if you have not registered for in-person attendance by now, you will likely need to attend remotely.

This meeting will be critical in setting the tone for the rest of the year under Bennett and his administration. Unfortunately, bringing Marianne Pizzitola to this first meeting is a step in the wrong direction. We must ensure enough caucus members are present, especially on the floor, to represent a balanced perspective. Those undecided or not closely aligned with any factions should hear our reasoning and concerns.

If we don’t show up and make our presence felt, we risk handing over control of the Retiree Chapter's operations to a group that doesn’t reflect our values.

[Values: not running democratic meetings where even opposition gets equal time, not fighting to keep our heathcare free with no co-pays, etc.]

As Joe Sicilian said, "We might have lost the battle, but we will not lose this war."

We’re counting on the Unity Caucus to stand firm tomorrow. One important note: if Marianne starts spreading misinformation about healthcare, Medicare Advantage, or our dental plans, please call for a point of information and request input from Geoff Sorkin, who is most knowledgeable about our retiree welfare fund benefits and plans. [Question was asked and Sorkin declined to speak, referring people to see him privately - give him credit - he could read a room.]

We are excited to engage with you in person or virtually today.

In solidarity, 
LeRoy Barr
Unity Caucus Chair

And the always hilarious Vinny:

October 22, 2024 RETIRE CHAPTER MEETING

We UNITY chapter members are being asked to attend Retiree Chapter meetings whether in person or online as often as possible.

We are being asked to be active questioners to what is said and done during the meetings.

For those online, please don’t be afraid to write comments in the ZOOM CHAT during the meeting. I recall vividly the constant comments that Mulgrew is a liar, that Tom is a liar, etc. when Tom was chapter leader. Keep the chat box filled with comments throughout the meeting …. “He doesn’t know how to run a meeting”….“She’s lying”… “Let the audience speak” …. “Retiree Advocates are frauds” … or whatever drivel you can come up with.

As for those in attendance or online, here are some potential questions for today’s October 22 meeting. If in the audience, DON’T READ it from your phone…make it your own.

Vinny Gaglione

For Pizzatola:

I think we should be very cautious about how we engage Pizzatola in questions about the healthcare plan. The fact is that she knows more than most of us and is polished and practiced in taking material and reframing it to her points of view. The latest video of 10 minutes about Michael demonstrates how she does it. For example, the issue of prior authorizations, she takes the real contract and mentions 100+ citations of prior authorization – without ever addressing what those citations say. She mentions how during the court case AETNA agreed that there were going to be times that they rejected a doctor’s recommendations. You can’t argue those things with her without a battery of facts that take so long to recite that you lose the audience before you start. Stay away from arguing about the plan. We are not experts on it. [Holy cow Vinnie -- you guys have been defending a plan that you spent three years claiming was great - clearly you are not only not experts, you haven't reached the stage of amateur.]

Here are some questions that should be plainly asked. She may very well defer or divert with answers but that can be demonstrated later.

Are you a dues-paying union member to what city union and how many years have you been or were its member?

You harp on the UFT and its president often but he has withdrawn support for the AETNA plan. Has the president of your former union done likewise and what other unions have written letters withdrawing their union’ support for the AETNA plan? Why no mention of them? [Another deception - sure Mulgrew withdrew after defending it for three years, based on new data? No it was based on the massive RA election win. The other unions were badgered by Mulgrew to support the Aetna plan only to now see Mulgrew stab them in the back - and some of them opposed the plan all along but Mulgrew gets the lion share of the MLC vote.] 

Below are the attempt at gotcha for Marianne

Other than subscribers, are there any organizations that help fund your activities?

Were there any organizations that initially funded your activities?

How much money has your organization collected each year since its inception? 

Why don’t you publish your income and disbursements as the union is required to do? [Why doesn't the UFT Welfare Fund publish it's income and disbursements?]

Are you regarded as an employee or consultant of the organization and do you receive recompense as such?[How many of your Unity retired cohorts are in some kind of paid position with the UFT?]

How much of that money did you declare for your personal income/expenses each year?

How much does your organization spend on legal costs for the court cases? 

Do you have  a person or group serving as a health benefit consultant for your organization?  how much does it cost and who is paying for it?

For the lawyers:  and if Pizzatola interjects, be willing to say, I asked the lawyer, thank you.

I read a description that the Oct 17^thcase that is described as a win is merely a procedural decision and has nothing to do with the substance of the case. Why do you call it a win? Sounds like Trump describing postponements as wins.

Is the premise of the copays case that the City failed to include notice of the copays in their 2022 booklets describing the Senior Care plan?

The judge lifted his own injunction on the copays. In January they start. So what then is the purpose of the copays case? Stop all copays or just recoup the copays paid while the injunction was in effect? Or does the federal case let you get greedy and claim alleged damages?

Is the premise of your major case that the City is obliged to pay the total costs of all retiree healthcare? How does that jibe with Administrative Code 12-126 which says the city is obliged to pay the premium for the medigap plan?

Has anyone given any thought to the political wisdom of these lawsuits. Mayor Bloomberg withheld negotiating contracts with us for 7 years because the union refused to negotiate health care premiums for members. It sounds like some retirees believe that the city has to pay all their healthcare costs. That has never been the case. What happens when the next “Mayor Bloomberg” exploits citizen sentiment against us for grossly mischaracterizing what the city must do for us?

For Benett Fischer:

Why would you not spend the first chapter meeting introducing yourself and your Executive Board and talking about your plans for the chapter’s future? [ Plans for the chapter future? Make sure not to run RTC meetings like Unity did.]

Your invitation to Ms. Pizzatola leaves the direct impression that her public support for Retiree Advocates makes it seem you are beholden to her. She is not a UFT member. Her intrusion in our election and your accepting it was unethical.

There are several thousands of retirees who take advantage, no pun intended, of other health plans offered by the city. Some of them are Advantage Plans. Is it the intention of the chapter to remove these members from the plans that they prefer or remove the plans?

What plans do you have for any changes in the chapter’s activities and programs?

Please describe the process by which motion and other actions will be entertained at meeting.

 

The Chosen: UFT Spends Your Dues Sending People to Conferences

Below is the spending voted on by Unity Caucus controlled AdCom and rubber stamped by the Unity exec bd, many of whom I am sure have benefited by being amongst The Chosen. This is from a recent UFT Exec Bd meeting which takes place every two weeks and each meeting is loaded with these junkets.

 

Before I get to the nitty gritty numbers, let me state I am not against a union sending reps to important conferences. Of course, define "important". The question is who are the people going and how do they get chosen? I see this as another one of the perks they hand out to keep people loyal. 

Motion:       To send 4 members to the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. 61st National Convention on October 9-13, 2024, in Baltimore, MD at a cost of $2,159 per person.

4x2,159 - about $8636. (cause I'm too lazy)  Carried

 

Motion:       To send 4 members to the NAACP’s 88^th Annual New York State Conference on October 11-13, 2024, in Armonk, NY at a cost of $1,058 per person.

4x1,058 - about $4232   Carried

 

Motion:       To send 4 members to the CASEL Social & Emotional Learning Exchange Conference on November 12-14, 2024, in Chicago, IL at a cost of 2,305 per person.

4x2305 - $9220 Carried

Motion:       To send 4 members to the New York State Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NYSTESOL) Conference on November 14-16, 2024, in Rochester, NY at a cost of 1,635 per person. 

4x1635 -- $6540 Carried

 

Motion:       To send 5 members to the ACTE’s Career Tech Vision Conference on December 4-7, 2024, in San Antonio, TX, at a cost of $2,660 per person.

5x2660 --- $13000

 

Total for this round = c. $42,000 of your dues money. Amen.

 

 

Unity Grows Desperate: Offers something old (Attacking opponents) and new (Servicing Members)

 

Unity response of "we heard you" after retiree and para loss? Attack, Attack, Attack, Lie, Lie, Lie

Is the Unity retreat a sign of panic or a regular event? Here I will do those Unityites who want to sleep late next Sunday instead of attending the retreat (I hope they serve better bagels than they at RTC meetings) by revealing Barr's message.

We know how Unity leadership operates - they give marching orders. But maybe this time they want to hear what people think from the Unity faithful. NOT. Inside word is that Barr is being blamed for defeats in chapter elections - a glaring error was mistakenly sending out the retiree flyer with the para ballots. Was that the reason for the 75% vote for Fix Para Pay? More dumb thinking at the top.

The special Unity meeting 8:30 AM with retirees is a new wrinkle in the regular Unity meetings and indicative of a strategy to win back control of the retiree chapter from Retiree Advocate and try to undermine RA. Unity lost all 300 delegates, many of whom were leadership at one point, and now are no longer in the DA. But they can show up at the retiree chapter meetings and at the first one on Oct. 22 we may see signs of their strategy.Will there be a Unity leaflet attacking us for lying, especially since we have an invitation to Marianne and a lawyer for the law suit to give retirees an update. How will that play out since RA received 17K or 63% of the vote. So let's see how Unity plays this as they hope to recover part of that vote for the upcoming UFT elections. If they've lost those voters for future elections, their control of the union is in danger.That 8:30 AM retiree meeting will not be a fun event - and if friendly Unity people attend, please leak to. me.

Mulgrew has urged Bennett to not invite Marianne since he says he wants to focus on the election, which is funny since repeated requests by Bennett to get the retiree chapter involved in the election have gone unanswered. Unity organized a bus to go to Penn, for themselves and never notified the new leaders of RTC despite repeated requests. We also noted the new Unity Retiree tee-shirts at the Labor parade --- if I lost by such a wide margin would I advertise? Those expensive outside consultants Unity is probably hiring are loaded with good advice.

Does Mulgrew have an alt plan? He has a concept like Trump does on Obamacare.

Marianne takes down Mulgrew misinfo on Medicare Adv fake news.

Mulgrew and Gorido, leaders in the Municipal Labor Committee that still  thinks a Medicare advantage plan is better than  traditional Medicare, because they would probably  be the only people on earth that would say that.  Other than the insurance company.  So why are we saying this? 

https://youtu.be/3lZGusvl6N0?si=LBskA_ENBAT9QmTm

Despite Mulgrew making a public relations announcement soon after the RTC election that he was withdrawing support for the city's Medicare Advantage plan, he in fact has been unwilling to show support for the lawsuits that have kept us in Medicare. 

Arthur Goldstein:  Unity, Groping for a Path Forward, Disempowers Chapter Leaders:  They plan to give hand-picked Unity District Representatives the power to contact members at individual schools without CL cooperation.

 Sep 20, 2024

According to St. Michael, the retirees who just defeated his Patronage Cult spread “harmful misinformation.” Evidently, after our doctors told us they would not accept Aetna, we told people doctors would not accept Aetna. Furthermore, after Aetna admitted in NY State Supreme Court that they would withhold care recommended by our doctors, we told people Aetna would withhold care recommended by out doctors.

How dare people contradict Dear Leader? Unity has to get those District Reps into schools clarifying that everything Michael Mulgrew claims is absolutely true (which is especially important when he gets caught in lies).

Reports are coming in that the message is to go into schools aggressively and there are signs of giving special attention to schools with activists who stand up to Unity. Show how tough you are. Maybe pick a fight with the principal. And for sure attack critics of leadership as being anti-union. And to recruit for Unity as early as they can to keep people out of the hands of opponents.
So expect visits. 

Also district meet and greet events.

In some districts they are attacking critics as being anti-union and charging them with being divisive. Why not just cancel UFT elections?

Here is their solution to dealing with schools with chapter leaders who may not be friendly to Unity reps. Arthur reports:

I’ve heard of incidents here and there where Unity big shots called meetings in schools without the cooperation or knowledge of chapter leaders. That was the exception rather than the rule. And from what I hear, these unsolicited visits didn’t work so well. But Unity doesn’t learn from mistakes. Therefore, they’re working on a way for DRs to request emails be sent to individual schools to announce their visits. Unity, Groping for a Path Forward, Disempowers Chapter Leaders

They plan to give hand-picked Unity District Representatives the power to contact members at individual schools without CL cooperation.

So that's how they will try to go around critical internal voices in schools they don't control. No problem for the Unity and most non-affiliated schools where the CLs depend on the Dist reps.

So expect a visit from a district or special rep to call us liars. Marianne responded on her Friday night video: 

I wrote the other day:

There is a full court press by a UFT leadership that is sending the troops into the schools to tell members they are here for them. In one school a special rep said she is bringing the smoke -- probably to cover up for the inability to really help.

A former chapter leader texted:

 

Is Unity crumbling? We see signs of that on the edges at the school level. A number of Chapter Leader defenders of the loyalty oath lost in their school elections. There are almost 400 new CL - a massive turnover in over a quarter of the schools. Those 400 are up for grabs and the usual Unity tactic of bringing them into Unity at the earliest stage by promising them free convention trips and after school jobs may not work on this new breed, many of whom may be open to entreaties from the other caucuses, which elected their own members.

LeRoy Barr, who has taken heat for the spring election failures, is trying everything to save the Unity brand by offering up strange words in their world - we want to hear from you.

You can't operate top-down for 60 years and suddenly switch tactics. One thing we saw in the UFT's 3 Consequential Spring Elections and the 2022 general UFT election: The Unity faithful did not have their hearts in it. LeRoy needs to find a way to pump up a demoralized caucus. Remember: Some key activists on the other side were recently in or allied to Unity. I name Nick Bacon and Daniel Alicea as two leading lights. There are more but I'm not going to name them at this time. I even told LeRoy their dumb policies of repression over bullshit cost them more than they gain.

Mulgrew is Unity's weakest link

The Mulgrew Town Hall last Tuesday and the Chapter Leader meeting on Wednesday were viewed as abject failures by Mulgrew's rambling and arrogance. He even insulted one of his loyal supporters who went storming out and took one of my leaflets after having refused one on the way in. Ka Ching. Mulgrew is the Unity version of Biden, except the Dems had the sense to switch before it was too late.

So can LeRoy resuscitate a dead horse - er - union leader?

-----

Marianne, NYC Organization of Public Service Retiree, takes down Mulgrew misinfo on Medicare Adv fake news.

Mulgrew and Gorido, leaders in the Municipal Labor Committee that still  thinks a Medicare advantage plan is better than  traditional Medicare, because they would probably  be the only people on earth that would say that.  Other than the insurance company.  So why are we saying this? 

https://youtu.be/3lZGusvl6N0?si=LBskA_ENBAT9QmTm

Debunking Ellie Engler UFT (not a teacher)

Marianne debunks other Unity claims on healthcare: https://youtu.be/m8Iylg7aUns?si=2zM4NDv6dsSR47_a