Showing posts with label UFT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UFT. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

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

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

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

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

300 registered so far. Join the crowd.


 
The turnouts for ABC have been excellent due to networking ability to extend its reach, an original intent of coming together in the first place: To attempt to reach deep into the schools to break the 80% non-voting active members (39% of retirees vote). 
I'm not opposed to caucuses but for this election especially I feel their model of organizing will not win. I've said it time and again - the ability of the current caucuses to reach deeper than the surface into schools has not been successful as reflected in the most recent UFT election two years ago and the fact that over decades they have shown little growth, massive turnover and some shrinkage. New Action is 30 years old with roots back to the 60s and MORE, the hot new thing when it went public 13 years ago after over a year and a half of behind closed doors negotiations, are stagnant.
 
When people ask how is ABC different from other groups running --- look at the outcomes so far in terms of attracting attention and supporters because ABC was free of restraints to act and did not get bogged down in caucus negotiations fed through a narrow group of steering committee members who are a gate though which decisions are made.

Look, since my diagnosis, I no longer am looking at living to 125. So I don't have time to watch the slow drip of caucus negotiations. When ABC began to meet in earnest in August with members of all caucuses in the room, I wanted the campaign to start in September but caucus issues kept delaying us until early November when the caucuses exited ABC and what was left of ABC said: Enough - and came out of the box publicly in mid-November, declaring it was running, while the caucuses spent the next 6 weeks deliberating in secret and made their first public announcement as the XMAS vacation was about to start.
 
This is the basis of my analysis as to why a caucus dominated election will not win. What has been accomplished since New Action left their 10 year alliance with Unity in 2016 when they joined with MORE to win the 7 hs exec bd seats, and again with UFC in 2022 -- the holy grail of oppo election politics -- winning 7 out of 100 exec bd seats? That is no longer good enough.

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, January 14th at 7 PM.

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

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

Register for Member Assembly


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Sign up for the ABC Slate


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

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

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

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

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

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

And follow us at:


Thanks for reading A BETTER CONTRACT - UFT MEMBERS! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Caucuses Don't Win Elections - People Do, A BETTER CONTRACT - UFT MEMBERS - January ABC-UFT Blast — opportunities to organize for A BETTER CONTRACT

My husband just heard from a retired teacher friend who expressed how much he liked yesterday's ABC webinar -and how strongly he feels about its bread and butter platform.... UFT Retiree and delegate 

I will delve further into the somewhat remarkable Sunday night ABC retiree meeting for which 540 people registered and almost 300 showed up. Over two hours into the meeting, there were still many people still there. It became clear that there was a gang there to troll and even disrupt to try to force ABC into an alliance with the caucuses.  Marianne attended the meeting and here she delves into some of the issues, though I must say, I don't have agreement on Samuel Gompers. There are lots of flaws that have been exposed. Note this:  

During World War I, Gompers and the AFL energetically supported the war effort, attempting to avert strikes and boost morale while raising wage rates and expanding membership. He strongly opposed the antiwar labor groups, especially the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). 

So Gompers was tamping down the labor movement during the war while the capitalists made enormous profits. Not a great look. Think of Shanker's support for the Vietnam war and how he made sure the UFT sat on the sidelines. So I don't think unions should never get into issues beyond the union. And Gompers did use his support for the War to affect the unions in a negative way -- bread and butter by the wayside.

Major labor victories came in the generation after him by industrial unions highly influenced by left wing, including communists. But even the left were able to organize workers by sticking to bread and butter issues. They fell when their Stalinist roots came out when Stalin made his dirty deal with Hitler in 1939 -- I believe that opened them up to witch hunts -- the communist dominated Teacher Union in the UFT, which had great influence, began to wain after that, some proof that Marianne's thesis is on target. The rise of the UFT took another 20 years but their success was bread and butter. Before they even existed the HS night school teachers went on the first teacher strike for more pay and won double their salary after a very short strike - a lesson that resonated.

But her points that the caucuses that have fought Unity over the decades have failed to win more than the high school exec bd seats, except for the one lauded 1985 victory for the HS VP - and that opportunity is long gone since they changed the rules in 1994 - are right on.

ABC is not a caucus with their often arcane mechanisms and controls but a more free-flowing group of individuals, many from caucuses and some independents with nothing set in stone. 

This concept bothers the caucus control freaks who ask who is in control and who is making decisions and how are decisions being made. They can't conceive of nor have faith in the ability of people to come together for a common interest and somehow function. I find that once you're in the cocoon of a caucus, you lose some level of creative problem solving as there is always a hierarchy that runs the joint and lots of people on the periphery with an attitude of go along and get along. There is a stifling of sorts that I often found suffocating, except for ICE of course which ran on a more open free-wheeling basis, which drove the structuralists, many of my friends on the left who seem to require a sense of control -- and I also find people with a dim view of the rank and file and the ability to organize them -- caucuses haven't been able to over decades so they make excuses -- the people in my school are too busy, etc and never take responsibility. The roots of the caucuses uneasiness with ABC lie in this attitude.

I would ask you to list the things the caucuses have done so far this year as we approach the halfway mark of the school year? Hand out leaflets at the DA? I exempt RA, which is not a normal caucus with 11 people making decisions, which has been the most active group at the DA and in charge of the RTC meetings -- a busy plate.

I read an interesting review in the NYT Sunday about the late David Graeber, one of the founders of Occupy. 

Graeber had a bullish view of human potential unfettered from constraint. He emphasized the possibility of “democratic improvisation,” which would take place “outside of the control of states, in which diverse sorts of people with different traditions and experiences are obliged to figure out some way to deal with one another.”

I agree with him and have a bullish view of people and believe in the possibility of reaching them. And if we don't manage to do that, at least we will have tried.

Caucuses Don't Win Elections - People Do

 

 Here is part 2 of the Marianne video:


 

January ABC-UFT Blast — upcoming opportunities to organize for A BETTER CONTRACT

Join us via Zoom for the ABC Retiree Organizing Committee meeting on Sun,1/5 at 7 PM. Also, join the UFT Member Assembly on Tue,1/14 at 7 PM. And still a chance to sign up for our election slate!

Dear UFT Members,

Happy New Year! From everyone at A Better Contract (ABC),we hope you had a restful break well-spent with family and friends. With 2025 kicking into high gear, it’s time to get back to it! Our union proud, union strong, grassroots movement of working educators and retirees continues to grow and capture the imagination and heart of our beloved union.

Here are some things we have happening during the next couple of weeks





ABC UFT Member Assembly on HEALTHCARE – Date Changed to Tuesday, January 14 @ 7 pm

At last month’s ABC Member Assembly, we discussed the ABCs of PAY. This month, we’ll be discussing the ABCs of HEALTHCARE.

Whether you’re a UFT Retiree or UFT In-Service member, our premium-free healthcare is under assault. Let’s meet to discuss the current risks and challenges facing our union, and to discuss what needs to be done to protect and expand premium-free healthcare long into the future.

We had tentatively scheduled it for January 7th, however, we’ve moved it for Tuesday, January 14th at 7 PM.

Join us! Let’s organize for A BETTER CONTRACT that protects and improves our healthcare. All are welcome.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER - Tue 1/14


Run With ABC in the UFT General Election – Slate Signups Open Now!

We want you (yes, YOU!) to run with ABC in the upcoming UFT General Election.

We are asking all UFT members, regardless of political inclination or caucus affiliation, to participate in ABC’s non-partisan grassroots movement of UFT members demanding A Better Contract — both with the City of New York and with our union leadership.

We are actively fielding candidates for UFT officer positions, Executive Board, NYSUT Representatives and AFT Delegates.

Go to slate.uftmembers.org to sign up, and we will be in-touch very soon with more information.

JOIN ABC SLATE


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

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

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

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

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

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

And follow us at:



The Wire: Powered by Educators of NYC
Urgent Call To Action: Tell City and union bosses to — Get Out of Our Pockets! End Retiree Copays, Pass Intro 1096
We are witnessing the systematic erosion of the healthcare benefits of NYC retirees and active city workers while costs are being transferred to us — at a time that the cost of living is skyrocketing…
Read more

Disclaimer: This is the official website of the “ A BETTER CONTRACT - UFT” slate. It is not an official site of The United Federation of Teachers. The site title describes a group of dues-paying UFT members organizing for a better contract with NYC and our union leadership. Information shared by us should not be considered officially from the UFTorganization.

Thanks for reading A BETTER CONTRACT - UFT MEMBERS! This post is public so feel free to share it.

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Thursday, November 28, 2024

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.

 
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.

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:

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

Monday, October 28, 2024

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.

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. 

Arthur went deeper on Saturday:  
 
 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.