Retirees Invite you to celebrate at Dec. 15 Del Assembly as Mulgrew Seeks UFT Women to occupy stage to counter 3 Men in A Room Image of UFT leadership

I'm practicing my Caroling. We will be outside while our pals are inside fighting the Unity machine. 

There is increasing evidence that the combination of the growing United for Change coalition (requests to run with UFC have been coming in droves) and the growing leadership ineptitude and loss of faith by even some in the Unity faithful, is leading to some hysterical over reaction.

The video below caused some consternation in the Unity Caucus hackdom world. They had to point to the many Unity fantastic women on Ad Com and on the Ex Bd. We agree - many of them are fantastic. So why doesn't Mulgrew and the other two men in the room consult or even inform them when it comes to fundamental decision making?

But don't you worry. The Unity team has a solution:  Get some of these women up in front for photo ops with Mulgrew during the upcoming Delegate Assembly. 

I will be outside huddled with other retirees trying to listen to the meeting on a phone. Maybe we can get a repeat of the bullhorn incident and have Mulgrew freak out and threaten to cancel the meeting because 8 retirees are outside listening at the same time the DA is being broadcast to thousand.

Last month I reported on this LOL moment at the Nov. DA:

....a group of retirees were huddled together outside listening to the DA with some mild amplification through a bull horn - we are old and the UFT leadership opposes medicare for all which would pay for our hearing aids.  In addition, the 19th floor, where we usually watch the DA, was closed. And despite Retiree Advocate winning 30% of the vote in last spring's chapter election - roughly 7000 disenfranchised voters -we have NO representation at the DA as Unity takes winner take all for all retiree 300 delegates. This is dues taxation without representation. For the record, before the election we asked for at the very least some token representation at the DA for 5 out of 300 and Unity said NO. 

Apparently this unnerved Mulgrew enough to interrupt a great speech by Daniel Alicea on why mayoral control has been so bad and Mulgrew stopped the DA and threatened to shut it down entirely because there are supposed rules about broadcasting the DA outside the building, an LOL moment since they were broadcasting outside the building to thousands of delegates.

 

They sent 3 Unity staffer goons out to yell at us: Queens HS Dist Rep James Vasquez, Wilma Soto and Good old Bill Ruff Ruff, who raced out to yell at us after yelling at Daniel. I yelled back to show us the rule and that if there were a rule about broadcasting outside the DA, they were the ones violating the rule -- 

All of them are on the UFT payroll while also acting as delegates. Nice gig if you can get it -- and you can if you agree to be a Unity Caucus hack.

I'm trying to get a hold of 3 bullhorns.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bTf7UZ137T4&feature=youtu.be

UFT/Unity in DEFCON Mode - Tension builds within the UFT over reducing class sizes - Max Parrott, City and State

The history of the UFT is that of one-party rule....a group of opposition caucuses within the UFT announced that they had banded together in a long-shot bid to seize control of the union’s leadership.The rebels have had some initial success......“We had a victory tonight,” said Daniel Alicea, the UFC delegate who introduced the amendment at the Nov. 17 meeting. “We saw an amendment that shows that they’re willing to have a full-court press for class size.” .... Alicea believes that one reason the leadership hasn’t lowered the class size caps under de Blasio is they believe asking smaller class sizes can only come as a trade off in salary negotiations. With billions of federal education dollars coming to the city through COVID-19 relief funding, Alicea argues that the time is now to fight over reducing the contractual caps and more.“We're looking for not just contractual caps, but also the contractual loopholes and exceptions and a grievance process that is further expedited,” said Alicea..... City and State

Reporter Max Parrott covered the November 17 Delegate Assembly events outside 52 Broadway for hours and wrote this in depth analysis. I did my own DA analysis, which ruffled more than a few feathers in the UFT hierarchy, leading to personal (and untrue) attacks on me (see comments below my post):

DA UPDATE: Class Size Amendment Passes Over Unity Oppo, Mulgrew ballistic over retirees listening outside, UFT/Unity Staffers on payroll challenged

It's hard to find reporters who actually report things the way they actually happened, so kudos to Max. Also kudos to him for this shout out:

“One of the key factors in UFT elections has been the retiree vote, which generally has gone very high for Unity,” said Scott, who for decades has chronicled union politics on his blog, Ed Notes.

Word is that the leadership is in DEFCON mode over recent events and has issued orders to be aggressive against oppositionists to its army of hacks and slugs to go on the attack. 

UFT District 25 Rep Lamar Hughes: You don’t hear anyone coming up with nicknames for Norm after he crossed the picket line in 1968.‬ Oh, y’all didn’t know??? Norm Scott crossed the picket line in 1968.‬

Sorry Lamar, y'all just make shit up. But I'll school Lamar on the '68 strike another time.

The UFT leadership sellout on Medicare and support for privatized healthcare is a big issue.

UFC is hoping to make in-roads with this demographic by protesting the union’s support for shifting health benefits for about 250,000 retired city workers to a new plan under Medicare Advantage... “Everybody, including me, thinks that class size is the overriding, bigger issue, but as far as getting votes, the thing is this has a lot of retirees pissed off,” said UFC member Bennett Fischer.

If a significant group of retirees vote UFC, like, say over 35% (there are thousands of Unity retirees so winning that vote is very unlikely), the final numbers could be closer than comfortable for Unity. Thus we actually see Unity hacks attacking us as anti-union for calling for medicare for all plans, a bizarro argument, but expect a lot more to come.  There are whispers that some in Unity Caucus want Mulgrew to not run for President but are too weak - and scared - to act on it.

We'll have some more fun with the Unity gang in upcoming posts. Here is Parrott's article:

Tension builds within the UFT over reducing class sizes

A new coalition within the union dubbed United for Change won a vote to force a referendum on the issue, signaling a growing divide.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2021/11/tension-builds-within-uft-over-reducing-class-sizes/187094/

By Max Parrott

November 29, 2021 03:00 AM ET

DA UPDATE: Class Size Amendment Passes Over Unity Oppo, Mulgrew ballistic over retirees listening outside, UFT/Unity Staffers on payroll challenged

WTF -- 

A Delegate argues that the contract is not the right place for lower class sizes. We have a committee to negotiate. Class size should not be there in contract negotiations ... Double WTF

Above reported by Eterno LIVE BLOGGING FROM NOVEMBER DA (Mostly unedited).  

Undoubtably a Unity Caucus delegate who seems clueless that we ACTUALLY HAVE NEGOTIATED CLASS SIZE LIMITS IN THE CONTRACT.

Thank goodness there was some sanity in the house - 

A chapter leader speaks in favor of the amendment because it allows chapter leaders to enforce class sizes through the grievance process. I've been making this point:

Should UFT staffers and other Unity hacks be called out as speaking for the leadership, not the membership at DAs? They may be elected delegates in their schools but they are working for the leadership, not the people they were elected to rep. 

So, Hell yes - people making way more money than even the highest paid member should be held publicly accountable. I was so glad to see Daniel Alicea call out Unity hack non-elected District Rep Bill (Ruff Ruff) Woodruff at the Nov. 17 DA for calling the question.

Monday, November 22, 2021

What a yummy Delegate Assembly Nov. 17 was. I didn't even need to eat dinner that night. There's lots to report and I will need a few blog posts over the next few days to do it all.

 

But first take a look at an opposition slate that won in the Teamsters election: https://portside.org/2021-11-20/teamsters-united-takes-wheel . Not that I think this might happen in the UFT -

 

Class size debate

Background -- UFT leadership comes up with an nice gimmick to get class size reductions -- using pandemic health issue. But they refuse to entertain making it a contract demand, which has been the only true protection over decades, even with loopholes. Think of the outcome if the ancestors of the current leadership took the same position on class size in the 60s? You'd have whatever amount the principal decided. Like take 45 so he could decorate his office.

 

Why is the leadership opposed? Because they sell a zero sum game that any class size contract reduction will come out of salary -- like the UFT can't join with communities to fight for a funding strand for class size reduction.

And how about that Unity bogus argument that the DA, by UFT constitution the highest decision making body in the union, can't dictate terms to the hand-picked negotiating committee of hundreds picked by the leadership? We need to affirm the DA right to make demands on the suddenly sacrosanct Unity controlled negotiating committee.

I don't know who all the speakers listed in Arthur's report below are,  but I will venture a guess: anyone who spoke against the amendment asking for class size to be a contract demand is in some way associated with Unity Caucus and most in some manner on the UFT payroll or get union perks. At the very least, they are part of some Unity DA speakers bureau that plans their actions at the DA in advance. There are some reports there is even a seating chart so Mulgrew can find them. 

 

The Unity hierarchy tried very hard to kill the amendment in the days before the meeting, so they knew it was coming and made sure to have their people in place to oppose it. 

 

They lost anyway as the people on the phone voted over 60% in favor of the amendment.

 

Let's drill further: 

 

Debate at DA over class size reso and amendment as reported by Arthur: (UFT Delegate Assembly November 17, 2021--Class Size Resolution Passed, and Amended to Include Contract Negotiations) - 

added notations [] are mine.

[UFT VP Elementary schools] Karen Alford--Supports reso to strengthen commitment to lower class size and hold DOE responsible. Can't wait. Thinks about days in overcrowded schools and classrooms, and how impossible it was to teach. We need to recognize public health challenge and look through this lens. We will make children safer. 84% could do this now. We know there are infrastructure and covid relief dollars. We don't want to trade pay for class size and we must seize this opportunity.

Ryan Bockenthal--Very much in favor, Moves to amend. Adds resolved--We wll follow up with actions, support related state legislation, prioritize in collective bargaining, go to court if necessary. We have power and showed it by mobilizing toward strike. 

Loretta Tamborello--Rises in opposition. As we said, negotiation for contract not right place. Trying to make difference using health code. We are forming committee. Will drive us. Class size action now as we're doing. Should not be contract negotiaton.

Farah Alexander--Teachers overworked, overextended, at capacity. We want this now, before contract, don't want it mandatory item. 

Ali ?--In favor of amendment. Empowers CLs to enforce this. Can make it school issue. Policies meaningless until enforced. 

Shane McAndrew--Opposes. We have health crisis, must lower class sizes, social-emotional crisis too. Smaller class sizes will help teachers support students better. Legislative process removes pressure at bargaining table. We have our voice if it's immortalized in law. Pols will have to raise them.

Matt Driscoll--In favor of amendment. Not in conflict with reso. Just adds to it. 

Jennifer Brown--Important to fight for reduction at all levels, contractually and beforehand.

Bill Woodruff--Calls question.

Point of order--Important issue. Is delegate that just asked that on union payroll?

Mulgrew--He is elected delegate.  

Woodruff?--Audibly angry, argues you'd deny members their right to be represented.

Mulgrew--We are teacher union in largest district with greatest challenges. Please bear that in mind and be respectful toward one another. Question called. Seconded.

Vote to end debate. 

82% yes online. Debate closed.

Amendment--

61% yes online. Amendment passes, but.... 

Mulgrew calls people to stand who are for amendment. They are counted. Audible debate as sections are measured. Has no votes stand, section by section.  Mulgrew says we try to avoid this because we get through fewer resolutions. 

Amendment passes.

This was a big victory as people on the phone voted overwhelmingly for putting class size as a contract demand, vehemently opposed by the leadership, as you can see above in Arthur's report. As Unity tries to pack in person meetings, you can see a divide where in person overwhelmingly opposed the contract amendment. Remote is a problem for the leadership since they can't see how people vote - and I bet a bunch of anon Unity people voted for the amendment.

There's a lot to chew on in this short segment. Bill Woodruff  (known affectionately by some in the opposition as Ruff Ruff) is a highly paid APPOINTED NOT ELECTED district rep but also an elected delegate from the school he is assigned to where he teaches one period a day and then goes off to work on his UFT job until 6 PM - supposedly  - except I guess when he "works" for Unity Caucucs at the DA  - often as a goon this time trying to intimidate retirees outside the building (more on this below). Should District reps occupy a delegate position in a school they spend one eighth of their day in? I say HELL NO but if they were elected DR in their districts I'd entertain the argument.

Anti amendment speakers Loretta Tamborello, Farah Alexander are Unity Caucus and Shane McAndrew was associated with E4E which no matter their rhetoric, go along with Ed Deform attacks on class size as an issue. Watch some alliances between E4E and Unity in this election, even the possibility E4E runs its own slate as a Unity stalking horse to undermine United for Change. 

One of my pal bloggers took up the issue:

DOENUTS Blog: But Why Are Paid Employees Trying To End Debate

A Delegate on the phone says lower class sizes are important contractually or through other means.

A Delegate calls the question on all matters before the house.

Point of Order: This is an important issue asking if the person who spoke previously was on the union payroll. Delegate responds that he is elected and insulted that someone asked this.

A closer look into what the heck happened revels this:

Then, it starts to get crazy when DR William Woodruff calls the question to get a vote on ending the debate. Independent Delegate Daniel Alicea [(here)] shouts for a point of order on whether the person calling for the end of debate on this fundamental issue is on the UFT payroll. Woodruff is on the payroll and makes close to $200,000 per annum as a District Rep so it is a valid question if he represents his employer (the UFT) or the members in the school where he works one period a day. .....

DOENUTS' reporting is important, bur not to bury the lede of this DA: 

The most important event connected to the Nov. 17 UFT Delegate Assembly was the announcement of a united slate for the spring UFT elections -  

Jonathan has the press advisory - United for Change / UFT.  I reported the morning of the DA as the announcement was made. United Slate Announced, Predictions for (Nov. 17) UFT Delegate Assembly -Class Size Issue - Enforcement, Enforcement, Enforcement.

I've always supported a united front of all groups for UFT elections since I got involved in the 70s. Generally, the caucuses I've worked with have also backed united fronts and I have always argued to either run together or don't run. That was my position when I was with MORE and when they did the opposite in the 2019 election I separated. Good to see they are on board this time.

But to me the more important issue has been the level of cooperation between all elements of the opposition at the Sept. CL and Oct and Nov DA's -- more on this - the first time I've seen some of this at DAs since the early 70s.

More background here:

• Class Size and Healthcare Inside/Outside Action at...
• EONYC Challenge: Can Class Size Issues Wake up a s...

 And other reporting on what turned out to be a packed DA:

James' commentary: VOTES DON'T GO UNITY'S WAY AT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY; M...

SOUTH BRONX SCHOOL: Mulgrew's Conniption. Now How do we Battle Apathy and Ignorance? - Mulgrew's Conniption. Now How to we Battle Apathy and Ignorance? 

UFT staffers dominating the DA is anti-democratic, as is shutting out opposition retirees from being delegates

Now, let's get back to the issue of UFT/Unity people on the union dole occupying major spaces at the Delegate Assembly, which was so blatantly obvious on Wednesday.

For the record, a group of retirees were huddled together outside listening to the DA with some mild amplification through a bull horn - we are old and the UFT leadership opposes medicare for all which would pay for our hearing aids.  In addition, the 19th floor, where we usually watch the DA, was closed. And despite Retiree Advocate winning 30% of the vote in last spring's chapter election - roughly 7000 disenfranchised voters -we have NO representation at the DA as Unity takes winner take all for all retiree 300 delegates. This is dues taxation without representation. For the record, before the election we asked for at the very least some token representation at the DA for 5 out of 300 and Unity said NO. 

Apparently this unnerved Mulgrew enough to interrupt a great speech by Daniel Alicea on why mayoral control has been so bad and Mulgrew stopped the DA and threatened to shut it down entirely because there are supposed rules about broadcasting the DA outside the building, an LOL moment since they were broadcasting outside the building to thousands of delegates.

 

They sent 3 Unity staffer goons out to yell at us: Queens HS Dist Rep James Vasquez, Wilma Soto and Good old Bill Ruff Ruff, who raced out to yell at us after yelling at Daniel. I yelled back to show us the rule and that if there were a rule about broadcasting outside the DA, they were the ones violating the rule --

 

It is anti-democratic when unelected union bureaucrats like District Reps who teach one period a day in a school and are on the UFT payroll manage to get elected as a school delegate to supposedly represent the school but actually function as an agent of the leadership, often against the interests of the people in the schools. Delegates have a right to that information. Especially egregious is calling the question on class size issues.  

Daniel posted DOENUTS on his EONYC FB page and got this response from our old pal Leo Casey:

“With all due respect, this is an anti-democratic argument. Every delegate in the Delegate Assembly is elected by the members in their school, and every delegate has the same rights to speak and to make motions in the body. This is an argument that "I have the right to silence you" and to disenfranchise the members in your school if you are in a different caucus from me. If you don't like what a delegate says, get up and make your own speech; if you don't like a motion that a delegate makes, vote against it. That's how a democracy works....

 

...the objection is that the delegate (derided as union bureaucrat) doesn’t vote the ‘right way’ representing the ‘interests’ of the members the way that the interlocutor knows they should be represented, and so therefore, must be an anti-democratic presence in the DA. And the delegate who votes the ‘right way’ (Markens) is exempt from this stricture. What I simply end with is that a conception of democracy which can’t imagine being legitimately on the losing end of votes and elections is not a conception of democracy that I can support.

Daniel responded:  

Markens is not truly analogous as being duly elected into both his positions,imo. And the lone example in 60 years. Hard to question his legitimacy.

For the record as penned by James Eterno in 2016:

“Bruce was DR for a decade. When Bruce retired, Manhattan High Schools had the nerve to vote in another non-Unity representative Tom Dromgoole. Unity's response was to change the rules to make district representatives a position appointed by the UFT President.”

http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/.../uft-high-school...

Let's close by reiterating -- 

 

If district reps were elected a case could be made for them to be delegates. In fact, I would support their being delegates because they would be one level removed from total adherence to the dictates of the leadership. 

==========

Annals of the UFT - On Democracy in the Current and Past UFT Delegate Assembly - Norm Scott

More than 2,000 elected school reps joined the January meeting by phone, a 40-percent increase over participation last spring that undoubtedly reflects a craving for information in circumstances that remain so fluid. However, the UFT delegate assembly was meant to be more than an information session. .... --- Solidarity Caucus Letter of complaint in letter to The Chief, posted on ICE Blog:

--------SOLIDARITY LETTER ON UFT LACK OF DEMOCRACY PRINTED IN CHIEF

March 31, 2021 -- 

My next to last pre-pandemic day in the city before heading back to Rockaway was March 11, 2020 when I attended the last in person UFT Delegate Assembly. Outside the meeting a chapter leader of one of the largest schools in the city told me his school had more cases than the DOE or UFT was admitting to and his complaints to the union were landing on deaf ears and he was thinking of going to the press. (I think he did and those articles put pressure on the DOE and UFT). Earlier that day my wife and I had attended almost empty classes for retirees at 52 Broadway that were cancelled for the rest of the year, it was clear things were going bad. The night before, March 10, we went to a crowded Broadway play - Broadway shut down 3 days later. Schools were shut shortly after though teachers were required to come in the next week without children for "training." Over 70 ended up dying. And the Delegate Assembly has only met remotely since then.

OK, that's some background but the intention here is to open a discussion on democracy at the UFT Delegate Assembly, currently and in the near and distant past. John Lawhead, one of the authors of the Solidarity letter, has been running a UFT history study group which has been fascinating and I've gotten a good handle on how a very democratic institution was turned into what it is today. Look for follow-up posts.

What is the Delegate Assembly?

It consists of the elected chapter leaders and delegates from the schools and functional chapters, where there is a 60-1 ratio, meaning a school with 300 UFT non-functional/classroom chapter members, gets 5 delegates. Large functional chapters get a load, like retirees with 70,000 members, get 300 members of the DA. 

 

Retiree Advocate running a slate vs Unity in chapter election

I'm working with Retiree Advocate to run a slate against Unity in the upcoming chapter election - if you are a retiree and want to run let me know - we won't win and Unity will claim winner take all despite us getting around 20% of the vote - which in a democratic institution would give us 60 delegates - we actually asked Unity for a measly 5 seats to at least represent that 20% and they said NO.

How many delegates?

Do the math and you can see there are probably over 4000 people who can attend a DA but in person the room only holds a max of 850, with a few breakout rooms.

But the reality is that there are often less than 600 in person - for from a quorum which makes meetings technically illegal, but who's counting? And Unity caucus people naturally dominate the crowd, especially when you add in retirees even if only 100 attend.

A key feature of the DAs, especially since Randi Weingarten took over have been long filibuster president reports that often take up to an hour and eat up time.

So by its very nature, DAs are undemocratic in practice. The pandemic has changed things and the union has had to adapt. 

The current situation is that many more people are attending the DA - I think I saw some 2000 at the January DA. Imagine zoom meetings with thousands and electronic voting which they have no way of controlling.

How do you do democracy in that environment? Most importantly, the number of eyes on the DA is itself more democratic and that has made the union leadership very nervous, even though they can easily shut people they don't want to hear from out. But I think the transparency is a bigger threat to them and I bet they are dying to get back to normal smaller DAs. But they have figured out a way to restrict democracy even further.

UFT Election Results: Unity the BIG Winner, MORE the Biggest Loser drops by 75%, Solidarity Beats MORE for Second Place and Stays Alive, Whither New Action - Ed Notes at the DA

On Wednesday I was going into Manhattan for a 3020a hearing (what a trip that has been) and a meeting later that night so I might as well go to the Delegate Assembly. But can I disappoint my many fans and not hand something out? No way.

So I cobbled this quicky together in the morning and beat my printer with a whip to wheeze out 300 copies. And since MORE seems to have been in the witness protection program since the election and just in case some attendees still take MORE seriously, why not beat a dead horse? They were snapping this up.

UFT Election Results: Unity the BIG Winner, MORE the Biggest Loser drops by 75%, Solidarity Beats MORE for Second Place and Stays Alive, Whither New Action

These results make me think Unity came in second – and those with an interest in promoting distance between the members and the union – our enemies – came in first… Jonathan Halabi, New Action, member of UFT Ex Bd.

The triennial UFT election ended with the usual victory for Unity Caucus, which has been in control of the UFT since its inception in 1962. Mulgrew received over 85% of the vote, with retirees being the largest voting block by far with 24,000 out of the 47,000 votes returned, with 89% going to Unity – yes, retirees are the happiest people in the UFT, maybe in the world. Over 197,000 ballots were sent out – about 25% returned overall. But the return from working UFT members was dismal.

Other than retirees, the turnout from working UFT members bordered on embarrassing. In the 20,000 member high school division, 3260 teachers voted. Without an effective opposition, the high schools, the only division where Unity has been weak, went for Unity by 67%, one of the few times Unity won a majority of high school votes over the past three decades. Unity got around 2100 high school votes, the same as in 2016 when they lost to MORE/New Action – and MORE’s insistence on running alone this time turned into a disaster as MORE received 550 high school votes and New Action 250, and Solidarity 375. In 2016 MORE/NA had over 2300. A lesson on divisiveness.

Unity won 75% of the middle school vote with 1200 votes out of 11,000 middle school teachers. They did even better in the elementary schools with 85% - 6,000 votes out of about 37,000 elementary school teachers. But the returns from the 3 teaching divisions is a sad commentary on how little UFT elections matter to working teachers. Jonathan’s point is right on.

Between the almost 70,000 teachers in elem, middle and high schools, Unity gets 10,000 votes. In the non-teaching functionals Unity received over 7,000 votes out of the 10,000 cast. 20,000 retirees voted for Unity. Is the UFT stronger or weaker when retirees are the most interested segment of the union? Read a detailed election analysis on ednotesonline: https://tinyurl.com/y6epxjub

A decimated opposition, with the sectarians in MORE being responsible
One of the reasons for the dismal results for the three opposition caucuses was their inability to form a united opposition. The rough order of total votes were Solidarity (7%), MORE (5%) and New Action (3%). As a longtime activist in the opposition, I shudder and question whether it is even worth participating in UFT elections, a waste of resources and time. In my final days in MORE I urged them to either take the election seriously and run with everyone in a united front or don’t run at all. I feel they have made a mockery of UFT elections and now a very weak Solidarity can claim the mantle of the only caucus that shows signs of growth, even if minimal. They finished second by outpolling MORE by a thousand votes a surprise since they have such a small base in the schools as was the poor showing of MORE Caucus with a bigger base. They bear the major responsibility for the debacle through divisive tactics internally and externally. Three key former MOREs ran on the Unity line for Ex Bd but maintain they will act independently of Unity. They no longer felt welcome in MORE. This puts Solidarity in the titular position of the opposition with the most support but it is a hollow "victory." Sadly, it seems that New Action has faded into possible oblivion. New Action was founded in 1995 as a merger of two caucuses and had initial success but as their leadership aged out into retirement they lost their base in the schools – plus the disaster of the alliance they made with Randi Weingarten and Unity Caucus in 2003.

In 2016 MORE/New Action had almost 10,600 votes and Solidarity had 1400. That’ was 12,000 votes against Unity. The total opposition vote this time was less than 7,000.

Solidarity beating out MORE is a big thing in the tiny world of the opposition inside the UFT. Showing some growth is essential but it was clear they didn't have enough of a base to make much bigger gains. The real race was to beat MORE and claim the mantle of the leading opposition - and Shockingly they did. I expected MORE to lose thousands of votes - but MORE dropped so drastically by 8000 votes. Think of it - in 3 years MORE, founded in 2012 as a merger of ICE and TJC, lost 8000 votes. from 10,600 to 2,600. The MORE leadership purged the ICE faction and some of their supporters voted for Solidarity.

MORE declares victory for not finishing last.
The MORE spin: One leader of MORE posted that they finished third, not last. The spin is that they didn't really try and purposely ran not to win and that the drop from almost 11,000 votes to 2600 shows that they still have a base to organize for their platform – sure, just like they organized the 10,600 last time. All the years of building the opposition and it all went crashing against the rocks of sectarianism. At the end of the day, the opposition in the UFT is decimated and Unity Caucus is more empowered than ever. Nice work. The faction in control of MORE ought to write book - how to destroy a union opposition and empower the ruling power. MORE missed an essential point. In the UFT the goal is to battle the Unity machine which controls the UFT, NYSUT and AFT with all forces at hand, not use elections to push an ideology. MORE has become a boutique caucus or a members only club.

Norm has been a UFT member for 52 years. He helped found ICE in 2003 and MORE in 2012. He is now a free agent. 

Is the UFT Delegate Assembly a Relevant Space for MORE and Other Opposition?

There is no organized push back against Unity Caucus at the UFT Delegate Assembly and hasn't been for years. If you read Mike Schirtzer's piece a few days ago (Mike Schirtzer on How Unity Caucus Votes) you can see the landscape of the DA and how Unity Caucus controls an undemocratic union.

Over the years MORE has basically neglected the UFT Delegate Assembly as a forum, which some MORE CLs and Delegates often fail to attend, and if they do, play little or no role in the proceedings. The same has been true on the whole for New Action, which often does hand out something. Though I see some people from Solidarity they too don't participate. Sometimes you do hear an independent voice raise a question.

MORE also has not produced a consistent piece of literature for the DA other than from January through June 2017 when I took on the task and we had something to hand out at each DA - either a DA newsletter or the MORE general newsletter.

In contrast, MORE and New Action have been very active at the UFT Ex Bd, a much narrower body of Unity control, since they elected 7 high school members who took office in Sept. 2016 and will serve until June 2019. Why the difference? We'll explore this issue in this post. Harry in his comment below on Mike's piece points out:

As Mike says, winning high-school seats on the Executive Board has at least allowed our allies to raise difficult questions and demand some small amount of accountability from UFT-Unity leadership and members. But this fixation with the DA is something I've never and still don't understand.

The EX Bd has been a success so far because we have the opportunity to raise resos and ask unlimited questions, which we can't do at the DA. But if Arthur didn't report back every 2 weeks this would be like the tree falling in the forest.

Is it also worth the time and effort at the DA, a monthly meeting controlled by Unity Caucus and where there is little space to take action? MORE by default is voting with its feet, not feeling the DA is a space to engage other than special occasions. This has not been a formal decision reached by MORE, which is why I say "by default". But as Harry points out there may be better ways to spend their time.

A few MORE members feel we should not abandon the DA and this year I am working with Arthur, Mike, and James to produce our own version of a DA newsletter, Another View in The UFT.

Harry left a broad comment on Mike's piece and raises a question about how much time and energy should MORE spend on the UFT Delegate Assembly given the realities.  First his points and then my response.

Harris L. has left a new comment on your post "Mike Schirtzer on How Unity Caucus Votes":

Good work, Mike.

I sometimes like to pose questions for the sake of the question--hoping that it will stir some discussion but not necessarily because I support a particular approach.

But when it comes to the DA and its usefulness, I'm reminded of MORE meetings that I attended in 2013 and 2014, when I was an active member. Many of the meetings, which could be interminable for lots of reasons, turned on long and anguished debates about resolutions to be brought to the next DA. I didn't understand the point of it all then and I still don't.

When I was a teacher at the Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy (!)--or GILPP--in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx from 2009-2012 I never once heard of the Delegate Assembly or about anything that had happened at one and I had one of the all-time great chapter leaders, Zulma Villalba. I doubt that one in 50 teachers in Canarsie, Astoria or Tottenville has ever heard of the DA or cares about anything that happens at one.

I've been told that the DA is an opportunity to educate and organize union leaders who may be sympathetic to the idea of a democratic and transparent UFT. How many delegates are open to any of that besides the members of MORE and the handful of others not directly affiliated with Unity? I've never been persuaded that the DA is worth all the time and energy expended by union democrats. It exists. I get that people do what they can when and where they can and that the DA is an obvious "thing" to try to penetrate. But has the last four years of resolution-submitting that I'm familiar with accomplished anything concrete? Anything that doesn't rely on simple assertions that it is an effective way to organize and educate delegates, themselves, much less actual teachers in actual schools?

Chapter outreach and organizing is a very hard and painful process that may take years to show tangible results. Does all the work put into DAs and DA resolutions detract from other, perhaps more useful but difficult work? Is it possible that monthly DAs are like the proverbial shiny objects that get dangled in front of people to mesmerize them. As Mike says, winning high-school seats on the Executive Board has at least allowed our allies to raise difficult questions and demand some small amount of accountability from UFT-Unity leadership and members. But this fixation with the DA is something I've never and still don't understand.

[One last thing, 'democratic centralism' may be the mark of the Unity caucus but I remember it being in plain display at almost every MORE meeting I ever attended--part of the reason I stopped going to MORE meetings in early 2015]. 

My response:

Harry raises some very valid points. Maybe I am just a creature of 45 years of habit -- actually, I was active at the DA in the 70s and early 80s, then a 10 year hiatus and came back in 1994 when I became chapter leader, developed Ed Notes in 1997 which attracted enough people (though a small number) to start ICE in 2004, GEM in 2009 and MORE in 2012 and have been at almost every DA since then to hand out something, either as a rep of one of the groups or as my own view in Ed Notes.

Harry's analysis is fundamentally correct. But I also think that if you are in a caucus that opposes Unity and feels the union needs to change and have been elected by your colleagues to be a CL or Del, not going to the DA is in some sense shirking your job - especially if you are a delegate and that is the only function of your job. I mean, if you don't go to DAs then resign as delegate. If we call for democracy in the union then that starts in your own school.



Educating your chapter
When I was CL I used what happened at the DA to educate the people I worked with by reporting before the DA (even asking them to tell me how they wanted me to vote on special issues -- ie contract) and after the DA on the issues that affect them -- getting their input and analyzing the actions of the leadership. So using the DA is also school-based education as a way to counter the UFT/Unity party line. Since some people supported that party line my reporting also spurred debates in my school at times.

Why bring up resolutions? 
Why not? I only remember a few instances in the early days when MORE took a lot of time at meetings. Mike and I pushed for a DA committee to take on this task and a few times Mike organized conference calls and got people out to the DA and we did pretty well on those occasions, with a lot of MORE people signing people up as school contacts. Fact is there is a group of people who are not in Unity or in the opposition and even it they remain independent they are also willing to vote with us -- but if we never give them anything to vote for or organize around we lose the opportunity to move them, even if they are a few, in our direction. In contrast at the Ex Bd meetings there are only Unity and the opposition, no independents unless we bring them to the meeting. So the organizing around the EB is about getting people to attend the pre-meetings and use the 10 minute mic time and than have Arthur blast out what happens to the world. (If Arthur ever retires from the EB even that reporting will disappear.)

Handing out literature
I also feel it essential to have a valid piece of lit to hand out before and after the meeting that relates to the type of issues being raised there and at the EB. It offers the opportunity for personal contact every month with people who get to know you, come over the chat and hopefully become regular readers of what we have to say. 

Unity by the way has people who agree with us on some issues and even if they vote against us can at least be shaken in their outright support -- plus the fact that some of them do get fed up with Unity at some point and move in our direction.

Reporting on the meeting
I don't often go up to listen to the meetings but they are an opportunity to hear where the leadership is coming from and do some analysis. Arthur does that regularly.

Here's the point --- why do Arthur and James Eterno (with two young children at home) shlep to the DA every single month while so many others don't bother?  They take the operations of the union seriously. 

Going to the DA is an element of saving our union
I wonder how MORE can take on a "Save Our Union" campaign in the atmosphere of Janus and generally ignore the one time a month that every school in the city has an opportunity to send its reps to gather with others - even if most don't even bother? To me that is a sign of MOREs exercising a theory of organizing vs the reality. 

Activists in the union need to be reporting to their colleagues on the actions of the leadership if they truly want to organize at the school level and try to expand that reporting into neighboring schools in their districts. They need to go to meetings and interact with others even if they are Unity.

The motto of Ed Notes is Educate, Organize, Mobilize in that order. Participating in the DA and reporting is the Educate step. 

Why UFT Elections Are a Sideshow to a Bigger Struggle in the Schools

I've been accused of being a defeatist even by people in my own MORE caucus for saying out front Unity cannot be defeated. I don't believe in magical thinking. I am a realist. While the overall elections can't be won, there is a lot of room for smaller victories through the election process.

For me the key thing to win is an expansion of the network deeper into the schools because an opposition must win the majority of the schools as chapters before it can even consider being a serious contender in UFT elections. How will you know that? When Unity starts losing control over the UFT Delegate Assembly even after packing it with 100 Exec Bd members and 300 retirees plus all the other functional chapter delegates and the school-based Unity faithful. (Unity has around 1000-1500 or more members).

The opposition often points out that the retiree vote is the key to Unity control because they vote in the elections. I disagree. At this point the retiree vote is irrelevant.

Unity Caucus (NYC) is not worried about losing the upcoming elections but more concerned about the total % the opposition - whether one, two or three caucuses run - can get. For me, a critical number is breaking a third - and moving towards 40% where it will begin to get serious.

When we look at the numbers we subtract the retiree vote and look at the 3 divisions for signs - the high school, middle school and elementary schools where there are a total of around 64,000 people. Other than the high schools, which have mostly pretty much voted anti-Unity since the mid-80s, the numbers are fairly bleak. This year the high schools seem to be the only division in play with 7 Ex Bd seats, though given the low totals for all caucuses coming out of the middle schools, if MORE could mount a strong middle school campaign it might move those numbers to create a challenge. Elementary schools is where Unity exerts iron control - especially through the district reps who keep a tight reign on over 700 or more schools. Until the opposition manages to break into the elementary schools in force the UFT elections are pretty much a done deal for Unity. And they know that and they make sure to use their machine to keep that tight reign.


2014 Contract Vote Without Retirees
Retirees do not vote on contracts so the outcome a year and a half ago gives us some data to work from. The contract NO vote was about 25% of the 64,000 the working teachers and about 20% of the functionals - roughly 40-45,000. I don't think we had a breakdown by divisions but that would be interesting.

I'm using very rough figures here -- around 93% of all members voted. Roughly 20,000 people voted against the contract. That does not mean they support a movement against Unity,  but call them the most likely group to draw votes from in an election. But then 80% voted for the contract so if you are using these numbers as a sign for the upcoming UFT elections it pretty much breaks down to what we saw in the 2013 election - Unity 80% and MORE 20% - without factoring in the New Action votes -- which went to Mulgrew and bumped his % up. If the numbers stay the same this time Mulgrew might come in under 80% - and maybe closer to 70% if you add up all the opposition votes.

Now I know people out there think there are miracles. Suddenly thousands of people will turn around over the period of a year and a half. To me it is like a school one year has a 20% grad rate and a year later brags that 80% of the  kids graduated. We roll our eyes - knowing they either cheated or tossed out many kids -- like charters.

So we know that if Unity were ever going to lose we cannot just use complaints on blogs or facebook from hundreds of as a signpost.

Opposition at the school and district level comes before UFT elections
All too often people opposed to Unity use chatter -- like emails about how upset people in their schools are and all are against Unity. When these people tell their chapter leaders and delegates to go to the DA and raise hell we will know that some of this chatter is real. So far, not a lot of signs.

We need to see real movement in the schools -- like entire chapters in revolt against the Unity leadership at the central and district level. You would see raucous monthly district rep meetings with chapter leaders where the Unity line pushed by the DR is thrown right back in their faces. You would see people at the weekend CL training challenging the Unity line instead of being recruited to join Unity.

One of the mantras I have been pushing is that the chapter leader elections every 3 years are more important than the UFT elections, which take place one year later. The October DA following CL elections - in this case Oct. 2015 - is where new CLs -- and according to something Mulgrew said - 40% of CLs are new -- come to their first DA as chapter leader - and many don't bother to come back.

The Delegate Assembly is where the battles must be won before we can say Unity can be challenged in the general elections. So far there are no signs this has happened yet.

But Unity knows that an uprising in the schools is where the real threat lies and the first signs of that will be when the DA starts voting against them. That is why they tried to close down the lobby for distribution as one repressive measure to make it more difficult to reach those CLs who might be wooed by the opposition.

I was traveling in Japan during this past October DA so I didn't get a chance to gauge reactions. My distributing stuff before and after I can get a sense of where things might have moved in the union at the school level.

The DA is prime recruiting ground to get more access to the schools
Since the DA is dominated by school-level Unity Caucus members who are CLs or delegates, they are the ones who come out month after month and thus the DA is not a true representative body but it is the only monthly gathering where all schools can show up and an important place for opposition to try to reach beyond their networks. And I will say that MORE people standing in the lobby after the meetings are getting people to sign up for our mailing lists - but in dribs and drabs -- and I think MORE has neglected doing this on a regular basis with an army of people instead of one or two.

There will be little chance of change in the UFT until a caucus opposing the UFT leadership reaches a critical mass in the number of schools where it has a base. Our pals in CORE in Chicago has a base in most of the 650 schools before they got elected. WE Caucus in Philly is creating a serious challenge because they have a base in a good percentage of schools.

But here in NYC things are not so easy due to the number of schools and the massive Unity machine that uses hundreds of full-time employees working on our dime to exercise control over the union.

Harris Lirtzman Sees Ugliness of Unity Machine as he Thanks James Eterno

I came out of that DA meeting with an overwhelming feeling of self-satisfied and corrupted power that is prepared to roll over anything that gets in its way.... this is a vicious crew that will not stand for the slightest difference of opinion and we better recognize that....as still a relative "newbie" to the process it was, shall we say, a sort of "road to Damascus" awakening for me.... Harris Lirtzman

Harry in his short time working with MORE (he was once NYC Deputy Comptroller plus loads of other things before a brief career as a teacher) has garnered enormous respect for his astute observations. Yesterday, Harry saw the monster that was Unity and sends a message to all those who say MORE should find ways to work with Unity and their vassals New Action (which sort of/maybe opposes the contract -- so they can claim both sides in the next UFT election).

What totalitarian regimes like Unity Caucus don't get is that their tactics get a retired guy like Harry ready to roll against them. I mean what makes a guy like me keep doing this stuff if I didn't think Unity Caucus domination of the local, state and national unions was so dangerous? I know people think I go overboard at times -- and many true believers in Unity are incredibly hostile towards me.

There were 2 guys from a school there yesterday on their own handing out a NO leaflet. One of them held up a sign saying he is in Unity but demands his right to express his views. Hilton security confronted him about the sign -- I imagine UFT people made a call -- how embarrassing when one of their own deserts. And how scary if others get ideas too.

Look at Syria and how people started coming out of the woodwork to oppose the regime. There is a mindset of dictatorships that ultimately create a revolution. Will this push for the contract in this manner create the beginning of a critical mass of opposition?

And this comment from a MOREista to James:

From my vantage in the back of the room, you beat the living crap out of him. What you may not know is that the monitors were actually turned on at the time and they showed an ultra close up of his face ... getting the living crap beat out of him. It was a beautiful moment.

Boy I wish someone had taped James.

I have to admit I was surprised after Monday night's Ex bd meeting where MORE had 15 people and Mulgrew allowed us all to ask questions -- unprecedented in Ex Bd history. We actually had a nice dialogue of sorts. I mean the EB is basically dead wood and Monday Mulgrew seemed to come to life. So the repression yesterday at the DA gives us a clue -- they are very nervous about the reactions in the schools. I have reports coming in from schools with people saying no overwhelmingly -- we haven't developed a deep enough network into the 1700 schools to really take the pulse overall. 

And it really would have been so easy for them to allow our people to talk -- I mean Mulgrew has some arguments in his favor -- and Harry admits he had some ambivalence. But it was the tactics used that had the impact - and I bet on some other delegates. Here's Harry:

James,

Thank you for your report, as always.

I was never so proud to be a member of MORE as I was watching you from the visitor's gallery yesterday afternoon.

I admit that I may not be quite so fully "anti" certain parts of the contract as many others in MORE are but I was stunned by what I saw happen at the DA.  It was only the second DA I've attended so perhaps I shouldn't have been so amazed.  I told Megan Moskop in a message last night.

I came out of that DA meeting with an overwhelming feeling of self-satisfied and corrupted power that is prepared to roll over anything that gets in its way.  I was deflated but also more than a bit scared, not personally in an "I'm afraid" sort of way, but more of a "wow, this is a vicious crew that will not stand for the slightest difference of opinion and we better recognize that if we're going to keep playing the game."  Don't know if that makes sense.  Of course, this has been apparent to all of you for a very long time but as still a relative "newbie" to the process it was, shall we say, a sort of "road to Damascus" awakening for me.

Not saying we should throw up our hands but there was something menacing about the process.  The United Federation of Teachers was "debating" a contract that it has waited for for five years, which extends for nine years, which is filled with complex provisions, which involves billions of dollars and which is predicated entirely on one assumption, a false one, that "the City cannot afford anything other than this settlement" and our union allowed less than 20 minutes of farcical "debate" on the entire thing.  Mulgrew's slicing and insulting sarcasm as he presided over the sham "ceremony" with the pretense that any difference of opinion was nothing more than another in a long line of "mytttthhhsss" that he was obligated to destroy in the name of integrity and Abraham Lincoln-like "honesty" was repulsive.  I actually think he was more than a little afraid to engage in any form of active "debate" with some of the bravest and most-informed members of his union.

The applause you heard as you walked away from the microphone was the bleating of sheep responding to their shepherd and to the herd dogs that corral them in their pen.

If we plan to engage a full "vote No" campaign and prepare for an election battle in 2016 we need to get very real very fast about how we're going to do any of that in the face of a well-oiled noise machine that is prepared to eviscerate its adversaries.  

Thank you for what you have done and continue to do, James.  You are a brave man and I'm proud to stand with you.

Harry

Elfrank-Dana Slams Mulgrew on DA

Dear President Mulgrew,

I was surprised by your insinuation that I am against people's right to vote when I objected to retirees voting last night. 

Are you going to let me vote for my District Rep instead of appointing her/him?
Are you going require high school VP to be elected only by high school members instead of having their votes disenfranchised?
Are you going to be concerned that you are elected mostly by retirees, as member voter participation is barely 20 percent at election time? 

If the answer to these questions remains NO, you are sadly, smugly self-righteous.

John Elfran-Dana, CL Murry Bergtraum HS

And here are some more comments from John:

Unity Dominated DA Rubber Stamps Surrender

As expected, the recipients of patronage jobs at the UFT in exchange for their vows of silence and obedience (a prerequisite for membership in Unity caucus) voted for this lousy contract proposal.

James Eterno, Chapter Leader from Jamaica High School, makes a monkey out of Mulgrew showing him he was out of order by not allowing for alternating pro/con speakers in debate and that the time limit was for the question period. The parliamentarian even had to approach the dais and correct President Mulgrew. 

Furthermore, Eterno challenges Mulgrew's assertion that there's "no money" out there to get us the raises now. Eterno cites reports in the press of city budget surpluses that now and in the future. Presently over a billion dollars. That the money can be moved around to get the teachers the dignity other unions got with raises immediately. Mulgrew escaped by ruling him out of order. It's the old adage - "Never argue with the guy who controls the microphone." To read on go to www.MoreCaucusNYC.org 

Mulgrew did had a flash of religion when he said my objection to letting retirees vote on the contract (which for the most part does not affect them) was an affront to voting rights. I say religion because this is the same UFT President who won't let Chapter Leaders vote for their own District Reps. This is the same UFT President that allows your vote for High School Vice President as a high school teacher to be disenfranchised by allowing retirees and elementary and middle school members to also vote for VP, and visa versa (guaranteeing via this bogus "at large" VP a Unity caucus/retiree majority in each election). This is the same UFT President who thinks there's no problem with less than 20 percent of the membership voting in union elections. Hence, my surprise about his smug self-righteousness surrounding voting rights.

 

Fear and Loathing at the UFT Delegate Assembly Contract Vote As Mulgrew Filibusters

Mulgrew purposely shut down the debate with Julie Cavanagh, his opponent in the UFT elections last year, waiting at the microphone to speak. Mulgrew will never let Julie get up in front of a DA -- look for them to call a fire drill if she ever manages to get the mic.

Who would think that Mulgrew could turn the UFT into a more undemocratic institution than Randi Weingarten? Give me the days of Shanker and Feldman who at least followed basic rules of order. Lesson to people opposing Unity: Don't expect to be able to use the floor at a DA to make any points -- most of your time will be spent fighting for time.


Even I, the ultimate cynic, expected there to be a debate of sorts. The fact that Mulgrew purposely chewed up almost all the time, then called on a Unity Caucus hack to speak and followed with another -- until James Eterno temporarily put a stop to the farce -- means they know their arguments in favor of the contract can't stand up to scrutiny. I mean, how do you jive the DA vote with so many reports coming in from schools where almost everyone is saying NO? Not just from schools where MORE has activists. People at the DA who I didn't know - I was handing out VOTE NO leaflets -- told me their schools were opposed.

Of course this is before the UFT sends out its horde of people -- working on our dime -- to sell the contract with all sorts of distracting and specious arguments. Too bad the number of schools with a strong voice countering the Unity spin are a minority -- how much a minority will influence the final outcome.

This comment from JP at facebook:

Would have loved to have a chance to hear different perspectives; however at today's Delegate Assembly, the vote was pushed through to send the contract to a member wide vote. Four were allowed to speak for and two against before our union leader stopped the debate and went to a vote. The big scare tactic to rush to a vote was the claim that if we don't do this today, we'll be placed at the back of the line while the other 150 unions get negotiated with. By then, we may not get what we have right now. As a union of professionals, is this how we operate? Rushed and without consideration to the multitude of perspectives, questions and to discuss, this is not professionalism. S,o here's our chance before the member wide vote

Join

Vote No UFT Contract Organizing Meeting

Saturday at 12:00pm

Ya Ya Network - 224 W. 29th St., 14th floor

MORE held a post DA press conferences outside the Hilton -- I will put up some video -- and issued a press release - which I will put up with the video -- and will lead a campaign against starting with a meeting this Saturday beginning at noon. All invited who want to give us a shot at winning this vote -- or at the very least, turning this into a referendum on the Mulgrew leadership.

I'll be posting stuff through the day so don't get worn out.

Our pal Urban Ed was at the meeting and has a report:

Urban Ed

How Did Mulgrew Get a Such a Sizable Majority At the DA on Wednesday? - He talked! He talked so long that people who don't usually go to Delegate Assemblies (many of whom feel out of place just being at one) were afraid they'd ...

And here is the first part of James' report on the ICE blog:

MULGREW MANGLES DEMOCRACY BEYOND RECOGNITION AT DA AS CONTRACT IS SENT TO MEMBERSHIP

It was a very sad day indeed in the history of democracy at the May Delegate Assembly.  The meeting was moved to the NY Hilton.  I am going to dispense with my usual lengthy summary of what President Mulgrew said because you've already seen most of it in the UFT propaganda literature or you will hear it when union representatives come to your schools.

Mulgrew made the case for the contract for over an hour and then doubled the question period to half an hour to speak some more.  He finally allowed for debate on the contract after 6:00 pm when there is an automatic adjournment at 6:15 p.m. His basic argument is that the city has no money for raises because former Mayor Bloomberg depleted the labor reserve. The one sided discussion was worse than even the usual DA mangling of democracy.  It was a complete sham.

After Mulgrew finally finished talking, one Unity person (majority caucus of the UFT which does not allow dissent) spoke in favor of sending the contract to the membership for ratification and then Mulgrew pointed to a second Unity member and that is when I sprung forward and called for a point of order.  As everyone who regularly reads this blog knows, debate is supposed to alternate between speakers for and against every topic according to Robert's Rules.  Since there was a speaker for the contract, there should be one against.  The Unity speaker was willing to yield the floor so Mulgrew gave it to me.

I had a thorough speech ready (see below) where I was about to go point for point to refute much of what Mulgrew said.  I started right out on the economics. 

"Up until two months ago at the DA, Mulgrew was telling us that the city has money but they always say they are broke.  I keep reading in the papers that the city surplus is growing."

(Mulgrew in February:
“We look at the city’s fiscal numbers all the time; it is clear to us that there is money out there. We need our teachers to be paid at least at the level of the school districts around us, which we are not.”)

I continued: "The city is not in bad shape financially so why are we settling for so little.  If we take out the 4% + 4% for the first two years that just equals the last pattern (and we won't see until between 2015 and 2020), the pattern we set for the rest of municipal labor is 10% total over 7 years."  That is the worst pattern in municipal labor history (at least as long as I have been around)."  At this point, Mulgrew stopped me and said I was wrong.  I responded that according to Robert's Rules when I have the floor, he has no right to interrupt me. I also told him that I have an interpretation of what's in the agreement and so does he and that doesn't make me wrong.

Someone then called a point of order and said that during the question period we agreed that people would only get 30 seconds to ask a question so I was only entitled to the floor for 30 seconds and my time was up.  Mulgrew said I could make one more point and I responded by telling him that the 30 second rule was for the question period.  I also stated that I sat and listened to him politely for an hour motivating the contract and now it was my turn.  He claimed that was my one point and time was up.  I then proceeded to say that I wished I was being recorded (earlier he said UFT policy is no recording) because the entire membership should be permitted to see how he treats people who are dissidents.  There was fairly loud applause as I walked away. 

Maybe I should have stayed and further held my ground but I felt I blew away his no money argument and other people could handle some of the other issues as well or better than I could.

Unfortunately, they never had the chance.  The opposition's next speaker took his 30 seconds to point out how Mulgrew was wrong on his 30 second rule as it pertained to the question period.  We had one other Delegate who had the chance to speak.

Mulgrew then stopped the debate at exactly 6:15 p.m. and called for the vote.  The overwhelming Unity majority obeyed their caucus obligation and supported the contract.

Time allotted for contract discussion:

• Pro contract side talked for well over an hour. 

• The opposition was given about 3 minutes of which half of the time was spent trying to keep the floor and tell the president he was out of order.  Would you call that a fair debate?

I have written out the points I wanted to make and will instead make them here.  Below that is a statement on health care.  We don't have to make up anything about the contract.  It is bad enough to fall on its own.

Read the rest of James' report.

UFT Delegate Assembly: MOREistas Comment and MORE

Lets just say the truth. Our union leadership has turned their back on it's members. It rules in a non-democratic fashion. Unity, randi, aft, mulgrew openly advocate for common core, Danielson, and test based evals- NOT ONE teacher I have ever spoken to feels the same.... A MORE Delegate

------

When I was elected by my colleagues to serve as a delegate to the UFT Delegate Assembly, I believed that it was my job to represent them by voting for or against resolutions with the wishes of the chapter in mind. Today I voted for a proposed resolution that called for an end to the new teacher evaluation system. Again, I voted with the wishes of the chapter that I represent in mind. Every teacher that I have spoken with in numerous schools dislikes the new evaluation system. So how is it that most of the delegates at today’s Delegate Assembly voted against an end to the new evaluation system? Were they actually representing the wishes of their chapters? Is the UFT Delegate Assembly actually the representative democracy that it claims to be?

The new evaluation system: Stifles teacher independence and creativity in the classroom. Is not the objective tool for determining teacher performance that we were told it would be. In fact, it is more subjective than ever before, especially in the hands of inexperienced and poorly trained supervisors. It was pushed on us without a vote from the membership. From the UFT website:

http://www.uft.org/new-teachers/your-school

“The union is run as a representative democracy. Each school has at least one person, elected by the union members in your school, who joins your chapter leader in representing you at the monthly meetings of the UFT Delegate Assembly. The number of delegates in a school varies with the size of the union membership.”

----- A high school delegate responding to the DA yesterday

Robert's Rules...You mean Mulgrew's rules. The only way to teach the suit about Robert's rules is to hit him with the book... Jeff Kaufman

There is a lot to write about the DA yesterday where MORE placed a resolution calling for repeal of the state ed eval law. MORE was attacked by Unity in their brand new propaganda sheet newsletter obviously in response to the MORE newsletter. They call themselves UNITY/UFT. Volume 1, Issue 1 -- but the same old 63-year old song. In this one they attack MORE - I hope they distribute these to all the schools instead of just the DA because it can only help MORE -- but I gotta rush out to the Portelos hearing (I have to post reports from last week's - hopefully later.) Will try to do more analysis later.

Start off with James Eterno's report at the ICE blog:

UNITY DOMINATED UFT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY VOTES FOR MINOR TWEAKS IN THE TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEM WHILE MORE CAUCUS CALLS FOR REPEAL OF EVALUATION LAW

The positions of the two main  caucuses (political parties) within the UFT on the topic of teacher evaluations emerged clear as day at Wednesday's UFT Delegate Assembly in Manhattan.  Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus passed a resolution calling for small changes in the teacher evaluation system called Advance to be negotiated with the new mayor. On the other hand, the Movement of Rank and File Educators introduced a resolution calling for a full scale repeal of the evaluation system law (Education Law 3012c) that ties teacher evaluations to student test scores. 
Most of the Unity dominated Delegate Assembly, including a huge group of retirees who do not have to work under the new system, agreed with the President that evaluations only need to be tweaked but there was strong support for  MORE's position to scrap the whole system among the Delegates.
As usual, President Michael Mulgrew ignored Roberts' Rules of Order in conducting debate. No speakers were permitted to oppose a Unity Caucus resolution reinforced the UFT's support for the evaluation law.  However, the UFT is calling for a moratorium on using the results of high stakes tests for teacher evaluations until alterations to the local portion of the Measures of Student Learning portion of the system can be worked out in contract negotiations.  The Unity sponsored resolution was on the regular agenda.  It was introduced a few minutes after Delegate Megan Moskop from MORE introduced a resolution for next month during the new motion period calling for the UFT to support legislation to scrap the entire teacher evaluation law.

Just to be clear - Megan is on the left

Read James' complete - and amazing given he did this so fast -- report.

And kudos to the MORE and MORE amazing Megan Moskop who first came to us in July and is now getting up at a DA and going straight at Mulgrew. Megan is also a TFA alum, a sign that the quarter (maybe) of TFAs who remain in the classroom beyond a few years are real reformers. Megan and her ilk must be Unity's nightmare: Twenty-somethings creating a new face of the opposition.

Here are the comments from the MORE listserve. I'm posting without names because I don't have time to ask everyone.

-------

Below are comments that Mike Mulgrew made about Common Core.  If you want to read more about the UFT Delegate Assembly then click on the link below.  MORE had a resolution to repeal the evaluation system.  The DA is controlled by the Unity Caucus of the UFT.  All of the UFT leadership is Unity.   The vote on the  MORE evaluation resolution did get many more votes than usual.  I would say that over 1/3 of the DA voted for it.  

Mulgrew on Common Core:
How did you all like the talking up of the Common Core?  WE are in a big time competition with" those" countries.  Our kids can't compete.  The big companies are going to "those" countries because our kids don't and won't have the skills.  Those countries that we are competing with started up grading their education years ago.  He even said that RIGHT NOW in NYC there are 110,000  jobs that cannot be filled because there are NO workers with the skills? Really?  Of course he also threw in the part about not going back to the days when Alabama and  (another state) did such a "great" job of educating their students that ALL students graduated from HS. 

-----------
Lisa- your retelling of Mulgrew's talking points are sickening. I watched a short segment on WSJ TV last night about education out of curiosity and they had/used the exact same talking points. When the president of our union sounds exactly like a talking head/some edu corp CEO being interviewed by the WSJ, something is very, very wrong.
------

One of the most disturbing things about Mulgrew today was the way in which he kept saying that our members were "tired" and "not ready for action"  I feel like this came up several times.  WHAT???  I think people are tired of stupid systems, and ready to take action against them. 
------
Let's not forget to throw this back in their faces. The UFT's own high stakes testing task force that Lisa and Terry were a part of in 2007 found that the research does NOT support the use of hst to make any major decisions. I forwarded this to Mulgrew and Unity members I've known over the years, and I still have not gotten a response or explanation.

------

To add to what's been said, Mulgrew also threw in that the test results will be even better measures once class size is put into the equation. Yes, of course, he always adds that testing should not be the only measure. But if class size is such an important element, why has our union not pushed for this in our contracts?

--------

Lets just say the truth

Our union leadership has turned their back on it's members.

It rules in a non-democratic fashion

Unity, randi, aft, mulgrew openly advocate for common core, Danielson, and test based evals- NOT ONE teacher I have ever spoken to feels the same

Unity wanted this  eval scheme- just ask Leo Casey

They rule without the consent of the governed -'15 percent active UFTers voted them in

They allow mayoral control

They sold off our rights

Time for a change

Time to expect MORE from our union

====

Assailed Teacher on the ICE blog proposes an idea that John Elfrank-Dana has been floating for years

Assailed Teacher said...

Thank you for your report James, as always. As a Chapter Leader, I refuse to go to most DAs because of the way Unity makes up the rules as they go along. Whatever Unity wants, Unity gets. I really think MORE or another dissident caucus should hold their own DAs, pass their own resolutions and implement them as if Unity does not exist. If another caucus acts as the union long enough, people will start to believe it. That is how CORE won in Chicago.