UFT Election Committee Feb. 2 Meeting, Bad Weather, Covid, Hamper Petitions Efforts for UFC, But Not for Unity As I join others in venturing out today on icy roads

A Unity stooge on Facebook stated that Unity does not do caucus work such as signature signings at 52 Broadway or the district offices. I call total BS on that.... Comment on: UFT Elections: Petitioner and Pensioner Reveal Fear and Loathing Toward Unity Caucus/UFT Leadership

Funny, we were in 52 and union people were asking us where to sign. How many Unity people have been seen going around schools to get signatures? Their signings are mostly internal Unity, not asking teachers to sign on their free time. I actually think if there is a court case over UFT election process, petitioning will be a factor. Also how Unity gets 8 union employees on the election committee which meets when they are on the union clock.

Friday, Feb. 4, 2022

I reported on how many retirees met up this past Wednesday to sign a pack of 450 petitions for the  United for Change at-large candidates.

• UFT Election Ground Hog Day - A Repeating nightmare and this is not a movie: As We Warned UFT Leadership - Teachers/Retirees Down With Covid

I was literally on my feet from 10:30-4:30 supervising the signings - in shifts to avoid close quarters -- and people still hadn't finished but Mike Shulman, Kathy Perez and I had to go up to the 19th floor for the Election Committee meeting. Every Unity member, all on the UFT payroll and getting paid for attending were prosent while UFC was short two members - one who tested positive and one with childcare issues.  

See my report on the meeting below these comments. But think of the optics of a full house for Unity.

Remember - we asked for a delay in the election for a few weeks or electronic signatures and were turned down by the Unity dominated election committee - they get 8 and the UFC get 5 members in the Unity Caucus version of democracy. I reported on that back in January:  

• UFT Exec Bd Vote Opposing Electronic Voting: Mike Shirtzer and another are Lone Dissenters, 13 Reasons For Electronic Voting as Unity Echoes Republican Vote Suppression, MULGREW SAYS PRIVATIZED HEALTHCARE ISN'T PRIVATIZED

Thursday morning I went to a school to pick up petitions with 35 signatures. There should have been 60 but the main guy was out with covid with a possibility he got it from having to use his spare time to get them signed.  We've had people who agreed to sign not be able to show up. In past elections we would get a big space and get 60 people in the room for a mass signing. 

To follow the same rules for petitioning for this election borders in criminality.

UFT Election Ground Hog Day - A Repeating nightmare and this is not a movie: As We Warned UFT Leadership - Teachers/Retirees Down With Covid

80 plus Retiree: Norm, I'm still positive with Covid and can't come today to help.

 

UFT Chapter Leader running with UFC: I've been out a week with Covid and haven't been able to petition.

 

HS Teacher: Norm, I'm down with Covid and will be out for a week. I know I promised over 50 signatures from my school but I only reached 30.

 

Elementary school candidate: Can't circulate his petitions because he has pneumonia

If you are pissed off at the Unity gang, donate to United for Change. https://unitedforchange.vote/donate/

Wednesday, Feb. 2 - 

Ground Hog Day - A Repeating nightmare and this is not a movie. While UFC people are in their schools on the lunch hours scrounging for signatures to get on the UFT ballot, Unity people don't seem to be much around schools. Camille Eterno is getting signatues. Let me know if anyone sees Mulgrew in their school doing the same. 

Notice the note for Unity Caucus members: They are meeting at Fashion Industries HS at 6PM next Wednesday. I'm tempted to show up with a picket sign accusing them of trying to murder the opposition.

Many of us have to race around the city collecting petitions and running small mass signing events instead of the one shot events for 60 people at a time we used to run.

But the almost criminal Unity Caucus leadership knew all that when they refused to consider changing some rules for this election.

UFT Exec Bd Vote Opposing Electronic Voting: Mike Shirtzer and another are Lone Dissenters, 13 Reasons For Electronic Voting as Unity Echoes Republican Vote Suppression, MULGREW SAYS PRIVATIZED HEALTHCARE ISN'T PRIVATIZED

UFT Update: Unity Slogan #wedothework- badly - #WePutYouOnHoldWhenYouCall

Unity did the work of ed deformer anti-unionists and corporate Democrats and Republicans by supporting:

• NCLB and Race to the Top
• Charter schools
• Closing down public schools and destroying most of the large comprehensive HS
• High stakes testing that cost millions
• End seniority transfersCommon core -- remember punch Mike Mulgrew?

UFT President Mulgrew Says He'll Punch Common Core ...

Jul 17, 2019 — Michael Mulgrew United Federation of Teachers (New York) President says he'll punch common core opponents in the face: ...

Unity is out there with the self-mocking faux #wedothework. I reported on the Salesforce CCC - Clueless Call Center.

• UFT Outsourcing to Salesforce Update - Workers sue...
• UFT Staffer - The face of the UFT is Salesforce - ...

A United for Change crew came up with apt variations.

#wedothework

• … of keeping rank-and-file members in the dark until AFTER we make decisions that will affect them

• …of rigging the rules to box out members of other caucuses (someone who knows the specifics of rules they’ve changed to their benefit can flush this out)

• … of hiring from within with non-transparent hiring practices so that only we can do the paid union work

• … of obstructing rank-and-file members’ voices from being heard

• … of assuring the mayor and chancellor that the UFT members will obey orders #lockstep

• … of messing with our retirees’ healthcare

#wedothework of

• privatizing retiree healthcare
• failing to win smaller class sizes
• failing to give in-school covid tests to more than a handful of students
• failing to protect teachers from administrative harassment
• shutting out the opposition at the DA
• appoint, not elect, district reps

We do the work of...

• pretending we're doing the work.
• handing out givebacks.
• rolling over and playing dead while John King & NYSED demoralize us with Danielson APPR ratings.
• selling off retiree healthcare to for-profit insurance companies.
• lobbying against universal healthcare.
• letting new teachers be tortured with four years of probation.
• negotiating wage increases that don't keep pace with inflation.
• ignoring our membership.
• letting teachers work in unsafe, Covid-filled buildings.
• saying, "What can we do? We're not the employer."
• getting rid of seniority school transfers.
• providing patronage jobs to Mulgrew's sycophants.
• firing UFT phone staffers and replacing them with Salesforce™ call-center-script-readers.
• quashing debate at Delegate Assemblies.
• supporting mayoral control (and saying that we don't).
• hiring lawyers and consultants who have never stepped foot in a public school classroom.
• doing whatever Marty Scheinman tells us.
• bending over and getting fucked by every politician who says they'll give us "a seat at the table."
• telling you that everything Mulgrew does (including bending over and...) is the greatest victory ever.

 

UFT Unity Joins Keep Schools Open at any cost brigade, Unity Controlled Election Committee says NYET to election modifications in face of raging pandemic

UPDATE - Breakthrough infections in NY up 7-fold., “Exclusive: Biden sending medical teams to six states to help hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19,” including NY.  --- Tell UFT leadership

• I've never seen anything spread as fast  -- it's approaching Measles--- epidemiologist on Omicron 

• Ask UFT officials about horrendous conditions in the schools and you get a shrug and a "what can we do?"
  

• What struck me at the election committee meeting was not just the hard position on petitioning, but the sense of callous disregard for UFT members and children's health and safety ... UFT election committee member.   

• I'd see the entire city of Newark unemployed before I allowed one single teacher's aide to die needlessly... John Abeigon, Newark Teacher Union president 

• President Michael Mulgrew spent much of the Town Hall telling you how wonderful you are for risking your health in a pandemic to come to work...ICE blog

The latter point is hysterical given the outcome of Tuesday's UFT election committee meeting where Unity members acted like the pandemic was over.

 

I was at a surreal zoom meeting of the UFT election committee Tuesday where the 5 United for Change reps were outgunned by the 8 Unity, all on the full-time UFT payroll on the UFT clock, plus a UFT lawyer. The UFC whose teachers actually spend their days in classrooms, called for emergency changes in the one month UFT election petition campaign beginning next Wednesday, lasting a month, in the teeth of a massive virus outbreak in NYC schools which has caused enormous disruption to normal school activities.When the lawyer cited constitutional issues with all our requests, I asked where in the constitution does it say the caucus in power gets 8 reps and everyone else gets 5.

Just in the past two days, at least two key members of UFC tested positive with one dealing with more than mild symptoms. And the young son of another tested postive today. Until a few weeks ago I didn't know many people who had Covid at the same time. Now it seems everyone working in schools are being exposed. Maybe it's ok over the long run to give us herd immunity. But people have been asking for a few weeks of zoom to let this pass. And we asked for the same thing.

I thought I was at a Trump rally where the Keep Schools Open at all costs campaign was in full force.  Ya know Omicron is mild -- mild means you don't end up in the hospital.

The Unity line lines up perfectly with the lies being told about infection numbers by de Blasio.  UFT/Unity also buried the stories about the poor filters used in schools by the corrupt de Blasio admin by giving a sweetheart contract to one of his campaign buddies. Or that teachers are spending their own money for masks and testing kits. Or that students are walking out: HUNDREDS WALK OUT AT BROOKLYN TECH.

A Unity hack twitter account liked and reported an attack on these students that claimed radical teachers were behind it. You know, students at Tech are not smart enough to figure out the school was unsafe on their own. I know non-radical teachers at Tech and they say there are rampant infections. There is even a parent who is a major commentator on YouTube whose daughter goes there and she mocks the education she's been getting the past week. Lots of auditorium time.

The Unity election 8 (mostly district and special reps) acted ho-hum. Like nothing has changed since the Dec. 5 first meeting, despite the massive Omicron outbreak in the schools.

I wrote about the first election committee meeting in early December: 

• UFT Exec Bd Vote Opposing Electronic Voting: Mike ...

At that time, Omicron was still a blip and the one month petitioning and election schedule seemed workable. The UFC people even supported the Unity resolution to get only wet signatures -- no electronic signing. What we fought about was over electronic voting in the election itself. I posted about that issue when it came up on the Ex Bd where I believe only two members voted against.

• UFT Election Committee Meets, Petition Dates Set, ...

The reactions of the election committee are almost funny when you consider that all UFT courses for retirees were announced as going on line. And all Retiree chapter meetings are online for the entire school year. But asking people to race around schools in their spare time to gather signatures is fine.

 

There was a lightness of being in the zoom - a total sense of no urgency. Like if you get sick fine. Like long covid doesn't exist. And reports of childhood diabetes. Or that Omicron is one of most infectious ever -- it may be milder for short covid but the increased numbers put enormous pressure on hospitals.

I raised the point that the numbers before December were not worrisome as  every teacher is vaxed but the sudden rise in numbers of vaxed teachers infected in such a short time is astounding. Vax won't stop you from getting it but will mitigate - however greater numbers will be getting it.

NYC Elementary school teacher with children of her own

This was a special meeting called in response to a request by UFC/New Action rep Michael Shulman who raised a number of points and requests based on the vision of asking teachers to go around schools gathering signatures in the midst of the worst outbreak we've yet seen with hopes that a few weeks will lead to safer conditions:

• Waive petitioning for this election.
• Add two weeks to petitioning time and move the election back two weeks.
• Allow electronic signatures.
• Reopen the issue of electronic balloting in the face of the pandemic

The Unity 8 rejected every suggestion. I wasn't surprised at their rejection but was astounded at the arguments they were making which seemed so similar to Donald Trump in the initial stages and President Biden today. But then again, the UFT leadership is Democratic Party central and lines up perfectly with them.

 

Arguments against? Infections are down from last week. Message - it's over. My head hurts from smacking myself. They were proud when a UFT nurse at NYU joined in the pooh poohing. Ya know, like hospitals seem fine. Probably we're hearing fake news about cancellations of elective surgery.

Like there's no way teachers are getting sick -- 

 

Two key UFC candidates tested positive on Monday are home sick with some serious issues. The message -- get out of bed next week and go petition.

 

Every one of these Unity people are either full-time UFT employees who are actually getting paid to attend the meeting and at most spend a period a day in a school. Unity will be holding a big petition signing event at Fashion Industries HS on January 19 after the DA. Someone should go picket the event.

Here are some more voices from classrooms being ignored by the Unity/UFT leadership.

NYC UFT Member twitter thread:

• Well. Thanks to the NYC Mayor and DOE I contracted COVID on my first day back at work after being exposed to multiple students who were positive. Here is a/thread about my experience /1
• I’m an itinerant related service provider for the DOE and am routinely in 3 or 4 schools per week. I worked on Monday servicing students in grades K-3 in my elementary school. Testers were there in the morning. /2
• I was unable to get tested because I was “not on the list.” Tuesday night I was informed via school-wide email of positive cases. I was not alerted as being a close contact. However, when I returned to school Wednesday, several of my students were absent so you do the math. /3
• I alerted my supervisors for my itinerant position. They told me that as long as my home rapids were negative and I was symptom free, I should go about “business as usual” and travel to my other schools as scheduled. /4
• So I went for a pcr test and also did home rapid tests Wednesday, Thursday, 2x on Friday (because symptoms started that night), and Saturday. All my home rapids were negative. However, Saturday night I received my PCR results and, lo and behold, they were positive. /5
• As a result of these failed policies by the DOE, numerous students and staff in MULTIPLE schools were exposed to me. I am 100% certain I was infectious despite negative rapids b/c my husband and two children - who are under 5 and therefore cannot be vaxxed - all have symptoms. /6
• This illustrates yet another hole in the system. My daughter is in 3k. There is NO DOE testing protocol for 3k and prek kids. They are among the MOST vulnerable as they cannot be vaccinated. Some also have difficulties wearing masks. /7
• Hospitalizations for unvaccinated kids are on the rise. Also, my mother and MIL - who care for my infant son - were both exposed through me. They are both over 65. Our nanny was also exposed and she has underlying health concerns /8
• Q: How many of students, educators, and our loved ones have to get sick and die before the DOE does it job and implements REAL policies that protect us? A: all of us. They don’t care. /9       

 

 

 

Mulgrew is holding a town hall. Get your bingo card.

 

 

 

 

 

NOW - MEET THE UNITED FOR CHANGE CANDIDATES

MEET THE UNITED FOR CHANGE CANDIDATES WHO WILL MAKE THE UFT A BETTER UNION WITH YOUR HELP

Happy New Year!

United for Change is hitting the ground running. The group is serious about building a better Union. Get to know the top officer candidates on Zoom Sunday at 4:00 p.m.

Here is a link to register.

Here's the link to submit a question.

 

 

Mulgrew/Unity Caucus Leadership Mocked: The MulCave and MulgrewCare - defining words for his regime

We are going to try and get 90% turnout [in UFT elections] from my school. UFT staff number over 150. We had a meeting last week and had the largest turnout I have seen for a union meeting in many years. There is a LOT of anger at the leadership in my school.... Twitter

How is the Mulgrew/Unity machine doing? Certainly not well on canpaign donations to losing candidates and on the class size push focusing on Corey Johnson who the UFT endorsed. 

[Note - Unity stalwart Dave Pecoraro and friend of Ed Notes opposed the Johnson nomination and was tossed off the Unity Delegate Assembly slate - Call it the Pecoraro revenge.]

Leonie Haimson: Weak & even irrelevant evidence offered by city to back up their claim that in-school transmission is low

https://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-citys-claim-of-low-in-school.html

“He [Chockshi] said that even if virus rates continued to rise across the city and in schools, “we estimate that in schools about 98 percent of close contacts do not end up developing Covid-19.”  Where’s this data? 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/nyregion/nyc-schools-covid-testing-students.html

Where is this data should be the kind of question being asked by UFT leadership.

Mulgrew and his small coterie of advisors are not doing too well on the COVID response either, with the open schools at all costs despite raging infections movement gathers steam with Mulgrew making weak ineffective noises.

 

And the Memes Mocking Mulgrew --MMM 

Here is a collection of public and private comments gleaned from FB, twitter and emails. Not just from the oppo activist wing but rank and file. When the UFT leader becomes a laugh out loud joke it spells trouble. Enough to lose an election this spring? Odds have dropped from "no way" to a thousand to one.

Here's one on how the union has been breaking down.Where do you file a concern?

You understand you have a revolt brewing in the ranks, yes? That members are scared, angry and concerned about January, and are going to take this out on leadership for not doing anything effective to keep them safe, yes? You understand this was a bridge too far?--- rbe @perdidostschool to UFT Paid shill

Is Mulgrew some sort of secret genius whose plan it is to topple his own caucus? I say crazy things sometimes. ----Do Your Job, @straightplimp

Also like...big announcements today. Where's Mulgrew lol??... Brewing something up in the Mulcave... Brewing up a strongly worded email that implies he will fight this all and then another email from Sunday night saying we'll we got everything we wanted so we're going in...anon.

The MulCave and MulgrewCare may become defining words for his regime.

I am disgusted by what is being spewed by

@NYCMayor and @DOEChancellor

... the email that I was just asked to send to all families is convoluted, does NOTHING to keep us safe. It is not easy to understand, and does nothing to prevent spread on 01/03. They want us all to get covid!

Anonymous comment on ICE Blog...

I was diagnosed with Covid two weeks ago and the Situation Room NEVER CALLED ME. My principal was in charge of all quarantine procedures. Also, many other teachers at my school developed Covid in the last week of school. The NYS covid dashboard is not listing the new numbers of staff who have covid. This whole thing is a total fucking sham to hide the real numbers. I am hoping Adams can clean this mess up but who knows..  It's Official: The UFT Does Not Give a Shit and Mike Mulgrew is the Grim Reaper

There was a positive case in my class every week since Thanksgiving. Anyone really believe the DOE gonna us weekly rapid tests? And how does this work in h.s. when the positive student has 7 different classes they attend with 7 different groups of students and teachers?

So many kids will get sick we’ll be teaching small class sizes. Half the staff will be out all of the time. I feel like I’m in a fucking experiment.

I feel like the powers that be are actively hostile to us

The lack of compassion is beyond anything I could have imagined even a year ago

Dear parents:

@NYCMayor

says schools are safe and will be open. He doesn’t have children in a school. He maybe talks to our

@UFT

president who is zooming for work these days. Ask your child’s school: are they prepared to be full contact tracers?

 

i feel abandoned and lied to by the same people

They're gonna be so mad when they told parents schools will never close again, and a) people keep their kids home not believing their bullshit and b) instruction grinds to a halt when staff call in. literally the exact same people will be like you have all the safety measures you need and also you don't need any

A retiree mocking UFT retiree healthcare committee: 

I couldn't refrain from laughing out loud when I read on page 6 of the 12/16 issue of New York Teacher that Mulgrew plans to have member input when negotiating the next contract and health benefits and that he wants to form a negotiating committee. 

"The health care group," he said, "would work much the same way as has the 50-member retiree health care committee that was formed last spring to provide feedback on retiree health care priorities . . . a group of informed health care advocates who can talk about the issues and challenges in this area with other members." Good luck to this new health care committee in actually getting their voices heard!

Jen Jennings is a professor at Princeton who has been on target regarding the push to keep schools open no matter the spread. Are we surprised that the union leadership at the city and national levels are more interested in supporting the economic system than the safety of the members and the children they serve?

@eduwonkette_jen

I guess I missed that rewrite of the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm to late capitalism

The blogs have been active.

Arthur points up the folly at the DOE:

NYC Educator

Old Mayor, New Mayor, & Governor Enact Low Standards to Keep Schools Open at Any Cost - The NY Times, which drank the COVID Kool-Aid well before it was even served, is out with the latest account of the mayor's zany antics. Because the Times...

James at  ICEUFT focuses on Mulgrew

MULGREW CALLS FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF LATEST CITY SCHOOL SAFETY PLAN

MULGREW KEEPS AGREEING TO SEND UFTERS INTO SCHOOLS WHEN HE KNOWS THE SAFETY SYSTEMS ARE COMPLETELY BROKEN

Michael Mulgrew's latest email is below. Mulgrew states: "But we won't stop pushing until we are confident that this new plan has been implemented fully by Jan. 3." In all likelihood it won't be fully implemented and then what does Mulgrew intend to do? You know the answer.

South Bronx Schools too:

Mike Mulgrew Folds Like a Cheap Suit For Eric Adams and a Mayor Who is Gone in Three Days

It's Official: The UFT Does Not Give a Shit and Mike Mulgrew is the Grim Reaper

Mulgrew Doesn't Care Anymore About COVID or the Health and Well Being of Members.

Unity hacks and trolls complain that our hands are tied. Compare and contrast:

More memes:

 

 

The NY Post mocked DOE Educrats, morphed into UFT Fat Cats:

 

United for Change Key Candidates and Program for School Safety - Camille Eterno to oppose Mulgrew for President

Anonymous said... The candidate for president is smart, tough, collaborative, creative, ethical, kind, good manager, respectful, realistic, tiptop teacher, deeply concerned about young people, stalwart CL with a sense of humor. We had divergent opinions on some issues. Just part of life. As CL, she always had our backs. When you work in the trenches, Camille is the person you want next to you! 

Friday, December 24, 2021

After months of deep discussions and building a working coalition out of constituents parts, United for Change (UFC) made its first public statement Sunday evening. I gave some background on the constituents of the United for Change coalition: Four Caucuses and an Uncaucus - What Is United for Change? 

The focus of the announcement addressed the health and safety issue re the massive COVID outbreak. Since Sunday, things escalated in the schools, with Mulgrew coming under increasing criticism for seeming indifference to the crisis UFT members, especially those with children of their own, have been facing. The DOE/UFT endorsed testing program is a disaster. Now Mulgrew is talking - for PR purposes - about testing. But he is toothless to do anything about it unless he called for teachers to walk out of unsafe schools -- and he will not do that because the UFT/AFT doesn't want to face media criticism that they want unsafe schools to close. Our unions are part of the educational industrial complex.

Of course I'm thrilled that Camille is the candidate. I met Camille when James invited me to a Queens diner to meet with some dissidents over 20 years ago and we attended their wedding around 17 years ago. James was the ICE/TJC candidate for president in 2010 - the first time a husband and wife have run for that office -- except for the Clintons but let's not go there. Camille has been receiving comments of support from many of the people she has worked with over the years -- there's no better endorsement than from your colleagues.  

How the pandemic will affect the elections is a growing concern. How do you petition in schools? And campaign? This certainly benefits Unity.

Blogs made the announcement days ago but I've been too busy doing retirement couch potato things.

• The Doenuts Blog

  UFC Announces Candidates For UFT Election - Camille Eterno for president of the UFT!! And other great candidates for the UFT election. I know my readers. There are other names that are, well, oka...

  
  
• ICEUFT Blog

  UNITED FOR CHANGE RELEASES PLAN FOR BATTLING COVID AND ANNOUNCES CANDIDATES FOR TOP UFT OFFICES INCLUDING CAMILLE ETERNO FOR UFT PRESIDENT - This statement was released tonight. You can contact United for Change at unitedforchange.vote. I am more than a little biased but I especially like the...

  
  

  Jonathan Halabi -
  

  The COVID Surge and Calls for Action

  December 19, 2021 pm31 9:00 pm

 

Four Caucuses and an Uncaucus - What Is United for Change?

The United for Change (UFC) coalition could have turned into Four Weddings and a Funeral regarding the UFC coalition of groups that have come together for the UFT elections, which are taking place this spring. Some wags were saying the Palestinian/Israeli conflict would be easier.

What are the formal caucuses?
New Action, Solidarity, MORE and Retiree Advocate (RA).

The non - or Uncaucuses - ICEUFT. EONYC, Independent non-affiliated. I'm part of this strand -- we don't think any one caucus or even a bunch of caucuses can reach deep enough into the schools  unless indendent non-affiluated are attracted to the campaign. Too far left turns the center off and too far center turns the progressives off so a meeting of the two is necessary. There are actually some right of center anti-Unity people angling to get in on the action.

Represented so far are people from various left points of view, some non-left progressives, some center left and even some center right people. So far, no funeral, but I always expect the worst so I don't get too disappointed.

Let me explain some thinking. There is a wide range of opinion in the UFT outside the dominant Unity caucus and its supporters. Trying to bring a sense of a united front against Unity from across political lines requires some very sensitive negotiating along the fault lines. Unity can only be seriously challenged if there is one united opposition even if they all don't agree. Now there can be dangers if the group happens to win and I will address the chances of that happening and what it would mean in a follow-up piece,

Let's remind people that just two and a half years ago in the 2019 UFT elections the first three opposition caucuses independently ran against Unity and the results were a disaster with Unity sweeping every elected position overwhelmingly. The oppo vote dropped drastically from 2016.

RA was not formally involved in 2019, though key members were with New Action. ICEUFT, a founding member of MORE, having recently disengaged - or been disengaged from MORE -- sat the election out, though individuals supported carious candidates and caucuses. In essence, ICE had Uncaucused.  I remember one semi-sage urging the groups to run together or just sit the election out with a boycott and let Unity run unopposed--- OK I was the semi - or quarter - sage. 

So this time I did whatever I could to support a coming together while also supporting the alternative idea that if they couldn't agree they shouldn't run -- but also calling for a general uncaucusing for the election. My original idea was to actually uncaucus and form a general election committee that would ask individuals to run, not formal caucuses but that clearly was not an option. I wrote about the United Front idea in April - The United Front: Retiree Advocate/UFT

Retiree Advocate leading role in bringing people together 

Looking back a year ago, I can see that Retiree Advocate, though running in the spring Chapter leader elections with a cast of 130 retirees and its militant leading of a fightback against Mulgrew Care

 (All- Star Cast Joins Retiree Advocate/UFT Slate to Challenge Unity Caucus in Chapter Election)  played an instrumental role in forging the coalition as all caucuses and many independents came out to support us.

RA itself is an example of a merger of various caucus elements. It began as a New Action project over 25 years ago but around 2014 voted to no longer be solely affiliated with New Action in order to attract non-caucus members. 

That turned out to be a good move in that some of us from MORE, ICEUFT and independents joined RA and became part of the organizing committee. The experience of bringing different perspectives to the table was an example of working together --- I often joke that I was now working with people who I hadn't  talked to in three decades. The positive experience was a lesson.

We also received support from independents voices, the most prominent of which was Educators of NYC led by Daniel Alicea, a working teacher who lent us his tech and political expertise. He became a conduit to some of the caucuses and when we proposed joint inside and outside actions at the Delegate Assembly around healthcare issues, a basis was set for all the groups to work together at the Delegate Assembly in the final months of last school year.

That joint work escalated at the September CL meeting and the  October and November and the UFT elections.

 Behind the scenes feelers went out to the various caucuses and independents (like the venerable Jonathan Halabi) about setting up a potential structure this fall to address the spring UFT elections. That this has actually come together, no matter the ultimate outcome, is an exciting event in UFT oppo history. maybe the first time since the 1980-early 90s era.

 Coming next: Does UFC think it can win? Define Win.

See -Ed Notes Sept 12, 2021 - 

UFT Elections: Boycott?- Why Run at all if Unity stacks the deck? - The Sunday Special

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. 

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