Highly Paid and Privileged UFT Staffer Geof Sorkin Attacks UFT Classroom Teacher Using Unity blog

Yes Virginia, Unity has a blog. And it's designed to pump up its own membership whose morale is flagging. Sorkin engaged in a public attack against a UFT member.

• UFT Welfare Fund Under Attack: Unmasking the Falsehoods and Unity Caucus’s fight to Defend our Healthcare

Published Sept. 23 during Sorkin's supposed working hours, 

he attacked middle school special ed teacher and editor of the popular Educators of NYC with 17,000 followers, led to guffaws among the few who actually read it at the idea that Unity Caucus has been fighting to defend our healthcare.

Sorkin, or his ghost writer wrote,

..we must ask who are Educators of NYC? Is this really a substantial group of people that represent a wide range of interests or is this merely one person pushing his agenda?  Would the blog be better known as Educator of NYC? Isn’t it Daniel Alicia authoring this piece? Why make it seem anonymous? If there even are multiple “educators” are they even all New York City based?

 

As the UFT election nears, please remember that having a real plan, from beginning to end, is a vital leadership strategy. Catch phrases are fun, but without substance, they fail. Beware of the sensationalism you will continue to hear from them!

Sorkin's mention of the UFT election is a clear sign of the panic engulfing Sorkin and others at the top levels in Unity. (Unity Grows Desperate: Offers something old (Attacking critics)

 

 

Here is a response.

Sep 24, 2024

 

Geoff Sorkin, Director of the UFT Welfare Fund, a highly paid union staffer making well over $250,000 a year, launched an attack on Daniel Alicea, a middle school special ed teacher during school hours, using the Unity caucus blog as a vehicle. 

Of course, Mr. Sorkin doesn’t have to worry about school hours, or classrooms, or kids because he’s not in an actual classroom. He has the luxury of time spent at UFT headquarters where he wrote his shameful, low energy blog from the confines of his luxurious private office next to Wall Street, where there is AC in the summer, heat in the winter, all you can drink coffee and catered breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. 

While Sorkin lives a life of luxury, the hard working, dues paying member he chose to attack, was busy teaching our most marginalized and vulnerable children in a special education class in a Far Rockaway middle school. Daniel Alicea does yeoman-type volunteer union work, after his busy school day and while taking care of his own young children at home. For this he receives no all-expense-paid trips to conventions with open bars and state dinners like Sorkin. No, he just gets his below inflation raises and less than average union welfare benefits that Sorkin and a merry band of nudnicks negotiate for “lowly educators”. 

As Sorkin oversees, or mismanages, our bloated welfare fund with nearly a billion dollar surplus, the “lowly members” get bottom shelf glasses with a once every two years certificate worth 150 bucks, dental plans that are only accepted by those fresh of out dental college, or denied prescription coverage despite his and Mulgrew’s outrageous claims that everyone is approved. We rate him **ineffective** on any Danielson rubric. 

Perhaps Sorkin’s and Mulgrew’s political machine is shaking because Alicea has a readership of nearly 17,000 on The Wire  (the same number as retirees who voted out Unity from leadership of the RTC last June). 

Alicea’s newsletter, with its rich, union-first content reaches union members far and wide, including union staffers, while the New York Teacher can be found lining bird cages or in waste paper baskets. While The Wire offers diverse union perspectives written by a variety of NYC educators and advocates and where all members are welcome to read and submit pieces, including Unity apparatchik, Peter Goodman, who has a featured byline there. 

Sorkin, along with many other UFT staffers and officer elites are voracious Educators of NYC newsletter readers.

Sorkin is forced to say what boss Mulgrew allows him to and has to justify his position in light of a deluge of damning revelations about his failures managing our benefits.

Sorkin wrote about the Welfare Fund having some unionized support workers but he failed to share that Sorkin himself, and other at-will employees in his department, are not allowed to be unionized and would be fired immediately if they spoke out against their Unity bosses. He’s left to flail and make wild conspiratorial allegations of imaginary attempts to dissolve the UFT welfare fund. He also failed to tell us that one of the alternatives to the disastrous healthcare cost savings deals Mulgrew made, was a consolidation of  the city unions’ welfare funds to increase and leverage our buying power that was on the menu of agreed-upon cost saving choices in our 2018 MOA, Appendix B. 

Would we be better served with our hard-earned benefits out of his and Mulgrew’s hands? Clearly.

Nonetheless, Sorkin somehow found the time to write a lengthy, bloviating, unsourced attack piece, but can’t be bothered to share any updates with members on the pathetic state of our healthcare coverage, the ever-rising co-pays, the worst mental health coverage in the public sector, a pitiful dental plan, nor our union’s deteriorating relationship with the most important cancer treatment center in the country. He does have time to disparage a teacher of special needs children to detract eyes from his patronage operation’s inability to deliver and the Unity sinking ship. 

Perhaps we need new leaders to bring about much needed change who actually know something about the classroom while raising kids and supporting families on underfunded, eroding healthcare.

 

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marianne takes down Mulgrew misinfo on Medicare Adv fake news.

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

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

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

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

 Sep 20, 2024

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

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

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

Also district meet and greet events.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wrote the other day:

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

A former chapter leader texted:

 

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

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

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

Mulgrew is Unity's weakest link

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

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

-----

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

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

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

Debunking Ellie Engler UFT (not a teacher)

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

What it will take to Change the Leadership in the 2025 UFT Election? ? Build it and they will come, and if they don't come be very worried

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024

The prospect of defeating the 62 year Unity Caucus machine in a UFT election may seem like a field of dreams, but breaks in the Unity facade after the recent retiree, para and TRS elections (UFT's 3 Consequential Elections) offer glimmers of hope. But only glimmers.

Is there enough anti-leadership buzz at the teacher level in the schools similar to what we saw in the retiree and para chapter elections this  past spring? Did similar uprisings take place at the recent school chapter elections or was it the same old, same old? 

I haven't a clue. There is an every 3rd year turnover year and Unity Caucus tries to incorporate new CL as soon as they can and subject them to their own internal propaganda machine to make sure they don't drift to the opposition. CLs know they need some level of support from the Dist Reps (who are the main recruiters) and are often reluctant to get involved with oppo if they even know they exist (oppo footprint is fairly small). In fact many new CLs don't even know what Unity is. The DR line is: Psssst, do ya want some free trips to conventions or a PM staff position?

Thus the opposition has never been able to reach very deep into the schools and when election time comes we know that having a strong voice in a schools advocating for the oppo and getting out the vote during the election directly affects the vote totals. The standard method the oppo has used of racing around to hundreds of schools where there are no contacts and stuffing mail boxes has had very little effect on vote totals. Most of this work has been done by the active caucuses and their supporters. 

That has never been enough and I maintain will never be enough (other than in high schools which no matter the caucus over the past 40 years has almost always voted oppo). I've been arguing that unless this base of an active oppo voice expands way beyond the current caucus outreach, Unity will continue to win at the middle and elementary school levels. Even if we won an election due to retiree votes but lose the bulk of the school vote, it would be a weak win and a strong win is necessary to transform the UFT. (In Chicago and LA, there were strong wins and no retiree votes.)

We might know more at the October 16 first DA of the year or at a September chapter leader meeting. Leadership always gets a head start by organizing borough CL meetings at the end of this month. I suggest that people who want to build a winning team try to reach out at these meetings and test the waters.

What I term "the usual suspects" (TUS) in the opposition seem a bit too optimistic for my taste, with some discounting the difficulties of putting together a winning coalition and relying on the same old, same old. I sense that they think putting together similar coalitions as in the past will work this time under the new conditions based on recent election outcomes. I'm the Debbie Downer in that sea of optimism. I'm looking for the unusual suspects.

I've been posting in this issue recently 

• Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? 
• UFT 2025 Opposition Election Update: What are the Possibilities? A slate of people, not caucuses

and have received push back from some of TUS, many of whom are long-time activists in the opposition, with the major disagreements coming from the caucus people who think my calls for broader participation in the process of organizing is disparaging the work of caucuses. 

That is misinterpreting my position. 

I do think active caucuses that actually want to win the election (not always true in the past - see 2019 election and MORE Caucus) must be a necessary component of any effort to unseat Unity. The question is what is left of the 7 groups from 2022 that are still active? ICE without James and Solidarity without Lydia are dormant. 

So, we have Retiree Advocate, New Action and MORE, and from what we hear there are factions within MORE that either want to run alone as they did in 2019 or not run at all so they can focus on their agenda, though the majority seem to want to not miss the boat in case the oppo does win. We don't know yet if MORE will be on board. So what is left of UFC? NAC and RA, which itself is cross-fertilized with NAC.

And then there is a growing list of open and behind the scenes Unity defectors -- at least at the school level - call them the Unity Light Underground Caucus. 

Plus consider that there are independents who do not want to be connected to a formal caucus but might be interested in playing a role in the election.

I have disparaged the process of caucuses in the past, even my own caucuses because the process of operating a caucus bogs down the ability to act -- I won't get into details but I no longer have the patience to wait for the caucus process to play out in an election campaign. 

The democratic process caucuses operate under sometimes are not so democratic as power is distributed to a few at the top no matter how "democratic" they supposedly are. I know, because at times I have been one of those few. Most people who sign up for a caucus do not want to do much heavy lifting on a regular basis and power flows to those who do.

So fundamental decisions in the caucuses are mostly made by a few people and putting these few people in control over the election process shuts out potential voices of the rank and file.

The 2022 UFC coalition followed this pattern and I keep contending that the actual vote totals in each division (other than retirees) fundamentally didn't change from the 2016 election where MORE and New Action teamed up. 

Supposedly with 7 groups involved in 2022 one would have expected a surge in votes for the opposition. Instead we saw the % go up due to Unity drops in votes but the oppo didn't pick up those votes. Even in HS which we won, the total votes for oppo went up only by 300 votes (2650) over 2016 despite a massive focus and blitz on member mail boxes. There are almost 20k high school teachers and the poor totals show a failure to GOTV in significant numbers even in schools where UFC members were located. 

The entire process involved relatively few people in the negotiations though of course the caucus members may have been involved to some extent, and relatively few people actually active in the campaign (more were involved in the petitioning, which is always draining). Last time the 3 major caucuses were Solidarity, New Action and MORE, with ICE joining in and the Eternos playing a prominent role. And there were other groups and individuals involved in the UFC organizing committee. And UFC did run 400 people but relatively few of those played an active role in the election.

A process where caucus leaders decide on platform, candidates, and election strategy behind closed doors and then spring it all on the membership leaves the latter in a position of not being involved other than being asked for their votes. The failure to involve a broader coalition beyond TUS will keep the election limited to the outreach each caucus has -- limited outreach that does not go very deep into the schools. Not a winning strategy.

A new paradigm must be found that runs deep into schools beyond where TUS reside and engages more of a rank and file, not only to vote, but to get involved at ground zero of a campaign. I will repeat: Relying on caucuses to plan and run a UFT election campaign ends up being in the hands of a few people who become the dominate players and deciders in the election, a process that excludes 99% of UFT members other than asking for their votes.

I'm urging a big reach-out to the vast unknown of the rank and file to check the pulse to see if something similar to retirees and paras is brewing with teachers. Unlike past elections this one can be a serious attempt to change the UFT leadership. Is there's a buzz out there with people stepping forward who would be factors in organizing in their schools and districts? Or the usual apathy? If so, Unity may have nothing to worry about.

There needs to be deep roots into the schools and not just the surface roots the caucuses offer in order to win the entire election and dislodge Unity once and for all.

And if that happens? Keep an eye on how a winning coalition transitions from challenging Unity to running the UFT. I hope I'm around to watch it happen.

 

Mulgrew PR Distraction: We are taking the health care fight national, even though we know it will not happen, while we Try to Privatize Retiree Health Locally

Watch what they (Unity) do, not what they say... Norm homily

...he (Mulgrew) favors a system where pieces of our benefits are controlled by industrialists who want to make money off of healthcare. That system most definitely will never be in our interest, and he shouldn’t be spending our dues money trying to shore those plutocrats up.... Under Assault

How will Retiree Advocate and or the RTC officers and exec bd respond to the Mulgrew letter to members? ... Anon.

CVS/Aetna reported $8.34 billion in profit last year, and spent $12,476,000 lobbying against policies like universal healthcare and lower prescription costs.

 

This is the company

@UFT Mulgrew and his caucus want to dump NYC Retirees in. This is why we voted them out. Arthur Goldstein

@TeacherArthurG

 

Melanie D'Arrigo

@DarrigoMelanie

by funding the opposition to universal healthcare and lower prescription costs, they’re bankrupting patients and families at best, denying them care and leaving them to die at worst.

 

Michael Mulgrew got up and said he now opposed the city Medicare Advantage Plan. However, as I wrote him, he’s done absolutely nothing to support our court cases or legislation---- I think Mulgrew is too set in his ways to change course. I think Mulgrew figures well, I said I opposed the Aetna plan, and that should be good enough for anyone. I think the “very smart” Unity hacks who advise him told him that would be enough, and that we would fold.--- Arthur Goldstein

 

Also See his: https://arthurgoldstein.substack.com/p/mulgrews-very-smart-people-blunder?

Marianne mocks Mulgrew and responds (see below) or click: https://youtu.be/hrBGUqLkMlM?si=lHeo3GqobDTQ2PzZ

Sunday, July 28, 2024 - Mulgrew at the AFT - Oh, the outrage

 

Arthur and Melanie hit the target. When Mulgrew and Randi talk about national healthcare they think of MedAdv as controlled by companies like Aetna- how many times did Mulgrew say that MedAdv is just Medicare Part C -- equating a public plan with privatized ones --- and this is in their and the Dem Party plans. How can they ignore that $12 million in lobbying money with their total ties to the interests of the Democratic Party?

 

$168,600

That's the upper salary that people pay into SS. Only the Social Security tax has a wage base limit. The wage base limit is the maximum wage that's subject to the tax for that year.   Let's put the so-called Mulgrew/AFT support for a "protecting" social security on the block. You know how to protect social security? Raise the wage limit to half a million or even a million dollars. I looked through the resolution and it is all generalities -- calls for legislation but Randi and Mulgrew won't be specific because the Dem Party is to afraid to call for raising the wage base limit for fear of Republican attacks. 

 

Seeking fed leg is a joke and distraction

In the photo of Mulgrew making his reso at the AFT check out how bored LeRoy Barr looks. He knows its all bullshit to try to recover Mulgrew's awful rep and counter propaganda to the big Unity loss in the retiree election.  Look at this reso as the opening salvo in the 2025 UFT election. Some of us thought Unity might switch Mulgrew out but that would have already happened. Arthur hit it -- They are doubling down on Mulgrew and assume they can fool enough people all the time. LeRoy read the riot act to staffers that the oppo was coming for their jobs so they better start campaigning now. But it won't work. The Unity cow has left the barn.

 

Read the full resolution

Note how carefully worded it is to avoid specifics and generalize the motion to make it meaningless.

Mulgrew wrote this outrageous letter to members. But I rework it to express what is really going on as a parody.

 

Michael Mulgrew Bogus, PR Reso on national healthcare is a beard to cover his opposition to a real way to get national healthcare by supporting state and regional initiatives.

Earlier today, on the floor of the American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston, Texas, I motivated a resolution to seek federal legislation to protect Medicare and expand Social Security benefits for seniors — and to ensure that these benefits will never be diminished. Forget the fact that I worked diligently in the MLC in NYC in concert with Mayor Adams to weaken Medicare and reduce benefits for seniors while promoting a privatized MedAdv plan that itself would definitely NOT protect Medicare but in fact would weaken it.
 
We’ve said for years we need federal intervention to protect all our health care benefits for both retirees and in-service members as a way to deflect from our actions to take away Medicare on the MLC.

 

We can no longer wait for the federal government to do the right thing. We need to push for it, and the push starts with our retirees while we stab those NYC retirees in the back. We will fight like hell oppose any state-wide moves.
 
This fight needs to be national even though we full well know there is zero chance of making any changes. Protecting health care at the local and state levels isn't enough while we use specious arguments to oppose any moves to implement local and regional solutions that would expand medicare and would benefit not only retirees but everyone.

 

We need to wage a war against an industry that cares more about quarterly profits and bonuses than its patients’ care while we promote that very industry like Aetna as solutions in NYC while the Dem party rakes in contributions from these industry lobbyists.

 

Let’s not forget: Our members pay into Medicare and Social Security throughout their careers (while we let anyone who makes over 168k off the hook), and we cannot let opponents chip away at these programs while I and my fellows on the MLC chip away all the way. Our retirement security depends on them, except for those teacher retirees we supposedly represent.

 

No one works harder than public school educators, nurses and other public employees. The push for this federal legislation is just the first step in a campaign to protect the health care of all UFT members, both working and retired. Of course we have no plan when we ignore a strategy of gaining national health care through a local strategy. With so much at stake in the elections in November, Congress needs to lock in Medicare and Social Security benefits, and it needs to act now while we make sure to oppose any state level moves to do the same. But we always want Dem party funders and lobbyists from the health care industry on board so like ObamaCare and will always keep a warm spot open for them to make their profits on the backs of our members.

 

Sincerely,

Someone named Michael (just in case the UFT sends lawyers after me like they did to Arthur.)

-----

Under Assault also comments on Mulgrew’s new resolutions: an exercise in futility .... Fighting for Traditional Medicare has never been on the UFT agenda as far as I know. It’s hardly within its purview... The Second resolution is practically meaningless. No candidate at the federal or state level is currently trying to find a real solution to preserve “high-quality and affordable benefits.” The only way to do that would be to change the tax structure and cut the ravenous middlemen corporations out altogether – those giant entities that have taken over the healthcare industries from top to bottom, eating up Medicare dollars. That solution would be Single Payer, and I don’t hear anyone talking much about it these days.... As for the Third resolution:  there are no “simple solutions” to healthcare. (I don’t even understand what Mulgrew means by “simple solutions to necessary changes” – and I don’t think he knows either.)... for the Fourth, where Mulgrew says they’ll seek federal legislation to ensure that Medicare and SS won’t be diminished. Exactly what form will that “seeking” take? The AFT won’t find big solutions with the lobbyists.

Here is a letter to The Chief from Harry Weiner

No advantages

Posted Wednesday, July 24, 2024 2:40 pm 

https://thechiefleader.com/stories/no-advantages,52791

To the editor: 

UFT President Michael Mulgrew has withdrawn support for the Medicare Advantage and the current health care negotiations for in-service and pre-Medicare retirees. In a letter to the Municipal Labor Committee outlining his about-face, he complained that “this administration has proven to be more interested in cutting its costs than honestly working with us to provide high-quality healthcare to city workers.” 

In an NY1 interview, Mulgrew added that the City “should stop all of these appeals” and expressed concern that a court labeled City attorneys “incompetent.” He also told The Chief that the relationship with administration officials has become “adversarial.” 

These are crocodile tears, as MLC attorneys, with his blessing, have sided with the city in litigation brought by retirees. MLC legal filings have failed, and their lawyers are losing all the way to the bank. 

According to the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, MLC attorney Alan Klinger was paid $882,000 in 2022 and $763,000 in 2023 to fight the retirees in court. (The MLC’s house attorney, Harry Greenberg, has a $60,000 annual income.) With cash reserves drained, an attempt was made to pass an MLC dues increase to cover the $700,000 debt owed to a consulting firm for health plan guidance.
 

MLC Chair Harry Nespoli sent a letter to Mayor Adams echoing Mulgrew’s concerns about protracted ”legal hurdles.” Sadly, there was no call to drop any appeal. Nor did the MLC (or Mulgrew) endorse city and state legislation to protect retiree health benefits. 

Nespoli writes that the mayor has rebuffed requests to meet, collaborate and resolve delays. Hizzoner won’t return calls. Nespoli now knows how snubbed the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees has felt these past three years. 

Harry Weiner 

  Marianne video

UFT 2025 Opposition Election Update: What are the Possibilities? A slate of people, not caucuses

Can a broad coalition be built without caucuses controlling the process? Let's avoid having a narrow group of people make fundamental decisions.

 

Anonymous comment: Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? What was right and wrong with the UFC Coalition

Sun Tzu famously said that battles are won or lost before they begin. The general UFT election is now one year away and currently there is NO organized group right now ready to take on Unity. That fact alone is bad enough. The other fact is that another coalition effort will probably face the same challenges it did last time. Add to that, MORE has turned off a lot of rank and file UFT members with their radical/world political agenda that has nothing to do with our working conditions. Unity can be beat but a hardcore force must start NOW. Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 11:38:00 AM ED

Norm health report: I ate a giant cheeseburger last night. 

 

Norm social report: After a doc appt and breakfast with my cousin visiting from Israel (only family, no political talk) I will head down to 52 to visit Bennett Fischer in the new RTC office on the 17th floor.

Wednesday, July 24

This is a follow-up to my June 26 pre-op post (Can Unity Be Beaten in 2025 UFT Election? What was right and wrong with the UFC Coalition) and I know I repeat myself but time is growing short and attention must be paid.

 

I've helped build 3 opposition caucuses in the UFT over the past 54 years (CSW in the 70s, ICE in the oughts and MORE a dozen years ago). And I was involved in the process of building a coalition of caucuses for the 2022 UFT election campaign (United for Change). 

 

I'm not a fan of the latter process, nor giving relatively few people from the caucus steering committees control. I don't think the steering committees of the caucuses should be the controlling force for this crucial upcoming election, especially since there is wide disparity in the different caucuses' approach. 

 

The landscape has changed in two years. James Eterno is gone and ICE is fundamentally me managing a listserve and getting things posted on the ICE blog occasionally and holding meetings every two months.

With Lydia, the heart and soul of Solidarity, out of the DOE, we have heard little from them. I know they do have a council, but other than that, they have not had any imprint on the UFT.

That leaves New Action and MORE as the caucuses with active UFTers and Retiree Advocate as the remaining members. RA with its big win is now very influential and also reps the biggest block of people in the UFT. 

A new game in town is the Fix Para Pay group that won seats overwhelmingly in the recent election. Paras represent a major block of 27k members in the UFT and a slate in next year's election must include them. If retirees and paras go oppo that is major and puts the 19 functional Ex Bd seats into play.

And there are new players emerging, though I'm not sure where that's going yet.

As for EONYC - the Daniel Alicea operation, he has joined New Action. But The Wire has great outreach and will be influential. Daniel is not limited by New Action in independent activities.

 

The MORE Problem

There are reports that there is a hard core group (a minority at this time) in MORE that doesn't think running in elections is worth the effort and oppose making coalition with groups that are not aligned with their politics. In my last days in MORE in the fall of 2018 when they wanted to run alone (a disaster as I predicted) I proposed they don't run and mess it up for the groups that did want to run. They decided to run a small campaign with the aim of not winning anything and fundamentally shit the bed. MORE learned its lesson and worked with the rest of the oppo in 2022. But who knows where they stand now?

For a deep dive on where MORE might go, read Ryan Bruckenthal May 16 (pre-RA and Para elections) and Peter Lamphere June 23 post election analysis at the MORE blog:

• The Movement of Rank and File Educators and the Case for an Inside/Outside Strategy to Build a Progressive Big Tent Within the UFT

• What could a grassroots UFT election campaign look like?

Both are influential in MORE and seem to favor coalition. Ryan even looks at working with Unity on some issues. I have some positive and negative analysis of both pieces but I'm too busy eating cheeseburgers to dig deep.

 

The problem seems to be how the other oppo people feel about the perception seeping into the rank and file that MORE's politics may be too far off the mainstream and working with them would cost votes: A feeling that MORE has taken its eye off the prize of focusing on the needs of UFT members. (See anon comment leading off this article.)

 

There are still questions over whether MORE will decide to work with others (see below for how that's worked out over the past few years), will go it alone or won't run at all. Frankly, with the big RA and Para election victories, which MORE supported but did not play a major role in, I don't see how they can miss the opportunity to win the overall election next year and thus be left out in the cold.

 

I still see some people compare MORE to CORE in Chicago, which won the union election less than 2 years after its founding. It's hard to believe, but as a founder of MORE, we started meetings to found MORE in 2011 -- MORE is over 13 years old and has no glimmer of winning a UFT election on its own. 

New Action has revived

In the 2019 4 caucus election, New Action finished last behind MORE, was packed with retirees and looked dead in the water. But they began to revive in the 2022 election and with powerhouse people like Nick Bacon and Daniel Alicea and others who have left MORE, New Action is back in the game. And key NA retirees are also involved with Retiree Advocate. What NA has is a very energetic outreach program to CL with a big mailing list covering hundreds of schools.

Retiree Advocate has astounded the UFT world with its recent 63% win in the chapter election, so some think RA holds the cards and the key to the 2025 UFT election. As a core member of the RA Organizing committee, I certainly have influence but I have mixed feelings about retirees playing the major role in a UFT election. We always criticized Unity for using retirees to control the election. But facts are facts. The retiree vote is major. Jonathan did an analysis that showed if retirees voted for us by the same margin in the 2022 election, we would have won by a narrow margin.

Still, I think relying on retirees to carry the day in forming an election slate is the wrong approach. But RA members must have a role but active UFT members must lead the way. But where will they come from? I would ask how many CL and Del to NA and MORE have after the recent chapter elections? I have no answers yet but those numbers would be a key to how much outreach an oppo would have in the schools. (Though in 2022 other than high schools I didn't see much growth in the elem and ms despite the CL in the caucuses.)

 

The UFC process in 2022 was too narrow and restrictive and never figured out how to reach into the rank and file to broaden the coalition. The stagnant vote outcomes in 2022 was proof of this failure. It will take going deeper into schools to shake the tree and build to a victory next year. Thus, I think an open call for people to get involved early might spark a reaction beyond the usual suspects. But the usual suspects may be reluctant to yield control to what might be an unknown mass.

 

Meeting secretly and hammering out a slate and springing it on people seems counterproductive but I don't have a simple alternative. Some way must be found of getting more people beyond the usual suspects involved in the process, necessary to win a resounding victory. RA won the RTC election by getting deep into the non-activist wing to gather 17k votes. Getting 300 people to run was one key factor.

We'd need almost 800 to fill a slate next year. That won't happen without a broad appeal. (Some are saying don't worry about the AFT/NYSUT delegates - let Unity have them. I absolutely disagree. That would be like RA only running officers and letting Unity have the DA.

 

The genesis of UFC for the 2022 UFT election

Just about 3 years ago, private calls went out to all the caucuses or semi-caucuses (New Action, Solidarity, MORE, ICE) and other independent sources (EONYC) to start meeting to form a coalition to run against Unity in the spring of 2022.

Meetings with 2 reps from each group ensued to knock out a platform (relatively easy) and come up with a slate of candidates (hard). And the games ensued with a lot of angst, some blowups and lingering resentment. But once the candidates were settled by early January, the UFC coalition (mostly) came together for the petitioning (which I coordinated - so I saw first hand which individuals in which groups were doing the work). As for the campaign, there was some coordination but the campaign was mostly the same old, same old -- run around the city stuffing leaflets in mail boxes. I'd bet if we did no mass stuffing and just focused on the schools where we had live bodies to get out the vote, we'd do better.

The election outcome with the big win of the 7 high school seats and rising percentages in other divisions were cheered by many in UFC, but not by me as the UFC totals in middle school (under 1000 votes) and elementary schools and probably functional fundamentally matched the MORE/New Action numbers from 2016 - except the retiree numbers which hit 30%. Given the amount of groups and people involved in the UFT effort, I viewed the 2022 election as a dud.

Here were quick takeaways from my May 22, 2022 post:

• Unity got slammed, losing votes in all divisions compared to the past.
• I thought newbie UFCers who actually thought we would win would be crushed - instead many were excited and already talking about 2025.
  
• UFC didn't pick up what Unity dropped (except possibly in retirees and a little bit in high schools), just about matching the 2016 oppo numbers. Beware of those calling this a great victory. At this rate of growth I will be 101 when the oppo wins in 2046.
  
• UFC gained from 2019 oppo disaster and restored a sense of an opposition, getting the most votes the oppo has ever gotten, winning the high schools with 55% and almost winning the middle schools with 44% and closing the gap in elementary and winning 33% overall, the closest in a long time.  Despite the gains, UFC did not get out the vote as well as I expected. I began the campaign thinking we could win all three teaching divisions. While we did get 44% of the teacher vote, that is due mostly to Unity's failure to bring out its vote, not due to UFC getting a big turnout - matching 2016 is still status quo - as is winning the 7 HS Ex Bd as we did in 2016. Let's say UFC could win in 2025 or 2028 -- with these numbers? I'm not sure there is enough of a union underneath to deliver.
  
• Is spending enormous time and money flooding teacher mail boxes with lit - for both Unity and oppo - really worth it. Also - we thought social media would bring out votes -- it didn't. Few will agree with me on these points but I will continue to stand by them. The numbers prove it.
• Possibly the biggest achievement of the 2022 election may be the very existence of a United for Change broad coalition. While formed as a temporary vehicle for this election, there are signs UFC will continue in some form while giving each caucus space to develop. The 7 electeds represent all the groups and the candidates have pledged to continue working together. I love that they come from MORE, Solidarity, New Action, ICE - but also they are broad-minded to see outside their own caucus. Preliminary meetings indicate excitement at working together.
  

Well, I was right on everything but the last point about UFC continuing in some form. Turns out the primary aims of some caucuses (guess which?) was their own growth and development and UFC was forgotten the day after the election. Calls for UFC to meet fell on deaf ears in some quarters - but UFC did continue through the high school reps meeting and communicating - for the first year before things began to fall apart this school year, totally fragmenting the UFC high school reps.

Thousands of UFT members voted for UFC, not for any one caucus. I remind you of the 2019 disaster when 3 caucuses ran independently. So the rank and file want a coalition and are not happy with fragmentation. Caucuses should not get the idea it was them. It was the idea of a united opposition that got these vote.

So only some kind of coalition is necessary. But I do not trust the same process as took place in 2022 - behind closed door secret meetings where each group had veto power - an unworkable situation going forward.

 

So can Humpty Dumpty be put back together again? I say no. We need a new paradigm that is inclusive of people from caucuses but does not give any caucus itself major control of an opposition group. A slate of people, not caucuses.

 

Thus I propose moving towards some ad hoc group of individuals that put something together with people from all the caucuses involved but not slaves to caucus veto or controls. This is not easy because caucuses are so proprietary -- though I feel RA is less so than others.

But say we did cobble together a coalition of sorts, and won, here is a warning:

France’s Left Has a New Star, and a Fresh Crisis

Marine Tondelier, leader of the Green Party, helped bring the left together to win France’s parliamentary elections. Now can she help keep it from falling apart?

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/18/world/europe/france-green-party-marine-tondelier.html

 

“Our voters are screaming, ‘Do not betray us!’’’ Ms. Tondelier said in an interview last week in the modest headquarters of the Greens in the 10th District of Paris, an area once known principally for its two big train stations but which has, of late, acquired a hip reputation. “We have to be a government of combat, a government of action, of social justice,” she added. “It won’t be simple, easy, evident or comfortable, but we must make the effort.”

 

the parties of the alliance — the Greens, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party and the far-left France Unbowed of Jean-Luc Mélenchon — squabble. They have deadlocked over nominations for prime minister, taken to reciprocal insults, broken their promise of unity and generally floundered.

France Unbowed, whose pugnacious Mr. Mélenchon sees himself as the figurehead of the entire French left, has accused the Socialist Party of “vetoing any candidacy from the New Popular Front with the sole aim of imposing its own.” Olivier Faure, the Socialist leader, responded that he did not see “why the word of one should be imposed on all the others.”

All this has been too much for Ms. Tondelier, who by Wednesday was in an incandescent mood in an interview with the France 2 television network. “I am angry, disgusted and fed up,” she said. “And I feel desperate at the spectacle we are offering the French people.”

Every minute of the “ridiculous” internecine fights of the left only “won votes for the National Rally,” she said.

The left’s travails and divisions are nothing new. But for the seven million people who voted in the decisive second round of the election for the New Popular Front, the current disarray is dispiriting. Ten days ago, they danced in the streets. Their hopes were as varied as an improved minimum wage and protection for disappearing bird life in the French countryside.

 

 

ICE-UFT Unyielding in the Face of Unity Caucus’s Unwarranted Personal Attacks

Reposted from ICE-UFT blog:

 

ICE-UFT Unyielding in the Face of Unity Caucus’s Unwarranted Personal Attacks

New York, NY – May 31, 2024 – The Independent Community of Educators - United Federation of Teachers (ICE-UFT) vehemently denounces the recent onslaught of personal attacks instigated by the Unity Caucus, under the misguided leadership of UFT President Michael Mulgrew, against our esteemed members. These unwarranted attacks, orchestrated by District Representative Adam Shapiro and sanctioned by Staff Director Leroy Barr, are not only devoid of merit but also serve as a smokescreen, diverting attention from the urgent issues plaguing our educators and students.

ICE-UFT has consistently been a beacon of equity, justice, and authentic representation for all UFT members. Our unwavering commitment to cultivating an inclusive and supportive environment for educators remains steadfast. Regrettably, Unity Caucus, under the misguided leadership of President Mulgrew, has chosen to resort to personal attacks rather than engaging in constructive dialogue and addressing the legitimate concerns of our members.

Our priorities remain steadfast:

1. Championing Fair Working Conditions: We are committed to ensuring that all educators are provided with a safe and supportive work environment.
2. Demanding Transparency: We are relentless in our pursuit for greater transparency in union operations and decision-making processes.
3. Empowering Educators: We are dedicated to equipping educators with the necessary tools and support they need to excel in their roles and advocate for their rights.
4. Revamping Our Dental Plan: We are determined to rectify the deficiencies in our current dental coverage to ensure comprehensive and accessible dental care for all members.
5. Safeguarding Changes to Active Member and Retiree Healthcare: We are committed to ensuring that all changes to healthcare plans for active members and retirees prioritize quality care without escalating out-of-pocket expenses.
6. Securing a Living Wage for Paraprofessionals: We are unwavering in our advocacy for fair and livable wages to ensure that paraprofessionals receive the compensation they rightfully deserve.

We challenge Unity Caucus, President Mulgrew, District Representative Shapiro, and Staff Director Barr to abandon their personal attacks and join us in addressing the critical issues that impact our education system. The strength of our union lies in our collective ability to unite and collaborate for the betterment of our schools and communities.

ICE-UFT remains resolute in preserving the integrity of our union and will not be swayed by these divisive tactics. We extend an invitation to all members of the UFT to stand with us in solidarity, focusing on the shared objective of enhancing our education system for the benefit of both educators and students. We will not be silenced. We will not be deterred. We stand firm. We are ICE-UFT.