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.
