Stop the Steal - of UFT "Official" Retiree Web Page - Striking Back at Unity Caucus War on Internal Critics

Oh Susan Pulice, Puleeeeze!

The admin of the RTC’s Facebook group, along with her Unity caucus accomplices, remain embroiled in scandal as they seek to take away our union resource in plain sight. Arthur Goldstein digs deeper into the hypocrisy of the union’s ruling 1% party over this attempted heist of our dues. Calls for potential crowdsourcing to take legal action mount as the union counsel and top leadership drag their feet seeking to negotiate for their partisan agenda....EONYC

....there is the UFT Official Facebook Group for the RTC. That is run by one Susan Pulice, a Unity member. The most recent number I can find suggests our dues pay her in excess of 38K per year, along with perhaps a UFT pension.... they say, they don’t own the site. It’s in the name of Susan Pulice. There are compelling reasons why RTC should take over the site. They’ve been laid out, in pretty graphic detail, over at The Wire.... You could argue that every single person who signed up on Official RTC Facebook site, myself included, expected it to be a UFT site. You could argue that they did not, in fact, sign up for “The Social Spot—A Unity Community for Retirees.” You could, in fact, argue, that by walking with 6300 subscribers, that a fraud had been committed on those who signed up. You could argue they have stolen our built-in base, and that Unity is fine with that.... You could argue that this site represented itself as a union-sanctioned site. You could argue that the union announced as much in New York Teacher. You could argue that Pulice, by asserting ownership, was actually robbing the union of a resource created in the name of the United Federation of Teachers. You could, in fact, argue that ownership of the site was meaningless, and that the only important factor was who administrated the site....

....Arthur Goldstein, The Wire, Sept. 28

Call the FB police on Pulice.

Unity attacks Retiree Advocate for "consorting" with Marianne Pizzitola while the Unity hacks consort with the indicted Mayor Adams and other corrupt union leaders in the MLC to steal our healthcare.... The Norm.

Unity has a lot of damn gall lecturing us about whom we may affiliate with. We are fighting to make things better for us, and for rank and file. If our so-called leaders won’t help us, we’ll help ourselves....Arthur

There is real danger in taking a conflict-averse stance and rely on back door negotiating alone without bringing organizing muscle behind those negotiations. Yes, negotiate, but with force... Norm

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024

 

I write here as an individual, not in my capacity as a member of the Retiree Advocate Organizing committee, nor as a member of the newly elected RTC Executive Board and Delegate Assembly, since neither body has decided formally on how to deal with the stolen RTC FB page issue. 

 

I hear there are negotiations between some of the newly elected officers of RTC and UFT/Unity officials over a bunch of issues. Why we have to negotiate what rightfully should be ours indicates the Unity agenda - to obfuscate and obstruct. I don't oppose negotiations to win what we can but I also am not for hiding the crap they do, though some may fear by exposing them we make them more obstinate and put them more in attack mode. I say screw them -- we won the election by exposing them. Democracy doesn't flourish in darkness. 

 

Michael Mulgrew is selling you something you don't really need. Debunking Unity attack dog Ellie Engler

One of the Unity negotiators is the Unity attack dog Ellie Engler, a non-teacher who was known as one of Randi's gals. Mulgrew recently brought her back into the inner circle, along with Dave Hickey, to escalate the attacks. Engler is not very popular. See Marianne expose the UFT concierge fake advertising scam for HSS and MSK call service only: Debunking Ellie Engler UFT (not a teacher). Ellie sounds a bit like J.D. Vance. And I did see a cat in Marianne's video.

And what a joke the UFT service is. I called the MSK call center directly on June 7 and she made a surgeon and oncologist appointment on June 11. She took all my information for getting my records and sent me what I had to do online and when I saw the docs 4 days later they had everything in hand. My operation took place on June 26. Instead of going through a UFT middle person I did it directly.  Who would you trust? An MSK expert call center person or some UFT service? Amen. 

Unity hijacks the RTC Facebook Page

When I heard details about the supposedly "official" UFT retiree Facebook page, obviously pro-Unity, where the administrator in charge was being paid out of our dues to run it, being turned over to private hands and taking its 6k members with it, I LOL. I just love it when Unity does the usual dumb stuff. I predicted that their strategy was to go hard after critics only to have it fall on their faces.

 

RTC officers are negotiating for a promised new RTC FB page but with no access to the 6k membersUnity takes with them. (Watch those numbers and see if they shrink). In fact, I don't trust the leadership to turn over a page to the new RTC management without conditions. But let's see how that plays out over the next few weeks. Don't forget, they shut down the FB page soon after we won and have delayed and delayed until they could come up with a plan to screw us.

I’m up for a battle over what they did but also point out their page only attracted 6k out of 70k retirees and in the election last June it didn’t help them get more than 37% of the vote as we got 17k. So assume many of their 6k are hard core Unity voters. Let’s recruit to the new RTC page Jonathan will manage, if they let him. If Unity trolls join do we throw them out? No. Don't censor. Just respond.

There is real danger in taking a conflict-averse stance and rely on back door negotiating alone without bringing organizing muscle behind those negotiations. Yes, negotiate, but with force. Call it the inside/outside game.

Alicea brings the receipts

Daniel Alicea did an amazing job (see below) on short notice researching the history of that RTC FB page and proving it belongs to the UFT, not Unity Caucus' Susan Pulice. Daniel's been subjected to some criticism for chiming in on what looks on the surface to be a retiree issue. But if we let this go we set a dangerous precedent. What about all the other functional chapter web pages? When Unity lost the OT/PT chapter election they limited the ability of the chapter leader to communicate with members and an often isolated chapter leader did not have the backing, even from so-called friends, to fight back. Even now, RTC leaders must jump through some hoops and walk a fine line to get stuff published. Thank goodness for substacks and blogs. I'm glad Daniel didn't sit back and wait for someone else to act.

Unity retreat tomorrow (Sunday) to plot

Unity is constantly plotting to keep power. If Unity loses other functional chapter elections - can we expect the same kinds of actions? Sunday, Unity is having a general caucus meeting with a first-time special one for their retirees to plot how to take back control of the RTC chapter. Let's see what they do at the Oct. 22 RTC meeting -- which as many retirees as can should attend in person. Will Unity be there in force by dragging out their old retired war horses who are no longer delegates? Will they push back if Marianne and the lawyer report on the court case? Will they pull an over-the-top attempt to bar Marianne from the building? How much fun will that be as dozens of us pull out our cameras to record? 

 

Unity attacks Retiree Advocate for "consorting" with Marianne while the Unity hacks consort with the indicted Mayor Adams and other corrupt union leaders in the MLC to steal our healthcare.

 

Arthur commented briefly on Sept. 26:

I don’t want a cushy union job. That said, the RTC voted for me. They want me working for them. That’s why I’m here. Compare my work to that of the person who ran/ runs the UFT Facebook group they’re trying to steal from us. She ran a highly censored site that never reflected member interests (and yes, I will cover that in more detail). She assiduously suppressed our voices, and for that she pulled in over 38K from our dues, as of the last year I can look up online. Nice work if you can get it. Still, I wouldn’t do it at any price..... Let them do their worst. Last I looked, worst is what they do best. They are the disease, and our votes are the cure......A Tale of Two Internet Sites: Unity threatens me with civil and criminal penalties for exercising my First Amendment rights, but allows their own to do pretty much whatever

I give Daniel, a busy UFT activist, classroom teacher and parent, credit for putting this research together. I don't know if PERB is worth going to or even the proper venue (not I hear). Some say we should sue. I'm not up for doing that but fine for exposing them. Daniel has set up a scenario for taking action if someone wanted to.

Norm

Daniel brings the receipts.

The 'theft' of the UFT’s Retiree Chapter Facebook Group by Mulgrew’s Unity caucus: Open letter to UFT top leadership

After losing unilateral control of the UFT Retiree chapter, Mulgrew’s Unity administrative caucus seeks to obstruct union business in true sore loser fashion.

Dan Alicea

Sep 25, 2024

 

Here is my email to leadership last night …

Subject line: Theft of our union retiree social media Facebook organ

Esteemed,

It has come to my attention that some in union leadership and their Unity caucus are allowing the theft of the official UFT retiree teacher chapter Facebook group that serves as an official organ/vehicle of chapter communications.

This page has over 6.3k UFT retiree members subscribed to it and it has used union resources, funded from our dues, to promote and manage it. 

See it promoted as “our Facebook group” on our UFT website here:

https://www.uft.org/chapters/retired-teachers-chapter/quick-links

It also has come to my attention that additional union resources and time were used to manage this Facebook group when the chapter was under its previous leadership.

The group’s image banners promote it as the official Facebook group of the UFT RTC. See screenshots that are attached.

After the new RA slate won leadership of the chapter in July of this year, they should have been given full control of this chapter organ/vehicle. It was literally a matter of giving admin status to existing members of the FB group who are now leaders of the chapter. As we approach October there is still foot dragging.

We know that in January of this year, all official UFT social media accounts were to register with the union. The group is listed on our registry of official social media accounts

See: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iXlyrJwCy5lo-LhHNUTmKO6fHnbF76BXw54oCR3Ie0g/edit

I’ve provided screenshots of the McFayden email instructing all admins throughout our union social media ecosystem to register their sites and pages, also. For this reason the RTC group is listed in our union’s registry of official satellite social media accounts.

In 2020, the New York Teacher, our official union newspaper promoted the FB group as the chapter’s official Facebook group in this article:

https://www.uft.org/news/retired-teachers-chapter-news/rtc-service/facebook-keeps-retirees-connected

Now, I understand that this Facebook group is being held “hostage” by the admin of the group, Ms Susan Pulice, and others in leadership. They are seemingly using this platform as leverage for intimidation of others and for personal gain/partisan politics.

Today, Ms. Pulice announced that the UFT RTC Facebook group will become the sole property of herself and her caucus to communicate with UFT retirees. 

Let’s keep in mind that those who joined this RTC group never joined the group under this new pretense or that they would be shuffled under a new name for partisan political purposes.

This matter is serious and grave. Members should know what is happening and that their dues are not being used improperly.

I expect that leadership will take swift action to rectify it and ensure the new RTC leadership is given immediate access to this union resource/vehicle with no more further delays.

I am also confident that Unity caucus leadership will do what is ethically correct to ensure our union resources are not abused or used for personal gain. 

I am asking the union counsel to issue some type of legal notice to those seeking to steal our collective union property. It belongs to us.

Thank you in anticipation of your swift actions to rectify this injustice to our entire membership, especially our retirees.

In solidarity, 

D. Alicea

Special education teacher 

MS 53, Far Rockaway 

Chapter delegate 

Postscript: I speak as a proud member of my union, not RTC. The precedents this sets against dues paying members and our official spaces for communication and resources is dangerous and plain wrong.

 

 

 

See below for retiree comments on the theft of the Retiree Advocate  FB page:

------ 

 

...has anyone else seen this notice on the former "Official" UFT retiree Facebook page? Looks like Unity has taken it over. — mischaracterizing this blatantly partisan move as "social." Here's the announcement from Susan Pulice:

Good Morning Friends!

I have exciting news. Our group will reopen soon with a new name. We will be called, The Social Spot ~ A Unity Community for Retirees I look forward to sharing the joy of retirement with you again and will continue to provide support for our group members. Look for the grand reopening in mid October.

Have a fantastic day!!!

Susan

I hated her at DA meetings, and I like her even less, now that I’m a retiree. The only way to get rid of her is to vote out the whole UNITY slate! Still pushing the “vote out unity” with all of my active friends.

 

Arthur Goldstein

This could mean a few things. 1. It certainly means that Unity has been lying to us, RA members on the Executive Board, since their first meeting with us last summer. 2. It could mean that Susan Pulice owns the board, not UFT. If that's the case, she has been using the UFT Official brand when it was not, in fact, UFT official business. Therefore, UFT lawyers should go after her for an ongoing fraud. 3. It means that the board was entirely political and not representative of UFT, and that it was operated under false pretenses, with the blessing of all the UFT muckety-mucks.

 

it’s an official group since you have give your file number to join. She has full access to our information. I got booted because I won’t use my real last name on fb even though it was Susan who allowed me in. The group was new and when it got big I got booted. She tried to say I don’t know who let you in but I sent her screenshots that it was her.

If the new group is a social group we shouldn’t have to give a file numbers to join. It’s just all a bunch of lies as always.

 

If the new group is a Unity group, they have no right to walk away with the 6300 members who joined a UFT group. That is wildly unethical.

 

Since when do they do anything ethical? I had written to Susan when she insisted I change my fb name and I told her how do you know you aren’t putting me in danger? You have my credentials and yet you don’t care. You don’t know if someone is after me or many other reasons people don’t use their real names on fb. I have it all as I never deleted it. I even wrote numerous times to the union and they did nothing. I was going to call social services for them causing me stress and keeping me out of a group I pay dues for. I wrote to Mulgrew and Murphy as well. I never got any results.

 

I think it's an error to leave her with 6K followers who signed up for a UFT page. I hear the issue is she owns the page and cannot transfer ownership. If that's the case, and she's unwilling to transfer the moderator role to someone elected, she should shut the thing down.

 

Agreed that the issue is that she used the UFT name (apparently with authorization) to attract members to her group — I am or was a member, not merely a follower, although she warned me about my very rare posts, threatening to expel me — and plans to switch them to this new group. Let’s see if Meta allows this. What if I joined a civil rights group that changed its name to the KKK? I don’t know if being the admin and founder of a group means you own it. Surely Meta has some rules? Or I’d hope so.

 

My take as a proud, dues paying member. This sets more dangerous precedent.

Similar strong arming by Unity happened when OT/PTs won the election a few years back and they turned over the page not to the chapter but a Unity PM staffer.

The precedents this sets against dues paying members and our official spaces for communication and resources is dangerous and plain wrong.

Our dues are used to promote and maintain these official spaces.

 

Not buying the 'social' spin, Unity - this is a blatant takeover!

 

That’s disgusting and so is she. We should start a page “UFT In-Service! RA Loved You!”

 

It is the official UFT page and it was started by UNITY. I doubt that as long as UNITY is in power that we will be able to do anything about it.  

 

 

Elections Have Consequences: PR Blitz to Breathe Life Into Mulgrew, Make UFT More Responsive (finally), Unity Tries to Avert Defeat

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024

The recent Unity major losses in elections has created a sense of panic in the upper halls of the UFT, and some shake-ups. At the AFT convention in Houston in July Staff Director LeRoy Barr lectured the staff, blaming them and absolving leadership, telling them the opposition was well organized and coming for their jobs and they better start campaigning immediately. 

Calling the opposition well organized shows how much LeRoy doesn't know - but I actually have faith that LeRoy knows the opposition real well and was just blowing smoke to scare the staff into worrying about their jobs. (Don't worry boys and girls, those who actually do their jobs instead of being Unity shills will be safe if the oppo wins.)

So, the best thing Mulgrew has going for him is the state of opposition. But expect a Unity full court press- like this:

Need someone to talk to? We're here

I think of the Reagan comment about government and we're here to help. After decades of not helping,  Unity lost an election and now wants to help? But do they even remember how?

Mulgrew never takes responsibility and puts blames on others

Mulgrew supposedly reamed out the staff before school started and shook up the hierarchy. Anthony Harmon is off to NYSUT and Ellie Engler has been brought back to be co-staff Director in his place. Where does that put LeRoy Barr? Probably not in the dog house with Mulgrew's dog, but Mulgrew may have ordered him to get rid of his cat if he has one so as not to come on a certain VP candidate's radar. Is Mulgrew blaming LeRoy or his cat for the recent big election losses? Mike Sill, who I like (the kiss of death) has moved into something or other. Insiders say morale has sunk at 52 where people see these moves as moving deck chairs. 

At a staff meeting, staff actually received copies of the Labor Notes, "Secrets of a Successful Organizer," a bible on the left, especially in MORE where for years I sat through bouts of the same Labor Notes training where we were told to keep a tally sheet of our staff, something I managed to figure out on my own in the 1970s. After all that training I didn't notice an enormous uptick in organized schools in the last election, but if you want to see a preview of the lessons your beloved UFT rep will bring to your chapter, see the list at the end of this article - and even read up to prep for their visit -- and be ready for How to Be a Good Listener.

See how well they listen to you and how they tell you they can really do nothing about your principal.

So what irony that Unity is trying to emulate the "successful" organizing of MORE,  a caucus in its 14th year of existence and not in a position to run head to head against Unity - and never will be no matter how much Labor Notes training they undergo. 

Thus MORE may be forced against its will to work with other caucuses and groups in a potentially winnable year, though I imagine from my last days in MORE when I pushed back against those who wanted to run not to win that there is still a faction that either wants to run alone (the Greta Garbo group) or not run at all. The latter is ironic since I was one of the few voices in MORE's first election in 2013 urging MORE not to waste resources on running and use the time to build its infrastructure as a new caucus, one of the many battles I lost in MORE. In the decade since, MORE did build infrastructure, but given the size of the school system, it's still a blip. Maybe next decade. 

What's left of UFC? New Action and Retiree Advocate and maybe MORE which is still deciding

The other main strands of the opposition is a resurgent New Action back from the 2019 dead and the new king of the hill, Retiree Advocate, whose victory and 300 delegates are game changers in the UFT. They may be the heart of the oppo movement this year. I will have a lot more to say in about a week on where the election movement stands at this point.

ICE is an open end discussion group -- a listserve and a dormant blog - but we did zoom Sunday night to discuss the state of the UFT election. Always a great and eclectic group of people that ICE attracts. I always come away from an ICE event feeling better -- a reason to keep us getting together where we hear some of the smartest analysis.

Solidarity is trying to make a claim but has internal battles and I maintain without the force of Lydia's personality and leadership it can't be more than bit player -- but watch the squawks of some of them claiming equality with the other caucuses. Squawk away since one of the requirements may be for caucuses to show they are legit by showing at least 25 CL and delegates as proof they have people who can get elected in their own schools.

So fundamentally, the hope from the UFC coalition from the 2022 election would have opposition infrastructure in place for this election died soon after the election ended when MORE lost interest and the rest of the group drifted. That UFC in essence died is the best friend Unity has in its chance of winning as those wanting to defeat Unity were set back to ground zero. 

Unity will flood the schools with staff offering to help and Mulgrew promos, but will that help or hurt?

Unity relies on a chain of command -- central - borough- district - school Unity and associated CL to get the message to members. Even in the 2022 UFT election, the Unity vote totals dropped as most rolled their eyes at the glossy flyers. The problem for the oppo was that the members also generally rolled their eyes at them too. The goal for the oppo this time is to turn those lonely eyes to them if they expect to win. And to vastly expand he base from the usual caucus suspects. I ruminated on this point on Aug. 7:

• 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

Expect many visits from your District and borough special reps. But also expect most people to yawn. There are weak links in this chain - some clueless Dist reps and most importantly, a waning loyalty at the school level from the Unity faithful. Seeing the possibility of the opposition actually winning next year, some in Unity "light," as they are known, may be rethinking their options. Why not give up your paltry after school patronage job and sign up with the oppo to get an early foothold?

The weakest link in Unity is still Mulgrew himself.

Reports from UFT Chapter Leader training, Aug 28:

It was like a bad PD, person after person talking and I zoned out;

they meant well but they lost the new people like me....

Mulgrew’s rambling about cell phones. It’s not coherent - but maybe that’s because I’m starving. Now he’s talking about “we don’t always go Democrat in fact maybe we will vote Republican one day.” Now he's talking what why it's not that big of a deal if they get rid of the Dept of Ed at the federal level...Aside from the minor detail of civil rights being violated all over the nation, what could go wrong? Thinks ranked choice voting is stupid and dangerous... Elizabeth Perez gave him this big intro and said “he has squirrels in his head” and I can’t stop laughing.... Squirrels in his head would explain a lot. Sounds even worse than RFK Jr.'s brainworm.... Michael droned on and on and talked about how a high percentage of teachers get cancer. The whole thing was awful. And then asked who wants time for questions? No one raised their hand. Who wants to leave? The whole room...MM is the Manchurian Candidate

Oy! Mulgrew so Trumpian and is fundamentally a Republican, so I'm not surprised -- he probably wished he had been invited to the Republican convention. By the way -- while the AFT and NYSUT have geared up to back the Dem ticket, the usual UFT political operation has been dormant until recently.

At one point people believed Mulgrew might be replaced. In the last election two years ago they hid Mulgrew with no photos of him on their leaflets (in contrast to the 2019 election when his photo was all over the place). Then came the disaster of last spring's chapter elections - we know the para and retiree results, but have little data on the school levels -- how many Unity were replaced? How many activist CL and Del were elected? I hear MORE caucus claimes over 100.

If Mulgrew were to be replaced that would have happened already to give the new person some serious time as an incumbent, so that train has left the station. Some think he would take something in the AFT but he's a fish out of water there. And besides, Unity doesn't have a very big bench. Like who can replace him? See if you can come up with potential replacements.

Here are some promos for Mulgrew for your joy of reading.

From congestion pricing to Medicare Advantage, the politically nimble leader of the teachers union seems to always come out on top, Bob Hennelly, City and State.... WTF

 

How about this puff piece from City & State?

Michael Mulgrew: “Shrewd Political Instincts and a Willingness to Pivot”

Class politics

* United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew’s political flexibility has enabled him to almost always come out on top when it comes to the most contentious issues facing his members, from the pitched battle between retirees and the city over Medicare Advantage plans to the ongoing debate over congestion pricing.

 

Peter Goodman,  minister of propaganda for unity reprinted the article on The Wire, prompting this response: 

reads like an article in The Onion. The "shrewd political instincts" of Michael Mulgrew delivered us a sub-inflation contract (aka pay cuts), an all-out attempt to move municipal employees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage Plan, and an impending watered-down healthcare plan for in-service UFT members. In May 2025 we need to vote Unity caucus and its CEO, Michael Mulgrew, out of office.

 

 What next? Mulgrew for Mt. Rushmore?

 

Arthur has been doing a daily hit on Unity and Mulgrew. 

Here is his latest:

What Union Does: In stark contrast to what Unity does

You should subscribe. And a few oldies but goodies:

 

UFT Unity's Rehabilitation Campaign

City and State paints a fawning, thoroughly incomplete portrait of Boss Mulgrew.

Arthur Goldstein

Aug 26, 2024

Unity Thinks They Own Our Union

They don't, and this must change.

Arthur Goldstein

Aug 29, 2024

Unity Prohibits a Dangerous Sign At the Labor Day Parade

Bennett Fischer, newly elected RTC Chapter Leader, had been working for weeks to get signs printed for the RTC. He had to get them approved here. He had to get them approved there. They had to be this size, not that size. You have to make sure this person knows about it. Also, don’t tell that person until that person knows. Red tape galore... On Friday, UFT Snowflake-in-Chief Michael Mulgrew told Bennett that the signs would not be acceptable. He contended all signage must be on message with the Central Labor Council's theme for the parade. So the RTC, the leadership of which was elected on the basis of opposition to Medicare Advantage, was blocked from expressing what we stand for.

Prompting this comment from Sean Ahern:

The RTC’s program to defend Medicare was blocked by UFT leadership at the rally. I think the RTC chapter will have to be more forceful in the future. It was like Unity is the Principal who just says no to the chapter leader who is representing the members grievance. Where is the pushback? I hope a plan for the Oct DA will not be so quiescent. 

Secrets of a Successful Organizer Handouts

We've made all the handouts and exercises from our best-selling book Secrets of a Successful Organizer available for download. Feel free to print them out and share them with your co-workers or use in your next union meeting. Disponible en español.

UPDATED 8/29/24 : Who Gets Your COPE Money? New Action Goes Beneath the Covers - Parts 1-4

Some illuminating work from David Ginsburg at the New Action site on where COPE money goes. Here are links to parts 1, 2, 3 with a 4th part to come which I will add to this post. I copied selectively from Part 1 for key recipients, with links to each part for further reading. We've always called for a more open reporting from the UFT to members, like this info could be in the never read NY Teacher, but it might actually get more people to read it before lining their bird cages.

Norm

Here is a link to part 4:

PART IV (COMPLETE LIST)

8/14/24

The breakdown below of the 10 largest recipients of our various union funds alleviates some of the mystery as to who benefited most from our contributions from 2022 and 2023. This article is not meant to be an exposé by any means; it is simply meant to help our membership see where our money is going because we deserve to know. We are in no way encouraging members to cancel their union dues and/or COPE donations. Our union needs our support in order to thrive... David Ginsberg

FOLLOW THE MONEY: WHICH LEGISLATORS BENEFIT MOST FROM OUR UNIONS? – PART I (David Ginsberg)

7. Kathy Hochul: $186,500

Contributions: 2022 American Federation of Teachers: $69,700  2022 Voice of Teachers for Education: $69,700  2022 United Federation of Teachers: $47,100

Governor Hochul is the first individual to make this list and she does so in a big way, bringing in nearly $200,000 from our teachers’ unions, including nearly $50,000 directly from the UFT. Despite all the money teacher unions have given over to Hochul (both directly and through Super PACs), it has been difficult to ascertain whether or not she appreciates our support. For the sake of this article, we will leave the politics out of it and focus strictly on her policies regarding public schools.

Mayoral Control: Despite an immense amount of pushback from educators, parents, and even democratic legislators, Governor Hochul was committed to extending mayoral control for Eric Adams, a notorious enemy of public education, for the next four years. A ruling came down that mayoral control would be extended for two years.  

Students and Social Media: In June 2024, Hochul passed the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act into law, which “prohibits social media companies from pushing ‘addictive’ algorithm-driven feeds to anyone under 18 without parental consent” (source: uft.org). Hochul also passed the New York Child Data Protection Act, which “prevents social media platforms from collecting data on children ages 12 and younger without parental consent and from children age 13 and over without informed consent.” 

Charter Schools: In 2023, Hochul revealed her FY 2024 budget and it was a blow to public education. Hochul reopened 22 closed charter schools (AKA zombie charters) throughout New York State; 14 of which were located in New York City. This was actually a decrease from Hochul’s original proposal, “which could have allowed more than 100 charter schools to open in New York City.” The UFT, who had backed Hochul without seeking input from its general membership, was not pleased. Do not be fooled by the letters next to candidates’ names. Pay attention to their actions.

Smaller Class Sizes: On September 8, 2022, Governor Hochul signed the class size bill into law that would reduce class sizes for NYC schools. While it remains to be seen how willing the City will be to enact these laws, Hochul’s support is certainly appreciated.

Funding: On the surface, the governor seems like an ally. After all, the governor originally approved $825 million (2.4%) in additional funding for New York State schools for FY 2025, $340 million of which would be going to NYC schools  However, if you look past the headline, a more grim picture quickly appears.

We can start with the fact that both City and State were expecting more money under Hochul’s original proposal. NYS had anticipated a $1.3 billion increase in funding, a difference of about $500 million from what the governor proposed. Additional funding for NYC schools was short $131 million from what city officials were estimating. These cuts occurred because of Hochul’s approved budget, which introduced two underhanded changes that are extremely detrimental to school aid – a change in the Foundation Aid formula and a change to the “save harmless” contingency, both of which you can read about in this excellent article by Julian Shen-Berro of Chalkbeat.

Hochul’s first change disrupts the formula for calculating Foundation Aid. Instead of using rate of inflation on a year-by-year basis, Hochul decided to determine funding by using the average rate of inflation over the last 10 years. Given our soaring inflation over the last few years, changing the funding formula to use a 10-year average decreases the amount of funding our schools receive.

The second change was just as subversive as the first. Hochul sought to essentially put an end to the “Save Harmless” contingency that ensures that schools will not lose funding if their enrollment drops. “Save Harmless” (also called “Hold Harmless”) has been enforced for decades. Liz Rozenberg of City & State New York explains that if Hochul gets rid of this provision that has served as a lifeline for many schools, “50% of the 673 districts that receive foundation aid will lose funds” Funnily enough, Hochul received so much pushback from both sides of the aisle on this issue that she removed her proposal to end “Save Harmless” a couple of months ago (more info here), so it will not appear in the FY 2025 budget. 

Teacher Recruitment: In 2023, Hochul signed state legislation to “spur teacher recruitment – with a focus on increasing diversity – through the state.” Hochul pointed out that New York State needs to add nearly 200,000 teachers over the next decade “to meet workforce needs.” We always hear about and witness teacher shortages firsthand in our schools, so any push towards increasing those numbers is a good thing.

As you can see, Hochul has done some good things and some terrible things for public schools and educators. Is she worth the political donations she has received? You decide.

10. Carl E. Heastie: $51,125

Contributions: 2022 NY State United Teachers: $25,000  2023 VOTE COPE (NYSUT’s non-partisan action fund): $1,125  2023 NYS United Teachers: $25,000

Heastie is the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, which may explain why he received more than double the donations of the next highest individual legislator. Heastie is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to educational policy. According to this New York Times article from 2017, Heastie supported an extension of mayoral control, but refused “to bend to the Senate’s demands to increase the number of charter schools in the state as a condition to extend mayoral control of the city’s schools.” Heastie continues to support mayoral control, which has become an increasingly contentious issue during Eric Adams’ tenure. 

On the other hand, Heastie was supportive of the class size reduction act, which should serve as a benefit to students and teachers, assuming there are no detrimental caveats. The long term plan to decrease the maximum allowable number of students per class sounds like a great idea, although it remains to be seen if the City will actually abide by all of its stipulations.

On other issues, Heastie seems to be playing the fence. When asked about Hochul’s proposed changes to the Foundation Aid formula, Heastie said, “We would, of course, make sure the districts are whole, but we are open to re-examining the Foundation Aid formula. But we want to make sure that our rural and suburban districts aren’t harmed by any proposal.” Any type of concession that would favor Hochul’s agenda would be a tragic mistake that would take away major funding from our public schools. 

14C. Melinda Katz: $25,000

Contributions: 2022 United Federation of Teachers: $10,000  2023 United Federation of Teachers: $15,000

Melinda Katz is the current District Attorney for Queens County. Katz previously served as Queens Borough President and held positions as an NYC Councilwoman (2002-2009), and as a member of the New York State Assembly (1994-1999). Katz has proven to be friendly towards our union and public education in general. In 2008, Katz co-sponsored a resolution to “reform city school planning to better address the problem of overcrowding.”

In 2017, when 3,500+ students, teachers, parents, and alumni signed a petition to remove Interim Acting Principal Rosemarie Jahoda from Townsend Harris H.S., Katz stepped up by writing a letter to former Chancellor Carmen Fariña in support of their cause (source: Chalkbeat). Jahoda was ousted two months later. 

17. Letitia James: $24,000

Contributions: 2022 VOTECOPE (NYSUT): $10,000  2023 VOTECOPE (NYSUT): $14,000 

One of the most notable names on this list, James is the current Attorney General for the State of New York. James and NYSED Commissioner Betty Rosa have made a concerted effort to further diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements (DEI) for public schools (James, Rosa DEI letter). James and Rosa also threatened schools with lawsuits should they make enrollment difficult or impossible for migrant students (source: NY Post).

In 2016, when she served as NYC Public Advocate, James sued the New York City Education Department for the failure of SESIS, a computer system meant to track students with disabilities (source: NY Times). According to the lawsuit, “children (were) deprived of necessary assistance and the city lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements” because of the system’s shortcomings. SESIS often deleted student information and was unable to provide data on IEPs. In the meantime, SESIS is still around, although it will supposedly be replaced at some point.

James has also filed several lawsuits against charter schools over the years. In 2014, James pushed a lawsuit to “block the co-location of charter schools with existing district schools” (source: Brian Lehrer Show). Two years later, James filed a civil rights suit against Success Academy for failing to identify and provide adequate services for students with disabilities in an attempt to drive the students from their network of schools (source: NY Post).

Despite James’ lawsuits, former attorney general candidate, Zephyr Teachout, didn’t seem to think James went far enough. Teachout wanted to implement a larger investigation into the hedge fund managers pushing for charter expansion. Teachout, a former special education teacher’s aide, named names of billionaire supporters of charter schools.

20. Robert Jackson: $19,800

Contributions: 2022 VOTE COPE (NYSUT): $19,800

Senator Jackson represents the 31st District of New York. In 1992, as President of Community School Board 6 in Manhattan, Jackson led a lawsuit against the State of New York in order to get equitable funding for NYC students. Jackson felt NYC students weren’t receiving proportionate funding, and he was right. Despite comprising 39% of the student population of New York State, they were only receiving 32% state education aid (source: Baruch case study). 

In 2008, Jackson, then serving in New York City Council’s 7th District, co-sponsored the same resolution to reform city school planning to address overcrowding as Melinda Katz (see above). 

Most recently, to the benefit of all Tier 6 members, Jackson served as the primary sponsor on a bill that amended the calculation of our Final Average Salary (FAS). Now, our three highest consecutive years of earnings will be used to calculate our FAS instead of our five highest consecutive years. In other words, future retirees can expect a little bit more money when they receive their pensions.

Furthermore, Jackson is an advocate for public schools. In 2022, pro-charter super PAC, New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, spent nearly $100,000 in an effort to defeat Jackson in his re-election bid. Jackson still managed to trounce his opponent, Angel Vasquez, “a former teacher, who later worked as a deputy political director for the United Federation of Teachers.”

FOLLOW THE MONEY: WHICH LEGISLATORS BENEFIT MOST FROM OUR UNIONS? – PART II (David Ginsberg)

This article is the second installment in a multi-part series. For the first installment, see here.

 

FOLLOW THE MONEY: WHICH LEGISLATORS BENEFIT MOST FROM OUR UNIONS? – PART III (David Ginsberg)

This article is the third installment in a multi-part series. For the first installment, see here. For the second, see here.

Please check back for our next (and last) installment in this series where we will provide a complete list of those who received political donations during fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

 

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.