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.

 

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

Mulgrew and Unity Delay and Obfuscate New Retiree Electees as he refuses to condemn Med Adv which shows his real intentions

They act civil but behind the scenes they play games. And with the big election of all things -- you know, that one. Suddenly, while the AFT and NYSUT focus on the presidency, the UFT seems to be more interested in congressional races. 

Repeated requests to activate the retiree chapter in the national election have been deflected. Why? A newly elected RA delegate lives in a building with lots of retirees, many from Unity. One of them even asked her what was going on with the election as in the past there was a major outreach to retirees to do phone banking and take buses to other states. This time nada. Is it a plot to blame us for not doing enough if the Dems lose? Just joking -- I'm not that much of a conspiracy theorist. But could Mulgrew be worried about alientating UFT Trump supporters and losing them in the election? Naaaa.

And then there was the Mulgrew denial of being able to carry anti-Med signs at the labor parade. See the Joe Maniscalco article below. 

Marianne takes down Mulgrew misinfo on Medicare Adv fake news.

Toothless Mulgrew Doesn't Do Teeth at Town Hall - Nick Has Notes

Maybe Tomorrow at Chapter Leader Meeting - Maybe Not. 

From Nick's Notes: 

Teeth: when will dental improve. Majority of dental done through welfare fund. Also supplies drugs. Paid parental leave also, and optical. Still in process for RFP on dental. Dental costs have gone up significantly. Dental in welfare fund is regulated. Just because we started RFP, we’re getting movement from companies we work with on the dental side. We make decisions in the welfare fund – have a board there. Drug costs are important right now – we are only union covering some drugs. But negotiating and we will have better benefits when done. Also want to work with Albany about regulation of costs.... UFT Townhall 9/17/24 – Notes and Analysis

I reported earlier on the possibility of changes in the dental plan at today's Mulgrew town hall.

• Mulgrew Does Teeth - Finally Using some of the $800 million UFT Welfare Fund Surplus
  

Well, he came up toothless.

I was in a chat with people tuned into the town hall and there was some head smacking over the rhetoric.

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.

 

Mulgrew Does Teeth - Finally Using some of the $800 million UFT Welfare Fund Surplus

Word from inside the asylum at 52 is that UFT election mania has taken priority and every trick in the book is being tried. In some cases there will be benefits and here may be one.

 

After opposing a reso at the DA calling for using some of the massive surplus to improve
the awful dental benefits that narrowly was defeated last spring after they argued against it, but facing the massive defeats in chapter elections and facing potential defeat in upcoming UFT elections, the Mulgrew administration is responding with some changes, but I bet few will be happy. EONYC provides the history, demonstrating elections have consequences -- sometimes in our favor. So think about that when UFT elections come up next May.

 

Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024

 

From @educatorsofnyc

1. Revelations that the UFTWF is now sitting on over 800 million dollars. A bloated fund that seems to be growing exponentially since 2014 as city unions have agreed to take hundreds of millions from the city’s health stabilization fund for their own welfare funds. Not what the stabilization fund was designed for and causing other healthcare services to diminish, as a result. https://jd2718.org/2024/03/28/uft-welfare-fund-nest-egg-bigger-than-most-nests/ 

 

2. Pressure internally from concerned UFT rank and file delegates and activists publicly asking why top leaders are hoarding millions when many of our benefits, especially dental, are being diminished — affecting reimbursements and numbers of providers leaving the network. 

 

3. After an overwhelming rebuke by UFT retirees who voted out Mulgrew’s administrative Unity caucus out of power from their chapter’s leadership because of his support behind forcing them into predatory, inferior Medicare Advantage … the much-maligned Mulgrew is now reeling and seeking to pander as he faces a tsunami of discontent in an union election year that could mean his Unity caucus is finally toppled after 60 years of unilateral control. 

 

4. After Mulgrew and his henchman, Goeff Sorkin of the WF, told us that the existing money in the fund was needed to cover out of control prescription drug costs and as a reserve fund if there is litigation against the city over healthcare… today their “best welfare fund in the country” will get a reboot. Let’s wait and see what they bring with them today. https://cityandstateny.com/politics/2024/06/after-rebuff-retirees-ufts-mulgrew-bails-medicare-advantage/397572/

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.

Prep for UFT Elections - Fill out a Survey for UFT Members - What Are Your Concerns?

 

Hi Everybody, hoping your 2024-2025 school year is off to a good start! 

 

We're asking all UFT members, both in-service and retirees, to please complete the survey below.

 

The UFT General Election (where we vote for UFT President, UFT Secretary, UFT Vice Presidents, etc.) is coming up in May 2025. For the last few months, a group of educators and UFT members across the city have been meeting and working to plan for this election. 

 

We’re concerned about what is happening to our profession and our Union. If you are interested in protecting your healthcare and pension, as well as your pay, benefits and working conditions, then please complete the survey below. After completing the survey, please send the survey link to at least three other UFT members that you know. Better yet, re-post the survey link on your social media account(s) and/or email the survey link to all your UFT friends and colleagues. 

 

We want ALL UFT members to be involved. The survey will take about 5 minutes to complete. All personal information you provide will be kept confidential. Let's work together to create a more responsive, more democratic, and stronger UFT. Thank you!

 

In solidarity,

 

Chad Hamilton

Special Education Teacher

P231K UFT Chapter Leader

District 75

 

We represent an informal group of UFT organizers and members concerned about the current stewardship of our union. We're interested in hearing from our fellow union members in the lead-up to the UFT election this spring. The members of our group have varying levels of work experience and come from various groups and backgrounds within the union with different views. We all know that the real strength of our union comes from the everyday workers — the ones who show up, put in the work, and keep our schools running. We all agree that getting the pulse of the rank and file is the first step to improving working conditions and quality of life for ALL members.

To that end, this survey represents the most comprehensive attempt to date at getting authentic feedback from the folks who are on the front lines every day. There are six sections that will take approximately five minutes in total, so please respond to the questions and help us get the clearest picture possible of what UFT members want and need from their employer and their union as we approach citywide UFT leadership elections. All personal information will be kept confidential.

In solidarity,

Bennett Fischer
RTC Chapter Leader
tremblychap@gmail.com

Christina Gavin
Midwood High School Delegate/School Librarian
christinamarieuft@gmail.com

Chad Hamilton P.S. K231 Chapter Leader
chadhamilton231@gmail.com

Rachel Paguaga 
P.S. 32 Chapter Leader
rfpuft@gmail.com

Steve Swieciki
Lehman High School Chapter Leader
uft.swieciki@gmail.com

Olivia Swisher
M.S. 821 Chapter Leader
oliviaswisher@gmail.com

 

 

Response Deadline: September 24, 2024

 

Link to survey

 

As Panic and Fear of Losing Grows, Will Randi Play the Part of Nancy to Mulgrew's Biden?

As panic and demoralization grows inside the increasingly narrow level of support for Michael Mulgrew's leadership inside the Unity crumbling fortress, how close are we to an evacuation helicopter on the roof of 52 Broadway to take Mulgrew and key supporters to sanctuary in NYSUT or the AFT? 

Mulgrew did the usual desparate act of moving deck chairs with a top level shakeup. Co-staff director Anthony Harmon is already on the way to NYSUT sanctuary - was he pushed or did he get out while the going was good? LeRoy Barr's seeming power was also reduced by the return of the incredibly ineffective Ellie Engler, a known Randi operative who is considered the eyes and ears for Randi inside the UFT. And long-time operative David Hickey has been plugged in as a key advisor. Oh, and I hear Mike Sill is now something or other. 

Word is a number of Unity Chapter Leaders lost their elections, another bad sign for Unity.

Imagine Unity staff seeing the possibility of losing their jobs if the Mulgrew candidacy continues - compare them to the Dem faithful after the June 27th Biden debate disaster? The UFT equivalence was the June 14 RTC vote count and seeing the stunned disbelief on the faces of Unity honchos. 

Randi appeared a few days later at the final RTC meeting under Unity control for at least the next 3 years and said she "heard" us. What she really heard are footsteps coming for Unity control of the UFT in this year's election. And what might a Unity loss and its 700 AFT delegates mean for Randi's control of the AFT? Watch for her helicopter?

Now we know Mulgrew arrogance won't let him leave as Biden arrogance kept him saying he was going to run hell or high water? At that point Nancy Pelosi jumped in and laid things out in a way Biden seemed to understand. It didn't take long after that for Kamala to come into play.

So, in a parallel universe, as internal polls come in showing severe dissatisfaction with Mulgrew, can madame Randi/Nancy pull off a similar swap of Biden/Mulgrew for the UFT in time to save them? Some think Mulgrew would be a candidate to replace Randi at the top of the AFT, but given his performance would anyone trust this guy with the national teacher movement keys?

In this scenario, there is a fly in the ointment: Finding a Kamala to replace Mulgrew. Not all that much in the Unity coffers, though I know of a few. 

So until Randi can find her Kamela, Unity will continue to flounder, with a helpless Randi left dangling. And the election clock starts clicking this week. 

Leftists Get Schooled by Marianne in Organizing Working Class Into Broader Coalitions

The lack of strategy and misguided purity is so beyond unworkable that the average person cannot even relate to the positions the left is taking.... Alessandra Biaggi in response to DSA pulling support for AOC

Ocasio-Cortez, Once an Outsider, Takes Center Stage at Convention

Full speech

 Let's be careful about branding the "left" as monolithic as Biaggi and many others tend to do -- even I do it without thinking. I usually say "certain segments of the left."....Norm

Just Win Baby, Win! ... Al Davis

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

I get a high-five by a retired NYC fireman in a hot yoga class over the RA victory in the chapter election. Of course he and his pals all know about the NYC Retirees and the chief organizer Marianne Pizzitola. 

I've been getting get-well calls from many people and one of the more interesting ones was from an old oppo war-horse CL and UFT Exec Bd member, a hard-core lifetime leftist who retired a long time ago. He is one of the 300 newly elected delegates in the RA chapter election. And of course he has followed the Medicare story.

He said something so interesting. That Marianne Pizzitola, who came out of nowhere and is far from a leftist, has taught the left a lesson on how to organize a broad base of working class and beyond, uniting left and right in the battle. Knowing the left as I do (and I consider myself part of the left), that will be a lesson unlearned. On much of the left, ideology trumps practicality and often, winning.

Yes, sometimes winning is important. I remember certain segments of the left making the case against trying to win in UFT or NYSUT elections as being a waste of time. With the big retiree win in the UFT, views may be changing with a unique opportunity to be in serious contention for leadership of the UFT for the first time in its history. A key question is how far will some segments on the left go to mess it up by pushing for their particular ideology even if that reduces the chances of winning. I know that in Retiree Advocate, we knew we were trying to build a winning coalition based on the healthcare issue and avoided getting into ideological entanglements. Thus, our 300 elected delegates have a broad range of political views.

Some on the left are beginning to look askance at some of their fellows and dames as the Biaggi (not a hard core lefty) says above. 

Shockingly, there are still so-called leftists who often line up on the right who claim Trump is more the peace candidate than Biden --- do they actually believe this guy is not lying about everything? Yes, some claiming to be leftists can also be naive.

I am still a member of DSA because left politics (and accompanying infighting) interests me. You know the old joke -- put 2 of them in a room and get 3 groups. Splitting into sects and factions seems to be endemic.

But all too often some elements in DSA, a conglomeration of just about every left sect with numerous caucuses, seem off the rails. Remember how they cancelled Jamaal Bowman for daring to visit Israel on a fact-finding mission? When it was clear that right winger George Latimer backed by AIPAC was way ahead, DSA reversed itself but too late to make a difference.

Inside the UFT, we saw MORE, a segment of the left, sit out the TRS election because they heard a baseless ideological-based rumor about a candidate. "Better Unity"? In essence, the message. Or we on the left don't really care about winning but about making a point. Despite that the non-Unity candidate still got one third of the vote. 

With upcoming UFT elections, will we see an ideological war break out inside oppo forces or will we see a broad front inclusive enough to defeat Unity.

And by the way, AOC made the most dynamic speech last night at the convention. You can see her future as the heir to Bernie while DSA will remain sanctimonious. 

--------

Another segment of the DSA cancelled Adolf Reed, Jr. Reed who focuses on class more than race and that is a big cancel on the left.

A Black Marxist Scholar Wanted to Talk About Race. It Ignited a Fury.

The cancellation of a speech reflects an intense debate on the left: Is racism the primary problem in America today, or the outgrowth of a system that oppresses all poor people?

By Michael Powell

Published Aug. 14, 2020Updated Aug. 18, 2020

Adolph Reed is a son of the segregated South, a native of New Orleans who organized poor Black people and antiwar soldiers in the late 1960s and became a leading Socialist scholar at a trio of top universities.

Along the way, he acquired the conviction, controversial today, that the left is too focused on race and not enough on class. Lasting victories were achieved, he believed, when working-class and poor people of all races fought shoulder to shoulder for their rights.

JD Vance Failed Startup's NIGHTMARE Working Conditions -

Making money off the workers exposes the bullshit from Vance who dares attack Walz over nothing?

 https://youtu.be/p4pZdvqxdLs?si=6IXLItjbZSLQgU5-