Tag: Dimino

NYSUT’s VOTE-COPE “Campaign” Highlights What is Wrong with NYSUT

Two years ago, with NYSUT’s failure to oppose Governor Cuomo serving as “the straw that broke the camel’s back” PJSTA members followed the lead of their officers and stopped contributing to VOTE-COPE, the statewide union’s voluntary political action fund.  PJSTA President Beth Dimino has been vocal in describing her reasons for not contributing and this has drawn the ire of many Unity Caucus loyalists.  You’ll surely recall that last year Unity (the controlling caucus within NYSUT) used it’s blog to launch a personal attack at Dimino, labeling her “anti-union” among other things.

So this year NYSUT decided it’d try to step around Dimino in an attempt to solicit VOTE-COPE contributions from the PJSTA membership by sending out a form letter to each of our members asking for us to give to VOTE-COPE this year.  I want to be clear here… I do not have a problem with the leadership stepping around Ms. Dimino to approach our members about this.  The PJSTA membership made a strong statement about their confidence in NYSUT’s political action work when our members made their decisions to reduce their VOTE-COPE contributions to $0.  I would expect that to catch the attention of NYSUT leadership and I would expect them to want to contact those members about their decision.

The problem I have with their tactic comes in their chosen form of communication.  Nearly two full years after reducing our contributions, leadership’s response was to send each of our members a form letter.  There was no attempt to engage our members in discussion about our decision.  No reaching out to gauge our feelings on our statewide union, or to ask how they can better represent us.  No discussions about the broken union structures that lead to disengaged members.  No explanations for why they have generously donated to ed deformers like Andrew Cuomo and John Flanagan.  Just a simple form letter asking us to give them more money.  To be frank I found it insulting.  The idea that a form letter with all the usual rhetoric was going to suddenly sway me was simply astounding.

After reflecting on it, I think this incident really highlights some of the major problems with our statewide union.  Virtually all contact I have ever had with NYSUT is one-way communication where messages from the top are relayed down to me.  There is nearly zero back and forth.  No chance to engage our leaders in discussion about the state of our union.  No visits from the NYSUT officers to our schools to ask questions or to simply listen.  Sending form letters to request greater VOTE-COPE contributions is the very essence of top down unionism.  It’s ineffective, expensive, and does nothing to serve our members.

The fact that this happens is the result of of a broken union structure.  Andy Pallotta’s PAC work has resulted in teachers being held “accountable” via junk science through poorly constructed teacher evaluations over the past several years.  However there is no accountability for Andy Pallotta.  I am not sure whether or not STCaucus plans to run a slate in the coming NYSUT elections, but it doesn’t really matter.  Pallotta will run again for a NYSUT officer position again this spring and he will win.  This will likely be the case for a few of our other officers as well.  They are in a situation where they can’t lose because they will have the endorsement of the Unity Caucus.  In NYSUT’s rigged system of democracy the only thing that matters is the Unity endorsement.  The will of the members won’t matter.  The PJSTA membership’s VOTE-COPE reduction, which essentially amounted to a vote of no confidence in our leadership, won’t even be a blip on the radar when it comes to the election.

This is the type of stuff that turns people off to unions.  This is why it gets easy to become disengaged and apathetic.  I’ve had a lot of discussions about this sort of scenario with members across the state.  I’ll close with the gist of what I put in an email earlier today to one of those members about the only way I see to go forward and the only way that I can see transforming our union…

I think the way forward is to take our focus off of resolutions, leadership positions, and the NYSUT bureaucracy and focus solely on engaging and organizing the rank and file.  I think an engaged and active R&F will ultimately have a greater impact on the state’s public ed landscape than having a great leader at the top working within the same structure that has lead to a disengaged and apathetic membership to begin with.  By grassroots organizing you can ultimately increase your leadership capacity across the state and begin to cultivate local leaders who will challenge for leadership and delegate positions in areas that have traditionally been Unity strongholds (Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Yonkers, UUP, PSC, etc.).  That is how you ultimately might win leadership positions within NYSUT.  More importantly, in the process, you will have organically grown an engaged, fighting union who is more powerful than we have ever knowN it to be.  It is a long slog for sure, with a tremendous number of obstacles in the way, and it requires the sort of person-to-person organizing that is neither glamorous or rapid in nature, but I believe it is the only way forward for us.

 

Beth Dimino Letter to NYSUT Officers

Dear NYSUT Officers,
On behalf of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, I wish to alert you to our concern about your approach to the NYSUT/PSA negotiations. It appears to the PJSTA that you are needlessly and recklessly creating a dispute with the bargaining unit and, as a consequence, threatening the services provided to the PJSTA on a daily basis. We ask that you treat PSA with the respect it deserves and work diligently to find solutions to this contract dispute that will not imperil the delivery of NYSUT services to my local by the PSA staff.

The PJSTA is also concerned about your misrepresentation of NYSUT’s financial situation at the most recent Representative Assembly, where no mention of any pension crisis was mentioned. I know that the officers are provided routine reports on the NYSUT pension as required by law, so we are confused as to why the long-term pension cost suddenly became a crisis. Your actions leave the PJSTA wondering where the truth lies and whether we can trust your financial representations to your dues-paying members.

It is our expectation that you work with PSA in a way that would be viewed as a model to the labor movement and refrain from adopting the tired and unproductive behavior of our worst employers. We demand that you work to conclude this contract dispute in a way that will not further embarrass that PJSTA and will not interrupt the crucial services that PSA members provide.

In Solidarity,

Beth Dimino, PJSTA President

Inept NYSUT Leadership Attacks Own Members

Yesterday  I came across a couple of tweets from the NYSUT Unity Caucus, the caucus that has been the controlling caucus of the statewide union since NYSUT’s inception.  The caucus of Randi Weingarten, Mike Mulgrew, Andy Pallotta, and the army of Unity hacks who vote however they are told to vote. The tweets were directed at MORE Caucus, the primary opposition to Unity at UFT level…

 

 

MORE’s response…

 

 

The second Unity tweet..

 

 

It’s simply unbelievable to me that Unity Caucus, synonymous with top down unionism, who over time has benefited from a disengaged and slumbering membership, would call out MORE for “all talk, no action”.  Especially given the fact that MORE has a well earned reputation for organizing and agitating with the best of them.  The very fact that they have built such a formidable opposition to Unity Caucus is an indication of how active they have been.  People like Mike Schirtzer, Jia Lee, Megan Moskop, Lauren Cohen, James Eterno, and so many others are the very definition of union activists.

This, of course, isn’t the first time we have seen NYSUT’s Unity caucus launch these sorts of nonsensical barbs.  Only two months ago they used the same tactics to smear PJSTA President Beth Dimino.   It’s just a shame that during the very week the Friedrichs case was heard in the Supreme Court our feckless and inept union leaders focus was on attacking their own members.

 

STCaucus Works to Restore Power to the Teacher

On January 9th, more than 140 people turned out on Long Island for the Restoring Power to the Teacher Conference hosted by STCaucus.  The conference focused on ways to organize and empower teachers so that they can not only fight for the schools our students deserve, but for the democratic unions that we deserve!

The morning began with a panel discussion featuring four activist women:

  • Beth Dimino, STCaucus Chairperson
  • Mel Holden, Buffalo Teachers Federation activist
  • Jia Lee, candidate for UFT President and teacher activist in MORE Caucus and STCaucus
  • Samantha Winslow, organizer and staff writer at Labor Notes

Among the common themes of the discussion were union democracy and organizing at the rank and file level. 

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Following the plenary, attendees broke up into different workshops.  During the first workshop, Melissa McMullan of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association and Patricia Alberti of the Rocky Point Teachers Association facilitated a workshop titled Finding Your Voice: Supporting Children’s Rights to Fair and Accurate Standards and Assessments and Protecting Our Profession, in which they discussed the state of public education and how teachers could have their voices heard.  Samantha Winslow of Labor Notes facilitated The Caucus as a Vehicle for Positive Change in Our Union, which centered on where our power comes from (the membership) and how a caucus can help harness that power.  Ms. Winslow tied STCaucus’ work to what successful rank and file caucuses in places such as Chicago, Massachusetts, Seattle, and other places across the country have accomplished.  Jia Lee’s Teachers of Conscience- Teachers Refusing to comply and Opting Out workshop dealt with the courageous steps some teachers are taking in refusing to administer New York State assessemnts to their students.  Finally, Katie Kleinpeter of the PJSTA facilitated a “best practices” styled workshop titled Organizing at the Local Level.

The second round of workshops saw four more sessions for attendees to visit.  Geri-Ann McNamee of the PJSTA and Tracy Zamek of the Hauppauge Teachers Association facilitated a workshop titled Creating Change Through Local School Boards.  Both women are school board members in their home communities and, in one of the most promising developments of the day, at least one attendee to the workshop now appears intent on running for the board in her home district as well.  The Young Teachers Collective, who traveled all the way from New Jersey to be a part of the conference, facilitated the workshop The Personal, The Professional, and The Pedagogical: Organizing for New and Pre-service Teachers.  Their dedication to the profession that they are only now beginning is admirable.  They clearly are a bright part of the teaching profession going forward.  Ms. Winslow ran her second workshop of the day, The Friedrichs Case and Organizing in Right to Work States, dealing with the looming Supreme Court case and what it means for us.  Finally, I worked with Norm Scott from the UFT’s MORE Caucus to facilitate a workshop titled Unity Caucus: Thirst for Power and the Undemocratic Nature of Our Unions.  They helped to inform attendees to the workshop on how a small group of people within UFT leadership manages to control nearly every level of teacher unionism we have all while shutting out any opposing viewpoints.   

The day was a remarkable success as it brought passionate teachers from all parts of the state together to learn from each other and to network as to how we move forward as a caucus.  It was exciting, for a change, to see an event planned and carried out entirely by rank and file teachers, with the intent of having their voices shape the union, as opposed to the top down nature of NYSUT that we have all come to know.  The success of the event makes it increasingly likely that similar events around the state can be planned.

You may also want to check out UFT member James Eterno’s blog post on the event.
Here is Norm Scott’s post.

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The PJSTA’s Deniz Yildrim, Gail Ports, and Sue Hirner sell hot dogs at the STCaucus’ Restoring Power to the Teacher Conference.

Tsunami of Support for Dimino

At the Common Core Task Force “We’re not listening” tour last week, PJSTA President Beth Dimino warned that there would be a tsunami of opt-outs coming to New York State this spring.  Well over the weekend there has been a tsunami of support for Dimino in the wake of reprehensible attack on her by the statewide Unity Caucus.  We will have a run down here on some of the support for her coming in from all corners of the state…

Blogs

NYC Educator- NY State’s Unity Caucus Launches a Despicable Attack Against PJSTA President Beth Dimino

Let’s be further clear that there is a movement to kill union and it is in no way supported by Beth Dimino. It is enabled, however, by our history of concession to reforminess. Look at the UFT 2005 Contract. Look at Michael Mulgrew helping to craft the APPR law. Look at him praising the Heavy Hearts legislature for making it worse. Look at Bill Gates addressing the AFT Convention. And those are just a few of the low lights.

When you cannot muster a proactive argument, logical fallacy is one way to go. What’s truly pathetic is that this is what our leadership chooses to put forth as their voice. Among teachers, there are quite a few thinkers, quite a few creative and passionate souls. Judging from what passes for argument among leadership, and how they choose to treat people who speak their minds, they haven’t got the remotest notion what a creative and passionate thinker even is.

ICEUFT Blog- ICE-UFT BLOG 100% WITH BETH DIMINO

She has a vision for what the public schools and a powerful teachers’ union should be like and she goes about achieving her aims in a way that gets you on board even when she doesn’t have a patronage mill of jobs at her disposal.  Beth is the union leader that Unity fears because she is that good at what she does.

Ed Notes Online- Stronger Together Threatens Randi/Mulgrew Power: What is Behind NYSUT Unity Attack on Beth Dimino

Chatter has been coming in to Ed Notes about just how much of a threat Stronger Together, the statewide opposition caucus to Unity in NYSUT is viewed by Randi Weingarten and her liege Michael Mulgrew.

Some Blog Comments

Harris L. from the ICEUFT Blog- I’m proud to be a member of Stronger Together and proud to be a friend of Beth Dimino.

Sean Crowley from the Ed Notes Online blog- Couldn’t be any happier. Unity and Co. and their fake union stooge movement lashing out with this errant punch at a real unionist like Beth and a real Caucus like ST can only boomerang on them. And from what I’m reading the Unity slugs are catching it square in the teeth.

Roseanne McCosh from the Ed Notes Online blog- Thanks, Unity. You saved me from myself. I will no longer fact check and I will believe every word you speak or write is the truth. I will now withdraw my support of ST and donate 100% of my pay to UFT COPE. Beth in bed with the Koch brothers, you say. How scandalous! And I will start a petition to have Beth tarred and feathered for her treacherous ways. Seriously…. who do these jackasses think they’re convincing? I never bothered to cancel my COPE contribution of a lousy $5 per month but I sure will now. Not many members in my school belong to COPE but I will actively seek them out and explain why they too should cancel. Is this the result you were looking for Unity? Unity gives money to politicians who screw us with their votes and Beth called them out on it. Unity uses that money to weild power but never uses that power to do right by the rank and file and Beth calls them out on that too. They act as if they’ve taken the high road. PULEEZE! What balls! If only they showed those big balls when it comes to fighting the real enemies—-like Randi Weingarten and her buddy Bill Gates or Hilary Clinton and her buddy Eli Broad. 

Some Tweets

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So Unity Caucus seemed to think that this would help them with the ir VOTE-COPE drive.  I wonder how that’s going?

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Unity’s Attack on Dimino & Reducing VOTE-COPE

A few days ago, New York State’s Unity Caucus, the controlling caucus of NYSUT and the statewide extension of the UFT’s Unity Caucus, published a piece on their blog attacking PJSTA President Beth Dimino.  In the post Dimino is accused of  working for her own political gain while attempting to “squelch the voice of educators, SRPs, those working in higher education and health care professionals.”  The post goes on to label her “anti-union” and accuses her of siding with the Koch brothers and “other right winged-politicians” with the goal of killing the union.

The comically misguided post is clearly an attempt to discredit a respected labor leader with a well earned track record of being outspoken in her defense of public education and unionized teachers.  From trying to paint her as being on the side of the Koch brothers to the use of the word histrionics, whose use is rooted in misogyny, the Unity henchman was clearly trying to paint Dimino as a voice who should be ignored.  The reason surely being that Ms. Dimino’s ability to speak truthfully about the leadership of our parent unions, NYSUT, the AFT, and the NEA, has caused an increasingly large number of members to reduce their contributions to NYSUT’s political action fund, VOTE-COPE.

Ms. Dimino’s track record as an advocate is fairly well known.  She has been a vocal and visible proponent of the opt-out movement.  She is a conscientious objector, refusing to administer New York State tests.  This video of her lambasting former NYSED Commissioner John King has made her fairly well known in public education circles.  She has spoken all over the state as an advocate for teachers, students, parents, and communities.  I am sure Long Island Opt-Out founder Jeanette Deutermann or our friends at NYSAPE would vouch for Ms. Dimino as somebody who works tirelessly for teachers, students, and public education in general.  If you don’t believe me you are welcome to ask them.  None of these things tend to be characteristic of the circles that the Koch brothers travel in.  None of them are synonymous with anti-union activity.

Let’s now contrast Ms. Dimino’s record with that of the Unity Caucus.  Unity Caucus, for nearly the entire existence of NYSUT, has benefited from being the only party in a one party-system.  The caucus has always chosen the presidents and each of the other officers.  When they decided you were out, then you were out, as they have always been able to use the 800 UFT-Unity delegates as a voting block to elect who ever they have wanted to or to enact any changes within NYSUT that they have decided to.  You may be wondering why 800 people always have to vote the same way?  Well that would be because the 800 Unity-UFT delegates have signed an oath pledging to vote as they are told to.  Currently, every NYSUT officer and every member of the UFT’s executive board are members of the Unity Caucus.  Let’s take a look at some of their greatest hits from just the past few years…

  • Most recently, Unity Caucus has been using their twitter account to advocate for #TeachStrong, the newly formed group of ed deformers that our national unions have inexplicably partnered with, including Teach for America and Educators4Excellence.  These are the same groups that have helped to finance legislative changes that have done tremendous harm to teachers over the past several years.  Unity Caucus members will make the argument that “the tide has turned” and that these groups now want to work with us.  They should try telling that to the teachers in Buffalo in receivership schools who just had their contracts thrown in the trash in the name of “reform.”  If you are wondering what that sharp feeling is in your back, it’s the knife that the Unity slugs are pushing into it.  Here is Marla Kilfoyle of the BadAss Teachers take on #TeachStrong.  Here is Peter Greene’s take on the Curmudgucation blog.  Here was the renowned Michelle Gunderson, a leader in the Chicago Teachers Union, with her reaction…
  • John Flanagan, the senate majority leader in the New York State Senate, and the former education chairperson in the senate has been another friend of Unity Caucus.  Yes, the same John Flanagan who has declared opt-out parents a problem, claimed that charter school parents are the best parents there are, and whose highest campaign contributor is an ed deform group.  While NYSUT did not vote to endorse Flanagan when he last ran in 2014, that didn’t stop Unity Caucus’ Andy Pallotta from giving Flanagan money anyway.  Flanagan, who has received over $40,000 in VOTE COPE dollars over the years, received $7,750 in 2014.
  • Just this past spring Unity Caucus used their might to defeat a measure at the NYSUT RA that would have allowed all NYSUT locals to participate in NYSUT elections, as opposed to the 30% who did in the last one.  Unity Caucus doesn’t want any of that pesky stuff called democracy interfering in their ability to guide the union in the direction they want to guide it in.
  • In 2014, at the AFT Convention, the Unity Caucus’ Michael Mulgrew gave his passionate defense of the Common Core when he stated “I’m gonna punch you in the face and push you in the dirt,” if you took away the Common Core.  At the same convention fellow Unity Caucus members Karen Magee and Leroy Barr also stood up at the microphone in defense of the Common Core.  You can watch it here…

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  • Later in 2014 the Unity Caucus’ Michael Mulgrew marched in the New York City Labor Day Parade with Andrew Cuomo amongst “Labor for Cuomo” signs.

I could go on, but I am not really sure that’s necessary.  There is a clear divide between the top down, business unionism model that is represented by Unity Caucus and the grassroots, member driven unionism espoused by Ms. Dimino and the Stronger Together Caucus of which she is the chairperson.  Still the blog post on the Unity website was written because of the fact that Ms. Dimino has openly advocated for the idea of NYSUT members reducing their VOTE-COPE contributions.  The blog post implies that every PJSTA member did that simply because they were told to.  I am here to tell you that is not the case.

I have been a PJSTA member in good standing for 14 years.  I tend to think of myself as being fairly independent minded.  I don’t do things because my president tells me to.  I generally do things because I believe them to be the right things to do.  Members of our executive board can vouch for the fact that there are many times I disagree with Ms. Dimino and I am not shy about it.  Like Ms. Dimino, I am not a right winger and anyone who knows me would assure you that I am not anti-union.  Throughout the first 12 years of my career I gave faithfully to VOTE-COPE.  As much as $10 a paycheck for a few years.  Last fall, fresh off NYSUT’s decision not to endorse Zephyr Teachout, a clear advocate for public education, in the Democratic Primary I decided to reduce my VOTE-COPE contribution to $0.  I did so because I no longer had any trust that a Unity Caucus controlled union would represent me or the interests of my fellow classroom teachers very well.  In addition to giving money to candidates who hurt us and falling on the wrong side of so many of the important issues facing public school teachers, I got sick of seeing NYSUT’s legislative action wing be so woefully ineffective.  Whether it be the creation of Tier 6, the creation of test based teacher evaluations, the inability to get allies of public education elected, or the inability to prevent such a disastrous and harmful state budget from passing last year, I simply have no confidence in a legislative wing controlled by Unity Caucus’ Andy Pallotta.  Instead I donated my money to Zephyr Teachout, purchased NYSAPE Opt-Out signs, and used some money in ways that directly benefited students.  I was in control of the money and was, therefore, confident it was going to causes that I believed in.

So if you are on the side of Randi Weingarten (who came up through the Unity ranks), Mike Mulgrew, Andy Pallotta, #TeachStrong, Common Core, and test based teacher evaluations, then support Unity Caucus (you can’t join, it is invite only) and keep funneling your hard earned money into VOTE-COPE.  But if you are like me and you are tired of your profession being trampled while your union “leaders” compromise and collaborate with coroporate  privatizers who seek to destroy public education, then go ahead and reduce your VOTE-COPE and join STCaucus (open to any NYSUT members).  It literally is about the only say you have in your parent unions.

PJSTA Members Speak Out at Common Core Task Force Hearing

Three PJSTA members spoke at today’s hearing with the Common Core Task Force at Stony Brook University.

Melissa McMullan can be seen speaking here.

Beth Dimino follows Jeanette Deutermann here.

Brian St. Pierre can be seen in the video embedded below.  Thank you for the many PJSTA members who were in attendance in support of our schools, our students, our teachers, and our community!

Heroic Teacher Jia Lee Once Again Refuses to Administer State Tests

Last year we directed you to the Teachers of Conscience position paper.  Teachers of Conscience, a group of New York City public schools teachers concerned about market-based reforms and the future of public education, was the group referenced by Beth Dimino in her letter to the Comsewogue School District indicating her decision not to administer state assessments this year.  The group includes Jia Lee.  Ms. Lee, of the MORE Caucus, was in Washington DC this week to testify in the U.S. Senate on NCLB.  Lee, who once again will be refusing to administer state tests this year, was articulate and brilliant in her heroic sppech.  Have a watch below.  It’s well worth the five minutes.
http://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4524583

A Message From Beth Dimino

A message from PJSTA President Beth Dimino…

Governor Cuomo is wrong. He used junk science today to support his nonsensical theory that public education in NY is broken and that he alone has the “fix”. We can and will dissuade him of that opinion by each of us doing some or all of the following;

1) Refuse to allow your child to take the 3-8 tests.

2) Convince everyone you know to refuse to allow their child to take the tests. Last year, 60% of the students in Comsewogue did not take the tests and therefore the teachers could not be judged based on the student’s scores. No students take the test = No data to judge teachers. The opt out movement is the single best option to stop Cuomo’s testing agenda. Direct people to nysape.org for answers to their questions and a printable version of the IREFUSE letter.

3) Go to your local school board meetings and demand that your BOE pass resolutions against testing and in support of teachers and parents who refuse the tests.

4) Write letters, call, fax, and/or email your representatives and tell them some or all of the following;
Cuomo’s public school agenda is wrong, how public education is working in your district, that you will not support them if they do not support local control of your  district schools, that funding should not be tied to testing or a teacher evaluation system, that you are refusing to allow your child to take the tests because they serve no educational purpose, and that forcing children to sit through developmentally inappropriate tests for the sole purpose of evaluating teachers is hurtful to students and an ineffective way to judge effective pedagogy.

5) Get on Face book and Twitter daily for the purpose of staying up to date on current educational issues and to push a pro student, teacher and public education agenda. Go to thepjsta.org and read my emails daily for current PJSTA happenings.

I appreciate your support of me and my choice to refuse to administer the tests. I took this stand in defense of you and our students and yes I am fully cognizant of the personal risks that are attached to this choice.  Together, we can and will stop the Governor and the deformers!

In Solidarity,
Beth Dimino