Julie Cavanagh, of MORE was on All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC last night. You can click here to watch.
Cavanagh, a renowned education activist and an elementary special education teacher in Red Hook, Brooklyn, is also a candidate for an At-Large position on NYSUT’s board of directors in this April’s NYSUT election. She opposes UFT President Michael Mulgrew.
Last night in Melville there was a “Meet the Candidates” forum featuring the individuals running for the NYSUT officer positions in April’s election. There was a strong turnout of teachers and union leaders from around Long Island and some from New York City as well. The candidates each gave opening and closing statements. In between they took turns answering questions submitted by the audience.
James Eterno had a really great write up of the evening. Via the ICEUFT blog…
IANNUZZI’S STRONGR TOGETHER & ARTHUR GOLDSTEIN ARE CROWD FAVORITES AT CANDIDATE FORUM
New York State United Teachers is all of the local non supervisory educator related unions (and some non educator unions) in New York State combined into one statewide union. On April 5, NYSUT will have its first contested election in its history. The election will take place at the NYSUT Representative Assembly. Only Delegates can vote; the rank and file will be shut out.
To help Delegates make their decision, The Long Island President’s Council hosted a forum last night for candidates for the five NYSUT officer positions. If last night’s crowd reaction was a poll, President Richard Iannuzzi and his Stronger Together slate should breeze to reelection. Andrew Pallotta, who split from Iannuzzi recently to help form Revive NYSUT, was put on his heels most of the night trying to deflect very tough questions and some attacks on his legislative record. His colleagues, including presidential candidate Karen Magee, looked tentative at times.
Conversely, the four candidates from Stronger Together, led by Iannuzzi, came armed with facts and figures to confidently defend their records and provide a vision for the next three years.
Iannuzzi and the other three officeholders were joined by none other than Arthur Goldstein, Chapter Leader from Francis Lewis High School, aka NYC Educator. Arthur had a very impressive debate debut as he put his opponent Pallotta, the incumbent officer who defected from Iannuzzi, on the defensive most of the evening by merely emphasizing the awful laws that have been passed in New York the last few years under his watch. The Executive Vice President is in charge of NYSUT’s political operation and has a big say over which candidates get voluntary COPE money from us.
Arthur and Karen Magee were the only two candidates who played much offense. Arthur went after Pallotta’s failure as the Executive Vice President. Pallotta was compelled to answer for the inferior new pension Tier VI, the 2% property tax cap and the horrible Annual Personnel Performance Review (APPR) system. Pallotta was also questioned about Revive’s possible support for Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The highlight of the evening was when a question was asked about whether or not we should endorse Cuomo’s reelection. Arthur answered with a definitive no and launched into an attack on the governor’s anti-union, anti-public education, pro-charter school record.
Pallotta, on the other hand, responded to the question by saying that it is not up to him to endorse candidates. He explained that the Union has a process involving many people and he would let the process play out. This response did not please the crowd who loudly accused Pallotta of trying to duck the question. This prompted Pallotta to respond by noting he would not personally be endorsing Cuomo.
Iannuzzi and Magee sparred over the 2% tax cap. It takes a 60% vote to raise property taxes over 2% and the issue is hurting many NYSUT locals. Iannuzzi noted this and said he is very proud his team is using the courts to fight the cap. Magee had criticized the President for waiting two years to file a lawsuit over the cap. The President responded by pointing out how filing a lawsuit the day after the cap was passed would have been a great public relations move, but it would have ultimately failed as there was no evidence yet to have standing to win in court. He added by saying our patience gives us a much stronger chance of victory because now we have ample evidence to support a legal claim on how the cap is harmful to education.
The two presidential candidates also disagreed on charter schools with Magee drawing a distinction between private charter schools and public charter schools and basically only criticizing private charter schools while Iannuzzi emphasized how we have to organize charter schools.
On the Stronger Together side, the three other incumbent candidates were Maria Neira, Kathleen Donahue and Lee Cutler.
Neira confidently defended her record of meeting with the State Education Commissioner to make the best of the hand we have been dealt. The basic theme of Stronger Together was that the legislative part of the NYSUT operation led by Pallotta had failed by allowing terrible laws to pass in the Legislature and then Neira, Iannuzzi and others have sprung into action to negotiate to clean up the mess they have been handed with new laws. (A little revisionist history but it does make the case well for who is more to blame for the shape we are in.)
Secretary Treasurer incumbent Lee Cutler was attacked for a NYSUT deficit but he boldly defended his record by stating how he turned a multi million dollar NYSUT deficit into a projected surplus. He continually said how he had built up the Union’s non-dues revenue in the last few years. Kathleen Donahue also confidently backed up her own record of achievement with many of the non teachers who are NYSUT members, including Jones Beach Lifeguards.
Revive candidates emphasized how elections are a positive good for a democratic union. Paul Pecorale talked about his Long Island experience while Catalina Fortino pointed out the strength in diversity, talking about her English Language Learner background. Martin Messner spoke out on how he would involve the locals more in making decisions. Messner also made vague pledges to be transparent.
Messner for some inexplicable reason felt it necessary to mention how he is not a tool of the UFT leadership. Earlier, Goldstein had talked about how the UFT is run by a closed, invitation only group (NYC Unity Caucus) which forces its members to sign a paper saying they will support the positions of the UFT leadership in public or union forums (the so called Unity loyalty oath). Arthur added that NYC Unity shuts out people who disagree with policies the UFT supports such as mayoral dictatorship over NYC schools.
Overall, Revive did not look ready for prime time. If this is the best they can do, then we may be in even more peril than now if they take over NYSUT in April. The four incumbents in Stronger Together and Arthur Goldstein looked very comfortable up on the stage while Pallotta and his Revived challengers appeared to be overmatched at times. Pallotta even said running for office in a competitive election gave him a newfound respect for politicians and he no longer likes Twitter.
Since the 800 UFT Delegates to NYSUT all come from NYC Unity and President Michael Mulgrew supports Revive, Revive starts out with a huge advantage as this is around1/3 of the potential electorate. Judging by last night’s performance, however, Revive looks like they may be taking victory for granted. They better start campaigning for real or they very well could end up losing. Stronger Together won the evening for sure.
Full Disclosure: I am running in the NYSUT election for an at large Board of Director position. I am not part of a slate presently.
As we creep towards the unprecedented NYSUT election on April 5th much has been made of locals who are committing all of their delegate votes to specific groups of candidates in the election. We would like to make it clear that this is not how the PJSTA operates. Our NYSUT/AFT delegates are elected by our rank and file membership in even numbered years. Those delegates, full-time teachers in our district, are charged with speaking to colleagues, understanding the needs and concerns of our membership and voting in the way that they feel best represents our membership.
PJSTA President Beth Dimino, highly involved on the state level, has been vocal in her support of Arthur Goldstein for Executive Vice-President, the six MORE Caucus candidates for the At-Large Director positions, and the Stronger Together team of Dick Iannuzzi, Maria Neira, Kathleen Donahue, and Lee Cutler for the officer positions they seek. This does not, however, bind our other two delegates from voting exactly the same way. While it is certainly possible they do vote this way, the PJSTA leadership does not believe it is democratic to instruct all delegates to vote the same way.
It is encouraging to see that the Yonkers Federation of Teachers is conducting itself in the same way. Via Capital New York…
Yonkers Federation of Teachers president Patricia Puleo said her union’s delegates are free to decide for themselves who they’ll vote for in April, and she questioned whether new leadership would make a difference in how the state Education Department goes forward with implementation of the Common Core standards. But she recognized that the city’s teachers have grown frustrated.
“People are so upset that they are willing to make whatever changes they can,” Puleo said.
Unfortunately, NYSUT’s largest local, the UFT, does not conduct itself in this way. UFT elections are run with slates competing against each other. It is “winner take all”. Last year, for example, the Unity Caucus, who has run the UFT for half a century and rigged the system in their favor, ran candidates against the opposition caucuses. The MORE Caucus had significant support in their favor (in excess of 40% at the high school level). However because they did not have the largest number they ended up with zero of the UFT’s 800 NYSUT delegates. They literally have no voice at the state and national levels. In essence it would be as if our country voted either Republican or Democrat in elections. Winner taking every single position within government, with the winner also allowed to then structure the voting system to benefit them going forward. It’s insane.
As for this year’s NYSUT election, we know all 800 UFT-Unity Caucus members will vote as they are told to by their leadership. Posted at the bottom of this post is the invitation for Unity Caucus membership. You’ll see that it is invite only. Among the responsibilities…
In other words, you can only disagree with them in private, you must support them publicly, you must vote for the candidates they endorse, you will only run for an office with their blessing, when in that office you will do as you are told to do.
It is this arrangement that stifles the voice of rank and file teachers within the UFT, as well as within NYSUT and the AFT. With the UFT being the largest voice within NYSUT it stifles the voices of teachers across the state as well. Here’s hoping that more locals across the state will take the lead of Yonkers and release their delegates to vote as they see fit, rather than the top down approach taken by the UFT.
Below is the full Unity Caucus application…
We have learned this afternoon that Arthur Goldstein, who has been referred to by none other than Diane Ravitch as “NYC’s best teacher-blogger” is throwing his hat into the NYSUT election ring with the intention of running against incumbent Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta. Pallotta, who curiously thought all NYSUT officers but himself needed to be changed, recently cobbled together the “Revive NYSUT” slate to challenge the other incumbent officers. Coincidentally, I am sure, he made sure to leave himself in a position he believed would be uncontested. Now, however, he will have a contested election on his hands against a very qualified candidate.
Goldstein will be familiar to readers of this blog as the author of the blog NYC Educator where he has been blogging about education since 2005. It is a blog we frequently have referenced on this site. Additionally he has written articles about education for the Huffington Post (see here) and the Daily News, among other publications. Goldstein works as an ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens where he is also a UFT chapter leader. Those of you on Twitter may very well be familiar with him as he is a frequent participant in education related topics under the handle @TeacherArthurG. Be sure to give him a follow if you don’t already. While a member of the UFT, Goldstein has been outspoken in his criticism of the Unity Caucus leadership of his local.
Via his guest post on our blog, “Reviving Unionism”…
It’s funny to hear people in NYSUT complaining about democracy. I’m chapter leader of one of the largest schools in NYC, and neither I nor anyone in my school gets to vote or participate at all in NYSUT or AFT. Though I’ve been elected twice, that means nothing. The only way a city teacher gets to be part of NYSUT is to be part of Unity, an invitation-only caucus that has run the union for over 50 years. I’ve never been invited.
The reason for that, I suppose, is my public point of view. I’ve been published in the Daily News, at Huffington Post, at Gotham Schools, on Schoolbook, on multiple blogs, and in local Queens newspapers taking positions contrary to those of UFT leadership. For example, I wrote a column labeling mayoral control mayoral dictatorship. Though giving Michael Bloomberg absolute power was a bad idea, the UFT supported it. After he used it to close schools all over the city, aiding no one but privatizers, we supported it again.
I also oppose value-added ratings for teachers, since they have no basis in science, and since great teachers have lost jobs as a result. I can’t support Common Core, no matter how many millions of dollars Bill Gates pours into it, as I don’t believe it helps the students we serve when we fail most of them and use said failure to label working teachers as defective. Brilliant education historian Diane Ravitch shares my positions, and it’s ironic to be excluded from not only UFT, but also NYSUT and AFT for the crime of sharing her opinions.
It appears as though Goldstein will now circumvent the lack of a Unity Caucus invitation as he attempts to have his voice heard in his state union.
This, ladies and gentleman, is an example of true grassroots unionism. A rank and file teacher, who has been in his classroom teaching today, finding an avenue to make his voice heard. Bottom up, member driven unionism at it’s finest. Goldstein will now give NYSUT delegates a very appealing alternative to Andrew Pallotta, who has seen Tiers 5 and 6, along with the tax cap on his watch. Goldstein’s frequent and harsh criticism of Andy Cuomo also stands in stark contrast to Pallotta who used $10,000 in VOTE COPE funds to secure a table for his Revive NYSUT cronies at Cuomo’s birthday party.
We will have more on this situation as it unfolds and as we move closer to April’s NYSUT election.
This is not the faux grassroots, top down, Mulgrew led unionism. 120 local presidents are now publicly showing their support for Dick Iannuzzi, Maria Neira, Kathleen Donahue, and Lee Cutler.
Via the Stronger Together website…
Ben Alexander, Co-President, Jordan Elbridge Teachers Association
Jim Baldwin, President, Homer Teachers Association
Thomas Barry, President, East Islip Teachers Association
Nancy Baker, President, Dunkirk Teachers Association
Juliet Benaquisto, President, Schenectady Federation of Teachers
Jeanne Bennett, Co-Presidents, RC12
Irene Bielski, President, East Ramapo Teachers Association
Ted Birch, President, Deposit Teachers Association
Antoinette Blanck, President, UT Northport, ED 23 Director
Sandy Bliss, Co-President, RC12
Carol Blumrick, President, Royalton Hartland Teachers Association
Joseph Borgisi, President, EPEA
Robin Brennan, President, North Rockland Teachers Association
Tim Brown, President, Valley Central Teachers Association
Joe Cantafio, President, West Seneca Teachers Association
John Canty, President, Ramapo Teachers Association
Jason Carter, Wayne Teachers Association
Edward Carutis, President, Chautauqua Lake Teachers Association
Beth Chetney, President, Baldwinsville Teachers Association
Kim Christensen, President, Chenango Valley SRP
Bob Claps, President, Amityville Teachers Association
Tracie Clark, President, OCM BOCES
Seth Cohen, President, Troy Teachers Association
Kevin Coyne, President, Brentwood Teachers Association
Ralph Cross, President, Saranac Teachers Association
Darlene Darch, President, Bayshore CTA
Paul Davis, President, Bainbridge-Guilford Teachers Association
Joan Deem, President, Hicksville Teachers Association
Pasquale Delli Carpini, President, Wappingers Congress of Teachers
Dave Derouchie, President, Fulton Teachers Association
Rosemarie DiBernardi, Co-President, Greenwood Lake
Beth Dimino, President, PJSTA
Mark Dwyer, President, Chatham Teachers Association
Roberta Elins, President, UCE of FIT
Mike Emmi, President, Solvay Teachers Association
Paul Farfaglia, Co-President, Jordan Elbridge Teachers Association, ED 8-9 At-Large Director
Jo Ann Fastiggi, President, Nanuet Teachers Association
Tony Felicio, President, Connetquot Teachers Association
Eileen Fitzgerald-Spurhs, President, Cortland Teachers Association
Regis Foster, President, Port Jervis Teachers Association
Michael Friscia, President, Rocky Point Teachers Association
Frank Gannon, President, Florida Teachers’ Association
Anthony Gibson, President, Hauppauge Teachers Association
Larry Grisanti, President, East Aurora Teachers Association
Ron Gross, President, William Floyd Teachers Association
Richard Haas, President, Half Hollow Hills Teachers Association
Chris Harding Grosfelt, President, Trumansburg Teachers Association
Nathaniel Hathaway, President, Malone Federation of Teachers
Trevor Herzog, Co-President, Endicott Teachers Association
Jennifer Higgins, President, Amherst Teachers Association
Matt Hill, President, Haverling TA, ED 46 Director
Bill Hughes, President, South Orangetown Teachers Association
Eric Iberger, President, Bayport Bluepoint Teachers Association
Carmine Inserra Jr., President, Indian River Teachers Association
Lisa Jackson, President, Carmel Teachers Association
Kevin Jaruszewski, President, Lewiston Porter Teachers Association
Maureen Joseph, Co-President, Greenwood Lake
Andy Kavulich, President, RC11
Sean Kennedy, President, Yorktown Congress of Teachers
Jeff Kuemmel, President, Cheektowaga Teachers Association
John Kurlya, President, North Syracuse Education Association
Joseph Kwiatkowski, President, Fredonia Salaried Support Staff Association
Deb Kydon, President, Rockland Boces Staff Association
Michelle Licht, President, Williamsville Teachers Association
Mike Lillis, President, Lakeland Federation of Teachers
Karen MacIntyre, President, Brocton Teachers Association
Michael Mallon, President, Highlands Teachers Association
John Mansfield, President, TA of Lindenhurst, NYSUT Board of Directors
Liz McCheyne, President, South Seneca Teachers Association
Carla McLaud, President, Pine Bush Teachers Association
Mary Lou Megarr, President, Plattsburgh Teachers Association
Bob Meir, President, Arlington Teachers Association
Linda Meredith, President, Central Teachers Association
Elias Mestizo, President, Hempstead Teachers Association
Cheryl Miskell, President, Auburn Teachers Association
Pamela Modzel, President, Wayne-Fingerlakes BOCES EA
Nate Morgan, President, Hastings Teachers Association
Stu Napear, President, President, Freeport Teachers Association
John Nichols, President, East Syracuse Minoa United Teachers
Kevin O’Connell, President, Pearl River Teachers Association
Marietta O’Malley, President, Holland Teachers Association
Linda Oryhon, President, Binghamton Teachers Association
Chris Philp, President, Kings Park CTA
Adam Piasecki, President, Ithaca Teachers Association
Lois Piscitelli, President, Gowanda Teachers Association
Art Plichta, President, Newburgh Teachers Association
Tim Potts, President, Monticello Teachers Association
Kim Pritchard, President, Syosset Teachers Association
Arlene Reese, President, Lockport Teachers Association
Michael Romano, President, Central Islip Teachers Association
Donna Ramundo, President, Nyack Teachers Association
Dan Rupert, President, Hannibal Faculty Association
Eleanor Russell, President, Rosylyn Teachers Association
Bruce Sander, President, Deer Park Teachers Association
Nancy Sanders, President, Miller Place Teachers Association
Kathy Sarafin, President, Frankfort Schuler Teachers Association
Ellen Schuler Mauk, Faculty Association of SCCC
Ron Sesnie, President, Tonawanda Education Association
Mark Shanahan, President, Sweet Home Education Association
Ken Smith, President, Broom-Tioga BOCES, ED 11 Director
Brian Snow, President, Port Jefferson Teachers Association
Tim Southerton, President, Sayville Teachers Association
Laura Spencer, President, Smithtown Teachers Association
Jen Stevenson, Co-President, Endicott Teachers Association
Tris Stewart, President, Commack Teachers Association
New York State United Teachers President Richard C. Iannuzzi today called on school districts to abandon educationally unsound and unconscionable policies that force students whose parents have decided to opt them out of state testing to “sit and stare” instead of providing them with a constructive alternative.
…
“NYSUT strongly condemns the policy of ‘sit and stare’,” Iannuzzi said. “This policy aimed at students whose parents elect to ‘opt out’ their children from state standardized testing is unconscionable. It would be spiteful and counter-productive for any school district to require an administrator or teacher to direct a child to ‘sit and stare’ at a blank desk while other students are taking exams because of a choice made by a parent.”
Iannuzzi added, “This is cruel to those students not taking the exam and a distraction and disservice to those who are attempting to complete it. Punishing or embarrassing children because their parents exercised their right to choose not to have their children participate in tests they consider inappropriate is, frankly, abusive.”
…
Iannuzzi said the union would provide guidance and support to parents – or parent groups – unfairly singled out or harassed for advocating the right to opt out and added, “We will vigorously defend any NYSUT members who are subject to any negative employment considerations for choosing to opt out their own child or who advocate, to the extent permitted by law, for others who opt out of state standardized tests.”
This is very strong language from Iannuzzi in support of students, teachers, and parents. It also continues his trend of taking more aggressive stands against damaging reforms from SED. Ironically some locals are opposing his re-election bid, and supporting the slate that wants to play nice with Cuomo, because Iannuzzi wasn’t previously aggressive enough.
Today’s comments seem to be further proof that an Iannuzzi no longer beholden to Michael Mulgrew is an Iannuzzi who will take NYSUT in the direction that most NYSUT members want.
January 31, 2014
NYSUT Leaders and Members:
We are proud to serve as the Honorary Reelection Committee and to endorse the reelection of Dick Iannuzzi for President, Maria Neira and Kathleen Donahue for Vice President and Lee Cutler for Secretary-Treasurer of NYSUT!
We have been involved in framing the NYSUT mission and vision from its inception. Along with many great unionists from across New York, we’ve watched our union grow and evolve in ways that place NYSUT at the forefront of the teacher union movement — in fact of the entire labor movement. Dick and his team have a vision that is inclusive of every constituency group and local regardless of region or size. They have made leaders feel and know that they are part of a union that cares about and advocates for every member. They understand that leadership is about making the tough choices in tough times to save our members’ jobs, and about recalibrating our budgetary priorities and restructuring our organization to better meet our members’ needs. They know that leadership is about leading and taking responsibility for decisions, not finger-pointing or scapegoating colleagues when times are hard.
Like each of us, the STRONGER TOGETHER team understands that a union best serves its members with a long-range strategy and vision that supports real change, but not change for the sake of change.
The future of NYSUT depends on a team whose vision looks toward the future with new ideas that engage a collective voice, and not one that seeks to look backwards and fails to recognize the value of every member. Dick, Maria, Kathleen and Lee have the vision and experience to lean into the future on your behalf, and that’s why we are proud to actively provide our support.
In solidarity,
Thomas Y. Hobart, Jr.
President Emeritus
Antonia Cortese
Former NYSUT First Vice President
Our features this week (intro, James Eterno, Arthur Goldstein, Reality-Based Educator) that have shown how the leadership of the United Federation of Teachers operates may understandably leave you with a bad taste in your mouth regarding the state’s biggest local. Today’s post is meant to highlight some of the extraordinary work being done by rank and file UFT members, in spite of the leadership of the Unity Caucus. While a great deal of their members do the “every day hero” work that so many teachers across the country do, still others do tremendous work blogging about education (see our guest bloggers at NYC Educator and Perdido Street School). However one group in particular jumps out for their activism. That group is the MORE Caucus (@MOREcaucusNYC).
The MORE Caucus, standing for the Movement Of Rank And File Educators, bills itself as “The Social Justice Caucus of the UFT”. Anybody who knows them knows that there is no finer example of grassroots unionism in New York. Not the faux grassroots that the Pallotta/Mulgrew Revive NYSUT slate is touting, but real bottom up, member driven unionism. So who exactly is the MORE Caucus and what do they stand for? Via their mission statement…
1. We are members of the UFT and members of school communities and their allies.
2. We insist on receiving professional dignity and respect, and we insist on a strong, democratic union emerging from an educated and active rank and file. We oppose the lack of democracy and one-party state that has governed our union for half a century. It has conceded to our adversaries’ agendas and has collaborated with their attacks on us, leading to the terrible situation we find ourselves in.
3. We insist on a better educational environment for ourselves and for the students whose lives we touch. Because of this resolve, we have established the MORE Caucus, which will educate, organize and mobilize the UFT membership.
In “Why We Need a New Caucus” they add…
The onslaught of high-stakes testing, privatization, weakening or elimination of job protections, school closings and charter co- locations threatens the very existence of public education as we know it. Unionized teachers in particular have been singled out for demonization. The strategy put forth by our union leadership to take on these challenges is inadequate. UFT officials rely primarily on lobbying, media blitzes and procedural lawsuits. When occasional mobilizations are called, they are organized without a long-term plan for escalating actions or increased membership involvement. The union leadership takes a concessionary stance in order to maintain its “seat at the table” with politicians and corporate forces like Bill Gates, who turn around and attack teachers and the union at every opportunity. Union leadership then sells serious concessions to the members as victories claiming – “It could have worse”.
Some of the key policy failures of the UFT leadership:
• Supporting mayoral control even in the face of the devastating impact
• A weak stand against closing schools
• A compromising position on charter schools and co-locations
• Giving up on the fight to reduce class size
• The acceptance of rating teachers based on high-stakes tests
• Agreeing to merit pay even though every single study shows the failure of this policy
• Steadily deteriorating working conditions and power in the workplace
• Erosion of job security and tenure protections
• A one-party undemocratic system that shuts out the voices of the members
We need something different. A union that fights for the rights of students, teachers and communities.
A union that fights for racial and economic justice inside and outside our schools.
Like the PJSTA, the MORE Caucus is an official member of the New York State Allies for Public Education. MORE was formed in 2012, modeled in many ways after the CORE Teachers who only a couple of years earlier wrested control of the Chicago Teachers Union and have since become the model for how teacher unionism should be the United States.
Last spring, for the first time, MORE participated in the UFT elections as challengers to the Unity Caucus. They were led by their candidate for UFT President, Julie Cavanagh, who was known for her tremendous work fighting for public education, including co-narrating and co-producing The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman. While they did not win the election, MORE garnered significant support considering their status as newcomers and, more importantly, the hurdles that stand in the way of fair elections within their local. In his guest post earlier this week MORE member James Eterno detailed some of those hurdles (emphasis mine)…
In the most recent UFT election in 2013, less than 20% of active teachers voted. Members received a booklet in the mail with over a thousand names on it. Most people who did vote chose a slate, which means they voted for all of the candidates from one caucus (political party) with one mark.
The party that has controlled UFT politics for around half a century is the Unity Caucus, the Michael Mulgrew-Randi Weingarten faction of the UFT. Their huge base of support is among retirees, who now make up a majority of the UFT voters.
There is no way for dissidents (the Movement of Rank and File Educators in the last election) to reach those retirees who live all over the place, other than one ad in the New York Teacher newspaper every three years. Union officers, on the other hand, have complete access to the retirees.
A major union leader told me that when they visit schools during campaign season, they don’t campaign officially but everyone knows that they are there to run for office. How is it that UFT officials manage to visit Florida retirees during the election season? Challengers, who have to teach here in New York City, do not have any access to the masses of voters.
The opposition MORE slate and quasi opposition New Action slate combined won a majority of high school votes in the last UFT election. That netted the two groups zero representation in NYSUT’s RA.
For a more detailed analysis of the election turnout visit Kit Wainer’s piece here.
Unfortunately the power hungry Unity Caucus has set up a system that shuts out opposition voice within their local. As a result, NYSUT members do not get to enjoy the benefit of having members from the MORE Caucus participate in higher levels of our statewide union. There will be no MORE members with a vote in April’s NYSUT election. Outside of Andy Pallotta, Mike Mulgrew, and the Revive NYSUT slate of candidates I can’t think that this makes any teacher in New York State happy.
The contested election in this year’s NYSUT elections have, at the very least, brought a number of important issues to the forefront. Hopefully that results in meaningful changes within the next three years so that together we can build a stronger, member driven union. Unfortunately, as currently constituted, this is NOT what democracy looks like!
I’ll leave you with this video of MORE’s Brian Jones speaking about teacher unions…
Earlier we told you about our upcoming series on the leadership of the UFT. Our first post is from James Eterno of the UFT’s MORE Caucus. We have admirably mentioned MORE on this blog for quite a while now. This post has also been published at Mr. Eterno’s blog, ICEUFT.
Many New York City teachers view New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) as the group that offers UFT members discount insurance. It is so much more important than that. NYSUT is all of the local unions in New York State combined into a state-wide union. NYSUT matters as a great deal of educational policy is made at the state level.
These days there is an internal rift among the leadership at NYSUT. How this feud plays will have a large impact on UFT members and just about every education stakeholder in New York State.
It is strange how the press has only paid scant attention to this NYSUT leadership dispute. Full coverage has been provided by Education Notes, the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association website and Perdido Street School. Outside of these online union sources, onlyNew York State of Politics has touched on the story.
Here are some of the basics:
There are five officers in NYSUT. One of them has split from the other four. Who is the rebel? He is Vice President Andy Pallotta, a former UFT District Representative from the Bronx. Pallotta’s job in NYSUT in large part deals with which politicians get our voluntary COPE money. Apparently, Andy encouraged a lot of COPE money to go to Andrew Cuomo recently.
Dick Iannuzzi is NYSUT’s President. He is from Long Island but in the past he was supported by the New York City UFT. Lately as the internal rift has exploded, he has taken aggressive positions in opposition to state education policy driven by Governor Andrew Cuomo, the State Legislature and State Education Commissioner John King.
Do you think the UFT by itself would call for a no confidence vote on State Education Commissioner John King as NYSUT did yesterday? Just last year UFT President Michael Mulgrew was asking the State Legislature and Governor to allow King to arbitrate our dispute with former Mayor Bloomberg over the NYC teacher evaluation system.
Who is really behind the row in NYSUT? You probably guessed right if you said it is our own UFT leaders. Mulgrew is supporting the so called insurgent slate called Revive NYSUT. This is ironic as he won’t give dissidents in his own union the time of day. I think he has responded to one email I have sent him over the past five years.
As for the NYSUT election, it is basically as rigged as UFT elections. The election for NYSUT President and many other positions is in April in NYC. Most NYSUT members won’t be permitted to vote, however, as only NYSUT Representative Assembly Delegates are given the franchise to elect the five NYSUT statewide officers and the 82-member Board of Directors. To be a NYSUT Representative Assembly Delegate from New York City, by far the largest union in the state, one has to win the position in the general UFT election that takes place every three years.
In the most recent UFT election in 2013, less than 20% of active teachers voted. Members received a booklet in the mail with over a thousand names on it. Most people who did vote chose a slate, which means they voted for all of the candidates from one caucus (political party) with one mark.
The party that has controlled UFT politics for around half a century is the Unity Caucus, the Michael Mulgrew-Randi Weingarten faction of the UFT. Their huge base of support is among retirees, who now make up a majority of the UFT voters.
There is no way for dissidents (the Movement of Rank and File Educators in the last election) to reach those retirees who live all over the place, other than one ad in the New York Teacher newspaper every three years. Union officers, on the other hand, have complete access to the retirees.
A major union leader told me that when they visit schools during campaign season, they don’t campaign officially but everyone knows that they are there to run for office. How is it that UFT officials manage to visit Florida retirees during the election season? Challengers, who have to teach here in New York City, do not have any access to the masses of voters.
The opposition MORE slate and quasi opposition New Action slate combined won a majority of high school votes in the last UFT election. That netted the two groups zero representation in NYSUT’s RA.
Membership to the Unity Caucus in New York City is by invitation only. To be accepted into the caucus, one must sign a statement pledging to support the decisions of the caucus in union and public forums (the so called Unity loyalty oath). There is no public dissent allowed. In exchange for absolute loyalty, Unity members get all expense paid trips to the AFT Convention and the NYSUT Representative Assemblies where they vote as an enormous bloc. I very much doubt that the smaller locals in New York State have the funds to pay for their Delegates to travel to the RA and stay at the Hilton.
The party discipline Unity has would make Mao envious. I can just about guarantee that those 800 NYC Unity representatives at NYSUT (around 40% of the total) will be supporting Andy Pallotta and the Revive NYSUT “insurgent” slate. They would vote for a bologna sandwich if Mulgrew told them to.
My read is that current President Dick Iannuzzi, whose vastly improved policies have ironically been strengthened by the internal row, has as much chance of winning as real insurgents do in UFT elections. For Iannuzzi to prevail, the upstate and suburban locals would have to rebel en masse against Mulgrew’s endorsed team. (Wouldn’t that be cool!)
The UFT has always been the tail wagging the NYSUT dog. This insurrection at the top just confirms that status. We can only hope that Iannuzzi and company have something up their sleeves that we don’t know about to make this a truly competitive election.
Iannuzzi’s slate might not be perfect but I would place a wager that if we brought the President of NYSUT the resolution that we introduced earlier this month at the UFT Delegate Assembly not to support Andrew Cuomo’s reelection, we might get a sympathetic ear. Mulgrew’s Unity voted to turn our resolution down and leave open the possibility of a UFT Cuomo endorsement.
The NYSUT drama continued to roll on this week. It is quite a nuanced debate, particularly for those people who aren’t familiar with the inner workings of the statewide union. We’ll try and connect some dots for you…
Earlier this week former Executive Vice-President Alan Lubin wrote a letter backing Pallotta. Lubin clearly made a significant attempt to put to bed the notion that this is a “UFT take over of NYSUT”. He made the point that the UFT would only hold two of the five officer positions. He failed to make the point that all of the officer positions would be hand picked by UFT/Unity hack Andy Pallotta. For those people who have believed that Lubin has always been the one pulling the strings of Pallotta, this did nothing to silence them.
Yesterday Revive NYSUT posted an endorsement from UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “We support the Revive NYSUT Unity slate. We have heard the voices from locals across the state and agree with their call for change.” Two days earlier, in a love letter to Governor Cuomo letter to his members addressing Governor Cuomo’s budget proposal, Mulgrew said “The governor’s budget proposal is a good start for the legislative process, one that puts the needs of New York’s children and educators at the center of the debate.” This is the same Mulgrew whose UFT DA last week refused to rule out a Cuomo endorsement. For people who believe that Pallotta’s slate wants to endorse Cuomo, the Mulgrew endorsement was more fuel for the fire. Revive NYSUT claims to promote “grassroots unionism”. I wonder how they felt about Mulgrew’s refusal to debate his opponent last spring, a true grassroots unionist, Julie Cavanagh.
Today, over at Ed Notes Online, Norm Scott continued his brilliant coverage of this topic. Scott received a copy of a letter sent from UFT rank and file members to NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. In it they say…
The influence that the UFT has on the decisions of NYSUT must be countered. Andrew Cuomo is not a friend to teachers. Andrew Cuomo isn’t even close to being fair to teachers. If Michael Mulgrew wants to support Andrew Cuomo, he should do so by writing a personal check. We are certainly not the only UFT members who feel abandoned by the UFT. It is time for NYSUT’s locals to unite against the useless behemoth of a local called the UFT and take steps to protect the hardworking teachers of NYS.
One of the teachers who sent that letter, Roseanne McCosh, also had this to say…
I worked with Andy Pallotta when we were both Dist 10 chapter leaders and I continued as chapter leader while he was the Dist 10 rep. I am no longer chapter leader but I was replaced by someone strong and on the right side of the issues.
On a personal level I have a lot of good things to say about Andy. But this UFT/NYSUT situation ain’t personal— it’s business, and I completely disagree with Andy on how vehemently we should be fighting those looking to eliminate teachers’ unions and wreak havoc on the day to day conditions under which we must try to teach. I spoke with Andy this past summer and expressed my frustration with the lack of leadership on tackling Albany and the DOE head on. Andy’s a peacemaker. I’m a fighter. We disagree on tactics. He had a VP from the UFT call me (For the life of me I can’t remember her damn name) and I was given lip service that the UFT was on top of this whole eval system. I knew I was being placated and ended the conversation noting that time would tell how ahead of all of these issues the UFT would be in the months to come.
To get an in depth look at the evaluation system that the UFT was “on top of” you can take a look here.
The Official Website of the PJSTA 