NYSUT & Cuomo, UFT Contract, Cavanagh, etc.

We have some must read links for you to peruse…

A lot was made in the lead up to the NYSUT election in April about the Revive NYSUT slate’s apparent fondness for Governor Cuomo. This parent’s account of events at NYSUT’s “Picket in the Pines” earlier this month would seem to back that up…

At NYSUT’s rally at Lake Placid, it became painfully obvious that NYSUT was not there to challenge Cuomo — all the rhetoric was directed at DFER and the Walton Foundation. None of the rally speakers said anything about Cuomo (or even Gates!). The most obvious giveaway that NYSUT had completely sold out came when the NYSUT photographer wanted to take a picture of a child who was wearing a sign that said, I “heart” public school, but he wouldn’t take a picture of the child’s brother whose sign said, No Mo Cuomo. The photographer explicitly stated that NYSUT wouldn’t publish anything against Cuomo!
If all this is true, union leadership is even more effed up than I thought….

Reality-Based Educator discusses the significance of Governor Cuomo’s meeting with the Stronger Together group last week.

Barbara Madeloni won an election to become the President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, an NEA affiliate. Congrats to her. Like Chicago’s CORE Caucus, NYSUT’s STronger Together, and the UFT’s dissident MORE Caucus, Madeloni represents a more aggressive, progressive, and militant form of unionism.

We have a few links on the UFT’s controversial contract agreement. Our friends from MORE are urging a NO vote…

Arthur Goldstein requests a moderated discussion with the UFT leadership prior to the vote and eagerly awaits a response.

James Eterno tells of Mike Mulgrew mangling democracy.

MORE’s Mike Schirtzer is quoted here, wondering about what ineffective way “master teachers” will be identified.

Julie Cavanagh explains why the contract should be rejected.

Finally, I will leave you with this video of MORE’s Cavanagh…

On Binding Delegates

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…

To express criticism of caucus policies within the Caucus;
To support the decisions of Caucus / Union leadership in public or Union forums;
To support in Union elections only those individuals who are endorsed by the Caucus, and to actively campaign for his / her election;
To run for Union office only with the support of the caucus;
To serve, if elected to Union office, in a manner consistent with Union / Caucus policies and to give full and faithful service in that office;

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…

Cuomo’s Rigged Common Core Panel

Yesterday, Andy Cuomo, the self-proclaimed “Lobbyist for Students” announced his Common Core Implementation Panel. In a move that surprised absolutely nobody, the panel is stacked with people who have already professed their love for the common core publicly. It would seem as though the reason it took our esteemed governor such a long time to put this panel together was because he needed to go to the far reaches of the universe to find a superintendent and teacher who liked the Common Core to put on the panel. But he did that.

Our friend Reality-Based Educator did a great job giving us the lowdown on the background of the people on the panel. Via Perdido Street School…

As Leonie Haimson pointed out, Litow is a proponent of CCSS (he wrote an opinion piece stating New York must not abandon the Common Core.)

So we have a CCSS proponent chairing the panel.

John Flanagan, head of the Senate Education Committee, was endorsing Common Core as late as last August, though he has recently stepped back a bit from that as the political pressure has mounted and has called for a delay in their use for high stakes.

Cathy Nolan is also a supporter of the Common Core standards, though like Flanagan, she has called for a delay in their use for high stakes.

Linda Darling-Hammond has given some support to CCSS, though she has criticized the process by which the standards were developed as well as expressed concerns around the CCSS testing and the way CCSS has been implemented.

Todd Hathaway is a teacher from Erie County who has publicly testified against the testing as imposed by SED and the Regents.

Alice Jackson-Jolley is the daughter of a Pataki “pal” who said this about CCSS:

Jackson-Jolley said she has an open mind about the Common Core, in particular how it has been introduced in New York. But she said that she wants her two daughters, 10 and 7, who attend North Salem schools, to receive a more challenging public-school education than what she received.“I hope they get an education that is rigorous, challenges them, and inspires them, so they never feel they are skating through,” she said. “When they get to college and beyond, I want them to feel prepared and competitive.”

Don’t want to say she sounds definitively like a CCSS supporter, but she’s throwing around the kind of CCSS buzzwords (“rigorous” and “competitive”) you hear from pro-CCSS supporters.

Nick Lawrence is a member of Educators4Excellence who testified he supports the Common Core.

Delia Pompa is senior VP for programs at La Raza, an organization that has supported CCSS even as it has expressed concern over how CCSS implementation will affect Latino students.

Anne Kress, President of Monroe Community College says there are no problems with the Common Core standards as standards – she thinks they’re just swell.

Charles Russo is a district superintendent who testified he loves Common Core and the EngageNY modules.

Dan Weisberg is an education reformer who runs an education reform outfit that is pro-CCSS and just recently wrote this:

Back in the fall, we noted that teachers unions in New York appeared to be resorting to Tea Party tactics in an attempt to bully Governor Andrew Cuomo and Education Commissioner John King into backtracking on two of their signature achievements: Implementing a state law that requires better teacher evaluation systems, and adopting the Common Core State Standards, a set of more ambitious and coherent learning standards for students.

What has happened in the months since? Despite all the maneuvering, Cuomo and King haven’t backed down. In fact, Cuomo reiterated his focus on these achievements in his State of the State address last week, pointing to the evaluation law as a success story and proposing to use the results from evaluations to award bonuses of up to $20,000 to the state’s highest-rated teachers.

…

What’s happening in New York is an important lesson for leaders across the country: If you’re serious about education reform, be prepared to fend off a steady stream of political attacks from both sides of the aisle, even after your policies have been adopted.

Fortunately, Governor Cuomo and Commissioner King don’t scare easily, and they finish what they start. They’re setting a commendable example by sticking to their principles in the face of all these attacks. Here’s hoping they keep it up, for the sake of the millions of students in New York who will benefit from higher standards.

Cuomo’s rigging of the panel was very much expected. What was very disappointing, however, was UFT President Michael Mulgrew. Mulgrew, whose Unity Caucus torpedoed an attempt to rule out a Cuomo endorsement last month, continued his love affair with Andy Cuomo in this UFT press release…

Mulgrew praises formation of Governor’s Common Core panel

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

UFT President Michael Mulgrew on Feb. 7 applauded Governor Cuomo’s appointment of an 11-member group — including education expert Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, State Senator John Flanagan, and Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan — to recommend changes to the flawed rollout of the Common Core Learning Standards.

In response, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said:

“I want to thank the Governor for listening to parents, children, principals and teachers across the state who have made it clear that the rush to implement the Common Core standards in New York State has not worked. We look forward to the panel’s recommendations.”

So there’s that. It’s no wonder UFT rank and file members want MORE from their union! Mulgrew, who couldn’t endorse the Revive NYSUT slate quick enough, either doesn’t care about the fate of his members or he is the most out of touch labor leader around. As one commenter on James Eterno’s ICEUFT blog put it…

Pogue said…

Happy with Gates.
Happy with Cuomo.
Happy with Common Core.
Happy with King.
Happy with Tisch.
Happy with Bloomberg. (2009 election)
Happy with Danielson.
Happy with 40% MOSL’s.

Is there a teacher/student-abusing person or policy the UFT Leadership is unhappy with?

UFT Series Post #4: Do You Want MORE From Your Union?

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…

NYC Eye on Iannuzzi v. Mulgrew

Via NYC Eye… (emphasis is mine)

Teachers in New York City and New York State must recognize that there are profound flaws in Michael Mulgrew that are vociferous defenses for the indefensible policies of John King. Perdido Street did some extremely important compilations of old posts that quintessentially capture the nightmarish betrayals that Mulgrew committed against the teachers of New York City. NYS teachers and their representatives would do well to study those missteps with the most exacting attention. See “Oldie But Goodie: Mulgrew “Frightened” By Opposition To Common Core,”“Another Oldie But Goodie: Michael Mulgrew On Why John King Was A Great Figure To Impose A NYC Teacher Evaluation System,”“And Yet Three More Oldies But Goodies: Michael Mulgrew Defends John King’s APPR Teacher Evaluation System.”

Why should NYS teachers and representatives care about what Michael Mulgrew or his proxy Andy Pallotta say or think? Pay close attention to what Mulgrew said for months last year: apologies for some of the worst policies that are destroying teachers’ working conditions and their spirits. Reading Mulgrew’s words, aren’t you unsettled by what Mulgrew did in New York City? Would you for a minute risk his disastrous policies’ being shoved over to the rest of New York State?

…

And which teachers union leader clearly has been the figure that has been committed great damage to the teaching profession in New York State? Hmm. Make no mistake, Saturday’s NYSUT board vote was not just a repudiation of Comm. King but also a repudiation of Mulgrew who has not stood up to John King in his worsening of teacher working conditions.
Never forget: Mulgrew supports Cuomo. This is a major political point of political dispute between Mulgrew and Iannuzzi.

Don’t forget who the King-supporting, Cuomo-loving, democracy-squashing, debate-avoiding Michael Mulgrew is backing in the NYSUT elections…

“We support the Revive NYSUT Unity slate. We have heard the voices from locals across the state and agree with their call for change.”

Michael Mulgrew

UFT Guest Post #3: Reality-Based Educator

Today we will continue our series designed to give you a look inside the leadership of the United Federation of Teachers . On Sunday we began with James Eterno of the ICEUFT blog and yesterday we continued with Arthur Goldstein of the NYC Educator blog. Today we will be featuring a post by a man who goes by the moniker Reality-Based Educator (RBE) on his blog Perdido Street School. Regular readers of this blog will recognize Perdido Street School as a blog that we refer to quite a bit as Mr. RBE does an extraordinary job blogging about education and politics in New York City, New York State, and beyond. If you are on Twitter you certainly will wanna give him a follow, @perdidostschool.

Today’s post will take a somewhat different format. Due to a previous commitment today’s guest blogger is unable to write a full fledged post for us today. However he shared that, “You are welcome to use anything off Perdido Street School you think would be appropriate” and later added, “You’re doing a great job educating people around the state, so I think this is a great idea to use PJSTA blog as a resource and reference for people looking to get info about the cancer that is Unity. Thanks for asking me to be a part of it!” So today’s post will feature parts of different blog posts RBE has written over the last several months, sharing his insights and opinions on the leadership of the local union of which he is a member of the rank and file, the UFT.

Back on August 22, 2013 RBE wrote about Mulgrew Frightened by Opposition to Common Core…

From Gotham Schools:

The opposition has alarmed many who say they continue to support the idea behind the standards, which is to teach students to think more deeply and critically, even as they have criticized the state’s implementation.

“This debate about whether Common Core is good or bad … is what frightens me,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew, another panelist, said this morning.

Why should a debate over Common Core frighten you, Mike?

Oh, right – I remember now.

You head the UFT, an organization which eschews debate, shuts down opposition within the ranks and otherwise works to quell anything and anybody that isn’t AFT- and UFT-leadership approved.

Well, get ready for a frightful year, Mikey.

Because as teachers start to deal with Common Core lessons on top of the Danielson framework on top of 4-6 observations a year on top of evals tied to state test scores on top of evals tied to city tests and/or other locally-selected measures of teacher effectiveness, there’s going to be a lot of debate within the UFT rank-and-file over the Common Core, the new Common Core tests, Danielson, APPR and all the other reforms you and your boss, Randi Weingarten, helped bring about for NYC teachers.

On April 5, 2013, when discussing MORE’s case against Mulgrew, RBE shared…

Can you imagine a UFT leadership that actually cared about its members, that actually came from the membership to rise to the union leadership positions not so they could get out of the classroom and live off the perks and double pensions but so they could protect teachers in a time of historic attacks on public education and provide a positive alternative to restore dignity to teaching and compassion to students?

If you can imagine such a leadership, you should vote for MORE.

Because the current leadership is just going to continue taking us down the path of destruction via APPR, Danielson, VAM, SLO’s, and growth models.

After all, this is leadership that has decided education corporatists John King and Andrew Cuomo can be the independent arbitrators between the union and the city on the evaluation negotiations and impose whatever system they want upon us.

That, dear reader, is a failed leadership.

On March 28, 2013, RBE wondered Why is Mulgrew Afraid to Debate?…

Via ICEUFT blog, we learn that even the NY Post is wondering why UFT President Michael Mulgrew won’t debate opponent Julie Cavanagh:

Brash-talking teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew is a chicken and a hypocrite, union critics charge.Mulgrew is ducking a debate with his United Federation of Teachers rival before next month’s union elections, The Post has learned.

Special-education teacher Julie Cavanagh is challenging Mulgrew’s re-election bid and has personally asked him to participate in a “town hall” debate.

“To this point you have ignored outreach regarding your participation in a debate or question-and-answer town hall with me,” Cavanagh said in a March 14 letter to Mulgrew.

And a top aide to Mulgrew confirmed that the incumbent would not debate Cavanagh. Instead, Mulgrew’s political handlers offered to have one of the subordinates from his Unity Caucus debate her.

The contempt with which Mulgrew and his leadership are treating Cavanagh and the MORE caucus is not new to how they treat people within the union who do not swallow the party line 100%.

What is different is that the news of that is showing up in the newspapers.

Why won’t Mulgrew debate Cavanagh?

Understand that a 90 second spot for Cavanagh at the DA does not count as a debate.

I mean a real, honest 90 minute “Here Is How I See The Future Of Public Education, Teaching And Unionism” debate between Mulgrew and Cavanagh moderated by an independent third party.

That would be a great opportunity for both candidates to explain to UFT rank and file just how they plan to handle a very dicey future for teachers, schools and the UFT.

What is Mulgrew afraid of that he won’t have that debate?

Finally, here is RBE on June 20, 2013, talking about Democracy UFT Style in Regards to the Thompson endorsement…

I called this Thompson endorsement by the UFT leadership a long time ago.It wasn’t difficult to see that this was the candidate they would eventually endorse.John Liu is tarred by scandal, so he wasn’t going to get the nod.

Bill de Blasio was seen as too lefty (as noted by one of the Unity slugs in a comment at Gotham Charter Schools a few weeks back), so he was out.

Quinn, had she still been polling strong, might have been their pick because the most important objective the UFT leadership wanted from this endorsement was to pick a winner.

But Quinn has fallen in every poll taken since February and is no longer the presumptive frontrunner in this race, so the UFT leadership could take a chance and go with somebody other than Quinn.

That somebody was Al D’amato’s, Merryl Tisch’s and Randi Weingarten’s favorite candidate, Bill Thompson.

The sham of all of this is that the decision was made weeks ago, but the UFT made believe like they were going through some “democratic process” to come to the endorsement decision.

But as with every other decision the UFT makes, from the sellout on the Common Core to the sellout on APPR, the fix was in and the decision was made by the union elites and handed down to the rank and file.

That’s why they had Thompson ready to go yesterday right after the endorsement announcement, that’s why they had the posters already printed up.

The good news in all of this is, as I noted yesterday, winning the UFT endorsement doesn’t give Bill Thompson much juice other than a day of headlines and some extra cash for the campaign.

Mulgrew can preen in the papers about the vaunted UFT GOTV machine, but the truth is, this is a paper tiger union with most of its power base residing on the golf courses in Florida.

Most members I spoke with yesterday, both in my school and at Regents grading after school, said if Mikey Mulgrew wanted them to vote for Bill Thompson, then there must be something wrong with Bill Thompson.

I think that’s EXACTLY right.

Any candidate who enjoys the support of Al D’amato, the hedge fund/charter school contingent, Merry Tisch, Randi Weingarten and the UFT is a candidate who should not be trusted.

Just like the “democracy” the UFT engaged in to anoint Bill Thompson their candidate.

By now, if you have been reading our posts this week about UFT leadership, you should have serious questions about whether or not you can support the Revive NYSUT slate of candidates. After all, remember what they proudly display on their site…

“We support the Revive NYSUT Unity slate. We have heard the voices from locals across the state and agree with their call for change.”

Michael Mulgrew

UFT Guest Post #2: Arthur Goldstein

Yesterday we shared with you the details of our series that gives our readers a look into the United Federation of Teachers, how it is structured, and how it impacts locals across New York State and the country. Our first post in the series was from James Eterno of ICEUFT. Today’s post is from prolific blogger Arthur Goldstein. Arthur has blogged regularly at NYC Educator since 2005. He is an ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens. You certainly will want to follow him on Twitter at @TeacherArthurG.

Reviving Unionism

by Arthur Goldstein, ESL teacher/ UFT chapter leader, Francis Lewis High School

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 dollarsBill 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.

Lest you think I’m delusional, below is part of the pledge you must sign to join Unity, as the overwhelming majority of UFT chapter leaders have done.

To express criticism of caucus policies within the Caucus;
To support the decisions of Caucus / Union leadership in public or Union forums;
To support in Union elections only those individuals who are endorsed by the Caucus, and to actively campaign for his / her election;
To run for Union office only with the support of the caucus;
To serve, if elected to Union office, in a manner consistent with Union / Caucus policies
and to give full and faithful service in that office;

Had I signed this, I’d have been unable to advocate for causes important to my members. In fact, I fail to see how we grow advocacy when our school leaders are prohibited from fighting the corporate reform that threatens to turn us all into Walmart associates. As in any group, some people in Unity are wonderful, and others not so wonderful. Some, I think, understand the need for change. But they can’t stand up, or they’ll be expelled. This is, sadly, another UFT tradition. According to David Selden, Unity members were expelled in the sixties for opposing the Vietnam War. History has proven those dissenters right, and will prove us right as well.

Our local, to many UFT members, is just a number you call when you need a pair of glasses. This worries me. I’m surprised to read NYSUT is what needs change. We are by far the largest component of NYSUT and we are in need of something well more than a revival. I’m ready and willing to help, and all UFT need do is ask.

Unfortunately, UFT finds my viewpoints too extreme, and prefers to exclude not only me, but every single teacher who shares my opinions. I don’t personally know a single teacher who supports corporate reform. But many expect little from the UFT, which has failed to procure us a contract in four years or a raise in five. In fact, only 14% of working teachers voted in our last election, and 52% of votes received were from retirees.

Revival is something we surely need. But it needs to come in the form of something inclusive, something that respects those of us who feel the need to fight corporate reform and the junk science that accompanies it. I’m encouraged that AFT President Randi Weingarten has seen the light about VAM, and that NYSUT has rejected the preposterous policies of John King. Why on earth has it taken so long?

Now it’s time to respect the viewpoints and interests of working teachers, and to utilize and encourage those of us who choose to be active. Unfortunately, any revival that willfully ignores what’s been going on in New York City for half a century is no revival at all.

UFT Guest Post #1: James Eterno

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.

MAKING SOME SENSE OF THE NYSUT LEADER SPLIT

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.

What’s the Deal with the UFT?

As the NYSUT Civil War rages on over social media, a big topic of conversation has become the role of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and their president, Michael Mulgrew. Many people engaged in the debate of the future of our statewide union’s leadership have been critical of the Revive NYSUT slate’s connection to the UFT. They received an endorsement this week from Mulgrew and former Executive Vice President Alan Lubin who came up through the ranks of the UFT. They also include former UFT member Andy Pallotta and current UFT Vice President Catalina Fortino on their slate. While the Revive NYSUT slate has taken heavy criticism for these connections, others wonder, “what’s the big deal with having UFT connections?”

We’re going to try to clear a lot of that up in the coming days. The first thing we should clear up is that the PJSTA fully supports the members of the UFT and recognizes their rank and file as being on the front lines in the war against public education. Great numbers of them have done tremendous work fighting the corporate reformers. Many of us have friends and family who have been a part of the UFT or are currently a part of the UFT. The PJSTA is proud to call the UFT’s rank and file our brothers and sisters in the labor movement.

Where our problems with the UFT begin and end are with it’s leadership. In particular Mulgrew and the Unity Caucus, the party which has a death grip on control of the local. The UFT’s Unity Caucus has been the only caucus to control the UFT for half a century now and has created a structure of government that makes it nearly impossible to ever lose control. As a result their is a startling absence of democracy within their union and their rank and file are left without a true voice. Instead they are stuck with Mulgrew and his cronies who have refused to rule out a Cuomo endorsement (or financial contributions), have shown support for NYSED Commissioner John King, and claimed to be “frightened” by opposition to the Common Core.

The problem, of course, is that when the UFT’s leadership take stances like this it doesn’t only spell trouble for UFT members. As a local that controls approximately 40% of the NYSUT delegate votes, the UFT also controls NYSUT. With NYSUT making up the majority of the AFT, the UFT also controls the AFT in this way as well. So Mulgrew and company are able to extend their tentacles of reforminess far beyond the boundaries of New York City and into classrooms across the country. With this thought in mind it is highly disturbing when you see a slate such as Revive NYSUT claim to be “grassroots” slate working for the rank and file when they have Mikey Mulgrew’s fingerprints all over them.

To give you a more in depth look at how the UFT’s leadership operates we will be running a series of guests posts over the next few days from members of the UFT’s rank and file. The first post is from the MORE Caucus’ James Eterno. The MORE Caucus is an opposition caucus to Unity. Eterno unsuccessfully ran against Mulgrew for UFT President in 2010.

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

This movie was produced by Brian Jones and Julie Cavanagh. Ms. Cavanagh is the MORE Caucus’ candidate for President of the UFT and Mr. Jones is their candidate for secretary. MORE stands for Movement of Rank and File Educators. Read more about them and their positions here.

You can watch Ms. Cavanagh’s appearance on MSNBC’s Up w/ Chris Hayes here.