When I started in 1984, we used to get building assignments once every third semester. As we took various zero percent raises, cannily negotiated by Unity leadership, we began to move away from such assignments. First, they could only dump us in lunchrooms once every six years. Then they couldn’t dump us in lunchrooms at all. I was overjoyed, as lunchroom duty is the single most tedious and unproductive chore I’ve ever performed in my teaching career. Before 05, I generally got extra prep time, since I almost always taught at least three different classes, or “preps.”
Then suddenly, lunchroom duty was back, all the time, along with potty patrol and hall duty. My prep time was halved so I could patrol a hall for a year, thanks to the new contract. At first, I took it very seriously. It’s my nature not to accept or overlook nonsense from kids. I chased kids all over the building, often catching them and having administrators who didn’t want to be bothered send them to the lunchroom, no matter what they’d done. Destruction of school property? You saw it? But the kid might be hungry. Fine. I began carrying notebooks and writing lesson plans during hall duty. Why should I knock myself out if no one would back me up?
Since the 05 contract, our options are somewhat diminished. If Mr. Red is about to get a letter in his file for stealing pencils, he can no longer protest on the grounds that he didn’t actually steal the pencils. Ms. Green can be suspended without pay or benefits for months on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations. And if Mr. Blue’s school is closed, he can be made an ATR, a perpetual wandering substitute with no class of his own. And why would anyone hire Mr. Blue, no matter how good he may be, if newbie Ms. Purple is available for half the salary?
There is another alleged opposition party called New Action. Unity used to say the most deplorable things about them, frequently calling them “No Action.” But in 2003, New Action leaders were suddenly given paying work and no opposition from Unity for the high school seats on the UFT Executive Board. This Great Sellout has made New Action what it is now--a bunch of happy folks with union jobs and offices for which they weren't really elected. That's one of the reasons ICE/ TJC popped up and kicked their asses the first time they ran.
Unity wised up and cross-endorsed them next time, knowing that without their support, New Action is nothing. In fact, the thing Unity likes about them is even with their support, they are nothing--but send them to a few conventions and give them a few jobs, and they'll happily pretend to be an opposition. But as long as they continue to divert votes from the real opposition, it pays Unity to keep propping them up. After all, a fake opposition is always easier to manage than a real one.
I don’t much like the way Unity portrays its opponents. In a recent campaign piece, ICE/ TJC presidential candidate James Eterno is described as “defeated,” because he questioned the point of the PEP vote. I know James Eterno, and if he is “defeated,” the Energizer bunny is passed out drunk in a ditch somewhere. When James said that, the PEP had never voted against a single administration proposal, so it was hardly surprising they supported administration that day as well. Given that PEP is basically a rubber stamp for the mayor, the decision of UFT leadership to wait until the day of the final vote to rally was perhaps not the best. In fact, as whoever wrote that piece well knows, James not only called for more rallies (which they ridicule, since they say a lawsuit makes more sense), but he also emailed UFT President Michael Mulgrew specifically asking to participate in the lawsuit.
There are some good people in Unity, and plenty of good intentions, but there have also been egregious errors—largely from living in an echo chamber where ideas are never openly questioned or challenged.
Quite simply, 50 years is absolutely too long for any one party to have complete control of anything.
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