GothamSchools Trashes UFT Opposition, Determines 22% Voter Turnout Not "Too Apathetic"

I was kind of amazed to go to GothamSchools yesterday and read " If the population currently teaching in the city’s classrooms starts to stray to opposition groups, or is too apathetic to vote, the union could be in trouble."

First of all, the article itself states only 22 percent of working teachers voted three years ago. Doesn't a 78% lack of participation already indicate apathy?  Or is the accepted standard 79%?  I haven't been to journalism school, but perhaps it's written in some highly regarded textbook somewhere.

Be that as it may, I'm also astounded by the contention that the union could be in trouble if too many working teachers stray to opposition groups.  Despite what Unity sources may have told the Gotham reporter, we too are union, we believe fervently in union and we think the union is already in trouble.   We think many of our troubles began when the UFT/ Unity aristocracy ignored James Eterno's advice and decided to go to PERB in 2005.

Or perhaps GothamSchools simply thinks we are trouble.  Maybe Unity told them we were trouble and they're simply reporting it unattributed.  Hard to say, since they didn't see fit to explain.

This piece could well have been written by the Unity propaganda team, already up to its elbows in cutesy and blatantly unfair manipulation---and this on the eve of the election. ICE/ TJC presidential candidate James Eterno just commented here that today is the very last day to persuade people, and the preposterous contention masquerading as news at Gotham is neither welcome, accurate, nor helpful.
The Unity dynasty, propped up by chapter leaders who've signed away their free will for a couple of trips to conventions, does not much need Gotham's help.

Why don't members vote?  Because they've given up.  Because they think the election is in the bag and it doesn't matter what they do.  The more I read things like that column, the better I understand why they get that feeling.

Perhaps in part two of the Gotham-Unity interview, they'll ask why high school teachers can't select their own VP.   Probably they won't.  In any case, taking the choice away from high school teachers is not without precedent.  The technique of widening the pool to make sure no former slaves got elected by mistake was used with some success after the Civil War.   Doubtless when Unity does it to unpredictable high school teachers, it's pristine and pure democracy.

I look forward to the next installment.  Perhaps we'll hear not only from the Unity folks who signed the loyalty oath, but from New Action folks as well.  We can learn how New Action props up the facade of democracy with fake opposition blatantly and cynically designed to divert folks from troublesome activists who stand up for what they believe, as opposed to what Unity tells them to believe.  Maybe they'll express it some other way.

"We believe it's the responsibility of an opposition to support the status quo candidate so we can get jobs and political positions."  Perhaps they won't say it that way either.

Whatever they say, I can't wait to see what comes next.  I love hearing both sides of an issue, and it's particularly riveting when both sides are spoken out of the same mouth.

Hopey Changey Stuff

Yesterday, teacher blogger Chaz endorsed James Eterno for President of the United Federation of Teachers.  I'd been waiting to see what Chaz would do, and now that he's come out for James Eterno, how could anyone possibly argue?  I don't always agree with Chaz, but we have a history regarding presidential matters.

I hope I'm not revealing any confidences, but last year, via email, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to talk Chaz into voting for Obama.  Chaz said Obama's educational program was abysmal.  It was true, of course, but no one anticipated the Prez would turn into the horror story he is now, applauding mass teacher firings.

At the time,  there were other issues.

Look, I pointed out, Obama wants to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.  This is great for unions, as it will make it much easier to organize.  No more having the employer intimidate and play games.  This would be a great thing for America, and I support it completely.

Not only that, I said, but Obama will finally get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan.  We can't indefinitely sustain two wars.  How can we spend all that money over there when Americans don't have health care?  I remember George W. Bush standing up and saying there was free health care in Iraq.  How can he be proud of that when there are tens of millions of Americans without it?

Most importantly, I argued, Obama will pass a health care plan.  Hopefully he'll have some kind of public option, so that Americans who can't afford insurance can finally see doctors.  We can't put up with this nonsense forever, I said.  You know, that Mavericky John McCain actually wants to tax health care plans.  That's absolutely unacceptable.  How could you vote for a guy like that?

Well, I now think that Johny Mac would never have been able to pass the odious education notions Obama has been pushing.  The Democrats would surely have blocked him.  Naturally, the spectre of Sarah Palin as Vice-President kind of makes me puke.  Still,  I really understood it (though not in the way she intended) when she asked recently, "How's that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?"  I'm certain she's incapable of writing a question like that, but the answer is--not well.  Obama has accomplished absolutely nothing that made me vote for him, and the health plan he's floating is far from what Americans want or need.  Furthermore, he's picked up the torch from Maverick Johny, enthusiastically endorsing the notion of taxing health plans.

Anyway, if Chaz endorses James Eterno, that's good enough for me.   Full disclosure--I know James Eterno, I know that he says what he means and means what he says.   I know he'd never vote to place teachers as ATRs.  I know he wouldn't sell back 20 years of gains for a couple of points on the contract.  I know he would never agree to have new teachers pay Mayor-for-life Bloomberg 3% of their salaries for an extra 17 years.  Things like the 2005 contract, which pretty much made me the blogger I am, would never happen if James were in charge.

I happen to know he personally advised then-UFT President Randi Weingarten not to go to PERB in 05, having envisioned the sort of thing they'd come up with.  Would that she'd taken his advice and negotiated something reasonable, rather than sentencing us to perpetual hall duty for a couple of points above the pattern.

Chaz warned me, and I made a mistake.  One of the things I've learned over the years is to instantly admit when I make mistakes.   I know other people who deny them forever.  It's really easier to just open up and admit it.  And I'm not the only one--there are surely an awful lot of teachers with buyer's remorse about Obama.

Of course, plenty of us also understand the implications of the 05 contract and mayoral control, and realize precisely what union support for measures like those has enabled--not the least of which happens to be the most anti-union, anti-teacher Democratic President I've ever seen.

Let's elect James and keep from compounding our mistakes.

Vote ICE/ TJC

"May you live in interesting times."

-reputed Chinese curse

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the proverbial "interesting times" are at our doorstep.    And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that our union has enabled these times every step of the way, most egregiously by endorsing mayoral control, endorsing the worst contract of all time, failing to oppose a third term, and then, ignoring all the above, reaffirming its support for mayoral control when it was on the skids.

How many years of school closings did it take for the Unity leadership to mobilize against them?  And when did they finally choose to have a rally?  On January 26th, the day the PEP was set to vote.   Given that PEP had never voted against a single proposal from administration, wouldn't it have been wiser to get ahead of the curve and try to preclude the vote from happening?

I certainly hope the UFT lawsuit is successful, but Bloomberg has a history of avoiding laws, just as he did in the Randall Island lawsuit.  Even if the UFT and NAACP prevail, there's a strong chance the sleazy Tweed lawyers will find a way to weasel out of it--and then it will be back to court again.  We should have brought our case to the public long ago, and would have if we had a truly proactive leadership.

ICE/ TJC will not wait until the wolf is at our door to make a stand.   ICE/ TJC leaders are well informed and ready to take action.   ICE/ TJC will defend ATR teachers, rather than hold wine and cheese parties.   

When you get your ballot, place an "X" in the ICE/ TJC box, rip off the top sheet, and mail it in.  Stand up for working teachers, counselors, secretaries, and paraprofessionals.

Send the UFT a message--one-party rule is a thing of the past.

New Action Is Not ICE

They're right, you know.  That's why I won't be voting for them.  New Action is not Unity.  Not completely, anyway. 

Personally, I have a lot more respect for Unity.  I disagree with much of what they do (and fail to do), of course.   I've met good people from Unity lately--I'm not going to vote for them, but I certainly don't think they're all bad.

New Action, be its people good, bad, or indifferent, is a sham.  Essentially, it's a bunch of folks who've sold their values for a few jobs in the UFT.   They always endorse the Unity President, and it's fairly clear they have no alternative.  Were they to run one of their own, they'd not only be trounced by both Unity and ICE, but they'd also lose all their jobs and then what would they do?     New Action pops up every three years when they want votes.  Though some of them may not even know it, their sole purpose is to divert votes from the real opposition--ICE/ TJC.

One of their talking points is that ICE supporters, like me, won't stand up and oppose Bloomberg and Klein.  Actually, that's preposterous.  

Our upcoming election is important.  No one owns ICE.  And the accusation that we just stand around and say "no" to everything is stereotypical, simplistic, and baseless.

We say "yes" to seniority transfers, even as 95% of the Delegate Assembly votes us down.

We say "yes" to democracy, not only in NYC education, but in the United Federation of Teachers as well.

We say "yes" to a reasonable contract.

We say "yes" to working people, as most of our children will grow up to be working people one day.

Most of all, we say "yes" to making sure this job, the best one there is, remains a good job for our children, and their children.   

I say "yes" to James Eterno for President, one of the hardest-working, most dedicated and knowledgeable chapter leaders in the city of New York.

I'm very proud to vote for him, and I certainly hope everyone reading this does the same.

Congratulations, Ms. Weingarten

If emails I'm receiving this morning are correct, Unity, as expected, won the election, and though ICE-TJC outpolled fake opposition party New Action, Unity's cross-endorsement has given it the high school seats, the only ones, frankly, that were ever in play. Preliminary figures in high schools:

Unity 2183
ICE-TJC 1524
New Action 521

This means Ms. Weingarten will no longer have any opposition whatsoever on the executive board, having rid herself of the only six people who opposed letting PERB design the 05 contract. It also suggests the overwhelming majority of high school teachers, like all teachers, didn't even bother to vote.

That may have something to do with the AAA snafu, but not that much, so shame on us all.

It also suggests, however, we are well within striking distance. And as for the other branches, a well-informed electorate is no friend of the Unity machine. Preliminary figures indicate Ms. Weingarten may have received only 12,000 votes total from working teachers (of 70,000), including 1500 from New Action, many of whom were undoubtedly unaware they were voting for Ms. Weingarten.

Meanwhile, New Action's leaders can claim victory, quash the voice of the real opposition in the Executive Board (which is precisely why Ms. Weingarten keeps them around), keep their patronage jobs and pretend they aren't beholden to the Unity Caucus. They can make believe they were elected rather than rubber-stamped by the Unity patronage mill. They can pretend they want change.

They can pretend not to have supported the 05 contract, even though its leaders were part of the committee that unanimously endorsed it, and even though they played no part whatsoever in the very lively discussions all over the net.

Whatever they say, Unity-New Action has brought us:

1. permanent hall patrol
2. punishment days in August
3. the end of guaranteed placement
4. the end of the UFT transfer plan
   
5. 90 day suspensions based on unsubstantiated allegations
6. mayoral control
7. the end of high school teachers selecting their own VP
8. a phony, diversionary "opposition" party dedicated to fooling rank-and-file
9. over 30 years of no progress whatsoever in reducing the class size of 34
   

And I know, I've said this before and I'll say it again, but they did this (and more) for less than cost of living. I was there when we took two years of zero-percent, two years in a row, for the end of hall patrol. It was bad business, and lazy negotiation from a tired, entrenched, cynical and outdated leadership.

These figures are very rough, and very tentative. But if ICE-TJC turns out to have gotten only one vote, it was mine.

We will continue to tell the truth about the rampant corruption that swirls around the spineless, disingenuous and self-serving UFT leadership. We will explore new ways to get our message out, and we will be in the faces of those who've repeatedly sold us out every step of the way.

We have time on our side, and we have the truth on our side. Apathy, Unity's best friend, is not ours. We must reach out to the overwhelming majority of rank and file who did not find it worth their while to vote.

And we will do precisely that, beginning now.

Thanks to Norm

Should the Democrats Cross-Endorse George Bush?

Should the Republicans cross-endorse Hillary Clinton? Not many from either party think so (even if their opponents might hope so). There's little need for opposition if that's the sort of opposition they provide.

Yet the United Federation of Teachers has a so-called "opposition party" called New Action, whose ticket is headed is current UFT President Randi Weingarten. Ms. Weingarten hopes those of us who oppose her will be too ill-informed to notice that the "opposition party" is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Ms. Weingarten also hopes you won't find out that all New Action's leaders have union jobs and second pensions. These jobs and pensions appeared magically the moment they agreed to endorse Ms. Weingarten. Is anyone naive enough to believe keeping those jobs does not depend on rubber-stamping Ms. Weingarten's agenda?

Unfortunately, I've spoken with many articulate, otherwise well-informed teachers who've confirmed Ms. Weingarten's supposition, and still believe New Action represents true opposition. Few teachers follow union politics, and that's one reason we've gotten mayoral control, hall patrol, 90-day unpaid suspensions based on unsubstantiated allegations, and all the other goodies that accompanied the unconscionable 05 contract.

Meet James Eterno. He believes in checks and balances. He believes there needs to be an alternative to the Unity-New Action machine that's controlled our union for over half a century.

So do I.