Saturday, February 15, 2014

WE'RE RUNNING IN NYSUT ELECTION!

The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association Website has announced that their President will be running together with six of us from MORE for Board of Director positions in the NYSUT election in April.

Independent Arthur Goldstein (chapter leader Francis Lewis High School) is running for NYSUT Executive Vice President.  That announcement was made earlier this week.

Only NYSUT Delegates can vote in this election.  Anybody who reads this blog who has a Unity Chapter Leader needs to ask them if they will show some independence from President Michael Mulgrew and vote for grassroots teachers who are trying make NYSUT into a powerful statewide force.


The entire announcement is below:

New Candidates for NYSUT At-Large Director Positions

Today we are excited to announce a team of candidates who will be running for seven of NYSUT’s At-Large Director positions in the upcoming NYSUT election.  We do so only after having given the situation very careful consideration.
Running for these positions allows us to challenge incumbents for the opportunity to sit on NYSUT’s board of directors and affect policy on the statewide level that represents both the needs and desires of the rank and file membership who we represent.  At the same time it allows us to continue the work we are doing in the schools we currently work in and the communities in which they serve.  Our candidates are a diverse collection of working classroom teachers, representing a variety of certifications within our profession and an even greater array of students they serve.
An important part of our decision to announce our candidacy now is that it is after the deadline to seek endorsement from the statewide Unity Caucus.  We want to make it clear that we are not seeking Unity Caucus endorsement as we oppose one party systems that limit democracy within our statewide union.  We believe in an active and informed rank and file.  We believe in true democratic, bottom up, member driven unionism.  We stand for social justice unionism that not only fights for teachers and our working conditions, but simultaneously our students and their learning conditions.
We believe that this declaration is not just the beginning of our candidacy for the positions we seek, but also the beginning of a movement towards a new direction for the statewide union that we all love dearly.
Our candidates for the At-Large Director positions…
  • Beth Dimino, President of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, Middle School Science Teacher
  • Mike Schirtzer, UFT Delegate- MORE Caucus, High School Social Studies Teacher
  • James Eterno- UFT Chapter Leader- MORE Caucus, 2010 candidate for UFT President, High School Social Studies Teacher
  • Lauren Cohen- UFT Delegate- MORE Caucus, 5th Grade General Education Teacher
  • Julie Cavanagh, UFT Chapter Leader- MORE Caucus, 2013 candidate for UFT President, Elementary Special Education Teacher
  • Francesco Portelos, UFT Chapter Leader- MORE Caucus, Intermediate School Science and Technology Teacher
  • Jia Lee, UFT Chapter Leader-MORE Caucus, Earth School Elementary Teacher

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i cannot think of a better group to truly represent us.

Raving Lunatic said...

Wouldn't it be more helpful to simply do nothing? I was at 52 Broadway doing nothing all day yesterday, but it snowed Thursday so I stayed home and did nothing. You well know it's not what you do, but how you do it.

Anonymous said...

All of you have MY vote.

Let's hope others feel the same way......

Anonymous said...

Wishing all of you the best of luck.

Schoolgal

Anonymous said...

Raving- I just got this wonderful message from Unity saying, "Happy vacation everyone.Know that UFT leadership is working hard for you while you are relaxing." This is not a joke. Thanks Raving for sitting in the officesaying there is nothing you can do for us and then going to Albany for quail so I can take off this week. Raving you and Unity are an inspiration.

Raving Lunatic said...

Despite what you may have heard, we do not all eat quail in Albany. Naturally, if any of us get quail we do not care for, we make a loud noise about it and refuse to use your COPE money to pay for it. This is to protect you, the duespayers.

I'm more a surf and turf guy, but I will certainly return anything that is not up to the standards I hold for duespayers.