Saturday, November 05, 2005
Ratification Vote Shows Leadership Disconnect
While the vote is in and most of the spin has been spun there are some important observations that must be pointed out.
Never in the history of the UFT has so much effort gone into the ratification process. No stone was unturned, union dues spent, or pressure exerted to get this contract passed.
Some examples…
Despite a clear message by the Executive Board last year, reaffirmed by Randi and included in an edition of the New York Teacher opposition literature was barred by UFT leaders from being placed in mailboxes. Yet UFT District Reps and other paid staff members were given unfettered access to stuff teacher mailboxes while ICE members were not even allowed into schools or saw our literature removed from the mailboxes when we did get access.
For God’s sake they even made a pitch in the rubber room (and “forgot” to discuss the new provision dealing with the new right of the DOE to suspend members without pay).!
Randi, herself, along with other high ranking leaders were dispatched to “trouble spots,” schools were information or poll data indicated a strong negative vote.
Union meetings were disguised as information about the contract where they were clearly clever pitches to support the ratification in which most of the negative points were omitted or downplayed.
Despite a resolution calling for the ballots to be mailed to members and that strict rules be followed for the ratification vote (the resolution was ruled “out of order” by our President) the Union insisted on providing numerous opportunities to permit misguided Chapter Leaders to be able to see how members voted by holding the “secret ballot” to the light and not following historical Union practice of requiring Chapter Election Committees to hold the vote.
All this and they only got 63% of the counted votes. With 37% voting no and almost 20% not voting or sending in invalid ballots, there is clearly something rotten at 52 Broadway.
The membership has spoken, to paraphrase Randi, and they want to take back THEIR union!
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23 comments:
Lets send Randi to the rubber room. Since she has limited teaching experience, lets start her at the new base pay of $42,000. Right there, we free up $178,000 and that's not even counting expense accounts and other perks.
jeff,
we need you as president. when is the Vichy reign of Randi over?
Switched at birth????
Randi to the rubber room and Jeff as UFT president.
Great idea.
Jeff:
There's a lot of difference between 37 percent of the voting members casting a "no" vote and 51 percent of the membership voting for you for president. If you think your hands are clean after this ratification process you haven't looked. There was more spin on the ICE blog than on a Maytag rinse cycle. Clean up your own act first. Then you can complain about Unity's. Whining to the Post about Randi fingering you--which you knew was not true--was despicable. Calling contract terms you disagreed with a sell-out caused wounds it will take years to heal. Act like a leader and not like a pygmie Karl Rove and maybe you'll have a future in the UFT as something other than a crank with an internet megaphone.
Hey anonymous --
Lay off of Jeff. All your bitterness and envy cannot hurt his good name. Sounds like Carl Rove is your mentor.
The contract was a sell-out. He didn't whine to anyone. It's not about Jeff. It's about a miserable contract. Teachers didn't need Jeff to explain this piece of rubbish to them. They read it for themselves.
You think for a minute that teachers wouldn't vote for it because because of what one person says or because Randi hugged Klein? Are you for real?
Many of us are educated, worldly, well traveled and leaders in our own right. We don't need a leader to tell us how to think. We can think for ourselves.
You are the only one who can't stand that so many people are expressing their anti-contract views. I am sure you are the same person who posted the Post article a dozen times.
Maybe you could get a real life. Go out on a date -- maybe learn to dance. Don't be so obsessed with Jeff. He is not going away. If anything, all your ranting and raving is only making more people rally around him and support him.
The previous comment was beautiful and eloquent, A poignant statement that enlightened me as to how long this struggle has gone on. I have been a teacher for 13 years and really, I had no idea. I am sorry I did not take an interest earlier. I naturally assumed that a union was always on the side of its membership.
Everyone, please come and defend Jeff! He is our new demagogue!
All hail the mighty Jeff!
Anonymous --
You are an idiot! You do not even know the meaning of demagogue. Jeff does not pander to popular ideas and prejudices--if he did, he would support the contract.
You are obsessed with him which means you are either very envious of him or very much in love with him or a little of both.
Why not put the whole issue on ice. You can't outdo him. While you were in the fifth grade learning the alphabet he was already doing legal research and reading DeToqueville -- in French, no less!
Now that we are burdened with this crummy contract what's the next step?
Speaking about Jeff, what exactly was the crime he committed that got him sentenced to the rubber room? Something illegal, wasn't it? Not a very good addition to the resume of someone people think would make a good UFT president. Maybe if the opposition had some normal, decent people at the helm, they would pose a threat to Unity, but until then...pshaw.
Lillian V.
Quit the crap about hidden agendas. J and J are the ones who have hidden agendas. I'll make a bet that all they want to do is disrupt the membership and cause chaos so they can then say that they will bring real leadership to the union. Okay, Lillian, what's your hidden agenda?
Anyone would bring better leadership to the membership than what we have now. I agree with the reasonable anonymous -- what is the next step now that we are burdened with this contract we didn't ask for?
How about a citywide sick day to protest?
Pick a day before Christmas break and everyone calls in sick. What do you think?
Then we will plan the next step.
Jeff,
You say:
"Despite a resolution calling for the ballots to be mailed to members and that strict rules be followed for the ratification vote (the resolution was ruled “out of order” by our President) the Union insisted on providing numerous opportunities to permit misguided Chapter Leaders to be able to see how members voted by holding the “secret ballot” to the light and not following historical Union practice of requiring Chapter Election Committees to hold the vote."
This is an outright lie and Jeff knows it. The highest policy making body of the union approved in a resolution at the DA to follow past voting practices and policies.
He later presented a resolution that tried to overrule the wishes of the delegates. That's why it was ruled out of order by the exec bd members.
Secondly, if there were any instances of wrong doing in the voting process, they should have been brought to the attention of the UFT so something could have been done about it. But Jeff didn't cite any, did he? That's because he is trying to make something out of nothing.
Even that stupid resolution he presented tonight and then abstained from voting for, was a lie and a feeble attempt to get an ounce of spin out of a bunch of hypotheticals that he himself couldn't defend.
Lillian should have been there to hold that resolution up to the light to see what Jeff's "hidden" agenda really is. Talk about transparency! Ugh! It was comical! Even Jeff and James had to laugh!
You can't search for truth in ICE!
Lillian,
My problems aren't only with Jeff and James, they also involve you. Lillian, who is the scorpion and who is the frog. The venom on this site proves the point. ICE is the scorpion and will destroy the frog it rides in on. The sooner you see that, the better off we will be. Don't try to hide behind being a lady, let the venom flow!
Lillian,
I spend some time reading your website and one thing is evident. You like Chancellor Klein because he pays attention to you!
See from your website:"I have been corresponding with Chancellor Klein on an on-going basis. (Yes, I also sent him this picture!) He has been a great help to secretaries, and I wish to personally and publicly thank him for being there when no one else would take the time. He understands, despite what his critics say, our needs and our problems."
Yeah, he loves you and the rest of the DOE workforce and he bent over backwards to make your workday a happy and productive one. Especially with the new contract.
If it wasn't for the frog that you ride on, you and your chapter would be in the drink without a contract, without tenure, without any due process rights without any of the workrules that are in place because of the efforts of the frog.
Remind me LMV, what was the final count of the secretaries vote on the contract? Oh, and stop wasting all that paper. We need the trees!
Lillian:
Don't let this low life waste of life harass you. He is hiding behind a computer. He is too chicken to face you or any one else in person to have an honest discussion.
He only want to get you upset. Ignore him or call him at home and tell him to go run back to mama Randi.
Hi Lillian,
I want to hear something constructive on this blog! What is its hidden agenda? Let me hold ICEUFTBlog up to the light!
You say about the criticism of Jeff:"It comes from those who fear the truth. It comes from those who feel he is reaching far too many people and upsetting the apple cart. It comes from those who see Jeff as a threat to the status quo."
Here's where I think you're being deceived--and let me be gentle with you.
Jeff is not a merchant of the truth. Does that fact upset you?
Ask him to send you his resolution so you can read it for yourself. It's a fruitless act of a liar because once the language was removed that insinuated there was some wrong doing with the count, he refused to vote for promoting secrecy in the balloting procedures. Wow, that sure is an example of devotion to union democracy, isn't it?
I know you're heart is in the right place, you want to do what's right for school secretaries, but don't be duped by these charlatans. Don't be the frog and let these scorpions ride across the abyss on your back.
A good sick-out day would be Brooklyn-Queens day.
This past Wednesday my district rep came to admonish me for wearing an anti-Weingarten T-shirt on Election Day. Besides Jeff, has anyone else been reprimanded for exercising their freedom of speech, or for speaking out against the contract, in this supposedly democratic union?
The Bklyn-Queens Day would be a great sick-out day and long overdue. Of course, all boros could join in. Could also be a great day to educate about labor actions!
The two new staff development days at the end of
August would also be great sick-out days.
We really need a nice party in a nice restaurant with champagne, music, porterhouse steak and lobster. We are tired, disappointed and the holidays are coming! Lets splurge and have a great anti-contract soiree!
Hey Randi, you are not invited.
The Bklyn-Queens Day would be a great sick-out day and long overdue. Of course, all boros could join in. Could also be a great day to educate about labor actions!
The two new staff development days at the end of
August would also be great sick-out days.
We really need a nice party in a nice restaurant with champagne, music, porterhouse steak and lobster. We are tired, disappointed and the holidays are coming! Lets splurge and have a great anti-contract soiree!
Hey Randi, you are not invited.
Well, I only need to be told once. What a great idea!
To the post about Jeff being in the rubber room and "he must of done something illegal" to be there...boy, are you naive. I've dealt w/ a number of people who have been placed in the rubber room and in every case there has been no basis in fact for their being there. Anyone who ends up in the rubber room is there because the administrator wants them there.
Don't even get me started on what it costs you as a union member and a taxpayer...you would poo your pants.
As to the argument w/ Lillian. She makes a number of good points. It would be sensible for those who read her comments to consider carefully what she has to say. If it's bad for teachers-it sucks for secretaries.
To Lil...I don't know your website, but if you are spending a lot of time on the computer @ home I would like to recommend that you buy a laptop. You will be able to continue your very important work while resting your leg...I recommend setting yourself up in bed-hey, it worked for Mark Twain! It would work for you...
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