EMAIL INBOX REVEALS SAME OLD UFT LEADERSHIP ACTING IN SAME OLD WAY

UFT President Michael Mulgrew sent out two emails to members within two hours of each other on Thursday. Mulgrew claims another great UFT success because next month the city will pay us 12.5% of the money they have owed us since 2009 but without any interest. In his second email, Mulgrew warns us about the danger that lies ahead because the US Supreme Court is hearing a case that may soon make union dues in the public sector optional. He urges us to be unified.

Keeping Mulgrew's advice in mind, I read with more than a little irony High School Executive Board member Arthur Goldstein's email to three UFT officers requesting office help and space at UFT Headquarters so the High School Executive Board members can properly carry out their duties. Arthur sent a copy to me. 

These emails reveal a UFT whose leadership talks about being together and then does everything they can to surppress anything and anyone that dares to question anything they do.

In one of Mulgrew's emails he warns us of the Supreme Court case called Janus v AFSCME. If the unions lose (the most likely result) non-union members will no longer have to pay fair share (agency) fees and can ride for free. We don't know how the decision will be written. It might be that people will have to opt in to the union or maybe they will have to opt out. Many will probably choose not to pay dues to a union that seems almost completely detached from its rank and file.

Mulgrew reminds us to remember "that all of us together are the union." True but his Unity caucus that controls the UFT, and has for over half a century, is unaccountable. They run the UFT as a top-down organiztion that rarely seeks input from the rank and file.  Since it is virtually impossible to get to almost 200,000 members to win a UFT election, Mulgrew's invitation only group knows they can't lose and act as if the rest of us and our ideas are not important.

If you want the most recent example of UFT's lack of democracy, just look at the resolution they passed on Monday at the Executive Board stating that Executive Board members who want to present a resolution must have it copied for the entire Executive Board and available at least a half hour before the meeting starts. Unity leadership does not work in the schools. Their resolution does not impact them.

Since the meetings begin at 6:00 P.M. and High School Executive Board members work all day in schools as teachers, the Union leadership is making it more difficult for high school people to raise something at the Executive Board. The high schools not coincidentally are the only part of the UFT that voted against Unity in the 2016 UFT election.

Resolutions require five signatures to be introduced at the Executive Board. The seven high school people (the only ones on the 102 member Executive Board opposed to Unity Caucus) are coming from all over the city to get to 52 Broadway for meetings after school and now must get there earlier to present a resolution to the Board.

This is just another anti-democratic rule put in place to stifle opposition to Unity. It is especially not needed now when the union as we know it is being threatened  by the Supreme Court.

Arthur Goldstein sent what is a funny but sad email requesting office space and assistance from the UFT leaders. I can't wait to see if there is an answer. 

Arthur's email is copied below and under that are the two from Mulgrew: one on Janus and the other gloating about the UFT's triumph of managing to get the city to pay a loan paid back to us without interest.

The people Arthur wrote to are Staff Director Leroy Barr, VP High Schools Janella Hinds and UFT Secretary Howard Schoor. I was sent a copy.

Dear LeRoy, Janella, and Howard,

Since you’ve decided to not allow us to bring resolutions without distributing them 30 minutes beforehand, we are at somewhat of a loss. Unlike you, we all teach full time. We are able to meet at the lobby at 52, but since we all teach we are often unable to get together earlier than 5 or 5:30. Furthermore, we are not allowed into the actual building until at or very close to 5:30.

Unlike all of you, we have no staff. We have no one to make copies.

Therefore I’m certain that you’ll have no issue giving us an office in which to meet whenever we need to, along with a copying machine. I’m certain you’ll have no issue granting us the use of staff to distribute whatever resolutions we come up with.

Thank you so much for your kind consideration.

Very sincerely,

Arthur Goldstein 

Dear James,

It’s official. The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear the anti-union Janus vs. AFSCME case in its current term.

The Janus case is the new Friedrichs case. It is paid for and brought to us by people who want to destroy unions so your benefits and rights can be taken away. They want public-sector unions to be barred from requiring non-members to pay fair-share or agency fees to cover their portion of costs associated with collective bargaining and union services.

The court will hear oral arguments, and a decision will be rendered no later than June.

As we brace for this challenge ahead, remember that all of us together are the union. Because we have stuck together, we have pensions, employer-paid health insurance, job security, due process rights, a grievance process and a voice in how our schools are run. Because we have a strong union, UFT members are receiving SESIS compensation and lump-sum payments this fall.

We must continue to stand strong and united since so many invaluable rights and benefits hang in the balance.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew
UFT President

Dear James,

Because you have a union that fights for you, you are entitled to be compensated for the two 4 percent raises that Michael Bloomberg gave to members of some municipal unions in 2009 and 2010 but refused to give to public school educators and other city employees at the time.

When Bill de Blasio became mayor, he agreed to pay the money owed but said the city could not afford to pay it all at one time so we negotiated a contract in 2014 that ensured that UFT members were made whole by 2020.

I am pleased to remind you that all UFT members now on payroll who worked for the Department of Education between 2009 and 2017 (plus those who retired after June 30, 2014) will receive a lump-sum payment of 12.5 percent of the money they are owed in their October paychecks.

This payment comes on the heels of a 4.5 percent rate increase that all DOE-employed UFT members received this past May and in advance of a 5 percent rate increase coming in the spring of 2018.

The 2017 lump-sum payment, which will be added to a regularly scheduled paycheck, is the second of five lump-sum payments between 2015 and 2020 (see “The payment schedule” graphic).

For in-service teachers, other pedagogues and paraprofessionals, the money will be part of your Oct. 16 check. For nurses, therapists and other members who are paid on the H-Bank payroll, the money will be in your Oct. 20 check. Per-diem and per-session payments will be issued on Nov. 2. If you are on leave this October, you will receive your money on the date of the next scheduled payment that you are back on payroll.

Even if you weren’t working for the DOE in 2010 but are on payroll now, you will be receiving a lump-sum payment since the 8 percent rate increase all members should have received then is being phased in.

Your TDA will be updated, along with all other payroll contributions and deductions.

While the calculations can be complicated, the truth is simple: You deserve this money.

For every check you have received since late 2009 until today, lump-sum money has accrued representing the difference between what you would have been paid if your paycheck had reflected those two 4 percent increases in 2009–10 and what you were actually paid.

Think of it as a savings account. If you have been continually employed, you have been depositing money in this account since Nov. 1, 2009. This October, you’ll make your second withdrawal.

See this handy chart to learn more about the salary increases and lump-sum payments you will receive as a result of the 2014 UFT-DOE contract.

Thank you for everything that you do.

Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew