Tuesday, October 09, 2018

ICEUFT MEETING BRINGS TOGETHER MEMBERS OF ALL UFT OPPOSITION GROUPS

At last Friday's meeting of the Independent Community of Educators, ICEUFT was joined by members from New Action UFT and Solidarity caucuses. Since some of the people in ICEUFT are still part of MORE (the Movement of Rank and File Educators, all of the opposition groups to Michael Mulgrew and Randi Weingarten's Unity Caucus within the UFT were represented at the ICEUFT meeting.

There was a spirited discussion that focused on the abysmal working conditions that exist for teachers in NYC schools and for other UFT members too. We talked about what we can do to work to stengthen the union, particularly around the 2019 UFT election. To me, the groups seem to have much more in common in wanting a powerful union than what divides us. The leaders of the various opposition groups might not always agree on the general direction for the movement but I learned at the ICEUFT meeting that there is plenty of common ground.

I am hopeful that in the very near future we will be joined in the struggle to make the UFT the powerful force it once was. We may have our final two opportunities with the 2019 contract ratification vote and the 2019 UFT election to actually change the UFT without destroying it.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, sure. The contract, which should be announced soon, I assume, will be more of the same. Tiny, backloaded raises, plus med givebacks, as the retro paydates remain the same, as we get called white piece of shit by students everyday, as we get told those same students should be in Staten Island Tech.

Anonymous said...

You need to get it together.

Anonymous said...

News that NYC was considering an enrollment system wherby charter schools would be incorporated into the school selection process for NYCDOE. Yes, charter school snakes almost got diblasio to cave in and create and enrollment system whereby charter schools look like regular public schools in the selection process. Currently, if a student or parent want to go to a charter they go to that particular school to enroll.

The snake grass sales people from the charters, wanted to have charters appear as though they are the same school as your public thus creating a system of charters and public schools being all one. Charters with non union teachers would continue to operate the same way they currently do and that is by not abiding by the NYS education laws but rather what the charter school wants. In this scenerio charters would be taking even more students away from public schools and thus creating a teacher surplus of union teachers......Be aware people the snakes and the sharks are circuling around and around looking for food.

Anonymous said...

im a nyc public school teacher. my kids go to charters. their education takes precedence over any solidarity with the collective.

Anonymous said...

Any buyout news?
Mike and Bill, please, I'll buy lunch!
You can get 2 or 3 young teachers-of-color for the price of 1 old fascist/racist/sexist/etc teacher-of-non-color.
Think of the children!
Do the right thing bros!

Francesco Portelos said...

I'm sorry I missed it and thanks for hosting. Our Solidarity members' started the same as you did and left hopeful that we can all work together to support UFT members and their workplace.

Anonymous said...

If you don’t believe in our public education maybe you should not be teaching public education. Did you bother to check the Credentials of your charter school teachers. This is the organization that was trying to place teachers in classrooms with 5 hours of shadowing real teachers. Think and research before you speak.

Anonymous said...

@9:44, Maybe it's condescension like yours that causes poster to opt for charter? Who better than someone who works in the system to assess its merits? So your many ed classes at some diploma mill have made you the kind of person s/he wants their children to be with? Seriously?
Poster knows how people like you make the sausage.

Anonymous said...

I qouldsnt send my kids to a public school either and the union sucks. How do we opt out?

ed notes online said...

Opt out of testing by not letting your kids take the test.

Anonymous said...

Why don’t you just stay home and teach your kids. My children go to public school and the have great experienced teachers. You are not very smart to bash the very institution you work for. I grew up in public schools and people like you should not be teaching in our schools.

Anonymous said...

The problem with public schools are not the teachers in the schools...no thats ridiculous...The problem with public schools are the kids that occupy them. I fear sending my kid to a public school simply because the kids that flood the public schools are thugs and beasts and not looking for education. Sending my kid to the public school would cause my kid to be ruined by the crap that exists out there unfortunately.

The teachers in the public schools are great but really if we go to a voucher system we would only be moving the thugs around the city and so then all the charters would be filled with the thugs so its a no win situation. The real solutipn is too fix poverty and the family. America was built on family values and the families that exist in the bronx, brooklyn and queens do not value education or society for that matter.

James Eterno said...

I send my two kids to a NYC public school in Queens. I have nothing but the deepest respect for their teachers.

Anonymous said...

James, are your kids thugs and beasts and not looking for education? I guess your family since it is in Queens does not value education or society.
The idea that this person is teaching is scary.

James Eterno said...

For the record, my kids have plenty of friends among their classmates. No thugs.

Anonymous said...

Besides using the unfortunate term beasts, what was wrong with the persons post? Yes some schools are good and yes some students especially in the better economically developed neighbors value their education but even the most liberal of the readers of this blog must realize the enormous challenges put upon teachers by the breakdown of the family and horrible behavior of the students.

Anonymous said...

No I would say the problem in any school is the lack of parental envolvment. But if you want to pave the way to inequality you can send your children to charter school because all they care about is milking us out of our tax dollars. Do you see charter schools in the upper east side. I’ve been in the worst and best public schools. Teachers can make a big difference. My kids enjoy going to public school and I will support public school all the way. Maybe you should start point the finger at the parents. I went to perhaps one of the worst public schools Jamaica high. But that did not stop me from being an A student in college. My teachers believed in me. It also depends on the child. Teach you child to be driven and focused. The reality is that your child will still have to deal with those you call thugs in real life. People like you are what is wrong with society. Instead of trying to creat a better society you run in your hole not thinking of the consequences to future generations. Any sensible educator knows charter schools are the beginning of segration all over again. We repeat the past when we don’t know our history. I support our public schools all the way.

James Eterno said...

Stats show Jamaica High was a pretty good school. I don't want to hear about this fight or that. Fights happen in most high schools. Students were pretty good for the most part. We should have never been closed.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Portoles. For starting the blog. We are all distracted by stupidity about a woman sending her kids to charter school. This is about making our union work for us. We are the members and if we don’t collectively push for change there will be none. We have a great education system and the politician have hijacked it. If we were all paying attention this would not have happened. The fact is we need unions unless we want to be slaves to corporations. Some Union is better than none. If my friend above hates the union then she would be working for 24k and longer hours like they do in the south. Be thankful. Our union is not all bad it’s just broken by politically driven mine hungry representatives. They pulled the rug out from under us because we don’t vote. How can we have a voice. Get out there and vote change in.

Anonymous said...

If anyone ever wondered why a parent would want to keep a beloved child from the clutches of incompetent pedagogues, just read the lunatic @7:43 above.
Imagine your impressionable child having to listen to such a daily rant.

Anonymous said...

7:43 is only about the $. Sad. Rofl.

Anonymous said...

I think there are many schools where nobody wants to be the CL. It can be a full time job and then some. The most effective CL I worked with was an out of classroom teacher. She was great and also had the time to dedicate to union issues. How is someone with a full teaching load and teaching multiple courses supposed to have time to be an effective CL? Perhaps we need a bigger union presence from outside the school? Can retired people be CL's? They would not have to worry about retribution.

James Eterno said...

I am still trying 6:21. The emails, texts and phone calls are coming in as fast as they were when I was a chapter leader.

James Eterno said...

What did 7:43 say that was offensive? I missed it except I am not Portelos I'm Eterno.

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