UFT OPPOSITION INFIGHTING IS UNITY DREAM COME TRUE

Unity Caucus (Michael Mulgrew's political party) has succeeded, without even trying, to get the opposition groups within the UFT to turn against each other while UFT members in so many schools continue to be treated like garbage by administrators. The UFT's answer to what occurs in many schools is to often side with management and even sometimes treat UFT members with downright hostility. Hence the need for an opposition. To be fair in many schools the Union actually does support its members.

For those who have not been following UFT internal politics, unions many times form rival factions with members who have divergent views on how to run the union. In the UFT, there have been many groups opposed to the ruling Unity Caucus for decades but they are up against a rigged electoral system. It is impossible to win a UFT election because there is no way for a group working all day in the schools to get to 180,000 UFT members scattered throughout the country (remember retirees vote) in a meaningful way where most could answer the three main questions of an election concerning candidates from the voters:

• Do they know you?
• Do they like you?
• Do they trust you? 

In spite of the impossible odds, many deeply committed teachers and other UFT members have worked tirelessly to form opposition groups. In the high schools, we were successful in making elections competitive. In fact, many times the opposition groups have won UFT high school elections. Opposition people are known, liked and trusted in the high schools.

I served for a decade on the UFT Executive Board. In response, the UFT has in many ways marginalized high school teachers (see Department of Education school closing policy over the last generation for the best evidence). The opposition even had the nerve to elect a High School Vice President in 1985 so Unity challenged the election and the opposition candidate won a second election. When Unity was safely back in power, they changed the rules to allow the retirees in Florida and every other UFT member to vote for the High School Vice President to ensure opposition could never win a vice presidency again.

In the 2016 UFT election, the opposition from the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) and New Action won the high schools so we won a grand total of 7 Executive Board seats on the 102 person Executive Board. During their term of office, the MORE-New Action reps did some very good work even with those daunting numbers staring them in the face.

High School rep Mike Schirtzer brought Emily James, who wrote a petition on paid parental leave that garnered 80,000 signatures, to the Exec Bd. to put the issue of paid parental leave on the front burner. The UFT eventually won a paid parental leave provision that is far from perfect but it is something. Would it have happened without the support of the High School Representatives? Maybe, but bringing Emily in certainly helped. More importantly to me, the high school people brought actual rank and file members who were in trouble to the Exec Bd. to tell their stories of abusive principals. Would they have come in if our people weren't supporting them? I doubt it. In addition, the High School Reps at the Executive Board along with yours truly at the Delegate Assembly (other union legislative body) made a minimum of two observations per year for teachers an important issue and it is now in the contract for many teachers. I don't see that happening without our input. 

In this school year. however, our opposition voices have stopped opposing much for the most part at the Exec Bd.  I believe they would argue that because the UFT now listens to them and since part of what they asked for is now part of the contract, they have succeeded. I would agree with that up to a point but there is so much more that needs to be done to make the job in the schools what it was before Joel Klein came in and basically neutered the UFT. We need an opposition to push Unity much further.

Unfortunately, the opposition today is in a sorry state. MORE ran in the 2013 and 2016 UFT elections and won the high schools in 2016 but MORE's leaders in 2018 wanted more of a say in what the High School Executive Board members were doing as I guess they weren't "social justice" enough or just not easily controlled. When some non-socialists/non-communists stepped up to take over the MORE steering committee in the spring, MORE's active majority, which consists of mainly committed left wing activists, found a way to push the non-leftists out. Soon thereafter, the opposition people on the Executive Board decided they would support just about everything Mulgrew-Unity did. I don't know if that timing is a coincidence.

Since the High School opposition reps don't oppose much of anything, like for example the contract, why stay in opposition? The High School Executive Board people not only supported the contract, two even enthusiastically pushed it. MORE had enough with the Executive Board even before the contract. The contract reinforced their view that winning in 2016 was a disaster.

I have to say that while I encouraged ICEUFT to withdraw support for MORE as the group was no longer open or inclusive, I was happy to again work with MORE to oppose the recent contract. If this is the best the UFT can do when times have never been better for NYC, conditions will only worsen when the economy slows as it will inevitably. Almost 11,000 members said no to the contract, including a huge majority of those who voted from the 2,500 strong Occupational Therapist-Physical Therapist Chapter. They voted down their contract. The contract for teachers and other UFT members still easily passed, helped along by the High School Executive Board members. I respect their vote but disagree with it.

Over the long term losing some of the strongest voices in opposition will hurt us all. MORE is now going back to its left roots and doesn't want to work with other groups and really doesn't care how many votes they receive as they are just looking at the 2019 election as a way to get their program across and maybe pick up some activists along the way.

Meanwhile, the oldest opposition group New Action has no real presence in the schools as their activists are mostly retirees as is the case with us here at the Independent Community of Educators (ICEUFT). NAC in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013 did not run presidential candidates and from 2007-2013 they cross endorsed with Unity certain Executive Board seats to ensure some representation. NAC wanted to run with MORE again in 2019 but MORE turned them away and now NAC has decided to go at it alone too ensuring high school defeat for them as well.

The other group left trying to defend teachers independently as their prime objective, as opposed to social justice, is UFT Solidarity. However, in large part due to baggage one of their leaders has with both NAC and MORE caucuses, those groups refuse to have anything to do with Solidarity. Solidarity is willing to work with anyone in the election so they stand as the only inclusive group.

The election comes down to a situation where New Action is running alone in 2019; MORE is running alone and Solidarity is running alone too. Who will lose besides all of these groups running in a four way race? The UFT membership, particularly in the high schools, where it will be an old style Unity monopoly. This will be the case even if the two or three of the most prominent Executive Board members from the opposition take a Unity endorsement while running as independents. They  have already reigned themselves in. Please see New Action 2003-15 for precedent. Or, maybe NAC will ask Unity for seats again. See also NAC 2003-2015 for precedent on how that worked out.

Next year, we will have nobody speaking for the dissident voices who feel the UFT leaves plenty to be desired except for at the Delegate Assembly where it is very difficult to raise anything.

There will be consequences in my opinion to there being no strong opposition at the Executive Board or really anywhere else within the UFT. Unity is not exactly responsive even when there is an opposition. A day rarely goes by when I do not get emails, texts or multiple phone calls from UFT members who want to exercise their union rights and are often not encouraged to do so by the UFT at the chapter, district and central levels. In the future, we can look forward to even less of a response.

Citywide, schools are being closed and reorganized and there is nothing to stop more Absent Teacher Reserves from being created. The disincentive to hire senior people remains in the new contract. The UFT's answer to just about every problem in the schools is to start more committees so union officials can meet with their Department of Education friends to try to make problems disappear quietly without setting too many systemwide precedents. Only the strongest of chapters will thrive under these conditions and even there it is basically dependent on having an enlightened principal who doesn't call DOE legal every five minutes for union busting advice.

In addition, we have an inferior Tier VI pension where a teacher coming fresh out of college at 22 years old will have to work 41 years to be eligible for a pension that will be based on a lower rate than the one I enjoy on Tier IV. Tier VI full pension is 55% of the final five year average salary. Some have told me the 401k option that CUNY teachers now have would be better.

Also, it takes four years to have a chance for new pedagogues to come off probation and extensions are routine if that tenure portfolio is not up to speed or there is a lousy supervisor.  New city employees are also about to be placed onto HIP-HMO instead of having a choice of healthcare plans in year one.

Add to this, conditions in the schools where student disciplinary problems are often swept under the rug, high class sizes and a whacky evaluation system that has only been moderately improved all make the job basically impossible in many, many schools. UFT's outlook is since salaries are generally good, teachers basically should shut up and be grateful. In that kind of environment, one would think an opposition group would have a decent chance of making some gains by winning support in the schools and online to put some real pressure on the UFT leadership. However, it isn't going to happen in the 2019 election with MORE running alone, NAC running alone and Solidarity running alone although Solidarity wants to run with the other groups who won't go near them.

ICEUFT has not run in an election since 2010. I have no idea who, if anyone, we will support.

As three caucuses are running against Unity, right now, Mulgrew-Unity should easily win even the high schools.

There is a little irony here as the anger UFT members feel as they perceive that they have absolutely no voice within the UFT may cause them to decide to bolt from the Union in 2019 since the Supreme Court in Janus allows it now without having to pay an agency fee for benefits an employee receives because of the union. The UFT's contractual opt out period is in June.

Under these circumstances, it may be time to keep some of what remains of my own sanity and move on from UFT politics.

Should the ICEUFT blog boycott the election as a totally rigged process overall that is now apparently going to be futile even at the high school level?

Should we support Solidarity, NAC or MORE?

What do you think?

I'd really like to know your thoughts. I plan to keep helping individual chapters and members who reach out but is it time to say bye-bye UFT elections?