The other day, we criticized UFT legend Al Shanker's refusal to consider combining union forces to threaten a general strike in 1975 at the height of the NYC financial crisis. Shanker at the time stated, "A general strike is a political weapon associated with the communist unions of Europe. For us to use it would be irresponsible." Shanker at his concessionist worst in 1975 was still preferable to current UFT President Michael Mulgrew, who was all over the place in his less than inspiring Town Hall on Thursday. All we know as a virtual certainty is the UFT leadership will not be militant in 2020.
When UFT members were sent into buildings the UFT knew were infected with COVID-19 in March, the UFT was more concerned with their dues than our lives at the height of the pandemic. The best they would do is threaten a lawsuit while discouraging members who were launching a sickout. The Town Hall Thursday proved nothing has changed at the top in the last five months.
There was no call to action if it isn't safe, no plan to mobilize chapters. There wasn't a call for an emergency Delegate Assembly to take a strike authorization vote and then send it on to the Union Chapters for ratification. Instead, Mulgrew gave vague threats of lawsuits to keep individual schools closed and he made a totally wrong citation of Taylor Law strike penalties. One loses two CAR days for every day on strike he claimed. Let's be serious.
Journalist Ross Barkan, who writes The Cuomo Files for Substack, has Mulgrew completely figured out. This excerpt is taken from a recent essay comparing the city's financial situation today to the 1975 financial crisis:
What is undeniable is that the city lacks a single labor leader of the stature of Victor Gotbaum or the UFT’s Albert Shanker; today’s labor heavyweights are relatively uncharismatic and squeamish, a blend of Cuomo pawns and largely forgettable personalities. It was Shanker’s decision to put his union pension funds at risk that saved New York City from going bankrupt. If Andrew Cuomo told Michael Mulgrew to let the city default on its debts, Mulgrew would happily oblige.
Mulgrew is a creation of a combination of the stale political machine called Unity Caucus that has run the UFT since the early 1960s and the passivity of the membership at large. Unity was created by Shanker. Unity rewards loyalty to the party above all else and they have welcomed as well as encouraged a passive membership. A deadly pandemic has not changed anything in the leadership except now maybe the membership will no longer just go along if our lives and student lives are again put at risk. Perhaps this is the time for UFT members en masse to stand up and fight for ourselves and each other.
26 comments:
Victor Gotbaum. I spent many days playing with his children in the 70s. I am a child of a parent who was a very active shop steward. Call it militancy or plain old standing up for yourself and your brothers/sisters is needed ALL the time. You know who Mulgrew etal are because they showed you years ago. Many of you had no issue with it because you were more concerned with keeping your job. Well there are some so-called "scabs" on here who have been cursed at and belittled. Why? Because they want to keep their job. Selfish? Yes. But hey, how many of you turned your back on colleagues who wanted to expose diploma mill ethos of NYC public education. Good luck. Some of you will lash out at me but you won't be able to prove that it's not true.
From Arizona: No teachers, no school.
Two East Valley school districts voted to return to in-person classes on Monday, but one of them has been forced to reverse course after pushback from staff.
The Queen Creek Unified School District and adjacent J. O. Combs Unified School District voted earlier this week to reopen schools for in-person learning.
But on Friday afternoon, J. O. Combs announced that it would not open at all on Monday because too many teachers refused to show up.
Superintendent Gregory A. Wyman in a statement said the district had received an "overwhelming response" from staff indicating that they did not feel safe returning to classrooms with students.
Teachers need to get angry enough that they stop being self conscious and afraid. It’s probably happened to you at sometime in your life. Perhaps you were bullied and just went apeshit on the bully and turned the tables. That is what has to happen. Mulgrew is intentionally trying is quell that anger and pacifying you with words to calm your frightened heart. He is a coward and a traitor. Mulgrew is also a liar - of the worst stripe - same as Cuomo, same as deBlasio and same as Carranza - do not forget it. The DOE is denying teachers with serious underlying illnesses, like Lupus. They are also sending healthy teachers into foul bubbling cesspools of disease for the sole purpose of babysitting. The students all pass, no matter what. DeBlasio won’t make arrests and this is his method of crime reduction. Are you going to let the three stooges of education and King Randy Andy lead you to a meaningless death? Yes or No? Your money or your life? Acquiesce or fight? Revolt or die? Labor Day, it tolls like a bell. Can you hear it? Ask not for whom the Bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
Most California schools will start year online, Gov. Gavin Newsom says
Here we go, the lies continue. So much for 75% want their kids in school buildings.
Uft? Any comment?
"DOE press secretary Miranda Barbot confirmed that about 586,000 students — 80 percent of the students who are under blended learning — were automatically enrolled because the parents didn’t submit a response to the city.”
NYC wants to begin school in person so that the infection rates could increase. What a great city! Very progressive.
(Sarcasm...)
Well said WaitingForSupport, anonymous, and BronxATR. Mulgrew and Unity are corrupt. He and Unity need to go. He needs to be a leader by choosing lives over dues. Strike!
Either you're going in or you're not. Stop hoping that Mulgrew etal will fight for you. He's not the union. He just happens to be the current president. You're the union. Where is the fire in your belly. Bronx ATR mentioned going apeshit on a bully. The bully tyrant harasser ignoramus doesn't understand compassion honesty or doing the right thing. Don't go in. Talk it over with your loved ones. It's scary but bringing home deadly cooties is scarier. Mulgrew etal don't have those worries.
Has anyone gotten a Dec 31 expiration on their accommodation application?
Wouldn't that count as a partial denial?? After allTall application was captioned accommodation request from. 2020-2021 school
And another...A majority of Hudson County school districts will be all-remote in September
Columbia, Barnard Cancel In-Person Classes for the Fall
Cuomo cut Medicaid-during a Pandemic!- but won't increase taxes on his billionaires.
Thank God for Solidarity Caucus because Unity is on its last leg.
Also, it's unbelievable that more than 10-15% of children will go to in-person learning. NYC is one big high risk group and NYC lived through the the heavy hit early in the spring. I remember on 9/11 parents streamed in to the middle school I was at to pick up their kids. Kids used my phone to call home. NYC parents love their kids. If they can see a way to do it, I think most will stay home.
Still waiting for the UFT to make things right but it will not happen in this lifetime . I have 2 years or less .Hoping for a buyout. Don’t want to die from Covid due to these Idiots. Mulgrew , Carranza, and di Blasio .
Sorry everyone, UFT VP Janella Hinds is retweeting anti-Trump stuff and about the Post Office. I wonder if they care about our safety.
Lunch Workers Union, School Aides Urge De Blasio To Delay NYC School Reopening
You know the saying, “Don’t talk about family.” My mom told me my dad went on strike (FDNY) when I was little. That union sticks together.
Randi gives permission to strike for safety. All the teachers need to hop on this wagon to protect themselves and their family. Let De Blasio and Carranza be in a classroom for 5 hours a day wearing a mask and watching kids cough and sneeze all day and running around the room.
This is dangerous and deadly for some, I couldn’t believe how many teens I saw today playing basketball with no mask. Schools will lie about the numbers, until it will be thousands of people sick like we had in March.
They say “No Social Gatherings.”
If you are putting 10 or more kids in a room, that is social gathering, no matter how far they are from each other. It won’t work!
We need to organize and put our foot down. Doe and union have had all control of our members, we now need to control them!
2 more
SEATTLE REMOTE INDEFINITELY: School board says in-person reopen date depends on health metrics. Other WA districts follow suit, some delay 6-8 weeks https://mynorthwest.com/2034736/districts-reopening-schools-western-washington/
DENVER OPENS REMOTE: Large city delays in-person school till at least mid-October
Will a militant approach work in NY?
First, we must acknowledge how weak we are in NY State.
The focus here on the weakness of leadership or rather the lack of leadership ignores several far more important factors. Implicit in James's relentless critique of leadership and Unity is the idea that if only we had better leadership, if only we could replace Unity, somehow, perhaps by exposing their ineptitude, their anti-democratic complacency, their record of seeking nothing more than a seat at the table while member rights and protections are whittled away, we might convince the voting members, as the high school teacher membership has been convinced, that if only we could replace Unity we would have a Union that function more like those in California and Illinois. While I agree that Unity is a major obstacle to our exercise of power, there are more important factors that weaken us, and while all of these weaknesses are made worse, compounded by Unity and its anti-democratic control of the union, we need to acknowledge our other weaknesses, maybe even focus on these, especially if we concede, and it is difficult to deny the odds against us, that the chances of replacing Unity are very remote.
How weak are we and can we address our weaknesses before, during, after the triple threat that we face?
We face a safety threat first, in September. And, I agree with Mulgrew that this threat is equal to the layoff/budget threat we face in October. We face Trump and the Republican threat in November. If these were in reverse order we would be in a better position; we can't change the election date but we may be able to push the safety threat to second or third position. Doing so is a trade off, as we will gain some strength and lose some by delaying re-entry and going remote. Going remote is safer to our health but more dangerous to our livelihoods.
Mulgrew, supported by the AFT is now taking a more militant position. He is talking about a strike. He is warning, as he did in March, against caucuses, factions, sickouts, wildcats ...calling for unity with Unity to face, first, a legal struggle, second, a possible illegal struggle or strike.
Members must understand how weak we are on strikes and sickouts, on the proposed militant strategies and the consequences of failure.
How weak are we?
TBC
Waiting Support is right. Nothing will change if teachers just wait for union to fight. The only fighting they'll do is go to court and by the time there's a court decision we'll be posting about dead teachers and be on the way to a vaccine. Email/call Mulgrew and tell him you are not going in. Period. If enough people do that his hand will be forced. Or suck it up and take your chances. No other choices. There is no knight in armor who's going to fight for teachers. It's up to each individual member to take a stand or obey and accept the risk.
This may be a dumb question, but in all honesty I am not sure.
If we do happen to go "all remote" again, will we be expected to report to our schools and do the remote from there, unless we have a medical?
Mayor de Blasio,
Chancellor Carranza
UFT
Governor Cuomo
City Council
NY Media
As of May, soon after school closures, 74 DOE employees DIED of COVID-19. We have no idea what the real number is or how many actually were infected. Remember, you knowingly sent us into infected buildings.
70 were school-based employees:
- 28 paraprofessionals
- 30 teachers
- 2 food service staffers
- 2 administrators
- 2 facilities staff
- 2 school aides
- 2 guidance counselors
- 1 parent coordinator
- 1 school computer technology specialist
Mr. Carranza, on March 12 you made a joke citing 108,000 epidemiologists, after 108,000 DOE staff members requested an immediate shutdown, to ensure safety. I think you should go to the families of the DOE staff members who died and the thousands more who were made sick, and then apologize. I am one of those staff members. That joke was not funny. It was done in poor taste and got people killed. It is unfortunate, in such a dire situation, you showed such poor leadership. Are you willing to do the same thing so more people get sick and die? Should staff members suffer, go on ventilators, how about their families? How are you going to apologize to me if I pick up the virus from a staff member, a student or on the train? If I kill my elderly parents? How many more staff members is the DOE willing to lose before they realize that reopening schools is DANGEROUS. Is it even safe that TEACHERS will be breathing in all the stuff they are spraying in the classroom to clean every day?
Mayoral Lies
Parent survey-75 percent of parent surveys stated that they wanted students to return to the buildings. NOT TRUE. First, most of that 75 said that they only wanted students to return if specific conditions were met. Second, you assume that the 800,000 parents that did not reply want students to return to buildings. That is not true. How do I know? My school took time to call all the parents. Guess what? Of the parents we could reach, approximately 80% told us that they did not complete the survey and want students enrolled in remote instruction ONLY.
"DOE press secretary Miranda Barbot confirmed that about 586,000 students — 80 percent of the students who are under blended learning — were automatically enrolled because the parents didn’t submit a response to the city.”
Next lie-You claim that 85% of teachers want to return to buildings. NOT TRUE. 85% could not qualify for the medical accommodation. Actually, almost every teacher we have spoken to feels very unsafe and would prefer full remote learning. Why don't you make it optional if you are so confident? It is so unsafe that you can make accommodations but it is so safe everyone else can take the risk? 166,000 dead, remember. 5 million infections, remember? Long-term brain, heart, breathing problems...Are you willing to risk long-term problems? 55% of coronavirus patients still have neurological problems three months later: study
Perhaps I can gain 25 pounds in the next 3 weeks so I can qualify for the accommodation. Being overweight is better than attempting to live with covid-19.
In my many years as a teacher I learned how to see the future...
This will be an utter disaster
Thousands will get sick
Cuomo will blame de Blasio
De Blasio will blame Trump
Mulgrew will blame the DOE
Staff will suffer and get nothing out of it
Every plan assumes a well-behaved student body that will follow all directives and maintain masks and social distancing, even during hall passing. This is impossible. I have been spit on by students. What happens when one loses their temper and intentionally spits, breathes heavy on, blows air in my face, grabs me, refuses to wear a mask? Please don't tell me there will be actions taken. That has never happened. You outlawed suspensions, remember? Have you walked into a school in the last 6 years, unannounced, and seen what was going on? Complete chaos and disrespect. You are making grand assumptions, again. Students unable to follow rules, eating, touching, getting angry and threatening with spit, coming from outside, interacting with friends, people on bus or train...And then covid infected students will sit in an isolation room with a staff member. There are still loads of teens outside playing basketball, for example.
But don't worry, as students eat with no mask they will sit quietly like angels and we will stand behind them. Great plan.
Every day, from NY to California, and in many parts of NY, schools are deeming it unsafe to re-open in person learning? Why are you willing to risk the safety of everyone? It is a proven fact that large gatherings cause numbers to skyrocket. What about bus use? Train use? You are possibly causing a citywide outbreak. You want to open just to close a few days later and harm everyone in the process? State after state that has reopened has had deadly consequences. Texas and Georgia, after just days, had to quarantine thousands of people.
15-year-old boy with no underlying conditions has died in Georgia after contracting COVID-19, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. The boy’s death comes as many Georgia school districts have reopened for in-person learning.
Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci have repeatedly said that schools shouldn’t open as there is risk of community spread. They have said large gatherings, especially those which are indoors are the most dangerous. A classroom full of students and a school full of students and staff is an indoor large gathering.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, of CNN, certainly not a Trump supporter, is keeping his three young daughters home. Even though they are "Low risk," he deems a return to school too dangerous.
Just in the last 24 hours...
-Most California schools will start year online, Gov. Gavin Newsom says
-Rochester-Remote
-Columbia, Barnard Cancel In-Person Classes for the Fall
-A majority of Hudson County school districts will be all-remote in September
-SEATTLE REMOTE INDEFINITELY: School board says in-person reopen date depends on health metrics. Other WA districts follow suit, some delay 6-8 weeks https://mynorthwest.com/2034736/districts-reopening-schools-western-washington/
-DENVER OPENS REMOTE: Large city delays in-person school till at least mid-October
-Lunch Workers Union, School Aides Urge De Blasio To Delay NYC School Reopening
Governor Cuomo stated that fall is coming, he questions what is going to happen with people getting the flu, people getting flu vaccines, and everyone in the city running to get covid tests? All staff members? And students? You don't envision a problem?
Dr. Redfield stated that this will be the worst fall season in terms of health in United States history.
We know with 100% certainty that taking someone's temperature means absolutely nothing.
Parents, teachers say de Blasio is downplaying real concerns over schools https://politi.co/31NXXFa
The DOE cannot be trusted after last March. After last March, and after many other failures, all teachers realized that they could not trust the UFT. Instead of calling for a walkout, the UFT was worried about dues loss.
If Mr. Mulgrew states that we were waiting 20 years for nurses, why would we expect any improvements now? It shows you didn't value us then, and you don't value us now. Nice job UFT. Way to hold the city accountable.
We were promised by Governer Cuomo that we had to feel safe, the parents had to feel safe and we had to be ready to go back. In addition to a meaningless Q and A session coming up next week? Is that it? We have no say? Where is our survey? What you are asking for is to have open schools with no staff. Not worth our lives to sit with two students who are doing nothing anyway. We know you think of us as babysitters anyway. AFT President Randi Weingarten has endorse a "Strike for safety." All the teachers need to hop on this wagon to protect themselves and their family. I don't think the entire teaching staff will be fooled again. Either we go in or we don't. I bet we don't
Well said, JP. Too bad nobody listens or cares.
JP is right. NYC Mayor doesn’t care about a single one of us. He’s only about enriching his wife’s charity and complaining about Trump. And napping.
Mulgrew announced at the TOWNHALL that schools will not open in the fall unless they are safe.
Many thousands of members heard him say it and are rooting for that.
They believe that teaching is the single most important profession there is.
Let us all hope that schools are made safe as soon as possible so we can get back to
Preparing America for its future.
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