At the UFT Executive Board this evening, the Board voted 94-6 to create a two-tiered hybrid system for Delegate Assemblies for the next school year. Those who can make it to 52 Broadway in Manhattan will get full rights to vote on motions, to ask questions, to make motions, to second motions, to move motions, to speak in a debate, to raise points of order, to raise parliamentary inquiries, to ask for points of information, to propose amendments, and more. On the other hand, those who are remote will get the right to listen to President Mulgrew filibuster, to speak in a debate, and then vote secretly.
If you are a Delegate who is a parent who can't get to lower Manhattan by 4:15 P.M., or a Delegate who is incapacitated and or may have an emergency at school or home, Mulgrew, and the Unity Caucus are denying these Delegates some basic rights.
It is 2021; the technology exists to put a system in place so that those attending remotely for whatever reason have the same basic rights as those attending a meeting in person.
How do famous deliberative bodies handle voting and participating remotely in a pandemic or proxy voting for new parents? The US House of Representatives permitted proxy voting during the pandemic. Probably the most copied legislative body in the world, the UK House of Commons, has given members the right to vote by proxy during the pandemic and they also allow new parents to vote by proxy.
1. Proxy voting shall be available to
a. new mothers, new fathers and adoptive parents,
b. Members who do not wish to vote in person for medical or public health reasons related to the pandemic.
2. A Member shall demonstrate eligibility for part (a) of the scheme (parental leave) by self-certifying that they meet the eligibility requirements.
They vote by proxy as their constituents who voted for them have a right to know how they voted. UFT remote votes are anonymous as they will be in person too according to what I was told. I don't know of any deliberative body that votes on everything by secret ballot. Where is the accountability for elected Delegates and Chapter Leaders? Back to the UK, when they are attending remotely, Members of Parliament have these rights:
When the House of Commons was recalled on 30 December 2020, MPs agreed to extend remote participation in proceedings in the Chamber to all MPs.
This means that all MPs can participate remotely in:
- Departmental questions
- Urgent questions, and ministerial statements
- Debates, including moving a motion
- Presentation of petitions
Oh sorry, ladies and gentlemen. I am dreaming again. I am expecting the leaders of the Unity Caucus who run the UFT to be fair to new mothers and other Delegates who can't attend meetings in person and to treat people that disagree with them with respect. Our UFT President can't even figure out how to run a debate where one speaker speaks in favor of a motion and is followed by a speaker against and then one for and then one opposed, etc. I plead temporary insanity to expect basic fairness from Unity Caucus leaders. Perhaps DOENUTS has it right comparing the UFT to the Republicans.
Women make up the vast majority of the UFT membership and parents with child care responsibilities are probably a big share of Delegates but if they have to be remote for the Delegate Assembly, they get second-class status.
You can read about the debate at the Executive Board here. The vote was 94-6 in favor of second-class status for those who attend the DA remotely. That means five Unity Caucus members joined independent Mike Schirtzer in opposing the hybrid remote DA rules. That's five more than usually vote with someone opposed to one of Unity's proposals. Maybe it's a start.
In other Executive Board news, here's something a regular commenter (at least one) can't wait to see:
On July 1st we hope to file arbitration on last year's spring break.
Nothing much new on retiree healthcare and for some reason the UFT is negotiating on evaluations. I am not a lawyer but I thought the Legislature and Governor were pretty clear that the law was waived for 2020-2021.
The entire resolution on remote DAs:
We aren’t getting spring break back pay. I have been saying that for a year. That is why I posted lessons and did no work that week. It all evens out bc last June, the last two weeks of the year I re-posted old lessons and didn’t do live classes or respond to emails.
ReplyDeleteNow I am showing movies to live and remote classes.
Make the doe work for you and not the other way around.
This job is a racket. Either play the game or get played.
thank god republicans aren't in charge of our state, city, employer, and union. if they were things would be so much worse.
ReplyDeletethanks god for the nice, fair, and honest democrats. we love you
My first instinct was to agree in regard to the secret ballot but doesn't having that prevent the Unity machine from keeping track of who is following the blood oath?
ReplyDeleteAlso in general I think one should be present to participate, including voting. There's no excuse in September. I do think DAs should be held in the evening to allow delegates to get to the City.
Wait, another negative about the uft posted by James? Another uft failure? Lol.
ReplyDeleteI can swear that Mulgrew said months ago that they had started arbitration for the pay we deserve for spring break.
ReplyDeleteHe said once arbitration opens up it will be the first thing on the docket... Then once arbitration opened up he changed his tune to once arbitration is fully open it will be first on the docket, now that arbitration is open, he is now hoping July 1st they can bring it arbitration... Talk about some circles here.. Can't wait to hear his next excuse!
DeleteAll voting should be secret.
ReplyDeleteWant better chance for democracy—term limits for UFT President, Executive Board Members, delegates and all school representatives. 6 years at most and you’re out.
ReplyDeleteAnd if there were term limits for NYS Governor—Cuomo wouldn’t be in the mess he’s in right now. Ironically, he will still have to work with the next NYC mayor for at least one year—good luck with that.
And Cuomo still has a chance to win a 4th term—if he decides to run again. Heaven help us all.
ATR was so pissed this morning. Ranting about having to be placed at my school next year. She actually has to teach. Pathetic! Earn your money honey. You've been an ATR for 7 years making over 100K doing zero. Can't stand these people. Time to get your ass back into the classroom. My principal is giving her a full program and every other principal I spoke with is doing the same. Time to work 5 periods a day with full class loads. Yummy.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t like you either! 😂
Delete@1130am what does that have to do with you? The DOE created the ATR pool.It sounds like you think ATRs don't earn their salary. What say you about 7:18am's behavior? Maybe you should try yoga.
DeleteSo, if you have a situation where 1,000 delegates are in favor, and 3 are opposed, we need to let all three of those nay sayers speak against a motion? That is not democratic. It makes it seem like a sig portion of the body is opposed, and the opposite is true.
ReplyDeleteThat is how debate works. Both sides get equal time in debate. The results might not be 1,000 to 3 if debate is equal.
ReplyDeleteAs for secret ballots, I agree when you are voting for an elected office. There it should be secret. However, when you are elected to a legislative body, the people you represent should know how you vote.
7 18 is a disgrace.
ReplyDeletePeople reading this blog may develop an awful opinion of Teachers because of it.
Teaching is the most important job in America, please do not allow it to be disrespected because of the attitude of what I believe(and hope) is a few disgruntled malcontents.
I did not work so hard to become a teacher to see people like 7 18 tell the public we don't care about the kids we educate.
Maybe a pro union blog like this one should ban remarks that embarras all hard working teachers
11:30: Exactly: Most ATRs would prefer a full schedule, but we can't force the principals to give us one. I'm sure you take all your sick days each year so don't tell other people about being lazy.
ReplyDeleteGrieve if you don't get a regular schedule. You are like everyone else from here forward.
ReplyDeleteI still see there’s a lot of ill feelings towards ATRs. That’s really sad on a lot of levels. (There used to be professional respect for colleagues no matter who they were. That’s gone. It’s every man or woman for themselves and as the UFT has cultivated that view, it will eventually be its demise.) I came across it from many miserable teachers and believe it or not school secretaries. They were the de facto admins for ATRs. (The admins didn’t even want to look at and if forced to would view us like something nasty stuck on the bottom of their shoes.) They referred to us as subs and liked to bark orders for many things that were plainly outrageous, ie unload trucks, sit in stairwells, etc - and lots of ATRs did it, which set up a difficult precedence for those of us that dared refuse. I don’t believe all or even most ATRs will be getting programs - there’s tons of CTE ATRs out there - cosmetology, entrepreneurship, accounting, etc. - where are the going to be placed? Also the folks that went through 3020as are not going to be readily placed back in the classroom, with the fear of endangering children being the always prevailing reasoning. Happy I’m retired, and wish you all the same.
ReplyDeleteUm, my school says students can be remote for summer school? Is that acceptable? What a scam. "Education"
ReplyDeleteOh goodie. Another hater of free speech has joined in. @12:00. If you want to ban teachers who don’t agree with you, you’re a fascist. If you don’t understand that, you’re an indoctrinated moron. If you had to work hard to get that teaching degree, you did that wrong too or you don’t really know what hard work is. 7:18’s attitude is not an outlier. Welcome to the UFT where scamming is king. Now go censor yourself.
ReplyDeleteGotta love how the Delegates didn't get to vote on how the delegates get to vote.
ReplyDelete@3:02...free speech works both ways, right? So what's the problem?
ReplyDeleteIn trade unions the delegates are paid by the union. Shop stewards are union employees too. This allows them to work for their members and not fear for their jobs.
ReplyDeleteChapter leaders are treachers . They are paid to teach NOT do the work of the union
The problem happens if/when James honors the request to ban.
ReplyDeleteI have been an ATR for a decade and am thrilled next year I am placed and will most likely have a regular schedule. Even if I don’t, I’m in a school that has a good culture.
ReplyDeleteTo those who still rip atrs, I ask that you hold judgment until you are in the shoes of an atr.
I was excessed because a principal came in mid-year and didn’t like me. I was excessed illegally, but it was a blessing.
Some schools are great. Some suck.
Go on interviews in the heat of July in a room with no AC when you are wearing a suit and dropping in sweat and see how you are looked at by the interviewer. Go to an interview that was canceled, yet you were not told it was canceled and waste a summer’s day. Go out of town on vacation and when you are away, you are emailed a day for an interview, yet when you say you are out of town, nobody writes back and when you have a UFT rep reach out the principal says you no showed.
I stopped the open market five years ago.
This august, I am glad that I will be Pretoria g for a building I know rather than a building where the principal may be an ass.
Try teaching kindergarten as a secondary teacher or foreign language when on don’t speak a foreign language.
Go into a place and have to ask for bathroom keys.
This is ATR life. Granted, there were days(sometimes weeks) where I read and napped and watched Netflix. And you know what! To all those who mocked atrs, I laughed on those days.
Another great success for democracy in the UFT. We are the CHAMPIONS of the world and we will keep on fighting to the end....ha,ha,ha
ReplyDeleteI've been ATR for 3 years now. I always advocated for permanent placement. Even though the principal and everyone say your are a regular teacher, there is still a feeling of being below other teachers. Little things like not having a time card, no mailbox, no official in school team makes you feel inferior. I was at 3 really good schools. I remember the first day I was an ATR I was in the auditorium giving out programs. I remember being used as a cafeteria aid sometimes though they would call it cafeteria deaning. In the other school, sometimes I was told for entire days to sit up in the lounge. I would read, play games on my phone, go for walks and take naps. It's still demoralizing, so I'm very happy with the placement.
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/author/georgett-roberts/
ReplyDeleteParents in Queens are speaking out about how NYC is failing black/brown students in Queens.
We know it's true. I just emailed the above author, Georgett Roberts. Some commenters complain about parents NOT being involved. Well here are some parents who can benefit from hearing the truth about the DOE. Put your actions where your words are and contact the author or Michael Duncan or his organization. If you really want to get rid of grade fraud and administrators "encouraging" you to pass all students, reach out to the above person.
The fact that certain and many colleagues disrespected people in the ATR pool speaks volumes about their intellect and being informed of the circumstances in their livelihoods.
ReplyDeleteThe system went from bad to worse when the DOE decided to import thousands of 1st year teachers into the system. So in many schools during the past decade you had a culture of mummy 1st year teachers walking around looking at their phones while experienced teachers sat in the teachers lounge. These young not very bright people did not understand anything about the culture they were entering into. So when it came to ATRs these people didn't know what the heck ATR even stood for let alone anything else.
This culture was created with the creation of the Bloomberg funding system which really is a game of click the mouse and put a budget there or click and move funds to this school etc....however when it comes to salary all NYC educators get paid from the same source...New York City. Bloomberg created a fake funding system by which it appeared that the Principals were paying everyone! By now everyone knows the saying "a principal can get 2 newbies for the price of 1 experienced teacher" - yeah right
!
I have been a teacher for 19 years and an atr for 9 years. If you think we are getting placed your crazy. Yes most of us are staying in our previous schools but most of us will continue to do subbing work or other assignments. Principals are not that stupid. They will fill there positions over the summer and get us free. I could care less what anyone thinks about me. The DOE did this to us and if im cleaning tables or doing bullshit work I laugh inside.I still get paid and have less stress. I survived all this time by being a yes man and being there for the students. Six years to go why the fuck would I want a classroom assignment. These assholes never gave us training as atrs or cared about us. Let the snowflakes run the show.
ReplyDelete8:09: It said in the email I received that we will be getting our rightful Seniority, so you will outrank people in your department who have fewer years than you, so you have a right to a full program.
ReplyDelete