UNITY ATTACKING CAMILLE'S UNION RESUME AS THIN SHOWS THEY CAN'T EVEN DO OPPOSITION RESEARCH HONESTLY

This post is for the Unity Caucus people who have made their line of attack on Camille Eterno that she doesn't have the experience needed to lead the largest union local in the country. They are wrong and most of them know it. If they won't bother to do the opposition research, we will do it for them. Camille has been active in the Union since 1998. She did take some time off to be with our two wonderful kids, Kara and Matthew, who are now 7 and 12 so maybe some of the newer Unity folks don't know her, but she never stopped being an activist fighter within the Union.

Camille was elected Chapter Leader at Queens Gateway when she was only in her second year as a teacher in 1998. Camille won grievances that the UFT said were not winnable. I recall she defended members successfully who were accused of infractions such as theft of services, misconduct in the classroom, lateness issues and so much more. One of her members called her "Chapter Leader Par Excellence". 

Camille was at most UFT functions including awards ceremonies, the Labor Day Parade, the Delegate Assembly, District and Citywide Chapter Leader meetings as well as High School Committee meetings. When the UFT had rallies (yes we actually had citywide rallies in the early 2000s), Camille was there with a healthy contingent from Queens Gateway to Health Sciences. Ask the people who worked with her at Queens Gateway if Camille has a thin union resume. They might disagree.

Did she catch the eye of the Unity leadership? She was invited to join Unity Caucus so many times one would think they were almost stalking her. Ask Randi Weingarten if she invited Camille to come to brunches in Brooklyn. Ask former Queens Borough Rep Rona Freiser if Camille was a good trade unionist. Camille was one of the first people Rona called to be on her District Consultation Committee when Rona was elected District Representative. (Yes, chapter leaders voted for district reps in those days.) Why did the leader of Unity Caucus at the time, Tom Pappas, call Camille personally to ask her to join Unity? Camille was even invited to go to a Unity meeting. Camille went and was repulsed by the top-down way they operated. The people who tried to recruit Camille into Unity were a who's who of the Unity hierarchy.

Long time UFT Secretary Michael Mendel would usually come and say hi and chat with us at DAs that Camille and I both regularly attended together before we had our two amazing kids. Did I mention Camille and I met at a Chapter Leaders meeting when I was Chapter Leader at Jamaica? If she wasn't an active unionist, we would have never met.

Now some of you might say that was a long time ago but what has she done in the Michael Mulgrew years? Camille moved on from Gateway and settled in at Humanities and the Arts High School where she helped get the school off the State's School Under Registration Review list. A collaborative principal, Mercedes Qualls, listened to her staff, including Camille. Within a year Camille was elected UFT Delegate.

Camille never stopped helping UFTers. She was a presence at many school closing hearings during the Bloomberg years. You can see both of us in action here. She is defending public education here; here she is part of the defense of yet another school.

When a new principal came in at Humanities and the Arts and brought in some anti-UFT assistant principals, Camille was ready for a fight but the UFT had changed under Michael Mulgrew and no longer put up much of a resistance against abusive administrators.

Vice President Janella Hinds knows Camille was actively involved in the Union. They sat together at the 2016 UFT vote count when Camille told Janella about the fight Camille was leading at Humanities and the Arts where Camille was the Delegate. Camille was risking her job to help others. State Senator Leroy Comrie is aware she was active on behalf of her school. By the way, Janella told Camille she was going to be in touch so she could help her school against the abusive administration. Camille is still waiting for that call. 

The UFT Grievance Department is fully aware that Camille knows the Contract. The Principal at Humanities and the Arts told Camille she was so busy defending other people so who would defend her. Camille soon thereafter was attacked viciously. 

Camille defended herself and the Chapter quite well. She was at the Grievance Department so often that then Director Ellen Proceda-Gatlin talked about offering her a job. Ellen said she wished she was on her team. Camille's record was totally cleared but she agreed to be an Absent Teacher Reserve rather than go back to her former school. You can check with Carl Cambria if you want to hear from someone who worked at the Grievance Department, now a borough rep, if Camille knows the Contract. 

Camille spent three years as an ATR in part due to UFT indifference to what was going on at Humanities and the Arts. She worked for a year at the High School for American Studies at Lehman College where the Principal, Alessandro Weiss, thought Camille was a highly effective, amazing teacher. They still keep in touch. The next year she was sent to Queens Tech where the administration worked hard to keep her for the year. She was then sent to Veritas Academy where Principal Cheryl Quatrano,  her assistant principals, and teachers saw Camille's teaching talents and picked her up permanently within a month. That was in October of 2019. The first chapter election after that was in 2022. Camille didn't want to take over anyone's job but as soon as there was a Delegate opening, she was recommended by multiple people and easily was elected. That was well before the first DA this school year.

Please ask Yasmin Colon why Camille was not credentialed for 5 months. Mike Sill's personal attack on Camille on Wednesday for not attending DAs was absurd. The UFT District Rep was aware of Camille's election in October as the Election Chair at Veritas entered the information multiple times but the UFT never processed it. The Queens Borough Rep, to be fair, did intervene and thought the situation was resolved. The lame excuse used this month was that she was somehow unsubscibed from the Delegate list. The UFT didn't officially credential Camille to attend live until 4:15 pm on Wednesday, February 16 after she emailed Leroy Barr. Barr saying it was suspicious that she just showed up was comical. Ask Leroy too if Camille hasn't been active. She was in his office in 2017 advocating for her  UFT Chapter and against abusive principals. 

Camille and I help any UFter who asks. For years, Unity supporter Arthur Goldstein would call us, sometimes multiple times a day, to ask for help with union issues. Arthur called on the cell and the house phone at all times night and day. If I wasn't around, Camille would help him out. It's kind of ironic that some of the advice she gave was that he should attend the DA when he used to think it was a waste of time.

Unity's attack on Camille was totally unwarranted and untrue. We've split the union and parenting duties. She is always there when called on.

Back to basics: Can any of our Unity friends make a substantive argument on why Camille's point of order wasn't valid on Wednesday? A deliberative body actually needs time to deliberate and not hear the President pontificate for the majority of its meetings. Camille backed her point of order up by citing Robert's Rules to substantiate how Mulgrew abuses the power of the chair regularly. I used to call him on it repeatedly. We sparred often and I was never called unhinged for arguing with him. Is it because Camille is a woman that Unity is using this line of attack?

Camille is an experienced unionist who will be every bit as tough on anyone who attacks the UFT as she was on Mulgrew. Unlike Mulgrew, she won't be afraid to hear from multiple points of view. I am honored to be her husband and am excited that she is carrying the Union torch now.

Vote United for Change!