You might recall that on June 6, 2022, United for Change filed 32 complaints with the UFT about violations of federal labor law and regulations in the recent UFT officer election by Unity Caucus-UFT. We reported on it here on June 10. We didn't say Hugo Chavez was hacking into election machines or that dead people were voting en masse.
You can look and see there are very legitimate legal issues that were raised such as UFT President Michael Mulgrew and his Unity faithful campaigning on union time and union dime at the Delegate Assembly, Unity members personally attacking Mulgrew's opponent while not letting her respond at the DA (that's my wife Camille in case you have forgotten), the Union price gouging UFC to send multiple emails to the membership, the UFT only allowing attachments and not direct emails to go to members, not permitting sufficient observers to watch the vote count up close, and so much more.
The federal Department of Labor gives a union and the parent union (the UFT and AFT in this instance) three months to try to resolve election complaints internally. The UFT ignored us for June, July, and August. There was no investigation, no answers, nothing. That sent me up the wall. I started informing a UFC Election Committee person (he would probably say screaming and yelling at) in July from my vacation in Jamaica that we have to prepare to take this to the next level because the UFT isn't even dignifying us with a response. Finally, on August 26th, the United for Change Election Committee ran out of patience with the UFT and sent a complaint letter to the AFT which asked them to investigate the complaints and also find out why we received no answer from the UFT.
On September 1, we finally heard from the UFT. Secretary Leroy Barr answered 11 of the 32 complaints and said they were repeats of an individual's complaints that were already handled so we had to go right to the AFT with those 11. Why couldn't he have stated that in June? He added that he would get back to us on the other 21. 88 days and this is the best the UFT could do. His excuse was the UFT business is slow in the summer because schools are on vacation. That is a very lame excuse.
Here it is right from the UFT Constitution. This is from Article V-EXECUTIVE BOARD
SECTION 8. The Executive Board shall supervise all elections in the manner provided for by the Constitution and shall decide all disputes arising out of such elections.
Is the Executive Board precluded from meeting in July and August?
SECTION 12. The Executive Board shall meet at least twice a month, except during July and August, at a time and place publicly announced. Its meetings, except for executive sessions, shall be open to all members of this organization.
SECTION 13. At the President’s discretion or at the request of a majority of the entire membership of the Executive Board, a special meeting of the Executive Board shall be called.
The UFT Executive Board doesn't have to meet in July and August but it certainly can and should in order to decide on complaints that they ran an unfair election. Those are serious charges that are time sensitive as I would think Leroy knows or should know. It looks like the UFT tried to just stall to run out the clock on us.
In reading over the 70+ pages of complaints and supporting arguments, I am only surprised that we didn't take this issue up years ago. Did you know the UFT has no bylaws on file with the Department of Labor? The UFT basically make the rules up as they go along. UFT elections are fought on an extremely tilted playing field.
Update. You can now read the entire complaint that United for Change sent to the UFT and AFT by going here.
The question now is since three months from when UFC filed the complaint is up today, should United for Change go right to the Department of Labor as is our legal right for the next month, or do we give the UFT and AFT more time to answer us, or do we just let it go?
24 comments:
lol. But this is a pro union blog.
Go right over to the Department of Labor NOW. Why wait?
No reason to wait. They can make up bullshit now or later. Agree with Waiting.
I am not at all surprised there are no by laws on file. Take action now. Waiting for the AFT/UFT will get you nowhere.
I agree with waitingforsupport.
No offense, but some of you guys on here need to work a day in private industry to see what jobs really suck.
I didn’t check my email once this summer.
In private industry, that could never occur.
I did no work the last ten weeks and very little in June.
Hey, I hate the commute and it’s a grind at times, but is the job really that bad? What am I missing?
Then again, I work for a fair principal. That is the most important part of the job. Period.
Because clearly it doesn’t matter
6:40, I printed your comment but it has nothing to do with the election complaints, absolutely nothing so please stay on topic folks. I am seriously seeking honest, informed opinions on how we should proceed.
If there is a way to hold them accountable then go for it. The current UFT should not be able to get away with their illegal practices.
Does anyone know who can be contacted if there is something that we want negotiated in the next contract?
I went down that rabbit-hole re: UFT by-laws not being on file w/ DoL once years ago. It bugged me, too. But, I think I convinced myself that it’s legit (but, not on the up and up) since municipal unions are exempt from the NLRA. In my non-legal opinion, UFT is required to have by-laws, and law states they must be made available to members. But, don’t have to file w/NLRB. Do they file somewhere, though? With PERB?
I know you’re trying to be helpful, but you’re coming off as very condescending to people who work in very difficult schools or people who work for very difficult administration. Also, content area makes a big difference in how easy your job is. Try teaching math for a psycho administrator. Loads of work, no matter how many boundaries you set.
If you do not call them out on these unfair practices then what will stop them 3 years from now from doing it again? UFC didn't win the election but made a dent and Unity's best plan is to try to ignore it. They were within their right based on what the bylaws say to not meet in July and August and you are within your right to escalate the complaint further.
don't get feds involved it will only hurt us
I agree....just being thankful can cause you to appreciate what you have and the environment that you work at everyday. Everything might not be perfect.... but your grateful for what you do have.
It was a free and fair election. Sore loser extremists say otherwise.
How so 7:18?
FYI 11:16, The UFT has private sector employees as well as many public sector employees so it is a mixed public-private union and therefore UFT elections are subject to the federal Landrum-Griffen labor law. We have checked with the Department of Labor on that issue.
mulgrew and company have powerful allies in the Democrat party
So is Randi going to make a phone call to Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and squash it? Read the complaints. If you think they are weak, then say so. Otherwise, we have to give the process a chance to play out in my opinion.
At my school one of the teachers was let go because of issues related to his certification. If I recall one of Ayetiwa's teachers didn't get her certification and she was placed as a sub for a short time, but then she rebounded with a brand new title of TRSPC. Is that legit?
You think Randi is beneath squashing things by calling in a favor to her democrat cronies? She’s scum. Of course she would. But I don’t think she needs to. The democrats don’t want UFC as part of their team. You’re never getting invited to their party even though you’ll vote for them every time. Marty Walsh already has it in for you. He likes the power structure exactly as it is. He doesn’t need Randi to pick up the phone.
Maybe the Post was confused because Weingarten was actually trying to protect union members instead of making a sneaky deal to hurt the members she claims to represent. Just a thought.
11:43
Clearly you are ignorant. Weingarten "protect" union members? How were we protected by agreeing to a lower percentage on the TDA? How many union members had their lives disrupted by the elimination of seniority rights and the creation of ATRs? She cares more for the extremist ideology pushed by progressives than she does for the concerns of teachers. She only values her proximity to political power, nothing more.
And she does have political juice. Remember, she helped influence the CDC to delay school opening decisions.
1235,
I was making a joke. Weingarten is brutal! She’s a main reason why the doe sucks.
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