From Chapter Leader Georgia Lignou

This is what the Chapter Leader at Bryant High School shared with her school staff.

Dear Colleagues,

I know you are dealing with a lot, and I do not want to burden you with grief. However, yesterday we all lost a brother when James Eterno passed away.

Very few of you knew him personally, but he has done a lot for us all. He was a teacher for many years and a Union activist. In fact, he has attended a couple of our chapter Meetings in the past. He served as a Chapter Leader in Jamaica HS, and he was a member of the UFT Executive Board for many years. He knew that new ideas come from conversations and disagreements, so he was a founding member of the ICE-UFT caucus and ran the ICE-UFT Blog for many years and in the last UFT election he helped organize the United for Change coalition to ran in opposition to the Unity caucus governing the UFT since its beginning. https://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/

James knew the contract in and out and every single Chancellor’s Regulation and he was there every time I needed information, support, advice, guidance, or somebody to vent about the frustrating position of a Chapter Leader caught between a heavy-handed administration and an intimidated chapter. Generous with his time, he answered the phone even if he was in the middle of helping his children with homework and their evening routines, and he posted whatever I wrote and sent him for the blog. I will be forever grateful to him, and I feel lucky and honored to have met him.

I am sharing this with you because he is an example of activism. People like him since the formation of our union have carried the weight for most of us who are afraid to even take an anonymous survey or voice an opinion in a meeting. Thank you, James! May you rest in peace and still be able to watch over the beautiful family you left behind.

My condolences to his family and his loved ones.

Georgia Lignou