UPDATE FROM DOE & MTA

We sincerely hope everyone is weathering the storm and its aftermath as best as you can.  Our sympathies go out to families who have lost loved ones because of this terrible disaster. With so many people losing power and the temperature dropping, we realize that this story is not over by any means. 

It was a relief to hear from Norm Scott that he and his wife Carol are OK.  We were worried for a while as Education Notes usually posts several times a day and when we didn't hear from Norm, we naturally become concerned.

As we move ahead, there is plenty of confusion about the reopening of NYC public schools. Staff needs to report on Friday.  The kids will be back on Monday, November 5. 

We will leave the editorializing on the absurdity of sending us back on Friday to the South Bronx School blog.


Here is the latest information we have from the DOE followed by MTA news. Thanks to Pat Debosz for sending it around.

Dear Colleagues:

This afternoon (Wednesday), Mayor Bloomberg made several announcements related to the City's response to Hurricane Sandy, outlined below. Please review these developments and continue to monitor the news, nyc.gov, @NYCMayorsOffice and @NYCSchools for the latest information about the City's response to the storm.

School Remains Closed to Students Thursday and Friday

The Mayor has announced that schools will remain closed and will reopen to students on Monday, November 5. School based staff are not expected to report on Thursday. School Custodians will receive separate instructions from the Division of School Facilities.

Schools Reopen to Staff on Friday

Staff will be expected to report on Friday to prepare for school opening on Monday. We are making accommodations for staff based at the buildings that we are unable to occupy due to damage or power outages. We will be working with your network teams to ensure you have information about issues that would prevent school staff from being on-site and if so, alternative locations to which they should report.

In addition, we will send communication to staff by the end of the day tomorrow. We urge all teachers and staff to monitor their email, the DOE web site, Facebook, and twitter for details tomorrow evening on where to report on Friday.

Central Offices Open on Thursday

In accordance with city policy, if your office is open and you can safely report to work, please do so – but only if you can get in safely. This includes teachers assigned, Supervisors, Educational Administrators, managers and all other staff working in central and field offices.

Administrative buildings in zone A will remain closed with the exception of essential operations. Employees from administrative offices in zone A may be redeployed by supervisors to alternative work sites.

Additionally, two administrative office sites are currently closed due to power outages or damage: Tweed and 49-51 Chambers Street.

Below is a list of administrative office sites where displaced staff may report and have access to a networked computer. These sites will be able to accommodate all non-school based staff who are displaced.

Because of the lingering effects of the storm, continue to exercise caution and allow extra time for travel to work tomorrow morning. If mass transit services have not yet been restored in your neighborhood, and you have no other safe and feasible way to travel to work, then you should use your judgment and delay your arrival. There will be no penalties for transit-related lateness. If you cannot come to work, you should use annual leave, personal leave/CAR time or compensatory time to stay home. Continue to use your judgment and ensure your safety first. Administrative offices will be open and staff can report to work or take leave. For those who have no applicable leave balance, leave may be advanced for this purpose. For hourly employees who are unable to come to work, offices should make every effort to schedule make up hours within this pay period if at all possible.

Please check the MTA web site at www.mta.info for the latest on mass transit service; also, please be sure to check www.nyc.gov and the Department of Education web site for any additional information. Please distribute this memo to other staff.

Questions about this policy should be directed to Lawrence Becker atLBecker@schools.nyc.gov or Joann Molter at JMolter@schools.nyc.gov.

We will continue to update you. Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Dennis M. Walcott

List of Administrative Sites Available For Staff to Report Thursday 

Bldg ID	Address
02M882	333 7th Avenue, New York, NY
06M048	4360 Broadway, New York, NY
05M808	388 West 125th Street, New York, NY
08X833	1230 Zerega Avenue, Bronx, NY
10X815	1 Fordham Plaza, Bronx, NY
07X807	501 Courtland Avenue, Bronx, NY
08X953	3450 East Tremont, Bronx, NY
15K801	65 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY
15K802	131 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, NY
22K995	5618 Flatlands Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
23K808	1665 Saint Marks Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
20K989	415 89th Street, Brooklyn, NY
22K997	1780 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
13K986	335 Adams Street, 4th & 5th Floors, Brooklyn, NY
13K986	335 Adams Street, 6th Floor, Brooklyn, NY
13K986	335 Adams Street, 28th & 29th Floors, Brooklyn, NY
13K831	2 Metro Tech, Brooklyn, NY
18K818	1106 E. 95th Street, Brooklyn, NY
13K813	355 Park Place, Brooklyn, NY
25Q859	30-48 Linden Place, Queens, NY
30Q800	28-11 Queens Plaza North, Queens, NY
30Q980	45 -18 Court Square, Queens NY
27Q823	82-01 Rockaway Blvd, Queens NY
28Q732	90-27 Sutphin Blvd, Queens NY
28Q733	90-01 Sutphin Blvd, 2nd Floor, Queens NY
31R080	Petrides/715 Ocean Terrace- “A” Building, Staten Island, NY

__._,_.___

As for the subways, here is the latest from the MTA via NBC News.

The MTA will resume limited subway service Thursday as crews continue working to pump water out of flooded stations and tunnels throughout the city, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Fares are waived on commuter railways, subways and buses through Friday night. 

Buses will supplement subway service between downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan. There will be no subway service between 34th Street in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn due to power outages. Limited Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road service resumed Wednesday afternoon.

Track the latest in subway  service changes on this map.

Here's a full list of subway, commuter rail, bridge and bus availability and alternative options:

SUBWAYS:

• 1 trains will operate local between 242nd Street (Bronx) and Times Square-42nd Street.
• 2 trains will operate between 241st Street (Bronx) and Times Square-42nd Street, with express service between 96th Street and Times Square.
• 3 trains are suspended.
• 4 trains will operate in two sections making all local stops:
• Between Woodlawn (Bronx) and Grand Central-42nd Street
• Between Borough Hall and New Lots Avenue
• 5 trains will operate express in Brooklyn between Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and Flatbush Avenue.
• 6 trains will operate local between Pelham Bay Park and Grand Central-42nd Street.
• 7 trains are suspended.
• 42nd Street Shuttle S trains will operate between Times Square and Grand Central.
• A trains will operate in two sections making all local stops:

              **Between 168th Street (Manhattan) and 34th Street-Penn Station
              **Between Jay Street/MetroTech and Lefferts Blvd.

• B and C service is suspended.
• D trains operate in two sections:

             **Between 205th Street (Bronx) and 34th Street-Herald Square making all local stops
             **In Brooklyn, between Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and Bay Parkway making express stops between Pacific Street and 36th Street

• E trains are suspended.
• F trains operate in two sections making all local stops: 

             **Between 179th Street (Queens) and 34th Street-Herald Square
             **In Brooklyn, between Jay Street-MetroTech and Avenue X

• G trains are suspended.
• J trains operate between Jamaica Center and Hewes Street making all local stops.
• L trains operate between Broadway Junction and Rockaway Parkway making all local stops.
• M trains operate between Myrtle Avenue-Broadway and Metropolitan Avenue.
• N trains operate between Ditmars Blvd. (Queens) and 34th Street-Herald Square making all local stops.
• Q trains are suspended.
• R trains operate in Brooklyn between Jay Street-MetroTech and 95th Street making all local stops.
• Both the Franklin Avenue and Rockaway Park S shuttles are suspended.

SHUTTLE BUSES:

• All shuttle buses will operate north on 3rd Avenue and south on Lexington Avenue.
• Between Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center and 57th Street-Lexington Avenue via the Manhattan Bridge
• Between Jay Street-MetroTech and 57th Street-Lexington Avenue via the Manhattan Bridge
• Between Hewes Street and 57th Street-Lexington Avenue via the Williamsburg Bridge

MTA BUSES:

• Local, Limited-Stop and Express Bus service are operating as close to a normal weekday schedule as possible. Fares are waived Wednesday.
• Access-A-Ride began limited service Wednesday and is accepting reservations for travel after noon Thursday.
  

NJ TRANSIT

• Rail services remains suspended on all lines. There is no estimated time for the resumption of service
• Bus service will operate in Camden County only on the following lines:

                **Full Service:  Nos. 400, 401, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 410,412, 413, 414, 418, 419 (with detour at Rancocas Creek), 450, 451, 452, 453, 455 (with detour b/t National Park and Paulsboro), 457, 459 and 463
                **Partial Service:  Nos. 402 and 409 

• Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and Newark Light Rail service remains suspended until further notice
• River Line Light Rail service resumed at 3 p.m. Wednesday between Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden and Trenton Transit Center, operating every 30 minutes. Service remains suspended between Walter Rand Transportation Center and the Entertainment Center
• Access Link Paratransit Service remains suspended. There is no estimated time for restoration

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD:

• City Terminal – (Jamaica - Penn Station): LIMITED: Starting 7:10 p.m. Wednesday, hourly; off-peak trains stop at Kew Gardens and Woodside. 
• Ronkonkoma Branch: LIMITED: Main Line to Penn Station, hourly
• Port Washington Branch: LIMITED: Great Neck to Penn Station, hourly
• Babylon Branch: Suspended
• Port Jefferson Branch: Suspended
• Montauk Branch: Suspended
• Hempstead Branch: Suspended
• Long Beach: Suspended
• Far Rockaway: Suspended
• Oyster Bay Branch: Suspended
• West Hempstead: Suspended

METRO-NORTH:

• Hudson Line: Suspended
• Upper Harlem Line: Suspended
• Lower Harlem Line: LIMITED
• New Haven Line: LIMITED
• New Canaan Branch: Suspended
• Danbury Branch: Suspended
• Waterbury Branch: Suspended

West-of-Hudson:

• Pascack Valley: Suspended
• Port Jervis: Suspended

MTA BRIDGES AND TUNNELS:

• Robert F. Kennedy Bridge: Open
• Henry Hudson Bridge: Open
• Throgs Neck Bridge: Open
• Bronx-Whitestone Bridge: Open
• Verrazano-Narrows Bridge: Open
• Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge: Open
• Cross Bay Veterans Memorial: Open northbound to Broad Chanel; Open southbound to Rockaways but subject to period closures for emergency equipment
• Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (Hugh L. Carey): Closed
• Queens Midtown Tunnel: Closed

UFT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY REPORT: MULGREW MAKES A MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACY

There was plenty of irony at the first UFT Delegate Assembly meeting that took place on Wednesday, October 17 at 52 Broadway.  The UFT honored Dr. Annie B. Martin, head of the New York City Branch of the NAACP, posthumously for her role in the labor movement, the civil rights movement and her support for the UFT. The amazing Dr.Hazel Dukes from the NAACP spoke to us about the struggle for our rights but after she finished UFT leadership descended into their usual autocratic ways by stifling all dissent at the DA.  

As this was the first DA for many new Delegates who were elected this past spring, there was a sense of anticipation.  However, when anything controversial came up, the Unity Caucus (ruling political party that runs the UFT) blocked any substantive discussion. Anyone opposed to anything proposed by the leadership had no opportunity to voice their views. This explains why so many Delegates don’t show up at these DA meetings. They see it as a joke.

The most contentious issue was the UFT-AFT support to mobilize for the reelection of Barack Obama.  The Union had a resolution to mobilize support for Barack Obama on its agenda and Delegate Marjorie Stamberg had her own resolution for the UFT to oppose the reelection of Obama. (Read her view and resolution in the prior post.) When the new motion period came (the period in the agenda where Delegates can raise new business), Marjorie was given the floor.  She printed and distributed her motion beforehand as per UFT rules.  Since she wanted it on this month’s agenda (next month it would be mute as the election will be over), debate is not allowed and there needs for there to be a 2/3 vote in favor to add it.  When Marjorie tried to motivate her resolution, Mulgrew properly stopped her.  

However, the leadership did not stop here as Secretary Michael Mendel (usually a sensible and fair person) took the unprecedented step of not allowing Marjorie to even read her motion. He would only permit her to read the title. He said that Delegates have it already so they can read it to themselves. This is absurd since there must have been twenty handouts given out at the door so to even find this motion in our packets was very difficult.  

Mendel came to me afterwards to talk about what happened and said that Marjorie was trying to motivate the resolution and that is why he stood up to halt it. I agreed with him on this but I told him that DA policy has always been to allow someone to read their motion.  How can someone make a motion if they are not permitted to verbalize it?  We will see if silent reading is now the new policy at DA’s.

I was not totally angry at this point because there was the leadership’s resolution supporting Obama on the regular agenda that I thought Mulgrew would go out of his way to allow someone, preferably Marjorie, to speak against.  I was wrong.  When it was time for this motion, New Action (another party within the UFT that supports Mulgrew) leader Michael Shulman gave an impassioned speech on why we have to mobilize to support Obama.  Earlier in the meeting AFT President Randi Weingarten was introduced by Mulgrew and Randi gave a twenty minute summation on why we have to mobilize to reelect the US President.  After this entire one sided discussion in support of Obama, any fair minded leader would have asked for an opposition voice to speak. Unfortunately, the next person called on asked that debate be closed (calling the question).  Instead of following his role as chair and ruling that the motion to close debate was out of order, Mulgrew let the body decide and the Unity majority closed debate and voted to mobilize to support Obama.  Here is what Roberts’ Rules says about closing debate:

“Debate of a question is not ended by the chair’s rising to put the question to vote until both the affirmative and the negative are put.”

Fairly clear and obvious, right?    In addition the word debate is defined by Dictionary.com: "noun 1. a discussion, as of a public question in an assembly, involving opposing viewpoints."

We should add for the dictionary people that this definition does not include UFT proceedings.  Needless to say it was a very frustrating moment as there is a case to be made on why we should not support Obama. 

I am not advocating for Romney who would be a total disaster for teachers and all of labor nor do I necessarily support staying neutral.  The Green Party is certainly a viable alternative even though they have no chance of winning.

In the context of this political climate where many teachers are uneasy about Obama, it must be pointed out that between Mulgrew, Randi and Shulman the name Arne Duncan, who happens to be Obama’s Secretary of Education, never came up.  Duncan was the architect of much of the privatization of the Chicago Public Schools during his tenure there. As Obama’s Secretary of Education, his Race to the Top program is a disaster for public education since federal funds are tied to deforms we hate such as merit pay, closing schools, turning them into charter schools, evaluating teachers based on student test scores on standardized tests and more.  Duncan even applauded the firing of a whole district of teachers in Rhode Island.  Delegates never heard this nor were the Obama supporters able to refute these arguments because they were never made.  Stifling debate leaves us much weaker as a union and ironically makes open minded people less likely to support the UFT’s position.

The same Unity one-two combination was used on a motion to support a change in the UFT Constitution which would add a new Vice President for non-Board of Education employees who are part of the UFT.  It was not made clear if retirees count in this title.  The Amendment says the new V.P.  should be “from a chapter whose members are employed by an entity other than the Board of Education of the city School District of the City of New York.”  I think retirees would not qualify but technically retirees are not Board of Ed employees.

I have no issue with people from United Cerebral Palsy, or a charter school that has been successfully organized or any other non-Board of Ed UFT member having their own vice president.  However a legitimate question to ask is why we in the schools will be voting for who will represent the non-Board of Ed UFT members and why are they voting for who will represent those of us who work for the Board of Ed?  It makes no sense.  It would be like someone in New York having a vote on who will be the governor of California. I had my card raised very high but nobody was given a chance to speak against the Amendment and before I could raise a point of order, the question was called and voted on.  

The Amendment easily passed so we will all be voting for who will represent the non-Board of Ed employees and they will be voting for our divisional vice presidents. Someone please tell me why United Cerebral Palsy UFT members are voting on who will be the UFT Academic High School Vice President.

President’s Report & The Rest of the DA

Michael Mulgrew was honoring Dr Annie B. Martin when I arrived.  He then had Hazel Dukes from the NAACP speak to us and then he proceeded to talk national politics.  He told us he had recently traveled to Florida to address the retirees.  He said this election was serious stuff.  Mulgrew then introduced AFT President Randi Weingarten who addressed the Delegates by telling us that if the Republicans win, they will do what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin: take away labor rights.  She said Republicans would continue to privatize education.  She added that we might not always agree with Democrats, but they at least stand up for investment in public education.

Mulgrew came back to tell us that it is seven weeks into the school year and DOE management is at an all-time low.  Over 300 lawyers are now running things and lawyers and education do not mix well according to our President.  He then talked about the contract.  We have now been almost three years without a contract and we are at fact finding.  (Three arbitrators will issue a non-binding report that in the past has been used as a framework for our contract.) He said he wants to make the fact-finding report the centerpiece of the mayoral election campaign as we have such a strong case because of New York State law and pattern bargaining.

Mulgrew then mentioned the NAACP Legal Defense Fund civil rights complaint with the federal Department of Education which says that the specialized high schools are no longer integrated.  Mulgrew would like to return to the Discovery Program where in the past admission was based on more than just the results of a test.

Mulgrew then talked about how the UFT Charter School is a K-12 school that takes in all students and doesn't throw them out.  He claimed that the school is on track for a 95% graduation rate but the UFT won’t play the games that other charters do.  He then told the Delegates that United Cerebral Palsy workers, who are represented by the UFT, just reached a settlement with a 4% raise and no givebacks.  These are private sector employees who would not be subject to Taylor Law fines and they were ready to strike. 

Mulgrew then spoke about the Teacher Effectiveness Pilot Schools and he emphasized that we need a better evaluation system.  He added that the city now wants to certify teachers instead of the state but they need to figure out how to retain teachers.  He then went on to say that if we do not reach an agreement by January 16, 2013 on a new evaluation system, we will lose $300 million in state aid.  He concluded by declaring that the evaluation system must be supportive of teachers or no agreement will be reached.

The next issue was curriculum writing.  Mulgrew said we have Common Core Standards but no new curriculum and that will lead to many students failing standardized exams.  He then told the Delegates that this issue has been taken to the Public employees Relations Board because teachers are not supposed to write curriculum as we are not qualified to write curriculum on the Common Core since we have not been trained on it.  The next hearing will be on December 6 at PERB.  People who have evidence need to contact UFT lawyer Adam Ross.

On special education reform, Mulgrew announced that UFT collected data showed that pilot schools under-performed non-pilot schools.  UFT members who have been asked to change IEP’s need to file Special Education Complaints. He ended this segment by noting that we have the longest arbitration in UFT history on CESIS.  Mulgrew finished up his report by pushing Teacher Union Day which is November 4.  Staff Director Leroy Barr followed up by telling us about dates for various union events.  He also made a pitch for people to bring out members to do phone banks for Obama and other UFT endorsed candidates.

Next up was the question period.  A Delegate asked about the Chicago strike and why we couldn't do the same.  Mulgrew answered that we have the Taylor Law in New York which has crippling fines if we strike but Illinois does not so their strike was legal.  He also stated that Chicago had to get many rights back in their struggle that we still have. He concluded by noting that the Chicago Teachers Union and their President Karen Lewis really didn't have a choice.

A Delegate then asked about retroactive pay in the next contract.  Mulgrew said we have always gotten it in the past.  He then told us we probably cannot settle with Bloomberg because we will not sell out the Absent Teacher Reserves.  He declared that we would not become at will employees and that the successor to Bloomberg is not going to have it easy as he/she attempts to fix the system.

Someone asked a question about wrap around services. The UFT President said we are collecting data from parents and teachers.  Finally, a Delegate asked about Eva Moskowitz starting a school at Washington Irving.  Mulgrew answered that we understand she does not like us and we don’t like her but she has money. However with all of the attacks on us from the Daily News and NY Post, we still have a 62% approval rating and new charter schools are capped by law at 20 start ups per year.

New motions were next.  Delegate Peter Lamphere raised a resolution for next month to support the NAACP Legal Defense Fund civil rights complaint about the specialized high schools.  This carried and will be on next month’s agenda.  The only other piece of business was to endorse Andy King for City Council.

Overall, I can say that there were many new Delegates at this meeting and I can predict with some certainty that there will be lighter attendance in November..

HOW OPPOSITION TO AFT/UFT ENDORSEMENT OF OBAMA WAS SUPPRESSED

It was clear to all after a protracted pep rally for Obama at the October 17 Delegate Assembly, for which Randi Weingarten returned for a star appearance, that not one word of criticism of Obama would be allowed on the floor of the D.A.

I had distributed a one-page “Resolution on 2012 Presidential Election,” handing it out as delegates came in and placing it on the literature table. The resolution began, “WHEREAS, it is self-destructive to continually endorse Democratic Party politicians (and Republicans) who are attacking teachers and seeking to gut our unions.” And after spelling out the roles of Rahm Emanuel and President Obama, the resolution ended, “THEREFORE, Be It Resolved that in defense of union rights, public education and the political independence of labor the United Federation of Teachers hereby repudiates the national AFT endorsement of Obama and calls for no vote for Democrats, Republicans or any party or politician representing the interests of capital against the working class, poor and oppressed.”

It was important that this opposition resolution come before the body as the teachers unions have repeatedly provided the troops for phone-banking and house-to-house canvassing

for the Democrats. Yet, it was noteworthy that not one of the several opposition groups in and around the UFT had a word to say about these elections. The M.O.R.E. did put forward a supportable resolution against the racist discrimination against black and Latino students in the specialized science high schools. But on the critical issue of breaking labor’s ties with the parties of Wall Street and capital, nothing.

The centerpiece of the rally (which masqueraded as a delegate assembly) was the performance by AFT president (and Democratic National Committee member) Weingarten. She went on at great length about if Obama is not elected, the Romneys, Michelle Rhees and the PACs “are all privatizers,” that the election is all about “the heart and soul of public education.” (Hello!? Rahm Emanuel? Arne Duncan? For the past four years, Barak Obama and his team have been spearheading the privatization of public education and attacks on teachers unions, from Central Falls, RI to Chicago, IL.) In fact, the assault on public education is a bipartisan offensive backed by both capitalist parties, Democrats and Republicans alike.

After the meeting had gone on an hour and a half and delegates were beginning to leave, the floor was finally opened for “Motions directed to the agenda.” I rose to say I had a motion in opposition to the AFT endorsement of Obama. At this point in the past, they usually declare that whatever I’m raising (such as occupying closing schools) is “illegal,” banned under the Taylor Law, or whatever. This time, they kept interrupting me every time I tried to say a word, calling out from the stage that I was not allowed to motivate the motion, I couldn’t summarize the motion, I couldn’t even the read the “Resolved.” UFT secretary Michael Mendel declared from on high that I could only read the title, claiming that this was according to “Robert’s Rules.”

I responded that “I understand from this that there will be no criticism of Obama allowed at this meeting,” and sat down. Mendel then became irate and went on a protracted tantrum from the stage claiming that this was not true, that his censorship was fully in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order, that it was democratic because I had been able to distribute the motion (a strange notion of democracy indeed). Mulgrew then took over and asked the body to vote on whether or allow the motion on the floor. Even though they had still not heard a single word from the motion, hundreds of Unity Caucus delegates dutifully raised their voting cards to prevent it from coming to the floor.

But this was not the end. In addition to quashing opposition to Obama, they still had to push through their pro-Obama motion. This task was assigned to Mike Shulman of the New Action caucus who motivated at length the E-board resolution to mobilize support for the president who is pushing non-union charter schools, “merit pay,” and teacher evaluations based on student test scores.

The second he stopped, I rose and said I oppose this motion and I want to speak against it. A number of other hands also went up to speak. But a Unity Caucus member up front quickly interjected, “I call the question” to end any debate before it began. President Mulgrew said there could be no debate; I called out that “pro” and “con” speakers are always heard on a motion. He said that speakers on both sides are not required, that is not in Robert’s Rules of Order, why don’t I ask the parliamentarian (Mendel!) who ruled that indeed both sides did not need to be heard. Debate was cut off and the motion (surprise, surprise) was voted.

Since to carry out this censorship, the authority of Robert’s Rules was cited, let me add that the UFT leaders’ claim is entirely false. In fact it directly violates Part I (Rules of Order), Article I (How Business Is Conducted in Deliberative Assembly), which states under Point 4:

“When a member wishes a resolution adopted after having obtained the floor, he says, ‘I move the adoption of the following resolution,’ or ‘I offer the following resolution,’ which he reads and hands to the chair.”

But I was not allowed to read the resolution, to summarize it or even read the one-sentence “resolved.”

Moreover, when on the leadership resolution to endorse and mobilize for Obama the question was called without hearing any opposition speaker although several hands were raised and I verbally objected, this also directly violates Robert’s Rules, which explicitly require that both the pros and cons to be stated before the body, unless there are none. Indeed, the rule in question, under Article VII on Debate, is written as if in direct response to the strong-arm methods of the UFT leadership. Here it is:

“The right of members to debate and, make motions cannot be cut off by the chair's putting a question to vote with such rapidity as to prevent the members getting the floor after the chair has inquired if the assembly is ready for the question. Even after the chair has announced the vote, if it is found that a member arose and addressed the chair with reasonable promptness after the chair asked, ‘Are you ready for the question?’ he is then entitled to the floor, and the question is in exactly the same condition it was before it was put to vote.

“Debate is not closed by the chairman’s rising and putting the question, as until both the affirmative and the negative are put, a member can rise and claim the floor, and reopen the debate or make a motion, provided he rises with reasonable promptness after the chair asks, ‘Are you ready for the question?’ If the debate is resumed the question must be put again, both the affirmative and the negative.”

You couldn’t ask for more clarity. Mendel’s bullying claim that there was no violation of democratic procedure since delegates could read the motion is ludicrous. So why have elections or debates at all?

But the main violation which occurred at our union was not the manipulation and outright negation of Robert’s Rules, it was the trampling over the union members’ rights to discuss and debate major issues. And finally, for a labor union to vote for a capitalist politician, and one who has been in the leadership of the agenda of corporatization, privatization of schools and union-busting, is a class betrayal, which we will all pay for.

The motion I was not allowed to read is appended below:

RESOLUTION ON 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

And Einstein’s Definition of Insanity*

WHEREAS, it is self-destructive to continually endorse Democratic Party politicians (and Republicans) who are attacking teachers and seeking to gut our unions; and

WHEREAS, Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared war on the Chicago Teacher Union even before taking office; and

WHEREAS, the Democratic mayor has sought to institute “merit pay,” teacher evaluation based on student test scores, the closure of over a hundred schools and their replacement by privately run non-union charter schools, which Chicago teachers valiantly resisted in their recent strike; and

WHEREAS, these policies would lead to the layoff of hundreds if not thousands of teachers and deprive our students, particularly those from poor, African American, Latino and Asian families of a quality public education; and

WHEREAS, in his vendetta against teachers unions, Mayor Emanuel was carrying out the policies of Democratic president Barack Obama and his education “czar” Arne Duncan; and

WHEREAS, the Democratic Obama administration’s program of “Race to the Top” is the continuation of the destructive “No Child Left Behind” policies of the Republican Bushadministration; and

WHEREAS, in 2010 President Obama praised the firing of the entire teaching staff of Central Falls, Rhode Island by a vindictive and corrupt school board, as well as the firing of hundreds of teachers in Kansas City, Missouri; and

WHEREAS, Democrat Obama had and has no significant differences on education policy with Republican teacher-basher McCain in 2008 or with Republican labor-hater Romney in 2012, backing the corporate “reform” agenda to regiment education in the interests of big business; and

WHEREAS, Democrats and Republicans have joined in wars for global imperial domination against Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, while waging class war on working people here, deporting 400,000 immigrants a year, presiding over racist police violence, racial profiling of African-American and Latino youth (“stop and frisk”) and wholesale dismantling of civil liberties; and

WHEREAS, the Working Families Party is nothing but a shill for the Democrats; and

WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association have called for the reelection of President Obama, the man who bailed out Wall Street and seeks to privatize public education;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that in defense of union rights, public education and the political independence of labor the United Federation of Teachers hereby repudiates the national AFT endorsement of Obama and calls for no vote for Democrats, Republicans or any party or politician representing the interests of capital against the working class, poor and oppressed.

*Not E=MC2 but “Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results”.

--submitted by Marjorie Stamberg,

UFT Delegate, GED-Plus, District 79

Class Struggle Education Workers