All Hail King Michael the First

Answerable only to Mayor Eric Adams.

In the coming months, we’ll hear Michael Mulgrew speak about how we need to defeat Donald Trump. There are good reasons to do that, one being that he hates us and everything we stand for. The whole education thing drains the air from Fox, Newsmax, and all the various right wing propaganda outlets. While there are exceptions, teachers will largely not show enthusiasm for book banning and suppression of ideas.

The thing is, though, that Michael Mulgrew is not fundamentally different from Donald Trump. As recently as this week, Trump was out there talking about cuts to Social Security and Medicare. His staff quickly walked it back, but since those things save money for the likes of Michael Bloomberg and Elon Musk, Trump and his MAGA mill would cut them first chance they got. It was Ronald Reagan who first had the notion to tax Social Security, and he was just the beginning.

Americans like Medicare and Social Security, and don’t favor cuts. That’s why Trump’s handlers tried to dial it back. In fairness, Mulgrew is not trying to roll back Social Security. That’s largely because he’s situated here in Fun City and has no control over it. But boy, he can’t wait to take Medicare away from city retirees.

That’s because Michael Mulgrew does not, in fact, work for us. He’s all over the map trying to save money for Mayor Eric Adams. Not to put too fine a point on it, Eric Adams is our contractual adversary. It’s our job, as union, to get as much as we possibly can from him to compensate those of us who serve the children of the city of New York.

Mulgrew, though, has his own ideas. You’d think getting raises that kept up with cost of living would be not only a no-brainer, but also the bare minimum demand in negotiations. Mulgrew begs to differ. He thinks WE should pay for every raise we get, no matter how meager. He never tires of giving away the store to the city.

This was a big reason why the time-for-money swaps in 2005 and the previous contract were huge tactical errors. The fact that you could go years without adequate compensation increases meant we’d ultimately be working longer hours for nothing. For example, Mulgrew’s landmark 2014 contract contained 18 months of no raises at all. Then there were the many years he and his fellow geniuses on the Municipal Labor Committee settled for sub-inflation raises.

“It was the best we could do,” they'll argue. It’s a persuasive argument, and also one of the best reasons Mulgrew and his entire Unity Patronage Cult need to be tossed out on their collective ears. Perhaps (albeit too late) falling on those ears will restore their hearing. Because they certainly don’t listen to us.

Mulgrew’s about to dump in-servive workers into a health plan that will save 10% for Eric Adams. Who’s gonna pick up the slack? I have no doubt it will be members. Imgine doling out co-pays even more exorbitant than they are now. If it costs you 200 bucks to see a doctor, Mulgrew and his patronage thugs will tell you, “Yeah, that may seem like a lot, but you don’t have to pay a PREMIUM.”

I have no idea why Mulgrew is out there making such idiotic deals. I mean, if you’re gonna sell out our health care for raises, shouldn’t you at the very least demand raises that keep up with inflation? No, Mulgrew says. There’s a pattern, there’s always been one, and there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s too radical for MLC to agree on a minimum raise demand. No, they’re in the business of cutting costs for Eric Adams.

I believe that too, and that’s another reason to toss them out.

Mulgrew gets up on his hind legs at the Delegate Assembly and repeatedly boasts about the “very smart people” who make these deals. Maybe, like Donald Trump, he’s a “stable genius.”

Mulgrew does whatever he feels like. He takes triple teacher salary, plus whatever he weasels out of NYSUT and AFT for doing Whatever It Is they do there. He gets a full teacher pension though he hasn’t taught in years, and a full UFT pension as well, funded by our dues.

He gets up and talks about doing the will of the Delegate Assembly, but he stacks the deck so little or nothing gets done without his approval. And if the Delegate Assembly supports anything he doesn’t like, he defies it. The Delegate Assembly voted twice to support the NY Health Act. Mulgrew and his patronage BFFs see their valuable Welfare Fund gigs becoming redundant, and oh my gosh they might have to get real jobs, maybe even teach in a classroom!

So Michael Mulgrew and his UFT Unity Patronage Cult decide to not support NYHA. Screw the Delegate Assembly.

In a union, we need leaders. We have bosses at work, and that’s why we need union. We certainly don’t need bosses running our union. You know what the worst thing is to say about a chapter leader? The CL is “in bed with the principal.”

It’s an image we could all do without, but Michael Mulgrew is in bed with Eric Adams. We can’t replace Mulgrew until next year, but a whole lot of his flunkies are up for re-election this May.

It’s time to toss out Mulgrew and all his patronage-happy sycophants. Make sure your chapter leader hasn’t signed a Unity loyalty oath. If your CL has done that, find a challenger now. Better yet, run yourself.

Let’s take back our union.