19 Comments

I am an elected retiree delegate. I was never contacted about joining ARISE, as Arthur and many others were not. I am supporting and running with ABC. I am respected in this member driven group and I respect all those I’ve known for years and all the activist in service folks that I am meeting. I like what I hear from Amy. She has the experience to head our union. And she wants the voices of everyone.

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Absolutely. I've not written about the caucuses yet, but maybe it's time.

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Marianne is not, was not a UFT member but her mother was! I believe she was a Dc37 member.

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That is correct.

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Let me clarify. I and others were not contacted about the retirees’ support for running with ARISE. We had no voice, no vote. Only the select few made that decision.

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Only the unelected, self-selected few, I'd say.

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Running simultaneous opposition slates guarantees two outcomes: Mulgrew wins, and three more years of hollow diatribes.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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TRUTH!

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ARISE has the backing of our retired elected representatives within the UNITY gang, at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway.

A tough place, with a physical wall, no less, and loads of other disrespect, put up by the UNITY gang.

I read your contrarian streak writ large here. I get it. ARISE has our retirees chapter backing. It would be genuinely revolutionary for you to join the battle, and help all members. Or, you can remain our eloquent outsider.

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Perhaps you think I'll forget 288 of our 300 elected representatives got no vote at all. That includes me, elected Vice Chair. Your response, amazingly, to that is that I have a "contrarian streak." That's not only undemocratic, but also absurd.

It's precisely the sort of thing I just described as Unity.

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Perfectly stated. The NYC Retirees are so aware of what poor representation we had in the past by the UFT. I certainly hope the working UFT members will be educated to do the right thing election time. We desperately need this change.

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Thanks Jessica. Change is coming. The arguments against it are absurd on their face.

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I feel we RA members should not be fighting each other publicly even if we support different caucuses. Unity loves when we eat each other. I am purposely not criticizing any RA member based on who they support. I do think the two caucuses may end up with over 50 percent but Unity will get the plurality. If that happens it will be a warning to them no matter what and a lesson to ARISE and ABC in trying to have an eye on the prize. No matter what over the next two years we must stay united to protect our needs as retirees. Finally, everyone needs to understand that our truest enemy is Trump/Musk who want to completely destroy is. That is why we cannot destroy each other.

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I'm sorry to disagree. I have a thing for democracy. It's not negotiable. This is my place, and I generally won't ignore what people say here.

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Arthur -

Like many posts below said. Two different slates to run against Unity is a certain win for Unity. I cannot comprehend that POWER makes the blind see. We cannot have 2 slates. Please post a Venn Diagram of your differences & similarities with ARISE. (I asked ARISE to put forward a Venn Diagram too.

As opponents we definitely are handing Mulgrew & crew a win again!

Together ARISE & ABC we are a force divided we fail. mea

WHATTA YOU THINK?????

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Obviously I disagree. I would not have aligned with ABC otherwise. I deem the caucuses to be fundamentally undemocratic, and we've had more than enough of that.

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So instead of facing off any “move on - had enough of that” gives Mulgrew the win.

I don’t think this is an exaggeration. I’m so bummed worked hard on RA & didn’t see this coming. :(

Imagine if we can be one force Mulgrew would be reviewing his resume cause you know he’s out.

Please work with ABC and produce a Venn Diagram. I asked ARISE to do the same last night. mea

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Again, I don't believe that. ABC agreed to work with the caucuses in a four way equal split. MORE declined, wanting a larger share. I was glad ABC turned that down. I have some experience with MORE, and I'd categorize it as more than enough.

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