25 Comments

Then going along with dumping her retirees into Medicare Advantage was disgraceful.

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If Randi Weingarten was against dumping her retirees into Medicare Advantage it would not have happened. She is a power broker for the establishment Democratic Party and doesn’t give a damn about her union members and even less about her union retiree members.

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I am not at all certain Weingarten's voice drowns out Mulgrew's. I'm more inclined to believe she goes along with whatever he says, and runs interference for him when he is too full of himself to deal with people. Mulgrew does not like to get into the weeds with people. Randi will do it with anyone, any time.

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Arthur, I respectfully disagree on this one.

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Well, you're free to do that. I'm just speculating based on what I've observed. And honestly, while we may disagree about the source of the problem, I think we see eye to eye on the solution.

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Yes, ultimately we have to purge our Union from Mulgrew and his ilk.

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We can agree to disagree but I do hope Unity gets out we need union change that truly represents us

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I disagree with the lie of removing voting rights, they want voter protection, but I know we will have a big difference of opinions since we're different cultures and religions but crime definitely is not down and Janus was a good thing in my opinion since the union doesn't protect its workers for the most part but the GOP can be more pro union if there more competitive in NY to make things better for us

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Sorry. No lies from me.

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I spent time in Texas with teachers who had no collective bargaining. I have friends who work in Florida where there's no tenure. Janus means freeloaders benefit from union, while I pay for them. It's a GOP move, and if they had their way, we'd have no tenure, and no raises except for merit pay. Do you pay union dues, Eric?

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They are pro vouchers I agree but overall all I feel they have a grip on reality more when it comes to crime, tourism and social issues that really matter, and as I mentioned many GOP voters here are pro union, the uft should use both sides to get things done

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Nope. Crime is down. And GOP is anti-union. Trump himself says he likes "right to work." The GOP appointed Supreme Court passed Janus. They struck down Roe, and voting rights, Trump just said if he were elected this year we wouldn't need another election. Vance said women should stay in abusive marriages. A social issues that matters to me is health care. It should be available to all. GOP wants to expand Medicare Advantage, which is a cancer. I know, or knew, two people who are dead as a result of our health care system, which is among the worst in the world. The only reason we're covered at all is because we're union. The ACA was a modest improvement, and Trump worked to take it down. Also, UFT supported a whole lot of GOP pols in the past, including Governor Pataki. Pataki thanked us by voting down improvements to the Taylor Law.

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It is cruel and it has to get overhauled by the uft and Albany and Mulgrew does not represent us at all, I been to his meeting and he doesn't even take questions he doesn't like

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We need more like you because when I needed unity 2 times they actually sided with the principal, they do nothing for most people

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I can't speak to situations about which I know nothing. And some principals are insane. It's really cruel to discontinue someone. It's one thing for a teacher to not be a good fit in my building. It's quite another to place a black mark on her record and pretty much ruin her life. You can usually work out a deal for the teacher to either find another job on open market, or resign. That's what I always did. As chapter leader, you never side with the principal. You represent the member, and seek the best solution to a problem. Here's another issue--a lot of ,members don't want to step up and do that job. So they get stuck with someone in bed with the principal. You know, like Mike Mulgrew is in bed with Eric Adams.

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He is in bed with him but the uft doesn't know how to use both parties, many Republican voters in NYC are pro union and Discontinue is a very cruel practice that should be eliminated

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This has nothing to do with the Supreme Court it's about this useless uft that does nothing for us, I never vote for any candidates endorsed by the union. They get into office and do nothing but collect payment from us. Nothing done yet about discontinued teachers and unfair write ups

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First of all, I said it was analogous to the Supreme Court, and I explained why. If you have actual information contradicting what I stated, you're free to provide it. Second, I'm not criticizing UFT. I'm criticizing UFT leadership, which needs to be replaced. Finally, while I agree with you leadership doesn't do enough, I was chapter leader of a large school for 12 years. I personally helped multiple teachers facing discontinuance, and I had multiple unfair writeups tossed out. And I have to tell you, I know people who teach in charters. There is most certainly value in union, and if you don't believe it, you should go work in a charter.

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I believe in unions but the uft doesn't do anything when it comes to being discontinued, I'm not taking away the work you done but for what we pay the representation should be much better including being able to receive full pension at 55. Don't get angry so fast what I'm saying is true

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I'm not angry. I was just disagreeing with you. You've contradicted nothing I said. There are things you can do when people face discontinuance. I'm UFT, and I've made deals to avoid it. In fact, as chapter leader, I avoided every discontinuance but one, in which case the teacher refused to take my advice.

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Unions don't know how to use both political parties to get real change done they rely on one and it gets us nowhere

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Here's the thing--The current GOP platform takes multiple positions hostile to public education. For one, it supports "school choice" which is code for vouchers. For another it opposes teacher tenure. For another, it supports merit pay. Merit pay has been around since 1920 and has never worked anywhere. Democrats are not perfect, but as far as education goes, I support them--except PA Governor Josh Shapiro, who is a big voucher supporter. I'll be very disappointed if he ends up on a national ticket.

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Speaking of smug, supercilious, self-satisfied figures, I recently was verbally barraged by one Leo Casey, who called me lazy & ignorant & a liar all in one sentence! I had wondered aloud where The Mighty AFT was when The NEA, as well as many other large unions, were on a letter opposing doing business with Israel until a ceasefire was achieved; it was in the NY Times...he pointed me to a resolution from the Houston Convention that did indeed speak strongly to the issue . I said in response that I stood corrected, but asked why he had to put me down in order to make his point. I never heard back from him!

Leo is an asst to Randi; I knew him from UFT brass appearances. He was always a pompous ass, but informed...!

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It's just the feeling I get whenever I disagree with them. We are people, and people can disagree. I watched Mulgrew go on a reckless rant against us one night when we showed up at Executive Board to defend Amy Arundell. He scraped the bottom of the barrel there, I thought. I'm gonna have to write about that one of these days.

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