Liars, Damned Liars, and UFT Leadership

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of voters? Michael Mulgrew knows, he says.

It’s disappointing to see elections taken cavalierly and done over. UFT Unity has a history, though. As a new teacher, I voted for Michael Shulman of New Action for High School VP. I knew little of union politics. His party, though, seemed the underdog, so I gave them a shot.

Shulman won, but UFT Unity refused to seat him. They demanded a new election, and he won by a higher margin. Later, they changed the rules so that the elementary and middle school teachers, both branches reliably Unity, could help us choose. That’s like allowing Texas and Oklahoma help NY State choose a governor. In our last election, high school teachers chose Jonathan Halabi over Janella Hinds, but Jonathan’s not our VP.

Hey, that’s our union leadership’s wacky view of democracy. There’s voter suppression all over the US, but those folks have got absolutely nothing on our leadership.

I’ve written before about UFT leadership’s decision to re-do the OT/PT election, the one they lost. They now claim there were a whole lot of emails demanding a new election for the same contract agreement, with no improvements whatsoever. Do you find it suspicious that members, who’ve been making a lot of noise for years about parity with teachers, who voted a contract down 2-1, are suddenly jumping up and down for a contract with no improvements at all?

Their other argument is that it’s the chapter leader’s fault. Of course it’s no coincidence that the chapter leader is not Unity, the caucus/patronage mill that’s dominated our union forever.

As New Yorkers, as Americans, we see election irregularities on a fairly steady basis. I recall Rudy Giuliani, after 9/11, saying he needed to stay, despite voter-endorsed term limits, to keep up the morale of city workers. At that time, all city workers hated his guts for denying them contracts. Even his staunch NYPD supporters were lost to “America’s Mayor.” You didn’t see much mention of that in the press. Despite the misdirected press adulation, Giuliani failed.

I also recall Michael Bloomberg going against the twice-voiced will of the voters for term limits. Bloomberg got the City Council to pass a one-time extension, for only the sitting members at that time. I’m sure they, as well, were happy to use the extensions. Bloomberg succeeded, and bought himself another election fair and square. However you feel about term limits, voters sought to prevent precisely that from happening.

Then there’s the Big Lie, most famously utilized by Donald Trump. No, it looks like my opponent got more votes, but that can’t be true. It’s a fraud. It’s Fake News. It doesn’t matter how many votes my opponent got. Look how many I got! And millions of people bought it. He took it to court and lost over and over. The My Pillow Guy is out there doing shows, claiming to have absolute proof.

Then Kari Lake, in Arizona, ran for governor. She lost, but took the Donald Trump approach. The election was fake. I should have won. It’s the same thing. Any election I lose must be fake. Now she’s running for the Senate, and it’s a sure thing the election will be crooked unless she’s declared the winner.

There was, to use UFT Unity’s term, a groundswell of support to overturn the OT/PT election. That’s what people who defend them tell me. However, there was well more than a groundswell of support for Donald Trump. You can still see crowds of pissed off Americans claiming he won. I’m certain they’re around for Kari Lake as well.

Nonetheless, in both cases, the will of the voters was respected. Trump tried to find another 11,780 votes in Georgia, and may face consequences for that. UFT leadership wants a lower number, but is essentially attempting the same thing.

Never mind that it’s the fundamental job of union leaders to go back to the table and improve a rejected contract. That clearly means nothing to UFT Unity. I have no doubt that UFT leadership can find more votes, or that dissatisfied members can send emails, with or without the prodding of leadership. However, no matter how many emails they get, they lost the election 2-1.

An election is the ultimate voice of the people, and UFT leadership has chosen not to respect it. They’ve decided to grant themselves a do-over. They may win it, too. I hear a lot of members are pissed off and choosing not to vote again. The non-Unity chapter leader has stepped down, tired of being trashed by her leadership colleagues. I hear she’s also tired of having her emails to members edited before going out on UFT mail.

Perhaps the next non-Unity chapter leader needs to do things differently. Perhaps it would be good to establish an independent email, free of Unity meddling. Perhaps it would be good to get your voice out there outside of official union sources. And indeed it appears she’s done a little of that, speaking with the NY Daily News.

Nonetheless, if you respect democracy, you respect elections. If you respect elections, you don’t try to overturn them. Of course Rudy Giuliani doesn’t buy that. Nor does Donald Trump, or Kari Lake. And clearly, nor does UFT leadership.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. People who won’t respect elections are unfit to lead. The only remedy is to vote them out (no matter how many times you have to do it).