Michael Mulgrew is the Worst Administrator in the City

While chapter leaders battle to protect due process, Unity disregards it altogether.

Michael Mulgrew is supposed to lead by example. At that, he fails utterly. Due process is a fundamental right for most UFT members. Over and over, Mulgrew shows no regard for it, and Unity nods in obeisance. That’s understandable, because King Mulgrew’s response to those who don’t, lately, has been, “Off with their heads.”

Hey, it’s great that Unity will battle for this and that. In a transparent attempt to rig the election, they battled for a “respect” check for paraprofessionals—a check they won’t receive any time soon. Never mind that when Unity actually had a chance to get paras a pensionable raise, they did absolutely nothing. The fact is this—the only reason they took this position was because Fix Para Pay kicked their patronage-sucking asses by a factor of 3 to 1.

Unity battles for control over retiree benefits. Are they interested in improving them? I’ve seen no evidence of that. In fact, the only changes they’ve made have been raising our premiums (Yes, as retirees you pay pharmacy premiums.), and imposing the Mulgrew Tax. In case that isn’t enough, they’re openly battling efforts to legislatively guarantee them. Thanks a lot.

The simple fact is this—before Unity overwhelmingly lost the Retired Teacher Chapter, they didn’t give a damn about us. They were content to run meetings where few could speak and no one could vote.

If you’re a UFT chapter leader, you have different battles to fight. Most of them entail protecting our contract, along with other regulations. There are rules administrators have to follow if they wish to discipline members. Members get quite upset when they get letters to file. You can tell them it’s just a piece of paper sitting there for three years, but that’s cold comfort to most people.

Of course, since Randi gave away the store in 2005, there are very narrow means for contesting letters to file. Often, you have to wait until and unless 3020a charges are filed, and the city moves to fire them. There’s a high bar for firing educators though, and more often than not, this process ends in a fine and a warning.

Tenure, though, is most certainly not a job for life. It simply means there are rules to follow before removing someone from their job. Frankly, administrators are not great with rules. They often confer with some DOE agency they call “legal,” which advises them to do any golly gosh darn thing they feel like.

So you have to be careful. It’s your job to protect members. You read the rules, administrators don’t, and you can frequently get letters bounced because the administrators screwed up. In fact, I once saw a teacher up on charges let go with no fine or anything because of an administrative screw up.

It’s not always easy representing members. I’ll tell you an open secret—sometimes, members are just as guilty as administrators say they are. In fact, sometimes I’d dislike members for exactly the same reasons administration did. But if it’s my job to make sure they follow the rules, how I feel about this member or that is of no importance whatsoever.

The flip side, of course, is that sometimes administrators target members who really haven’t done anything. Sometimes they go after people to indulge their personal grudges. While it’s frustrating, if they follow the rules, to see letters dumped into their files for no good reason, the redeeming feature is it’s a tall order for them to fire people based on nothing but their pettiness. I’m sure it’s happened, though.

Again, you lead by example. As chapter leader, I didn’t let my personal feelings get in the way of my job. I recall approaching two members I particularly disliked, and telling them our personal issues would not get in the way of my representing them. In fact, I spent more time representing those two members than I did anyone else.

I was pretty horrified when Mulgrew moved Amy Arundell, the best Unity had to offer, out of the Queens office. I’d been a chapter leader for years, and had gotten little to no central support until she showed up. In Unity World, job performance is of no importance whatsoever. When Amy took a principled stand and opposed him, Mulgrew fired her. He simply waited until he determined it wouldn’t cost him votes.

He’s like the worst principal ever, and he’s leading our union.

After the election, Unity took several more unilateral actions. They fired anyone affiliated with ABC. Not only that, but they fired several people for being friendly with people from ABC. That’s not only unprofessional, but also disgraceful.

I’ll be at Queens UFT on Tuesday to protest Unity’s unilateral, anti-union actions. Please join us!

Thanks to Daniel A.