Michael Mulgrew Looks at Due Process

Not for me, he says.

In the wonderful world of UFT Unity, the most important thing is fealty to the Dear Leader Mulgrew and his fellow bosses. I have watched as people I would not trust to open a can of beans were given full-time positions, doing Whatever It Is they do at 52 Broadway. It beats working, I suppose.

Nothing says this better than Richard Mantel, UFT VP of Middle Schools, being appointed to run the Queens office. You’d think that being VP would be an overwhelming, all-encompassing job. You’d be wrong. Evidently, you can keep that job and also run the Queens UFT office.

The problem, though, is that Queens folk are accustomed to Amy Arundell, who, you know, does things. In fairness, it would not be all that hard to run a borough office and do little or nothing. I’ve seen it done. People from other boroughs have as well. If UFT Unity were worth a golly gosh darn, Amy Arundell would be the rule, the standard, and there would be no exceptions.

I heard a story about Michael Mulgrew explaining Amy’s absence at chapter leader training. Mulgrew said, as chapter leaders, you learn there are some things you keep in confidence. That’s true. But this is not comparable to what took place at 52, the House of UFT Unity, the one that masquerades as our union hall.

I have many stories, great ones, that I learned as chapter leader. Alas, I can’t write them. One fundamental difference here, though, is that as those stories unfolded, I made sure that contractual rules were followed. If worse came to worst, for tenured members, they went to 3020a hearings. The DOE had to prove they were unfit.

Over at 52, it’s screw you, you’re out. It’s at-will employment. This, in fact, is fundamentally anti-union. Furthermore, the bosses are not consistent at all. When Melissa Williams, former OT/PT chapter leader, wanted to bring her friends in to help her, she was told they don’t get rid of people.

More accurately, they don’t get rid of people unless they feel like it. They do whatever they want. In fact, sometimes afterward, they appear to leak preposterously inaccurate stories to the press, as in the case of Paul Egan.

Another fundamental difference, of course, is when I say things are confidential, I’m not just spinning a tale to cover my cowering capricious ass. I haven’t fired or “reassigned” anyone. If I had, and then wove a yarn about how I couldn’t tell anyone why, people would be rightfully suspicious.

UFT Unity bosses pay lip service to due process, but when push comes to shove, don’t practice it. UFT bosses also say the Delegate Assembly is the highest decision-making body in the union. However, the DA has twice voted in support of the New York Health Act. This notwithstanding, Unity bosses have unilaterally overridden the DA. Evidently, they don’t wish to place patronage gigs in jeopardy.

And patronage gigs are an issue. Why is it that a hard worker like Amy Arundell stands out like a sore thumb? In fact, how well you grovel before the bosses is not a fair indicator of how well you’ll serve the members, you know, the ones who pay your salaries.

UFT Unity develops loyalty. They don’t develop talent. And they clearly don’t develop a whole lot of trust either. Otherwise, why would Michael Mulgrew have to reach into his very inner circle to find someone to stand in for Amy Arundell?

There is a word for someone who steps in to take the job of a union member who’s been put out of a job. That word is scab. I hope those Unity bosses are proud of themselves. They stabbed their very best representative in the back, and now the rot, the corruption, and the selfishness they’ve practiced all these years is lain bare for all to see.