On Cutting Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face

There's a lot of that about.

I see a lot of parallels in national and hyper-local politics. Perhaps you do too.

So much that goes on is counter-productive. I’m guilty, perhaps, in that frequently, my mouth opens, and whatever is on my mind exits. Over the years, I’ve learned to temper that. First, as a teacher, I became increasingly vigilant in how I addressed students. Until I became chapter leader, I failed to extend that consideration to adults. But as a matter of necessity, I learned that too.

Sometimes it’s best to be silent. This is not one of those times. I write this from my home in South Freeport, where a literal flood is on its way. Our cars are parked over a mile north of here, and we’re kind of stuck at home. Our dogs are unhappy too, simply because they hate the rain. But this should peak and fade around one AM Tuesday morning. Then all we need do is await the next natural disaster. Simple, ain’t it?

Some disasters are within our control, though. I can’t help but think of the 2027 Retired Teacher Chapter (RTC) election and how we’re pissing away our chances to retain it. We had a fissure within our opposition that prominently burst in this year’s UFT general election, and it may well have been the only thing that allowed Unity to retain its dictatorial control of our union.

This can be fixed, but it will take work. A handful of Retiree Advocate members who ran with ARISE have reached out to me, and to ABC. This is positive. I certainly hope their voices can prevail.

I’d argue, though, that RA is an insular organization, and that even though they allow eleven or twelve people to vote, it appears to be controlled by somewhere between two and four men. How many men in a room does that make? I can’t give a definite number, but it’s certainly not enough.

Since we won the RTC, these men have consistently made poor decisions. Insular control was the first. It continues, and has led to some remarkable blunders. The first, of course, was choosing to freeze out ABC. I understand the thought process. MORE was the longest standing caucus, apart from New Action (NAC), and perhaps an alliance with them could revive their long-floundering caucus.

They mistakenly saw us as a small group that was not ready to organize. They thought they could bully us out of existence. They met with a few of us, let us know that they knew how to win elections, and that while they’d be willing to tolerate, perhaps, a few of us running with them, that they’d be making all the decisions with a steering committee that would always be able to overrule us.

In our first online meeting with retirees, multiple RA members spoke out, saying we needed a united front. I kept hearing, “Please drop dead and leave us alone.” That’s not the sort of message that resonates with me. Nor did it resonate with my brother and sister ABC members. We continued to organize. We got double the votes ARISE did, and with RTC, triple the votes they did.

However, we collectively lost to Unity, even in the RTC. That got my antennas up, and I immediately reached back to two of the four men in the RA room, the ones who I’m certain are in control. One was pretty rude to me. When I said we need to mend fences, he saw fit to lecture me on what a trite expression that was. As for a response to my query? Crickets.

From the other person, I got no response whatsoever. However, when I posted something somewhere that appeared to be incorrect, he corrected me. I’m fine with that. I do indeed make mistakes, and if you catch me in one, I’ll correct it. (During election periods, various Unity commenters caught me in small errors that allowed them to ignore big issues. I corrected the posts and let the big issues remain. No problem.)

This man also saw fit to lecture me—”As an officer of the RTC, you should do this and that.” I found that amusing. As an officer of the RTC, I have no duties whatsoever. I have nothing but a largely symbolic title. My prime duty, as far as I can determine, as an officer of the RTC, is to inform members in this space. (You’d better believe Mulgrew isn’t handing me a forum any time soon.)

Meanwhile, that RA officer of the RTC is on Facebook, labeling those who disagree with him as “assholes.” Evidently, by rules made up as he goes along, making errors is unacceptable, but juvenile name-calling is no issue. Go figure. But hey, we all have our own values systems.

Every time there’s a march for some other union, or a protest of some sort, I see photos of the four men on Facebook. They’re very proud of the work they do for the Labor Solidarity Committee. I have nothing against this work, and more than likely support every cause they do.

But here’s where I do not see the Labor Solidarity Committee—I do not see them at gatherings to support 1096, which would not only eliminate the co-pays I refer to as the Mulgrew Tax, but also enshrine our right to real Medicare into law. I introduced a resolution to support 1096, and RTC overwhelmingly passed it.

In fact, during the last demonstration for 1096, I was told that one of the RTC’s four men was meeting with the Labor Committee online. Personally, I’m gobstruck he didn’t not only cancel the online meeting, but also tell everyone to come to City Hall (and frigging show up himself).

Here’s the thing—despite a discouraging history, I no longer believe we have insurmountable obstacles to running a united opposition against Unity to hold the RTC. I believe we have two to four men in a room, making awful, stupid decisions. I believe they act in service of their own fragile, pampered egos rather than what best serves the chapter.

So, for those RA and ARISE supporters who read this, here’s my message. I can’t be sure how many of these 2-4 men actually wield the power that makes all these bad decisions. It really doesn’t matter. I’m open to discussion with anyone and everyone. We have two years to get our shit together, and there is no way we can afford to let 2-4 men in a room stand in our way.

If you really believe in a united opposition, this is your time to stand and lead. There is absolutely no reason to cede our power to bad leaders.

Conversely, we can continue to allow 2-4 men to drive us straight off a cliff. The decision is yours entirely.