On Royal Decrees from King Mulgrew

Unity takes unilateral positions on casinos, congestion parking, elections, health, para pay...

We have teachers under assault. We have paraprofessionals with two jobs still struggling to make ends meet. Our last contract didn’t come close to cost of living. Teachers are being forced to do scripted lessons that don’t work. Retirees are battling to preserve their health care, with no help whatsoever from those to whom we pay our dues.

Where’s the Unity Caucus?

They’re very busy. For example, if congestion parking is your issue, they’re all over it. UFT is filing a lawsuit. And hey—why bother surveying members? If King Mulgrew says it’s a pivotal issue, that oughta be good enough for his royal subjects.

Of course that isn’t their sole focus. Unity has just taken a strong position against a casino on Broadway. So what if you got an ineffective rating? It’s not their fault if, during your observation, your supervisor was listening to the voices in his head rather than those of your students. Who cares if your purchasing power is way down? We have to fight this casino! Because priorities.

Just like congestion pricing, this was not brought to the Delegate Assembly for approval. It’s Unity’s position, and that ought to be good enough for lowly duespayers like us. Regardless, the Post says our union opposes the Broadway casino. This is not surprising. As far as Michael Mulgrew and Unity are concerned, they are the union.

Mulgrew claims to oppose the casino because it will detract from Broadway theater. Oddly, just months ago, he endorsed one next to Citi Field. Does he think that would not detract from baseball? Is he taking positions on which bid should win, and if so, what the hell does that have to do with UFT? Hard to say, since King Mulgrew feels no compunction to spill the tea with us, the T (in UFT).

But take a gander at this guy:

Brown was a Special Counsel at UFT, and now he’s with Moonshot Strategies. And who would’ve thunk it? Moonshot strategies is lobbying for the Queens casino that Mulgrew supports. Who knows? Perhaps it’s mere coincidence.

Mulgrew says he’s concerned about Broadway because he’s taken students to Broadway shows. That’s an appeal to authority fallacy. By Mulgrew’s low standard, I’m more qualified than he is. I’ve taken my English Language Learners to Broadway shows quite frequently, and I’ve been doing it for decades. Despite this qualification, I have no idea why a Queens casino is better than a Manhattan one (not to mention why on earth it’s UFT business).

While the Manhattan casino may replace one theater, it’s hard to believe it wouldn’t be an enormous draw to the city. Also we’ve been repeatedly told (by Unity) that we can’t interfere with the business of other unions. From the NY Post:

“Bringing a world-class entertainment destination to Times Square will actually grow the audience for Broadway shows, and we will provide tens of millions of dollars in Broadway tickets to New York City students and educational programs as part of a successful bid,” the rep said. “The unions representing Broadway actors and musicians support our bid precisely because we will benefit the theater community and Times Square.”

I don’t know if you recall being told, when supervisors commit casual atrocities, that we can’t really attack them because they’re union. I don’t know if you recall being told, when DC37 adopted a crap pattern and foisted it upon us, and the rest of the city, that it was their right to negotiate and we ought not to interfere.

I do, though. Apparently this “no interference” rule applies only when we object. When Unity wants to take a position, it doesn’t matter if other unions oppose it. If the Unity position costs actors and musicians jobs, too bad. King Mulgrew hath spoken.

As for casinos, we know they make their owners wealthy. We also know they make a lot of other people broke. Should we take a position on that? I’m not sure what it has to do with our jobs, except for those of our brothers and sisters who are compulsive gamblers. Would it make a difference if they had to drive to Atlantic City instead of just hopping on the subway?

I don’t know. I’m not taking a position on casinos. The most I gamble is never. I spent a week in Vegas and didn’t put a nickel into the slot machines. Mulgrew’s position seems to be gambling is fine, as long as it’s where Unity says it ought to be. Unity wants to put the casino somewhere else in the city. But isn’t there already a casino in Queens? What have we done to deserve yet another great honor?

Of course, that’s not the only unilateral decision Unity’s made lately. After sixty years, Unity has cut ties with the non-profit American Arbitration Association (AAA). Ostensibly, that’s because they sent the wrong flyer along with the paraprofessional ballot. Was this brought to a vote at the DA? It was not.

Unity lost two elections. Because nothing is their fault, this couldn’t possibly have been their fault either. It must be someone else’s fault. Therefore, they blamed AAA. They dumped them and hired a company with Wall Street ties and a dubious past. It’s hard to believe this was necessary, and even harder to believe that Unity needed to take this drastic step unilaterally. (After all, they just told us, unilaterally again, that it was impossible to enable electronic voting this year.)

Personally, I doubt the prime issue was the para flyer. If I were a para, and had a choice between Fix Para Pay and Unity, I know which I’d choose. The name sells itself. Regardless, because the paras ran a small slate, Unity still controls the para chapter. A real problem Unity will not cop to was their own retiree flyer, which was abysmal. Unity cannot even imagine such a thing, so it needs to blame AAA.

Unity’s retiree flyer lauded Tom Murphy as a “champion of civility.” That’s because Murphy would not speak up as Mulgrew and Unity tossed retirees into a plainly inferior Medicare Advantage plan. That’s not civility. It’s dereliction of duty. Murphy chose to represent Unity rather than those of us who paid (and for all I know, continue to pay) his salary.

Of course, Unity members would deem that heresy. Nonetheless, because Unity will not take any responsibility for anything, ever, we’re stuck having a nine year old company with a sketchy past monitoring our elections. As for electronic voting, Unity pledges to take a look at it years from now. In fairness, they promised that in 2013, so they’ve kept that promise. They’re still looking at it years from now.

Had Unity not made ridiculous one-sided deals with the city, we wouldn’t be facing health care cuts. If you’re in-service or under 65, the city wants to replace Emblem/ GHI with something 10% cheaper for the city. PSC predicts that will result in tiered care. Mulgrew now objects to the plan, because the city wants premiums. However, MLC, including Unity, agreed to them as well. If you read this Substack even occasionally, you know the city wants to take Medicare away from retirees, and all Unity’s offered in defense has been lip service.

Then we come to the issue of paraprofessional pay. It was not a priority for Unity during the last round of contract negotiations. Who knew, though, that Unity had 450 million dollars out of which may have come a much-needed boost for UFT members trying to eke out a living? Unity likes to ridicule paras who need a raise by asking them how they can do it.

Well, here’s how you do it—you vote out Unity and elect a slate that will focus on member needs instead of where casinos get built. You vote for a slate that elicits member opinion on member issues. You vote for a slate whose agenda is to serve members. You vote for a slate that wants A BETTER CONTRACT, both with the city and leadership, as opposed to a patronage mill full of followers posing as leaders, sycophants worshiping failed King Mulgrew.

Thanks to Daniel A.