On the UFT Unity Approach to "Activism"

How do they defend their reprehensible actions? And how do we get rid of them?

Today, in the mail, I received the Unity flyer I wrote about in my last piece. Evidently, the “very smart people” Mulgrew is always referencing felt this was worth putting out on a wide basis. I marvel at how utterly ineffective this is. In a discussion today with Jonathan, he suggested that perhaps they were trying to reach their base. Perhaps. Perhaps these arguments appeal to them.

Why? Who knows?

I’ll spare you a direct critique of their flyer, but again, I have it right here. I was unmoved by their arguments. The arguments that I’d like to see are these:

Fighting to preserve your health care.

I think that would be a strong argument. That’s why, as part of the Retiree Advocate slate, I will be making it far and wide.

Alas, that’s an argument Unity cannot make. They’re fighting to demean our health care. They want to dump us all into a Medicare Advantage plan. In a cynical ploy at the last meeting, Murphy magnanimously called on Retiree Advocate Chapter Leader candidate Bennett Fischer, who he deliberately shut out at the last meeting. Mulgrew interrupted Bennett almost immediately. They couldn’t wait to get to the next speaker.

As Murphy and Mulgrew surely planned in advance, Bennett was followed by a woman who got up and claimed there were no prior authorizations in Aetna Advantage. That is patently untrue, and Marianne gives chapter and verse as to why right here. The fact is Mulgrew made a big noise (We heard you!) about how there are fewer prior authorizations in this plan (which is the bestest thing ever) than there were in his last scheme (which was the bestest thing ever).

However, this is a temporary agreement. Once it’s up, there could easily be more prior authorizations, and Mulgrew would get up, once again, and say it’s the bestest thing ever.

If you oppose Mulgrewcare, vote for Retiree Advocate. Tell all your retired friends to do so as well. We can win, and Unity knows it.

Demanding a voice in any changes to health care.

Can you imagine getting to vote on whether or not we would support dumping retirees into an inferior plan? You’d think that would be a given. But UFT Unity is not really running a democracy. That’s why Tom Murphy gets to pick and choose who speaks and when. That’s why Murphy whines when members, routinely ignored, call out, but he says nothing when Mulgrew interrupts not only Bennett, but also the speaker who followed him.

So much for the much-vaunted “civility” Tom Murphy claims to champion, even as he quashes our voice and vote.

Retiree Advocate does not believe bosses should unilaterally strip us of benefits we’ve earned over decades of service. That’s why I’m on their slate, and that’s why you should vote for us.

Tell all your friends to vote for us too.

Don’t throw us under the bus to buy yet another sub-standard contract for in-service members.

Man, when Mulgrew negotiates, he’s got his own unique style. Back in 2014, we were four or five years behind on well-deserved raises granted to the NYPD and FDNY. It seemed to me that, given the pattern bargaining they always rationalized crap raises with, it was a no-brainer to demand those raises for us, immediately if not sooner.

Mulgrew not only managed to wait another four or five years with no interest on money we’d already earned, but he also negotiated crap patterns for the next five years, including a year and a half of nothing. On top of that, he gave away a billion dollars from a 1.8 billion dollar stabilization fund. Eventually, he tried to balance his idiotic giveaways on the backs of Medicare recipients (despite the fact that the stabilization fund has nothing to do with them).

You’d think that getting cost-of-living raises would be a no-cost, no-brainer. Yet in 2018, when Mulgrew finally accepted something around cost-of-living, he gave the city 600 million a year in health savings, forever, in exchange for a three year contract.

Is that what “very smart people” do? If that’s the case, who needs them?

When we got the last contract, which did not remotely meet cost-of-living, a Unity member lectured me on pattern bargaining. The pattern is the pattern, he said. Except, in 2014, Mulgrew kept insisting we had no “God-given right” to retro pay. Evidently, when we’re faced with a crap pattern, it’s the Ten Commandments. When we demand a good one be repeated, it’s not our right.

That’s what Mike Mulgrew and Tom Murphy call leadership. I call it misleading doubletalk from bosses who don’t want to be bothered with member voice.

Retiree Advocate demands a voice and vote in issues that affect us. That’s why I’m on their slate, and that’s why you need to vote for us. That’s why you need to tell your friends. That’s why you need to help us get out the vote.

Don’t make deals that are stupid on their face, and then repeatedly lecture us on the “very smart people” who made the deals.

Granted, this is not for retirees only. But Michael Mulgrew has made a career out of handing the kitchen sink to our contractual adversaries, and getting scraps in return. He is much admired by people whose jobs depend on much admiring him.

That’s not much of an achievement, though.

An achievement, in my humble opinion, would be activating our union, and becoming the “powerful teacher union” that the tabloids complain of. We are a sleeping giant. We, as retirees, have an obligation to support our in-service brothers and sisters. But first, we need to help ourselves. If we can’t help ourselves, we can’t help anyone else either.

Let’s be activists. Let’s stand up for ourselves and those who follow in our footsteps.

Your vote is precious. You can exercise it, or you can continue to let Mulgrew and Murphy make plainly stupid, counter-productive decisions on our behalf.

Let’s vote for Retiree Advocate. Let’s tell all our friends to stand with us.

The time is now.