Short Takes

Assorted stuff for your Sunday morning

Logical Fallacy

A few years back, my nephew schooled me on logical fallacies. There are a bunch of them. You can see them on various Unity blogs. A big one, for them, is argumentum ad hominem, where they attack the person instead of the argument. They’ve been using that one a lot on Marianne Pizzitola.

Another popular one is the strawman, pictured above. Unity uses that one on us a lot. Instead of addressing the actual argument, you pose another, and try to put your opponent on the defensive. Your opponent is then supposed to defend the twisted argument that was never made.

When we at ABC exposed the re-amortization plan, they accused us of all sorts of nonsense. They claimed we were saying retirement payments would be cut, or contributions would cease, but we didn’t. Our source was a conservative writer, so some maintained nothing he said could have any validity. Sure, he wrote a lot of things I’d disagree about, but he was absolutely correct this was being planned.

And yet, no one planned to tell us about it. Well, now we know. And the risk is not so much for us as for those who follow us. Betting on the market, at this juncture, seems a very poor idea to me. And saying we won’t do it “at this time” means we can do it at any other time.

The para bill exists.

I’m happy to see that. It may be on its way to passing. Paraprofessionals need the money, and deserve our support. Of course, Unity didn’t realize that until the paras voted 3-1 against them. That, my friends, is para power. Letting Unity know you’d be happy to dump them makes them think.

When Mulgrew had 450 million dollars with which he could’ve given them a raise, he opted not to. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Unity scrambled, and managed to come up with this transparent election ploy.

Now Unity demands applause and adulation. I’ve never opposed it, and I went to the city to demonstrate for it. Still, there’s no question paraprofessionals would be better off with a pensionable salary increase. There’s no question Unity deliberately opted not to give them one.

Furthermore, there’s no question that, if Unity can pull this off, they could also support Intro 1096, which would protect retiree health care. Rather than do that, they’re lobbying against us. And…

ABC is Unity’s Favorite Target

The Unity folk are out and attacking us at ABC. This is a very good sign. They know they’re vulnerable, and they know who they need to be afraid of. If you want to defeat Unity, vote for ABC.

We have both experience and new energy, and we had to organize from scratch. Furthermore, we’re unencumbered by loyalty to caucus above membership. Unity hasn’t got much in the way of argument. Only we have a plan, they say. That’s absurd. No one undertakes this without a plan. But hard experience tells us what theirs is.

We’ve watched what they’ve done over the years, and we know precisely where their plans have led us. Teachers are being compelled to do scripted lessons. We’re on C6 duty, forever, when we desperately need more prep time. I used to come in an hour early every day just to keep up.

Checklist observations are demoralizing, and rarely if ever helpful. We can’t grieve letters in file. We agreed to longer days, and as Unity agrees to sub-inflationary raises, we’re working more for less. UFT, and UFT alone gets 7% on our TDA, while every other city worker gets 8.25.

On Unity’s mailing, they claim there are “no givebacks.” That’s a brazen falsehood. Which brings us to:

Health Care

Unity knows as well as we do that they sold us out. They know that in-service workers will be hit with an inferior, more costly plan after the election. They know as well as we do that Mulgrew, while pretending to oppose MA, is out there doing everything he within his power to dump us back into it. He’s lobbying against protecting our rights, telling outrageous lies to rationalize it, and hoping we’re fool enough to buy them.

And yet he says he opposes it. So Unity folk tell me things like, “It’s settled. Stop beating a dead horse.” That’s a lot easier than saying the truth. What is the truth, you ask?

Next month we face Bentkowsi, which some of us label the “nuclear option.” This is the case in which UFT-endorsed Mayor Eric Adams wishes to dump us all into Aetna Medicare Advantage with no alternative whatsoever. UFT Unity, as part of Municipal Labor Committee, supports the city rather than us.

On the UFT Election:

I’ve seen some strong headlines on the various pseudonymous Unity scribblings. One suggests we drop out of the race for leadership. I suppose this is because we went to court to protest Unity’s rigging of the vote. We lost this round, but that’s a strawman—it’s easier to contend we oppose democracy than to admit they’ve deliberately blocked electronic voting access for years.

Imagine if NY State tried what Unity is trying. (I don’t have very strong feelings about Kathy Hochul. I don’t love her support of charter schools, but I don’t hate her or anything. I apologize in advance if you happen to love her, but I’m going to use her in this scenario.)

Imagine New York State has only voting by mail. Imagine that participation is way down, and imagine it’s because people don’t love going to mailboxes. Imagine people complain, and ask that voting become easier. They want electronic voting, or at least voting in nearby public schools.

Hochul doesn’t love this idea, though. It’s too risky, she thinks. So she decides to compromise. She allows voting in the NY State Executive Mansion, where she resides with her many paid flunkies. She also allows voting in all Democratic offices, and various gala luncheons and events featuring Kathy Hochul.

On top of that, Hochul declares that, if you’ve already voted, your second vote will supersede your first one. After she’s wined and dined you at some gala event or other, after you’ve sat with her supporters and they’ve told you how wonderful she is, you can change your mind, change your vote and support her. Of course, the ballot will be in a separate room, so she won’t be able to talk to you while you vote. So that’s fair, she says.

Republicans object. They see this as biased. Why is voting only allowed in Democratic strongholds? Shouldn’t every effort be made to enable voting in neutral locations? What about schools? What about libraries? What about public recreation centers and municipal buildings?

They’d be right to object, of course. And on this astral plane, Kathy Hochul couldn’t do that. In NY State, we have laws. We have regulations. People would be outraged, and justifiably so. But UFT Unity can do whatever.

Unity further contends we can’t have voting in schools, where most of us work, because we’d need observers in schools. That’s an interesting concept. However, if it’s a valid one, it means every contract vote we’ve ever had ought to be voided, because we didn’t have observers.

Rather than spend another few decades studying the issue, ABC will enact electronic voting for those who prefer it, just as other unions have. We will make it easy for everyone to vote, not just our supporters.

On Zohran Mamdani:

Zohran Mamdani, as a mayoral candidate, seems to check a lot of boxes. The cost of living is way too high in New York. Child care is prohibitively expensive, and without a second income, you might not be able to get by. And he seemed to be shooting up in the polls. I’d certainly choose him over Andrew Cuomo, but I’d choose my dog over Andrew Cuomo. (Full disclosure—I love my dog, but his speeches are often redundant.)

I’ve been criticized for questioning Mamdani’s actions. Evidently, he did this and that in the past, and said all sorts of great things, so he’s a good guy. I don’t doubt he’s a good guy.

That said, I attended the NYC Retirees Mayoral Forum at CUNY, and Mamdani was a no-show. I’m told he pulled out a week before the event. While he’s claimed to oppose Medicare Advantage for retirees, he’s declined to put it in writing. Furthermore, he’s concurrently accepted an endorsement from DC 37. DC 37 bosses, like UFT bosses, have been virulently opposed to both city and state legislation that would protect retiree health care.

Some people believe in coincidence. Sometimes I do as well. But I can’t discount the fact that Mamdani brushed aside NYC Retiree concerns just as he accepted the DC 37 endorsement. I fully expect him to garner a UFT endorsement as well. While UFT bosses claim there’s no litmus test for support, I don’t believe them. I don’t believe a single City Council member we endorsed, if elected, will support 1096, and the much-vaunted UFT election committees were prohibited from asking about it.

As of now, I no longer believe Mamdani. There are other nominees who explicitly support us. Of course, if he wants to come around, he could always do so. I hope he comes to his senses. (In fact, I hope Mulgrew does too.)

Hope springeth eternal, but as Norm Scott will tell you—Watch what they do, not what they say.