They Hear Us

So say our union bosses.

Today’s Retired Teacher Chapter meeting was an interesting one, probably the most interesting of the entire year. I have to say that outgoing RTC Chapter Leader Murphy and company appeared gracious. They made time for incoming CL Bennett Fischer to speak, and he too was gracious. There were no harsh words I noticed directed toward us, Retiree Advocate (although I’ve seen reports elsewhere contending otherwise).

Note—after the meeting I was on WBAI with John Tarleton of the Indypendent, talking about our victory and its implications. If you’d like to, you may listen to our discussion right here.

Previous RTC meetings have had an air of burlesque. They were unintentionally hilarious as we were squelched, repressed, shut up and denied by any means available. The Unity Caucus now knows exactly what happens when they do that to us. Murphy referrred to our victory as “astounding.” I expect, therefore, that Unity did not remotely anticipate this result. You know I did.

After Mulgrew spoke, there was a question period. I sprang to my feet and Murphy called on me. I spoke of James Eterno, a lifelong unionist and activist who’d have loved being here for this historic moment. I quoted Isaac Bashevis Singer, who said when we speak of the dead, they dance up in heaven. I sincerely hope that’s what James is doing today. He waited so long for a moment like this, and it’s beyond tragic he’s not here for it. I asked for a moment of silence, they honored it, and Mulgrew even thanked me.

Both Mulgrew and LeRoy Barr were remote. There was an interesting moment toward the end, when a woman complained that Mulgrew wasn’t here. Mulgrew, suddenly on screen again, responded, “Yes I am!” and responded to her question.

But today’s meeting was not about Mulgrew, Bennett,Barr, Murphy or me. It was all about AFT President Randi Weingarten. She’s bigger than life. She’s articulate and willing to talk to anyone and everyone. She’s quite intelligent. For my money, that’s a great quality in a leader. And you may be surprised, or dismayed, but I’m going to agree with quite a bit of what she said today.

Randi spoke a lot about the importance of electing Biden and Democrats on a national level. Mulgrew did as well, but Randi went into far more detail. She spoke a lot about Germany 1928. For the record, I’m a fervent believer in public education, a fervent opponent of fascism, and I too think we need to elect Democrats this year, flawed though many of them are. So I’m with her there.

Randi kept saying, “We hear you.” Mulgrew may have alluded to something like that, but Randi emphasized it. She said here’s what she would do—if Biden were to be re-elected, she would press for legislation that no employees should lose their health care. She said the same about pensions.

Of course I would support any such legislation, as should we all. And of course Randi is the head of our national union, so she’s discussing national priorities. She did however, repeatedly emphasize her ties to the UFT, which run deep. She was our president for years.

Considering that, if Randi wishes to help us now. she will support the legislation before both the City Council and the NYS Assembly and Senate guaranteeing continued real Medicare for NYC retirees. I just read that we had enough votes to pass state legislation but it was blocked by unions.

By “unions,” they mean union bosses like Mulgrew. Our union members support retention of Medicare, as Unity just discovered in no uncertain terms. And here is some unsolicited advice for the Unity Caucus—if you want any chance of holding onto the Presidency, the officers, the union, all those sweet patronage gigs, you’d best back this legislation. If you don’t, you will surely lose everything.

Another thing Randi said really caught my attention. She spoke of cuts being made without member input, and suggested that was not acceptable. I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I’m horrified that Michael Mulgrew initiated cuts without our input. He seemed proud of it, and I recall him saying at some meeting or other that if he put it up for a vote, it would lose.

Here’s a memo, Mike—you were right. You just put it up for a vote, and you lost overwhelmingly.

Randi also said we had to stop this pitting of active members against retirees. Again, I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I was horrified when, last year, Michael Mulgrew sent me an email doing just that. He basically told us if we did not sell out the retirees, we’d all have to pay $1500 a year in premiums. That directly pitted retirees against active members. It was a blatantly anti-union act, perpetrated by a sitting union president.

Former UFT VPs, a cancer survivor, and some other Unity member got up in front of the City Council and said Aetna wasn’t good enough for them. Jesus, we are UNION. If it isn’t good enough for them, it isn’t good enough for anyone.

Also, it’s not the job of union to stick its hand in the pockets of retirees demanding tribute. It’s like they’re criminals on some cheesy sitcom. Nice little health plan you’ve got there. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to it. How about you fork over 5K a year for insurance?

Randi says not having democracy is “scary as shit.” Once again, she’s right. I’ve spent a year going to RTC meetings that are kabuki dances, expressly designed to shut out the voices of those of us demanding to retain our health care.

Finally, I agree with Randi that there is a lot of fear, and that it’s understandable. It’s quite clear to me. Diane Ravitch needed heart surgery, and commented that had she been in an Advantage plan, it would’ve been denied. Diane Ravitch would not be among us today. As much as I admire and respect Ravitch, that result is unacceptable for every single one of us.

No retired paraprofessional should be stuck without the care she needs. Nor should any DC37 worker. Nor should anyone, for that matter, and right now it behooves us to help ourselves. Otherwise, we’ll be of no use to others.

Appeals to fear are despicable. Randi is correct, again, when she says they are a favorite tool of Donald Trump. That said, they are also a favored tool of the Unity Caucus. They smeared us by vilifying MORE, a group of UFT members, as being scary leftists. That’s red-baiting, and it’s exactly the kind of thing I see Trump doing.

When the OT/PT chapter elected Melissa Williams, who wanted to fight for pay parity with teachers, Unity crippled her ability to communicate, censoring her outgoing mail. They made her job so difficult she left. Unity ridiculed her. That scary opposition is unfit, they suggested. When faced with the challenge of us making her job impossible, she walked.

When paraprofessionals won new representation, Unity made it impossible for them to do their jobs. They denied them offices. They denied them time. They even denied them UFT email addresses. That is how much respect they really have for paraprofessionals.

When Migda Rodriguez needed a second job to provide for her family, Unity ridiculed her, depicting her in a funny hat, as though she were a fool. Though they’d ridiculed Williams for stepping down, they ridiculed Migda for not stepping down. Those scary opposition paras are so unfit, they’d rather feed their families than come to meetings. Outrageous.

I don’t know what Unity plans for us, the retirees, but I can tell you we are tough. We can stand up to whatever. I taught teenagers for 39 years and I’m not afraid of union leadership, not even a little. Whatever they do to us, you’ll read about here, and you’ll hear about elsewhere.

So I appreciate the good intentions of Randi Weingarten, and I agree with much of what she says. I appreciate Michael Mulgrew’s stated intent to reach out to us.

But as my friend Norm Scott likes to say, “Watch what they do, not what they say.”

You can be sure, Randi, Mike, et al—We are watching.

Meeting notes (unedited)

UFT RTC June 18,2024

1 PM—Mulgrew is on screen, and remote.

Murphy calls us to order—1:02. 1040 online in addition to live crowd.

Nina Tribble—gives unofficial results, as of Friday, RA 17226 unity 10114 27731 votes. Thanks us.

LeRoy Barr online—Congratulates Bennett and slate. Elections are over, lot of work to do on behalf of UFT. Thanks Murphy and his slate. Says members are all leaders. We owe a debt of gratitude, strongest local in country. Will need all to keep UFT strong in the future. Will work side by side with everyone.

Murphy congratulates our slate on an “astounding victory” says he will abide by results.

Mulgrew online—Union has had elections, thanks those who participated, congratulates Bennett and slate. Elections are good, what democracy is about. Health care is big issue. Will have meetings about these things. Mulgrew will reach out to Bennett. Health care big issue will not go away. Those who won will find out very quickly many rely on this chapter. We all understand what’s at stake this November. One candidate wants to roll back Roe V. Wade, Brown v. Board of Ed. to bring in vouchers.

Same man doesn’t like unions, working class, poor, wants rich to inherit everything. Doesn’t want to fix health care, and stop pitting workers against each other. National health care broken, for profit system doesn’t work. Not just NY. Congress will be settled by 5 races in NY, also PA, Nev. Florida. People see this chapter as political muscle. Wants all of us to get us to a better place.

I speak of James Eterno.

Student loans—Program better under Biden—contact us and we will get you in touch with our specialists. We don’t want people paying more than they should. You can reach out to experts who will advocate for you.

Q—First meeting I’ve attended since pandemic. Retired 2017. If you continue to work, DOE won’t know and will deduct UFT dues. Paying both in service and retired. Murphy asks her to email.

Q—How is UFT protecting our pensions? Mulgrew says they are in good shape. Commercial real estate taken a hit, will adjust. City economy doing very well. Pensions are fine. Governor strong on bringing in new economy, chip production upstate NY, big fed grant from Micron.

Q—How can we oppose Trump fascism and go for lesser evil. Dems party of war. Rebellion going on changed vote in union. Will new leadership continue?

Mulgrew—Politics is a mess in this country. I believe worst thing that happened was Citizens United. Perverted political process. People get upset when you discuss politics. We look at what is best for our profession and unionized workers. We supported multiple parties. One has declared war on public education. We know one side just wants to get rid of it. We believe public education is foundation of democracy. Not easy or simple. Hopes people get back to sanity.

We had great relationship with Republicans in Senate, but once charter money came in, things change.

Wants to thank everyone for work they’ve done, but this election cycle is critical. Thanks us again, wishes us a great summer.

Murphy—introduces Randi Weingarten.

Weingarten—Wants picture of Bennett, Tom and her. Believes in generation to generation. Wants to be us, but has promised to run one more time. Wife retiring next month.

Members have spoken. Was pretty decisive. Lots of fear about Medicare. That is message members sent to leadership. I am very blunt. You heard Michael. That’s the message that was heard, and that’s what we’re responding to. Mulgrew and I talk constantly. I heard you in this election, but the key is fear that people feel, not just about Medicare, but about pensions, life—There is an intention to keep everyone fearful.

Last president out there trying to create that fear. There is a toxic, addictive nature to that fear. What Michael spoke of after Medicare—there is as much of a chance next year that we do not have a democracy, and it is “scary as shit.”

Michael says we have to listen BUT also you try to solve things and make things better. BUT also, in this country, fundamentally, think Germany 1928. Happy to have the conversation. But what is also happening is we are at a weird tale of two cities. At the same time all of this is happening, the things UFT was built on—public education, labor movement, something really remarkable is going on. Not just Joe Biden who has worked on a picket line.

How many new units has AFT organized this year? 175. We have thousands of new members, from librarians in Columbus, charter teachers in Louisiana, nurses, ed, organizing in Fairfax VA. All of it is education, health care, and public services. In this moment of great trepidation and fear, physicians, 3200, now joining AFT, 5000 in U of Michigan.

They have same issues with health care that you do. Workers who don’t have anything are starting to say they need union. In education, with all things that are thrown at us, we’ve polled public. At a time when you thought UFT was ascendent, 2008-10, we got some of best contracts, union was seen negatively. 27% favorability 39 unfavorable 2010

now 53 favorable 23? unfavorable.

In this moment of time when truth doesn’t mean anything—Look what Trump says every day—as scary as Hitler using radio 1928—people saying they were not respected by the world. If truth doesn’t mean anything, then the one thing that means something is trust, how people see teachers, unions, how people can work together even if they disagree on Medicare.

I still wanted to be here after election. Do you think DeVos and billionaires aren’t plowing money into politics? They want you to feel what your union does, what reps do, that we should just sit home, fight against each other, letting them take over. That’s why it’s like Germany 1928.

It’s scary, but around the country something’s going on. Ed. important to kids, health care must be fixed, labor is way of having a better life.

I said to Michael this AM, and instructed my staff, that fear over Medicare was so great, that we have to stop this pitting of active against retirees, by this mayor and other. I have proposed that we start doing something on a national level like we do on pensions, social security.

Under NYS constitution, pensions can't be diminished or impaired. That’s why we fight changes to constitution. People who wanted to change NY want to change in Louisiana. Wanted 80% taken from Title 1.

Vouchers no. 1 issue of people like Betsy DeVos. Wants entire country vouchered, and have won in many states. Beat them 5 times in Texas. This year they spent billions against Republicans who helped AFT, who we supported. Lost to pro-voucher advocates. We won NH, Louisiana. That’s what we’ve been doing.

This is my proposal—We make it an AFT priority that just as social security, pensions cannot be impaired, let’s get Biden to adopt legislation saying once you retire, no one can take, diminish or impair Medicare. That way you can’t have a situation where 50% of AFT retirees are under Medicare Advantage.

When there were cuts threatened, GOP said if you privatize, you won’t have cuts. With our retirees, we have a lot of work to do. We want to protect pensions, medical insurance for whole countries. There are states where teachers retire without social security. If they die, their partners are screwed.

I propose, separate and apart from what local does to save Medicare, is that we do for whole country what Biden did in rescue plan for coal miners and teamsters. Made sure we rescued their pensions. Proposes we get a law passed to say that once you vest in Medicare it cannot be diminished on national basis. First we need to get Biden re-elected.

In terms of you, on local basis, everyone has heard you. Clear that other steps have to be taken so retirees and in-service cannot be pitted against one another.

On elections—trust counts more than truth. If we lose this year, we are at an inflection point. We can win, get Senate, House. It is within this room’s decision making to decide.

Just trying to say, as seriously as possible, I know this union for many years. I may not be as old as some, but I’m catching up. Been involved, had ups and downs. Contracts, elections, have gone up and down. One thing I know, having brought people in to have a voice, do not let the fear of what was going to happen, because no one was going to let retirees be in the lurch. Do not let that fear, some of which is legitimate, and some of which was setting people up—do not let this, what has become the most powerful union in the world….AFT fastest growing union in country. We are problem solvers.

We will have conversations with Joe Biden, but he needs Congress to work with. GOP tried to create debt crisis, you see who’s in SCOTUS—how much evidence do we need to see who Trump is. Forget what he says about people—look how richest people and corporations support him. They want the tax cuts, the only bill he passed.

It’s not just about saving Medicare, it’s about dealing with fear and anger, guarantee your benefits won’t be impaired, if someone doesn’t let you go to re-hab center you want, we need funding, to reverse tax cuts so money goes to people.

Q—Appreciate what you had to say, but if you’re close to Biden, must change attitude about genocide in Middle East. Could’ve made one call and saved lives.

A—I wish he had that power. He wishes it too.

Q—Clearly when UFT works across political aisle, extraordinary results possible, like congestion pricing. Why do we us confrontational approach?

A—As Michael said, I was close with Joe Bruno. Believed in education and labor. Was moment of bipartisanship. But these people, like Bannon, who I met with, made me feel I need a shower. Wouldn’t meet in White House, but in restaurant. Knew we could never work with this person. We rep a lot of people and if there is a way you try to find it. Trump about himself and staying out of jail. His supporters oppose education, and we would have to resist them. Look what they did to SALT. He used SALT to give tax cuts to big corporations. Made lots of deals with NRA, oil and gas companies. We could be a resistance movement, like no one in this country has been used to. How do we protect what we can and fight back?

One has to deal with Medicare, BUT we will have a more perfect union if we win this election. We don’t want things subject to negotiation that you have no role in.

Q—Meets with college students, turned off by politics. Look at entertainers. Concerned young voters will not participate. Can we turn this encampment passion into the election?

A—We are involved everywhere. Places that testified in Washington, college presidents, our members were instrumental in Rutgers and Northwester, getting suitable compromises with union presidents to be heard. Do not have to agree with particular viewpoint on Israel and Gaza to support right to peaceful protest. Many of our members have supported young people. Lots of data, from Harvard to social media—not a lot of excitement for Biden, though I love him.

When Obama said teachers in Central Falls should be fired, I was at AFL CIO meeting with Biden. Told Richard Trunka I wanted to ask a question. Obama said charter had better rates than public, Was not true.

VP Biden was close, came towards me, Secret Service was concerned, surrounding us, 2010, Biden whispered, I didn’t realize that, we will fix it, and he did.

You can’t fix everything all at once. You heard me say that about Medicare. VP got every single teacher back at Central Falls.

Q—What do you think is result of NLRB about Starbucks.

A—Not NLRB. There is something called 10J. We’re trying to get pro-act, public-sector act, so people like Walker can’t revoke rights. Board said that because of irregularities, employees could get 10J injunction. Brought case to say injunction was wrongly granted. SCOTUS agreed with Starbucks and watered down injunction.

I remember Hillary in 2016. Said most important reason to elect her was SCOTUS. Frustrating, because you see control, fear women in TX, FL have is something happens with pregnancy. Had she been president, we wouldn’t have court taking away labor, voting, reproductive rights.

You have a role, not only with colleagues, but also with young people. Your role is you are the wise ones. You are very effective electorally. Look at what happened in RTC elections. If you have these conversation with people—problem with Germany 1928—no do over if you lose democracy. Look at Israel, Hungary, Turkey. We’ve already lost court unless we have legislative fix

Will we lose Article one, two branches too. We have to decide which side we are on in RTC election.

Q—Wants to know how come president isn’t here, why does president want premiums for life?

Murphy—Thank you for question. Think we’ve tried to answer it over meeting.

Mulgrew remotely—I’m still here. In the middle of dealing with mom’s hospice care. Forgive me for not being here in person.

Bennett Fischer—Won’t speak as long as Randi. Thanks Randi for all talk about national issues. Especially enjoys RTC election, generational change about a bunch of retirees. Look forward to talking to you about national legislation. Similarly, hopes Mulgrew will not weaken Medicare by placing us with Advantage.

Thanks Murphy for invitation, grace and civility. Thanks all retirees who voted in election, all of them. We got 40% of retirees who voted, a record, but thanks everyone who voted. Honored to be CL elect. Wants to acknowledge all in Unity who come every month and do work for union, go to DA, volunteer and help.

Sees lots of friends, can’t right to get back and work with you. Will need your support. I know we will get it because after all, we are the UFT.

See you next year.

Murphy—Thanks Randi, LeRoy and Mulgrew.

John Ost, AFT—Speaks of need to elect Biden, gives various statistics.