UFT Unity Will Do Everything But Their Jobs

Nice work if you can get it.

It’s kind of remarkable that UFT Unity, rather than “do the work,” opts to ridicule the leader of the OT/PT chapter. She’s not Unity, of course, or she’d follow the party line. However, the OT/PT chapter (unlike high school teachers) still has the right to choose who they like to represent them.

Their leaders wants to drive them off a cliff, Unity suggests. She has no plan, they say. That’s one way to look at it. I suppose if you’re on UFT payroll with the remotest of ambitions, you have to at least pretend to believe that.

Facts on the ground, though, suggest otherwise. The OT/PT chapter wants parity with teachers. They’ve been pretty direct about it. In fact, they voted down the contract in 2018 as well. Eventually they came to an agreement, but it’s no big secret they have been, and are, unhappy. That’s why they voted out their Unity chapter leader. When a UFT rep came to my school to talk contract, our physical therapist was on her feet repeatedly bemoaning the union’s failure to make progress.

UFT Unity knew this was an issue. They’ve known it for years. Here is what they’ve done to remedy this situation since 2018—absolutely nothing. Their plan (if indeed they had one) entailed ignoring the situation and hoping for the best. We now know when that didn’t work, they changed their approach to pointing the finger at their new leader. In case it’s not abundantly clear, ignoring issues and passing the buck can be convenient, but does not represent leadership.

UFT Unity constantly reminds us that they are leadership, up to and including UFT President Michael Mulgrew. That’s why they say, “We do the work,” as though the rest of us do not. When members turn down a contract, it’s Mulgrew’s job, and the job of his team, to work out a solution. A solution would entail offering them a better deal. However, that would entail “doing the work.”

UFT Unity has another proposal. Give up, they say. Vote up the old contract, the one you just rejected 2-1. Accept what you told us was unacceptable. What is UFT Unity saying here? They’re saying, outright, “We can’t do the work.” Or perhaps it’s even, “We won’t do the work.”

Either way, it’s an absolute dereliction of duty. I’ve taught English to newcomers for decades. It’s a tough job. Often I get kids who’ve had interrupted formal education. They aren’t literate in their first languages, and it’s pronouncedly more difficult to teach them new ones. Sometimes I get kids who’ve been dragged here kicking and screaming. They do not love being here, and they do not want to learn English.

I could follow in the footsteps of my union leadership. I could go back and reteach the lessons that didn’t work the first time. I could blame the parents. Why did you bring these kids here when they didn’t want to come? Why didn’t you make a plan? I could publicly berate the parents and hope my friends sympathize. Perhaps I could even hope to persuade my supervisors it’s the parents’ fault.

On this astral plane, I know well that would be a terrible idea. That’s why I would work to improve things. I’d reach out to the parents and ask for their help. I’d give extra help to the students. I’d change their seats if that would help them focus. I’d transfer them into smaller classes if that were possible. I’d try different approaches to trick them into wanting to use the language.

That’s why my supervisors, even though I made them nuts when I was chapter leader, always seemed to respect me as a teacher. As teachers, we face tough situations all the time. We’ve been burdened with class sizes that haven’t changed in over half a century. But we always do what we can with what we have.

Our leadership seems to have forgotten that. They tell the OT/PT chapter, “This is what you get. Take it or leave it.” They tell retirees, “We’ve negotiated worse health care for you so we could save the mayor money. Take it or leave it.”

We pay these people to make things better. They are not doing their jobs. That’s why, in fact, the OT/PT chapter voted to replace their Unity chapter leader. That’s why, next year, retirees will vote to do the same.

I wish I could afford the drugs UFT/Unity big shots seem to be taking. Then I could sit around, tell myself everything was just fine, and blame others whenever it wasn’t. But I’m a grownup, and I don’t do things like that anymore.

We need grownups to run our union, and we need them ASAP.