Unity, Groping for a Path Forward, Disempowers Chapter Leaders

They plan to give hand-picked Unity District Representatives the power to contact members at individual schools without CL cooperation.

It’s a tough time for Unity. While a whole lot of Unity Big Shots have never, ever faced a Danielson observation, they just faced two major elections in which members rated them ineffective. As they flail around trying to deal with that, they’re reaching to cement their control. (Of course, this entails doing everything except respecting us, let alone accommodating pesky member demands.)

I was always told the chapter leader is UFT in the school building. When I was CL my district rep. worked well with me (despite some tense moments here and there). Those days may be over. Multiple sources have told me Unity is working on a way to allow the district representatives to notify members school-wide when they plan to visit schools. This will give them the ability bypass chapter leaders entirely.

You see, spreading the Gospel According to Michael Mulgrew is the Prime Directive. According to St. Michael, the retirees who just defeated his Patronage Cult spread “harmful misinformation.” Evidently, after our doctors told us they would not accept Aetna, we told people doctors would not accept Aetna. Furthermore, after Aetna admitted in NY State Supreme Court that they would withhold care recommended by our doctors, we told people Aetna would withhold care recommended by out doctors.

How dare people contradict Dear Leader? Unity has to get those District Reps into schools clarifying that everything Michael Mulgrew claims is absolutely true (which is especially important when he gets caught in lies).

I’ve heard of incidents here and there where Unity big shots called meetings in schools without the cooperation or knowledge of chapter leaders. That was the exception rather than the rule. And from what I hear, these unsolicited visits didn’t work so well. But Unity doesn’t learn from mistakes. Therefore, they’re working on a way for DRs to request emails be sent to individual schools to announce their visits.

Once when I was chapter leader of Francis Lewis High School, a Unity Big Shot asked me how many people fit in our auditorium. I found out for her that it was 975. Next thing I knew, that person bypassed me, called my principal, and set up some sort of event with Mike Mulgrew and Carmen “It’s a beautiful day because Macy’s is open.” Fariña in our auditorium.

I was a little bit upset about that. It was more than a little creepy. I had to no idea why she needed to be so secretive. Maybe I’d have cooperated, if given half a chance. Regardless, since I was bypassed, I let them know that I would organize members to picket the event. Suddenly, they then decided to hold the event elsewhere. Go figure.

DRs are now hand-picked by the aforementioned Unity Big Shots. They used to be elected by chapter leaders. However, chapter leaders had the audacity to elect non-Unity members on multiple occasions. This was too much for Unity bosses, who don’t much respect democracy. Therefore, they pulled the right of chapter leaders to select who would ostensibly represent them.

The late James Eterno, blogger, UFT Executive Board member, and renowned CL of beleaguered Jamaica High School, was a great source of support to me when I became chapter leader. He knew the contract forward and backward. He could quote the collective bargaining agreement like preachers quote the Bible. He never shrank from a fight, and if I could pick anyone to rep me when I was in trouble, it would’ve been James. No one was more qualified or disposed to be a DR and defend members.

Unity told James, sure, you have a chance at the job. It doesn’t matter that you don’t support our caucus. He sat through a bunch of interviews, and they, of course, gave the job to a Unity member. James told me he and some colleagues once looked through the briefcase of that Unity DR, left on a chair somewhere. The briefcase contained nothing but Unity Caucus applications.

What’s the moral of this story? Unity is interested in perpetuating Unity, and does not give a golly gosh darn about you, me, or our union brothers and sisters.

There’s not a whole lot of reason to re-elect a caucus that is terrible at negotiation. Instead of simply demanding contracts that keep up with cost of living as a matter of course, they’re willing to exchange our health care for raises that do not. They’re willing to diminish retiree care for raises they will never receive. As for argument, they just toss whatever they like at the wall and see what sticks. Personal attacks on working paraprofessionals? No problem at all.

Name calling is a big thing with them. This one is too left-wing, that one is too right-wing and Unity is just right. I’ve seen guilt by association. The NY Post wrote about them, and the Post is bad, so they must be bad too. (Full disclosure—I’ve been quoted by and leaked stories to the Post. I’ve been published there twice. Call me what you will.)

Another thing they love is the appeal to fear. Uh oh, kids, those folks are really scary. Better stick with us!

The underlying feeling I get from their propaganda, though, is that we, Unity are better than you, non-Unity. We know better than you. Anyone who disagrees with us, ever, is radical, wild-eyed, crazy, contrary, angry, simple-minded, uninformed, influenced by bad people, a conspiracy theorist, an enemy of the union. They should be shunned, says Unity.

So much for tolerance.

Only we, Unity, the people personally profiting from your dues, giving plum gigs to our spouses, BFFs and sycophants, are qualified to make the deals. And awful though those deals are, they’re the best we can do.

Now here’s the thing—I frequently doubt them, but when they say the deals are the best they can do, I absolutely believe them. That’s why they need to be replaced (and the sooner the better).

Of course, being in charge of the union treasury gives them a certain amount of power. A great illustration is the Retired Teacher Chapter. Our union brothers and sisters elected half a dozen of us to represent them, yet only one of us has a union job. That’s only because they’d look even more ridiculous if they denied our chosen chapter leader.

People we’ve explicitly rejected are, ostensibly, working for us.

Unity is lost, grasping for anything to perpetuate their crumbling dynasty. It’s crumbling because they sold us out. They can send the DRs to our schools each and every day, but we know what they’ve done. They’ve tried to privatize retiree health care. They want everyone else in a plan that will cost Eric Adams 10% less.

We are teachers. It’s our job to seek and speak the truth, no matter what Mulgrew’s hacks write in NY Teacher.

Let’s vote them out, write a new chapter, and be a new chapter as well.