Unity Takes You for a Fool

They think you'll believe anything.

I was going to write about the Labor Day Parade, but I’ll hold off on that for a day or two. Things happened, and continue to happen, so I’ll get back to you on that.

Instead, let’s take a look at this piece. Unity placed it in the Retired Teacher Chapter section of NY Teacher. They did not bother to check with RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer, or indeed any member elected by the chapter. (When Unity feels like promoting themselves, they don’t need any stinking permission.)

The piece is titled, “UFT abandons Medicare Advantage.” What’s interesting about this piece is UFT has done no such thing. There’s been no vote and no consultation with members. That’s important, because when Mulgrew used Medicare Advantage as a way to save money for a raise (that retirees would not get), there was no vote then either. I mean, how would they even approach such a thing?

Hey, retirees, would it be okay if we dump you into a Medicare Advantage plan, a plan in which your doctors can be overruled by an insurance company, in order to get a raise you will have no part of? You don’t mind, do you?

Michael Mulgrew didn’t bother with that. He simply hyped it relentlessly. Then, he stood up and suddenly claimed to oppose MA after a massive and unprecedented electoral loss. Does he face up and say he was wrong? Of course not. He’s never wrong. Instead, he blames the city for doing things he explicitly agreed to.

Totalitarian leaders don’t bother with votes. They just act. In 1984 I had a months-long gig backing up a female singer in Interlaken, Switzerland. When the gig ended, I used the money to travel around Europe. One place I visited was West Berlin, where my friend Klaus lived.

To get to West Berlin, I had to travel on an East German train. I recall vividly that there was a conductor who advised everyone where to sleep. I had a lower bunk. A young woman who had an upper was nervous, and asked to switch with me. I said sure. She made the egregious error of notifying the conductor, who said absolutely not. You are there and he is there.

When petty individuals get power, they use it any way they can. That’s why the principal visits your classroom on a half-day when you have four students in your class. That’s why Mulgrew turns off member microphones when they say things he doesn’t care for. That’s why he insults people from the stage, saying things like, “You don’t believe in democracy.” It’s interesting, because Mulgrew’s interpretation of democracy is sorely limited. He acted against the will of not only the Retired Teacher Chapter, but also the Delegate Assembly when he pushed Medicare Advantage.

Unity members seem to think they can do whatever the hell they want, as long as they don’t displease the Dear Leader. That’s why, at UFT Executive Board, when I had a question for the new mariachi chancellor, a Unity member forcefully shoved me aside to get in front of me. (Silly me, I didn’t realize it was a football game.) Clearly, someone taught him to do that.

The piece in NY Teacher doesn’t mention that Mulgrew has in fact, done nothing to protect us from an Advantage plan They don’t bother mentioning that, due to Unity’s brilliant negotiations, retirees on Medicare will now be facing co-payments, for the first time ever.

My German friend Klaus had a friend who was an English teacher in East Berlin. One day, we went to visit him. He showed me English books the Deutche Democratic Republic had written. Their approach mirrored Unity’s.

When the East German textbook discussed learning English, they mentioned using it because friends from South Yemen were visiting. You’d think they’d mention England or the United States, but of course East Germans weren’t permitted to go there. I remember they talked about how DDR residents love to travel.

Budapest ist ein schon stadt. Budapest is a beautiful city. They’d never mention that DDR travel was limited, and I guess you weren’t supposed to know that. We, UFT members, are not supposed to know that our information is restricted either.

East German TV was highly regulated. You weren’t supposed to see West German stations. They erected a huge antenna people called der spargel, the asparagus, because that’s what it looked like. It was supposed to block transmissions but didn’t work well. You could get in trouble for watching West German TV.

Unity takes a similar approach. In an attempt to suppress my voice, they chose to use my union dues to threaten me with civil and criminal penalties for parodying Michael Mulgrew. Why negotiate if you can frighten people into submission? They didn’t frighten me, but shortly thereafter my former domain, nyceducator.com, was blocked on Blogger. I strongly suspect the UFT lawyers issued a cease and desist to Google.

Well, that didn’t work any better than der spargel. I’m here now, with thousands more readers than I had at NYC Educator. (For that, I thank you, UFT Unity.)

Why didn’t East Germans want to watch East German TV? Well, it seemed to feature a lot of privileged officials shaking hands with Russians. Herr Honecker is seen here with Comrade Chernenko. Fascinating. You know, like watching Michael Mulgrew bring up largely symbolic resolutions to Randi Weingarten at the AFT Convention.

East Berlin had shops where you could go in and buy western goods. You know, Levi jeans, kentucky bourbon and such. But you needed to use western currency to get these goodies. Those in power had access. Party members could do whatever they liked.

Unity is the same. They control all the union media and can put out whatever they like. They can go out to gala luncheons and fancy dinners on our dime. Even though we’re elected RTC, Unity dumps whatever it likes into our section. They don’t care whether or not it’s accurate, and they don’t care whether or not it reflects our interests.

Unity doesn’t care if we hear about things in a timely fashion. In fact, Mulgrew made his unilateral decision to back away from supporting Medicare back on June 23rd. If you’re following this Substack, you know way more than Unity wants you to.

Another thing my East German friend told me was that in East Berlin they sold Pravda on every corner. Nobody bought it, though.

Make no mistake, Michael Mulgrew and his invitation-only, elite, privileged caucus are trying to sell us Pravda. Their massive electoral loss has not yet taught them we aren’t buying it. Of course, we’re teachers, and we understand learning styles vary.

And that is why our next step entails revising our lesson plan, and voting Unity out of office entirely next May.