Where's Michael Mulgrew?

Why wasn't UFT notified to go out and support SAG-AFTRA?

Today I went to Manhattan to march with SAG-AFTRA. This was not the first SAG-AFTRA demonstration in New York, but it was the first for which I received advance notice. I got an email from AFT, as I am on some mailing list or other. Randi Weingarten was there, and she spoke. Although I was no more than twenty feet behind her, I couldn’t hear what she (or anyone) said. Tenth Avenue, let’s face it, is not renowned for its acoustics.

I was there with well-known gadfly/ blogger/ diner aficionado Norm Scott. We occasionally go out to lunch in Manhattan, and this seemed like the perfect occasion to do so. There was a contingent from NYSUT, and a handful of UFT members there. I'd seen some of these same folks at other SAG-AFTRA events, after they occurred, on Facebook. I’d thought, well, no one tells me anything. But AFT did. (Thank you, AFT.)

Why on earth didn’t UFT send an email to membership saying go out and support our brothers and sisters in the arts who are out there striking? When at a demonstration, isn’t it always better to have more people there? Wouldn’t a whole lot of us love to support actors and writers seeking a fair deal?

Consider the difference between this job action and those endorsed by our leadership. When we were seeking a contract, when we established a 500-member negotiating committee, there were just a couple things that we were not able to negotiate. Just a couple, but they were kind of important.

Money—We had no voice whatsoever as to what sort of raise we would get. You see, that was established by DC37. (The Municipal Labor Committee, which gleefully approves cuts to our health care, is evidently unable to agree on a compensation increase that meets inflation.) So even though Social Security had pegged inflation at 5.9% last year, and 8.7% this year, we were taking 3% a year. Now, our friends in UFT Unity will be quick to point out that inflation is currently around 3%. It’s slightly higher, actually, but the point is we’re starting about 15% down, so that brings our salaries about 12% lower as we start.

That is awful, frankly. And salary isn’t the only thing we had no voice in.

Health care—Because of some incredibly bone-headed deals on the part of MLC, our health care is imperiled. The MLC gave a billion dollars from our stabilization fund to the city back in 2014. And then, in 2018, they made an agreement to save 600 million dollars a year, forever, in exchange for a three-year contract that just about kept up with cost of living.

Now I don’t suppose I need to convince you that cost of living ought to be something we negotiate with no givebacks. This notwithstanding, the geniuses at MLC do not concur. To my everlasting regret, I supported the 2018 contract. I had no idea it contained such egregious givebacks. I will never trust our current leadership again.

Retirees have been fighting back, and trying to preserve the Medicare we’ve been promised all our careers. I’ve donated to them, and if you wish to join me, you may do so right here. If you’re in service, the MLC has a request for proposals, and is looking for a program 10% cheaper than GHI/ Emblem. They’ll tell you it will be just as good or better, but they said the same about Medicare Advantage instead of Medicare.

They are lying through their teeth.

As for SAG-AFTRA, I’m happy to support them in their battle to be compensated fairly. The most popular show on Netflix to date has been Squid Game, and supporting actors have been paid as little as $300 for appearances. It doesn’t matter how many million times it gets streamed. That’s ridiculous, and worth striking over.

I could not muster the same enthusiasm for UFT’s actions. They may want me to go have a “teach-in,” whatever that is, to demand a contract that will significantly cut my buying power. Really, the only thing I wanted to teach my brothers and sisters was that this contract was a true stinker.

Similarly, I didn’t wish to go sit and work in a union-busting Starbucks just so people could see I did so. The only reason I set foot in Starbucks, ever, is because students and others hand me gift cards. I can make better coffee at home, and so can you. Furthermore, one thing I learned over decades of teaching was to leave most (and hopefully all) work for school hours. Still, I arrived ridiculously early for years. Mornings are quiet, and that’s when I can work.

I understand that people were so desperate they voted up this contract. It was the best they could do, said UFT-Unity, and I believe it was. That’s why they need to be replaced. We can’t have people who sell us out for less than nothing in the MLC. We can’t have people who take whatever they can get rather than fighting for us.

As unionists, we have our collective heads in the sand. When was the last time UFT had a real demonstration for a worthwhile goal? Personally, I can’t recall anything since we were fighting Bloomberg. It’s ridiculous to go out and pretend we’re fighting for a fair contract when our earning power is deteriorating and they’re selling out our health care to save money for Eric Adams (who should be our contractual adversary).

Maybe our leaders don’t even want us to see a real union action. Maybe they don’t want us to know such things are possible. Maybe they want us to keep playing make-believe, with teach-ins and visits to coffee joints. I can’t read their minds.

But I can assess their actions. We should NOT be fighting for savings for the city. We should be fighting for BETTER, not worse health care. And if we indeed need to honor the stupid, counter-productive deals our leaders have made, we ought not to do it at the expense of member health.

Let’s consolidate union welfare funds, even if it costs UFT and others patronage jobs. Let’s not have 200 funds when we only need one. And hey, if some patronage employees have to go back and teach children, so be it. We need more teachers. We need to reduce class sizes.

We don’t need to reduce health care, and we don’t need to effectively reduce our compensation. It is beyond incredible our leadership doesn’t understand that.

SAG-AFTRA is out fighting for better working conditions. That is what we should do. That is what we must do.