IT'S YOUR CALL: THE SNOOPER SKOOPER OR THE POOPER SKOOPER ?

With Unity and the UFT it is often difficult to tell fact from fiction.
You'll have to decide~

~Will Randi be getting a housing stipend from the DOE as part of the recent contract agreement? The allowance will enable her to move closer to Tweed, if plans to move her directly inside don't materialize.

~The number of DOE employees earning over 6 figure salaries is 163 That doesn't include consultants. Why hasn't the UFT been willing to expose this fact about management? Or will a study of the LM-2 reveal that the number of 6 figure salaries in the UFT is actually MORE than the DOE? And that is without consultants added in.

~Has UFT leadership surreptitiously been using hired consultants and PR people to help devise a strategy for Unity's 2007 election campaign?

~Isn't Hillary's campaign manager, Howard Wolfson, a paid UFT consultant? How much is he paid and what the hell does he do?

~While the UFT/Unity Caucus leaders negotiated allowances for people who have never taught in the system while doing little to retain current math and science teachers, a new plan is being hatched to make up for this by giving experienced people signing bonuses and housing allowances if they teach in Darfur.

~The UFT has responded to concerns that there will not be a vote by the members on the contract modification by establishing a simplified voting procedure: Randi Weingarten will cast one vote representing 100,000 people. (Now watch those UTP wise guys complain and whine ad infinitum about democracy. Huh! At least there's going to be a vote. Think people in Darfur wouldn't give their eye teeth for the right to have Randi vote for them?)

An open letter to Randi Weingarten:

As I watched Roger Toussaint march defiantly off to jail the other day, I was struck by the sad reality of the times we are living in. Intolerance of civil disobedience, the erosion of our freedoms, the unabashed assault on labor unions, and the complicity of billionaires owning major media outlets is changing our society for the worse, ushering in a new dark age. Not only has the MTA slapped the TWU with a crippling $2.5 million fine, but Peter Kalikow wants to lay on more hurt. He is suspending the automatic collection of union dues from transit workers’ paychecks. Sapping the TWU’s treasury is not enough. He wants to disrupt their income flow as well. He wants to break that union, and all his rich and powerful cronies are cheering him on.

What can the UFT do to protect itself if we ever decide to go on strike? I have a suggestion. Let’s make a pre-emptive defensive move. We are large enough and professional enough to become self-sufficient when it comes to collecting union dues. Let’s phase out our reliance on the dues checkoff handled for us by our employer, the DOE, and phase in a system to collect our dues directly from our members. In this age of electronic banking it shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve. We may not be able to maintain a strike fund, and we may get hit with a hefty fine, but at least we will be able to continue operations with a steady flow of income, sheltered from disruption from the DOE. This is one positive thing we can do to prepare ourselves to present a credible strike threat. It’s just crazy to continue to let our adversary be the one to collect our funds. If we can do this successfully perhaps it will be a model for other labor unions.

Sincerely,

Joe Mudgett
PRHS UFT Delegate and Director of the UTP

BAD PRODUCE AND THE CLEAN UP CREW

A JACK HAMMER EXCLUSIVE

When life gives you lemons ... you throw them away and go get yourself something good to drink. Good advice. Unity's leadership consists of a mountain of lemons that have been inefficient and ineffectual at protecting our interests (Think about the $200,000 to finance a documentary about the UFT charter school, or the millions wasted on writing curriculum -- paid for with our union dues! Not to mention the abomination of a contract they negotiated). Well, recently Unity has unleashed its minions on us. Unity hacks and lackeys have been given a mission. They have become the "clean up crew" and have been sent out to do some damage control. With elections for chapter leaders and delegates coming up they are suddenly concerned about the fallout from the contract. They have invested lots of time and energy into trying to convince us that Unity is actually doing something for us. A Unity hack in the form of a Vice Pres. was sent to my school to explain to us how we really don't understand what Unity is doing for us. It only seems like they aren't doing much for us, but they really are -- we just don't understand it, so we should take their word for it. When asked by a fellow UTPer why the District Reps. can't be elected by the membership the reply was something along the lines of how the membership would elect people that were incompetent, and Randi knows what's best for us, so we should just let her appoint DR's because its just better that way. Not too insulting! Common sense tells us that a "representative" should be elected by and accountable to the people they represent, but I guess thats a concept the Unity hack couldn't grasp. Why these people are paid six figure salaries, and receive double pensions (paid for from our union dues) is beyond me. Imagine a politician arguing that the American Pres. should appoint all the members of congress because "he knows better." Not very democratic is it?
I have a radical idea ... instead of Unity wasting so much time and energy trying to convince us that they are doing so much for us, why don't they put this kind of time and energy into actually doing something for us! If these people were working to benefit us, instead of coming to our schools to explain why we should be electing Unity chapter leaders and delegates things could be different. If they got the job done they wouldn't need a clean up crew to do damage control. I think its clear that Unity only cares about Unity, and not the rank and file members, why else would they be showing up to tell us how great they are right at election time. If they were really doing such a great job their record would speak for itself. They are worried that we may replace some Unity chapter leaders and delegates, so they send out the tentacles to mop up the mess. Lets throw out these lemons. Vote out every Unity chapter leader and delegate. Lets break Unity's dictatorial stranglehold on this union. A more democratic union, with more than one voice to represent the membership can only be good. We have a chance to create a more militant, more democratic UFT. If we don't do it now it will be more of the same for many years.

TAKE BACK YOUR CHAPTER

Once upon a time, a school had a Unity Delegate. This Delegate went to the DA's quite often. She voted whatever the Unity line required, never once considering what the staff she represented thought or wanted. She sat in the Unity section, thought Unity thoughts, and had a Unity dinner thereafter, with only Unity friends. She never told what happened at these meetings. And thus time went by.

Then there came a new contract and a new way of thinking. People thought that there might be two sides to an issue. This had never been thought before. The Delegate was troubled. The Delegate was angry. Only one side of the story should be told. All anti-Unity thoughts and statements were reported to the District Representative. In fact, she thought, quite literally, that Unity was the UFT, and said as much. When other members of the staff distributed ICE, TJC and UTP literature in mailboxes, she knew enough to promptly remove it. When she found similarly offensive material posted, she took it down. She knew better than they. No evil thoughts would mess her Unity bed. No new thoughts would disturb her mind, for it was already made up.

Then the staff found that she voted YES to the contract proposal at the DA, and they hung rude signs about her, and flattering they were not, for they were very angry. Yet still she clung to her Unity thoughts and all the perks they had brought her. But the tide had turned. Unity had lost the school not through any one person's actions, but through Unity's constant failures.

The poor Delegate now looked at a brutal upcoming election and thought that lies and slander may help recoup her loses. All those that oppose her and Unity must be Fascists, Nazis, and anti-Semites, she hissed. To all that would listen, she slithered up, and whispered the same. But at this point, it was clear that she, like Unity, was a debauched tyrant that only cared for herself. No one would listen to her anymore.

Now is the time to take back your chapter. Vote out those that don't represent you. Vote out those that serve themselves.