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.
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.
posted by A Strong, Proud UTP Member at 4/01/2006 02:37:00 PM
63 Comments:
To ensure a fair election, make certain there are honest and knowledgable representatives on the election committee in your chapter to closely monitor the balloting process on election day. Only Polyanna would trust incumbents to oversee these matters.
Vote out every single Unity Delegate and Chapter Leader. No excuses like some are good people, and are really nice. If they are associated with Unity... they must go! We must disinfect our chapters and our union, and rid ourselves of the Unity plague.
All the comforts of the job are yours because of the hard and effective work of Unity. If your chapter leader is Unity, vote for him/her. Your conscience will thank you.
Yes, indeed, I love the perks our leadership won for me such as cafeteria duty. Shame on the UTP! Unity forever!
Vote for Unity if you are happy with:
your 6R assignment; longer school day; inability to grieve letters in your file; extra teaching assigments; extra two work days in August; loss of seniority transfer rights; nullified elections of DRs; and removal of opposing viewpoint literature in your mailboxes.
As Anon said, all these comforts of the job are yours because of the hard and effective work of Unity.
The cheap smear tactics fool no one and only indicate your level of desperation.
Amazing. The very Unity tactics mentioned in the blog article.
It is time to clean house. If you have a Chapter
Leader who does not lead the chapter and blindly follows Unity dictates- vote them out.
If you have a union delegate who ignores the consensus of the school and votes the party line with no regard for their responsibility to the chapter-vote them out.
I understand why some people feel that ALL
Unity people must go, the union has over the last ten to fifteen years become self serving and arrogant, but I believe there are some very strong Unionist working within its ranks and we must evaluate them on an individual basis.
One thing I'm sure of is that the top leadership must go. Randi has proved time and time again her inability to lead and she must be voted out of office.
Remember HER District Representatives appeared at schools, in many cases for the first time, to intimidate teachers into voting yes for the current contract.
Remember SHE stopped the democratic process by deciding to "appoint" the DRs.
Remember after the contract vote was over SHE blamed the "teachers lack of militancy" for the terrible contract we now have.
Unity isn't exactly a plague its more like a bad head cold because as hard as you try for a breath of fresh air nothing gets through.
ICE, UTP and TJC are the nasal decongestants of our union.
Unleash the dogs boys!
THAT BLOG IS GREAT!! IT SOUNDS LIKE WHATS GOING ON IN MY SCHOOL!
It sounds like whats going on in my school too!! It must be going on in many schools. It must be stopped, and it must be stopped right now.
If that's the case, then I'm with Snakehead: vote out every single Unity delegate and chapter leader.
I know several chapter leaders who are openly independent, have never signed any pledge, and are completely satisfied with the support they've got from the union.
And I know plenty of CL's for whom Independent means--don't let them know you think Unity sucks, because although the service is terrible now, it might actually get worse.
It's absolutely scandalous that the document James Eterno mentions exists. Clearly, then, they are in power for themselves, and their job is not to serve the members, but to stay in power.
Get rid of the double pensions.
Get rid of Unity.
"But it is no matter.
Let Hercules himself do what he may,
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day."
It's our turn to do some woofin', barkin' and bitin' now; and don't we know who's ready to be nailed.
I have no way of knowing whether the document exists. The Bible and other inspirational documents, such as the Magna Carta, all can be quoted out of context.Is there genuine tolerance for dissension within ICE, or UTP, or any other splinter group? I don't think so.
I also know chapter leaders who are independent and they want Unity out!
In my school we have a do nothing Chapter Leader. We also have a union delegate cut from the same cloth as the CL. The delegate voted yes to ratify the contract despite the general anti contract sentiment that exists in our school. He goes to meetings to hangout with his Unity friends and basically doesn't care about the teachers at all.
When told how horrible the contract is he just laughs and says, "Its not that bad!".
Both of these people are in for an awakening this spring because we have been preparing to vote them out. We got two teachers ready to step in and really be a voice for the school.
Thanks for inspiring us to action.
Was this an April Fool's joke?
The idea of a Unity "loyalty oath" is frightening. The idea that members are supposed to blindly agree with Unity policy right or wrong sounds all too familiar. Any organization that discourages free thought or critical debate destroys its own credibility.
Keep this in mind when choosing who should be your Chapter Leader or union delegate.
The "oath" as you call it is designed to strengthen the union. As usual the UTP and their ilk try to distort the facts to whip up anti Unity sentiment. Unity has been providing services that have more than satisfied the vast majority of caring and hard working teachers for years. What has any opposition group such as yours actually accomplished?
Putting the hucksters of the worst contract in UFT history on the defensive is one accomplishment. Telling our members that the power to improve our union is in their hands via the upcoming elections is another.
Thomas Jefferson said: "When the people fear the government you have tryranny. When the government fears the people you have democracy." I'll take democracy over tyranny any day.
First let me tell you what we haven't provided.
We haven't provided the worst contract in the history of the UFT.
We haven't taken a gigantic step backward and delivered to the members 6R, increased daily work time that translates to an increase in time spent working at home, two additional days per year, the ability to grieve letters in file, an expansion in administrative power, and a tiny capped pay increase that hardly covers the increase in time, labor and aggravation.
It is true WE haven't provided these goodies but you can rest assured we are doing everything we can to "accomplish" a more democratic union, an end to the Unity run monopoly of information and to restore a voice for the rank and file.
Unity is working to destroy this union, and has done trememdous damamge to the NYC public school system. The facts will bear me out on this... Unity works only to benefit themselves. They work very hard to maintain a stranglehold on this union. They work hard to keep the truth from the rank and file and push this myth that they somehow provide us all these great services that noone else could. Its about time we gave someone else a chance... lets see if someone can do better. (It won't be that hard)
Once again no mention of the children who are the most important part of the educational experience.
This website is so self absorbed that all you do is complain about issues that involve teachers.
Why can't you be more like Unity they don't care about teachers at all.
Snakehead says that Unity only benefits themselves. Considering that they encompass the entire membership, and that we are all richly served, that observation is correct, though not in the spirit presented.
RICHLY Served?-!! What exactly were we served?
6R, 2 extra days in August, extra time over the last 2 contracts, the right to grieve letters in file, A union boss who blames the rank and file for HER failures.
Somebody's getting served alright and it must be the mayor because it sure isn't us.
Your loyalty oath is showing- but thats okay
keep the straight lines coming!
Was that post about us being richly served a joke?
Snakehead's take on Unity performance is right on target.
Once again, if it is tru that so many people are miserable with this new contract, why didn't we hear this at the Chapter Leader meeting a few weeks ago? I was at the JHS/HS one and besides minor issues in some schools (that would seem to have problem administrators regardless of the contract)there were few complaints. . . about 6R or the extended time. I heard a similar thing happened at the elementary school meeting last week. So where is this miserable contract you talk about and why aren't memebers bringing this up to the Chapter Leaders?
And now that I think of it Randi told us at the JHS/HS meeting to let her know about an increase in Letters in the File. If this has also happened under this new contract than why aren't we hearing about this?
Clearly people are happy with 6R, August work, no defense to LIF, a raise that was not a raise: what's not to be happy about?
If Unity gives back more--maybe the whole month of June--then of course, people will still be happy, and maybe even happier!
Hooray!
Of course, if Mr. Eterno is right about the Unity caucus, then there would be no complaints, but just "support" of "the caucus"--at the expense of the rank and file.
Correction: July....I'm deliriously happy, too.
When I asked to join the Unity caucus, I was told that I wasn't wanted because I had been critical of the caucus in print.
Criticism is apparently not allowed, only blind allegiance.
Everything that Unity does is good: they've all agreed on it.
Obviously sarcasm is the only way you can handle a dialogue about issues be cause you have no answer.
Again, why wasn't it brought up at these meeetings? Can all 1399 schools in the NYC public education system be in a conspiracy with "Randi" except yours (or is it just you)?
Unity is finished. You'll find out how the majority of teachers feel about this contract soon enough.
In Queens most teachers on the high school level agree with the position that this IS the worst contract ever and its time for a change.
Lets show these Unity lackeys what we think of their self-serving diatribes about how great this contract is and how much Unity has done for us. Lets unleash a tidal wave of discontent and drown them in their own refuse. Expose them for what they are and spread the message in every way you can. When its time for elections in your school... vote out every Unity Delegate and Chapter Leader. When union elections arrive in 2007 vote against every single Unity candidate. Lets make sure the next contract is not an abomination like the last one that they rammed down our throats. Now is the time for action. Contribute in anyway you can. It doesn't matter how you make your stand, just do something to help end Unity's dictatorial stranglehold on our union.
Nobody has said that this is a perfect contract. But it is excellent relative to the reality in which must live under a system of laws. Compare with the other unions; are they any happier without an equivalent of Unity?
To suggest that this is not a perfect contract and "the best we could do" is at least accurate, to a degree; to suggest the no one is complaining and everyone is content is delusional.
Whatever is said at CL Meeting is meaningless when you can walk into the Teacher's Lounge and find a dozen people--that never talked about union issues--talking about not paying union dues and becoming Agency Fee Payers, or when three quiet people--that only think about lesson plans--ask about how to stop there COPE donation.
To suggest that all is fine shows how out of touch Leadership, and some CL's, really are at this point. In the trenches, many--not all--are outraged.
Let's send a message to Randi Weingarten. Vote out all of her Unity chapter leaders and delegates, you know, the ones wearing the rose-colored glasses. Let's see her try to dictate to real teachers.
Shame on Unity. What sneaks. The DR came to my school and the chapter leader who voted yes on the last contract announced during the meeting that they were taking nominations for Chapter Leader. There was no posting or prior notice for chapter elections. Luckily the right person (non unity) got nominated.
One might read into this shady situation that Unity is running scared and trying to play dirty pool with the election process. As far as I know, there is supposed to be a notice that nominations will take place, and the manner in which to submit names.
So, make it loud and clear, to as many witnesses as possible, of your intention to run for CL or delegate. Do it before you get preempted by dirty political tricks.
It's interesting that the UFT Constitution says nothing about the nominating process; only that the election is to be by secret ballot.
I also request that someone with more knowledge on these things, perhaps James Eterno or Jeff Kaufman, would post the traditional methodology for nominations here on the UTP website.
Any bullshit attempts to deny democracy to the rank and file must not be permitted.
You might also want to know about the election committee.
I believe, if appointed by the CL, they must be ok'd by chapter vote; or, outright elections may be held for the committee positions.
Also, nominations must be out for three days, at least, I believe.
All positions are up: CL and Delegate(s).
Check out how Unity alters the truth to suit its convenience.
(And pardon the shameless self-promotion, please.)
Thanks 4/07/2006 10:30 PM and James for the information.
Prepare for the next assualt: Unity hacks hit the schools again in April and May to grease the wheels: sell those Unity CL's and Delegates.
UFT (Unity)public relations is spent on selling to us, not the general public.
Bar the school door and keep the demons and snake oil salesmen out.
Why should UTP care about who is elected? You have already said you want know part in "the system". You have already said that you didn't want to be in "union leadership positions" before I'm sure nothing has changed.
PS - Are you guys on the negotiating committee?
Listen, we not going to explain our position again.
Learn to read.
To 4/10/2006 10:59 PM
Misinformation: the Unity trademark.
James, thanks for the follow-up.
Thanks to James and ICE for posting the regulations for chapter elections on the ICE homepage.
I always suspected that the UTP was more of a cult than a union "reform" caucus. The strange
quasi religious aspects of your "caucus" reminds me of other union "reform" groups from the past. What's next for you guys? Are you going to carve little x's on your foreheads? Do you all live together in a commune in California? If so, can I join? Squeaky wheels get the grease.
Today the union. Tomorrow the world!! Long live the UTP.
You write about taking back your chapter by removing hard working Chapter Leaders and union delegates who have been serving their schools with blood, sweat and perspiration for years . Many may be members of Unity but that should only prove how effective Unity leadership really is. Remember if it wasn't for Unity you'd have no CLs or delegates at all. Who or what would replace them- that "snakehead" or Jeff Mudget or yours.
I sat down twice to try to respond to the above comment-but I can't. I read it four times trying to figure out if there was any part I could respond to-but there are no parts I can respond to. The whole thing is just sooooo stupid that it makes me tired to think about it-so I'll just have to ignore it until it goes away.
Without Unity there would be no Chapter Leaders?!!! I'm happy to see that someone else could see that post because I thought I had finally taken leave of my senses and had begun to hallucinate.
Without Unity we wouldn't have clean water to drink, or ballfields to play on.
Unity is responsible for all the good things; Kleinberg is responsible for all the bad things. It's simple.
Hail the Unity dictatorship!
Hail the double pension system!
If this is what life in an alternate dimemsion is like... I'm staying home from now on. Even all the guys here in the psych ward thought that post was just weird.
--- Love Nessie
Without the UTP their would be no "Snakehead" -- then what would I call myself?
Did you guys see the Times today? Unity, without consulting rank and file, okayed not $5,000 bonuses, but $14,600 bonuses for new math and science teachers.
NYC Educator get your facts straight:
www.uft.org/news/issues/new_housing_aid/
According to the NY Times, they are.
I've been burned before using the source you cite.
"You write about taking back your chapter by removing hard working Chapter Leaders and union delegates who have been serving their schools with blood, sweat and perspiration for years . Many may be members of Unity but that should only prove how effective Unity leadership really is. Remember if it wasn't for Unity you'd have no CLs or delegates at all."
That would be like saying that we have to keep voting in Republicans because Lincoln freed the slaves. It is true that Unity once provided effective leadership. However, that hasn't been the case since Sandy Feldman took over for Al Shanker.
In my school, a couple of Fellows punks want to be CL. These two idiots are not Unity members, but they both think that we have too much vacation time and should work longer hours and years! When we had a retirement party for two beloved colleagues, they organized their own party the same night for the Fellows and other younger teachers. Don't vote for someone just because they are not Unity. Make sure that they are really for the teachers.
Today was great DA! Are you guys going to report on it?
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