Unity vs. the Nazis
Unity wins WWII, again!
See: nyceducator.blogspot.com
See: nyceducator.blogspot.com
posted by A Strong, Proud UTP Member at 7/26/2006 12:31:00 PM
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
About Me
- Name: A Strong, Proud UTP Member
- Location: Staten Island, New York, United States
Previous Posts
- Return To Bountiful, Part 2
- 25/55 OR LIFE
- Return To Bountiful, Part 1
- NEWS
- BOXCAR AND LIL' JIMMY
- IN UNITY THERE IS STRENGTH
- UTP CHANGING OF THE GUARD
- WHY UNITY MUST GO
- FROM THE UNITY REVISION DESK
- THE TWO FACES OF OUR LEADERSHIP
10 Comments:
I knew I liked you UTP folks.
I didn't see anything.
You know I used to have a lot more respect for NYC Educator. Although I disagreed with her/him a lot there was thought behind her/his comments. But now it seems that she/he is clearly as bad as some of these union political wonks. These comments make it clear that it is all about elections. And what her/his political friends may gain and others may lose. Her/his post started off about singling out personally attacking one person, she/he later go on to talk about Charter School and the need to organize them before she/he talks about elections. In citing reality-based-educator, she/he further shows the real concern since in the midst of the Bush comments, reality-based-educator talks about NYC Educator's solemn words of political action against the union leadership. It is about politics not "independence" or "democracy". Isn't politics what you've always been about? The fact that you feel you need to give credit to an ICE person for the personal attacks says enough. If all she/he is focused on is elections I'd like to hear the platform and not just the whines, AND own up to it! I hope you are all on the negotiating committee and actively participating as well! If this isn't a time for action and not just words I don't know when is!
If you know Randi W. the last anonymous comment is probably written by her or by someone who reflects her views. It reflects the view that this is all about politics and elections,not about UFT policies that have been a disaster.
They believe that the 300 member negotiating committee is democractic (but packed by enough Unity people to assure control). More and more people on the negotiating committee who are "participating" see it for the sham it is. Remember this: the decision to have a 300 member negotiating committee or the decision to abolish it is and will be made by one person before sending it through the rubber stamp process. The idea was not hatched in a cauldron of democratic policy making.
With the UFT "Policy as PR" or as described by someone in ICE as "managing the membership" the truth is that for the leadership it is all about politics and elections as evidenced by the current phony "militancy" and other polices that could have come right from the platforms of TJC and ICE. If we thought the leadership really meant it we might view it differently. But policy is made by Randi in conjunction with the PR department. Even people in Unity are left out of the process as they are told to carry out these policies after Unity rubber stamps them too.
And we have heard the line often enough about so-called "personal attacks". (Like the whispering campaign started by Leo Casey calling UTP Nazis is just a light opera.) In fact, UFT leaders brand any criticism of their policies as "personal" attacks. That is the result of the cult of personality that has run the UFT since day 1 and is reflective of what has gone so wrong when power is misdirected and misused.
Why not really reform the union by responding to all the issues raised about the lack of union democracy? No election of District reps, at-large election of VP's in divisions instead of by their constituencies, winner take all elections that leads to all 300 retiree chapter delegates from Unity even though the Retiree Advocate got 35% of the vote, thus disenfranchising thousands of retirees. (They should get over 100 delegates.)
The comment "If this isn't a time for action and not just words I don't know when is!" is comical. The time for action came many years ago when you should have done everything in the union's power to stop the mayor from a hostile takeover - with the UFT's assistance - of the school system. When the UFT should have taken a stand against high stakes testing. And when the UFT should have refused to sell off chunks of the contract for money.
It's not all about elections, which are just a tool to reach out to get people to support a reform movement since winning anything other than a few positions is impossible under current conditions. (Yet even those few positions grate enormously on Unity (as evidenced by how desperate they are to have New Action run in the election to keep even the 6 high school opposition people from winning).
It's about making the union truly responsive to the members by reforming the union to an extent that prevents putting all decision-making in the hands of 1 person.
Personally, I don't beleive Randi W. could have written that comment. There's the lack of paragraph structure, and the repeated use of "he/ she." Whatever else you may think of RW, she's a very good writer.
There's also the inability to discern between "personal attacks" and attacking a person's actions or ideas. I think RW would know the difference.
However, it's certainly typical of Unity to lie:
I used to have a lot more respect for NYC Educator.
What a bunch of hooey.
Unity, like the Bushies, has no respect for dissenting points of view, which is why they actively suppress them by stacking the vote. Bush has Diebold and the UFT has a flexible constitution.
Aside from the issues addressed by Norm, high school teachers are no longer allowed to select their own academic VPs. And they set us back over 20 years with that crap contract.
In fact, if you go back and read NYC Educator from the beginning, you won't find a harsh word about Unity until they had the audacity to introduce that terrible contract.
And of course, as a result, I want to dump the entrenched, corrupt, impotent leadership. The complaint that discussions about Bush and Unity are "all about politics" is simply idiotic.
How on earth could discussions about professional politicians not be about politics? Why wouldn't you want to get rid of people who enrich themselves at your expense and fail utterly at their job?
The above is a typical Unity argument, and it's typically without any substance. When you boil it down, it's "Shut up and sit down. You can't talk right now." This stunning lack of imagination is a very good reason for our contractual leaps and bounds backwards.
My voice is bigger alone than it would be in a group of 300 under autocratic Unity control. Any contention otherwise is simply preposterous.
I am new to teaching but I having been reading the utp site for almost a year now and since the beginning they have been calling for a more democratic union. This is just another case of Unity trying to smear a site that is critical of them.
It seems like Unity's propaganda has taken on a religious quality. Anyone who challenges their dogma is labeled a "heretic." I find this attitude to be anti-democratic and personally insulting. The whole "have faith in Unity because we know better" routine is getting stale. They never argue specific points they only use name calling and smear tactics. There has been no debate on the issues, only the assertion that there is no "other side" of the argument. Anyone who disagrees with Unity's policies must be politically ambitious, or a Nazi, or a malcontent or just a whacko. To even acknowledge criticism would just serve to legitimize us. So the policy is to just ignore the opposition or call us names in an attempt to marginalize us. Until Unity will allow serious debate and the open exchange of information, there is no way to work with them. The message is clear...UNITY MUST GO! Only after we rid our union of these self-serving, deceitful, manipulative power mongers can we begin to address the forces that are destroying our profession.
Randi and Unity's Soviet-style leadership must go.
I don't find anything wrong with the UTP site. I think it's funny and insightful. It makes some very
good points about reform using humor and a creative approach to presenting its opinions.
I'm sure the Unity machine would stop at nothing to discredit the UTP using their usual ham-fisted
methods. I personally enjoy this site.
I think we are going to see the Unity machine kick into high gear this year. We all need to work at fighting back against the lies, manipulation, and deception that Unity uses to keep its stranglehold on our union.
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