The UTP Blog

Say It Ain't So, Joe!

2007-04-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

The following has been lifted from Top Secret UFT files and memos, as well as the ACT site.

District Representative Selection Process Committee Convenes
The Committee to investigate the selection process for District Representatives, established by resolution of the Delegate Assembly on November 8, 2006, met for the first time on March 26, 2007. Considering that it took four months to convene the initial meeting, I don't expect any quick resolution to this important issue. Nonetheless, I will attempt the Herculean task of convincing my fellow committee members that a completely transparent democratic process, where members directly elect their representatives, is in the best interests of the union.

Why Herculean? Consider the makeup of the committee: chaired by President Weingarten (who has been appointing district reps since 2003), members include Secretary/Chief of Staff, Mike Mendel, Senior Assistant to the President, Jeff Zahler, a half dozen district reps, at least one borough representative, one or two other UFT officials, a gentleman from New Action, James Eterno from ICE, and myself, representing the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the viewpoint of the Unified Teachers Party.

Much as I would like to share the details of the deliberations with my readers, I cannot, since all committee members were asked to keep the proceedings in strictest confidence. But rest assured I will publish a complete report once the committee has completed its mission and the cone of silence is lifted.

Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to The Unified Teachers Party

2007-04-01T13:13:00.000-04:00

In light of our current landslide Victory, Max Factor and Snakehead are planning a UTP Victory Party Fundraiser that will finance our run for Presidency in the next election, if Unity hasn’t done away with elections altogether by then.
Max and the Snake together plan to fly solo in the one man UTP bi-plane “The Spirit of Shanker.” The flight will be from NY to Red Square. The flight will be accomplished without the aid of any compass, planning or navigational tool; so their flight will closely mirror the policies of our current union leadership.
Mudgett and Brace, on the other hand, having been notified by NORM that they, in fact, were the only opposition winners, are now headed to 52 Brdwy in the official UTP/Good Year dirigible. They plan to dock in Lakewood, NJ., after which they will take Randi’s limo to arrive at their coronation installation. There they will receive the Zahler-Bloomberg Lactose Intolerant Award for 2007.
It’s a new page in an old book for the UFT. No doubt there are big changes on the horizon that will continue the precedent set by the 2005 contract.

Going Out Of Business

2007-03-30T15:16:00.000-04:00

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has been overwhelmingly re-elected to a fourth full term by a nearly 9-to-1 margin. Weingarten and her running mates captured every seat at stake in the union-wide election, according to results tabulated late Thursday by the American Arbitration Association.
Of 46,735 votes cast for president, Weingarten received 40,665 or 87%, while her opponent, Kit Wainer, received 6,070, or 13%. Weingarten has been the UFT president since 1998, when she was appointed to fill the remainder of Sandra Feldman’s term shortly after Feldman became president of the UFT’s parent union, the American Federation of Teachers. She was re-elected in 1999, 2001 and 2004.
“I am honored that our members decided overwhelmingly to allow me to serve another term in office. Our members are the most incredible people I know – be they teachers, paraprofessionals, guidance counselors, therapists, nurses and others -- and it is an honor and privilege to champion their needs and aspirations,” Weingarten said.
“In the next three years we will be working with parents and others to help all children succeed. When we fight to enable educators to do their jobs effectively – and get the respect and conditions and professionalism they need -- we are doing nothing more than fighting to give our students the opportunities they so richly deserve.”

Ooops!

2007-03-16T19:46:00.000-04:00

IMPORTANT!After the United Federation of Teachers Election Committee learned that some mailed ballots were being returned to the sender rather than mailed to the American Arbitration Association, the Election Committee immediately brought the matter to the attention of the AAA. Upon investigation it was discovered that there was a printing error made on the mailing envelope which caused the problem. To correct this error the AAA’s printer has arranged for a reprinting of the mailing envelope at no expense to the union A correct mailing envelope for the return of the United Federation of Teachers 2007 election ballot is enclosed.
If you have not returned your ballot yet, please use this envelope for the return of the ballot instead of the envelope that was included with the original ballot mailing.
If you have mailed your ballot and it has been returned to you, please use this envelope to send your ballot to the American Arbitration Association. Simply remove your ballot from the returned envelope and place it into this correct envelope.
If you have mailed your ballot and it has NOT been returned to you, no further action is necessary.
If you have any questions, please call the AAA at 1-800-529-5218.
UFT Election Committee

Calling US Justice Department, Please

2007-03-14T20:09:00.000-04:00

Many members received the Unity sheet slandering ICE/TJC this week. It was so over the top that we thought we mistakenly sent it out. But no. It was Unity learning at the feet of the UTP.

The question to be asked, though, is how did Unity and Randi secure this mailing list of all our members? And, was ICE/TJC afforded access to the same list to send out their campaign literature? Or was this simply another example of Unity democracy in action; otherwise known as absolute power?

Just when you think you've found the bottom of Unity (DeSantis denying access to mailboxes), they slither a little lower. What some people won't do for reduced air fare, or two pensions.

SHOCKED AND OUTRAGED!

2007-02-28T18:36:00.000-05:00

February 28, 2007 -- The counter-revolution begins tonight. That is, the drive to defeat Mayor Bloomberg's effort to reform New York City's public schools gets underway in earnest at 6:30 at St. Vartan Cathedral on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.
Scores of elected officials, many of whom know better, will be on hand, along with a bought-and-paid-for chorus of false reformers - all to dance to the tunes of Randi Weingarten of the teachers' union, who has been trying to derail real reform since Mayor Mike wrested control of the schools from the educrats some five years ago.
They bill themselves as part of an effort "to put the public back in public education" - but that's a base lie.
Those who are not actually members of the United Federation of Teachers are in thrall to it - financially, for the most part, but ideologically as well.
And the real public be damned.
What is their goal?
First, to kill School Chancellor Joel Klein's sweeping reorganization of the school system, due to take effect this fall.
Then, to roll back school governance to the days when they ran the show - not City Hall.
When there was no accountability.
When billions were spent every year, and everybody got a piece of the action - everybody, that is, save the children of New York City.
Klein's reorganization will shake the bureaucracy to its roots - and cost a lot of drones their jobs.
The mayoral-control law expires unless the state Legislature renews it by 2009.
Weingarten wants it to die.
And she's well positioned to see that it does.
Tonight's shill rally features a full rogue's gallery of public officials - including mayoral contenders like City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion.
Lesser lights like Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Beeps Scott Stringer of Manhattan and Helen Marshall of Queens will also be dancing to Weingarten's ditties.
But what of the "independent" groups and "concerned" citizens that Weingarten has lined up?
You mean the ones on the UFT dole?
* A media advisory yesterday announcing the rally, for example, bore the logo of the Working Families Party.
But Weingarten's union helped pay for the notice, according to the party's director, Dan Cantor. Indeed, the UFT helped found the WFP in 1998, and has given it mountains of moolah - hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2005 alone, state campaign-finance records show.
* Similarly, the UFT has donated mightily to a radical left-wing activist group, ACORN, whose director, Bertha Lewis, is also expected tonight. Last year, ACORN and the UFT teamed up to form a new labor group, the UFT-ACORN Family Day Care Providers Union, to sign up and represent day-care workers.
* The union has also given handsomely to Thompson and to City Council Members Letitia James, David Weprin, Bill DeBlasio, Vincent Gentile and Eric Gioia - all marquee names at tonight's rally.
To be sure, Bloomberg and Klein have occasionally stumbled as reform has progressed. But much progress has been made.
And let's be clear on one fundamental point: When it comes to public-school reform, they are the only game in town.
Nobody else - least of all, Weingarten - gives a damn about New York's schoolchildren. Her loyalty is to her members.
Period.
The United Federation of Teachers is one of the richest special interests in America. It has purchased a claque comprising some powerful political figures - and they will be in evidence tonight and in the weeks and months to come.
Shame on them, and on the UFT.

Money Well Spent

2007-02-15T16:25:00.000-05:00

Clearly that cash cow known as the Unity/UFT doesn't know what to spend their money on.
But, nevertheless, I will wear this button proudly in my underperforming, violent, inner-city school that our DR won't visit, and take all the verbal and physical abuse that I will receive....Nay, deserve.

Kit Wainer Video

2007-02-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

Kit Wainer, ICE-TJC candidate for UFT President.

http://www.elfrank.com/Kit

Randi and Gov. Spitzer

2007-01-30T19:15:00.000-05:00

“Governor Spitzer’s proposals are a giant step toward keeping his promise to the children of New York to improve the education of all public school students across the state.

“While some details are unknown – and it would not be a surprise that parents and teachers want lowering class sizes in New York City treated equally with universal pre-k -- the differences between the governor’s approach to pay differentials, tenure, accountability and school funding and that of Chancellor Klein are revealing and refreshing. 0f course we would welcome a real lowering of class size below our contractual limits and the caps that are already in place. This is what we have aggressively fought for, and obviously the governor has heard what we have been saying.

“The governor’s approach builds a strong school community while the chancellor’s foster divisiveness. The governor recognizes the value of respecting tenure, but the chancellor would like to blame it for all the ills of the school system. Likewise, the governor understands the value of the lead teacher program and incentives to work at hard-to-staff schools. Some of the chancellor’s proposals would do nothing more than pit teachers against one another and, inevitably, lead to cronyism.

“The governor’s funding proposal will lift all schools rather than robbing Peter to pay Paul and his accountability plan will make everyone responsible – top to bottom, not just principals and teachers.

“We look forward to working with the governor’s team – including the new deputy commissioner, Manuel Rivera, who is an educator’s educator -- and the State Legislature on ways to transform the elements of this proposal into a sound, basic education for every child in New York City.”It goes without saying that we have a closed contract and that anything other than the lowering of class size would have to be negotiated.

Attack of the Clones; or, say NO to New Action

2007-01-20T12:30:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, it seemed that New Action was the only opposition caucus to Unity's stranglehold over the UFT. But fifteen years of attrition has resulted in New Action being assimilated into the gluttonous Unity caucus. Yet even today, New Action is still running their people for at-large positions, as well as Executive Board openings. But 8 of their candidates are also on the running on the Unity slate, with 5 guaranteed victory because they are running at-large, where all the Unity retirees get to vote. But it is the New Action high school Executive Board candidates running under Unity that are the ones to watch. Their sole purpose is to oust Kaufman and Eterno, and replace them with New Action suck-ups.

How can this be? How can you run on the slate of the very people that you oppose? Well, perhaps Randi reaches out to you and encourages you to run as an opposition, even though you are not. That would surely be better than the real forces of opposition: UTP/ICE/TJC. Maybe Unity helps you design your message and gives you encouragement in a variety of ways. Perhaps you get a job at UFT headquarters, right along side the people that you would fight against before, and that have nothing but loathing for you now, as then. Maybe Unity can even pay your retirees, along with Unity people, to go to schools to spread the Unity-New Action message.

They are trying to send a message of confusion to the members that may think that New Action is a legitimate opposition. But an opposition usually opposes. New Action, though, holds its caucus meetings at UFT headquarters. They are on the Unity payroll.

Perhaps, like Randi, they are not what they seem.

Another Great Victory

2007-01-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

The UFT endorsed Eliot Spitzer because with him 25/55 was virtually a certainty. But his opening speech asked for a longer work day for teachers, as well as a longer work year. Amazingly, Unity/UFT considers this a "victory," because lower class size is also on Spitzer's radar screen. Apparently our union is paid to represent parents and civic leaders. They sure do a poor job of representing us. They get smaller classes; we get more work. So when you're working in July, and the rest of August, at least you'll find only 32 students in you class. But of course, what is good for them is good for us. After all, it's all about the kids. Isn't that what unionism is all about?

Happy Holidays from the UTP

2006-12-22T22:25:00.000-05:00

LHS RIP

2006-12-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

Not long after Randi, a VP, a Boro Rep, and a DR visited Lafayette High School, the announcement was made that the home of Koufax was to be 86’d. Our union President stood in LHS and told our members that the Principal would go. It was a show of Unity strength. The suits paraded about. And then they left. Not to return. The staff continues to deal with the mad Principal, but they’ve been hung out to dry. In fact, it is they--or at least a large portion of them--that will be going. They will be going to test the open market system. Good luck. Gone is the prized seniority transfer. As Norm pointed out, Randi works “with” the DOE. Even though we all know that those days are gone. It’s the DOE not BOE. They don't work with anybody. Our union is pushed around and does nothing, because they've got nothing. Besides, they don’t want their suits to get messed.

At LHS, though, all things are possible: 140% on your pie chart, and dead people can work. The staff is militant and are real unionists, not the suits that parade around when called out, nor the suits that are in bed with the very BloomKlein they claim to oppose. Wildcat strike? It's 140% possible.

The Times They Are A' Changin'

2006-12-20T18:37:00.000-05:00

The precipitous drop in temperature indicates that either Hell has frozen over, or that Teachers For A Just Contract have actually stepped out of Bedrock and joined the other opposition groups. No, they haven't done anything so bold as to get their candidate's name out there, or leaflet some schools, or contact the rest of opposition; no, it's a little more basic than that. They have a blog--of sorts. Of course they have 20 articles showing and have more zeros posted than Randi has on her check. Still, it's progress. At this rate, we can expect Kit to be known by everyone in his school by the time Randi kicks his ass in the spring.
Have a cup of coffee and head over to their wildly entertaining site:
www.teachersforajustcontract.org

Please Hold All Tickets 'Till Results Are Official

2006-12-14T19:55:00.000-05:00

UFT ratifies new contract by a 9-to-1 margin
Dec 14, 2006 5:10 PM

UFT members overwhelmingly ratified a new two-year contract with the city, according to the American Arbitration Association, which counted the ballots on Dec. 14. Among the 78,000 UFT members who cast ballots, 90 percent voted to approve the new deal.

“We are very pleased about the overwhelming number of members who voted and the overwhelming support for this contract,” UFT President Randi Weingarten said. “It provides real stability and certainty for educators and the students they serve and a much-needed raise for all our members that gets our most senior teachers to a milestone $100,000.”

The new contract was negotiated almost a year before the current pact expires. The new deal, which runs from Oct. 13, 2007 to Oct. 31, 2009, will give every teacher at least a 7.1 percent raise over that period and will boost the salary of the most experienced teachers to more than $100,000.

The pact – which includes a $750 cash payment payable in January 2007 and a new longevity increase for educators who stay in the system for five years – brings the total cash value of the raise to more than 8 percent.

New York City public school teachers will have received salary increases of 40 percent or more between 2002 and 2009.

I'm Voting, Maybe

2006-11-11T13:45:00.000-05:00

Max Factor

Why I haven't commented on the current contract proposal is because I honestly don't see any reason. The current contract proposal does not contain much to get excited about. There isn't much money at stake. There aren't many glaring negatives to shoutabout. That does not mean that I am happy with this contract, but if the membership accepted the last contract (which was truly horrendous) do you honestly think they will vote "no" to this one? The damage has already been done. The time for us all to stand together and vote "no" has passed.

There are a few positives in the contract that I can't find fault with. I don't see any reason why teachers should vote against a new five year salary step for our newer colleagues. It's true the money isn't much to write home about, but if we can get it why not take it?

I don't like the idea that teachers that find themselves ATRs can be offered a "voluntary" buy out because there is the obvious danger that those individuals may be "encouraged" to accept whatever is offered. I don't see any protections in place against this possible abuse, and that is something to consider.

Many people seem upset and surprised that this contract does not contain any provisions to attempt to win back what we've lost with the last contract. Are you kidding? Do you honestly believe you stand a chance of regaining anything with this mayor at this time?

In reality the vote for this contract is a done deal and there really isn't much to get excited about. The vote that should concern teachers is the vote that will be coming this spring. The vote that will express a desire to gain a union leadership that will lead and restore democracy to our union. Remember, what we've lost over the last two contracts was brought to you by Randi and Unity and that this current offering does not speak so much of success but of desperation.

But where is the opposition and their candidate? That is, perhaps, the best question.

Max Factor Goes Off: NO SERVICE FOR YOU!

2006-11-09T16:18:00.000-05:00

Our District Representative will not come to our school to tell us the pros and cons of the current contract. Instead, we may be visited by the Borough Representative, or even the Vice President may show up to hold our Chapter Leader's hand.

Apparently, our DR can pick and choose whom he will grace with his erudite observations and pearls of Unity wisdom. For one man to have such power AND two pensions boggles the collective Port Richmond High School mind. He works where he will, when he will, and with whom he will.

God help us we love him so!

Still, though, we can't elect those that should serve us, but we must be content with whomever Randi tosses our way.

That's Unity democracy.

The Snakehead Goes Off; or,How Do You Spell COLLUSION ?

2006-11-09T15:55:00.000-05:00

R.A.N.D.I. that's how! Wake up people. We're on the receiving end of another butt ramming courtesy of our Unity leadership. We are being played like a fish, deceived and manipulated ... and by the people who are supposed to protect us! How convenient that all of a sudden we have a new contract, a year ahead of schedule. Looks like its just in time for this spring's election! What a coincidence! Can anyone still believe that the Mayor and our President aren't in bed, aren't in cahoots? The current contract and this new contract were negotiated at the same time same. Bloomberg got his changes in work rules, and the good P.R. that comes from stripping teachers of their rights. Now Randi gets all the credit for producing a contract with "no givebacks," so she can ride a wave of support to reelection. Our union is backing mayoral control of the schools, and becomes another notch in the mayor's belt. Everyone wins: Bloomberg, and Randi... well maybe not everyone. WE LOSE--AGAIN (if we ratify this crap). Voluntary "buyouts" for excessed teachers that become ATR's? Not too scary! Why not just arrange to have the senior teachers they don't want around anymore pushed under a bus? The potential for disaster is endless. But they've buttered up the new teachers with a five year longevity to counter balance discontent amongst older teachers, so new teachers will bite the hook dangling in front of them. Pretty slick... looks like this has been very well planned ... and that in itself should piss you off. Before some idiot starts to say "but this contract has no givebacks," remember everything was given away in the last contract, and most of us felt we should be working to get back some of the rights that were taken from us. No takebacks huh? Oh well.
Now, wait until the "coalition" bargaining with our pensions and health care begins! I'm sure that will be lots of fun, after all the mayor declared months ago that concessions on pensions and healthcare were the top priority. It all starts to come together doesn't it? Randi gets hers, Bloomberg gets his, and we are used as pawns in their self-serving political games. Well, I don't like being used, I don't know about you but, this whole collusion thing really burns my ass. We cannot stand for this, no more backroom politics and under the table deals, no more corruption from these self serving sycophants. VOTE NO on this contract! Vote UNITY OUT! Anyone but Randi. UNITY OUT!

The Association for Union Democracy Asks Us A Few Questions

2006-10-20T17:36:00.000-04:00

Recently, the UTP was contacted by the Association for Union Democracy (AUD) and they asked us a few questions. Here is a small piece of how it went:

AUD: Is Edwize a valuable resource for you and other UFTers? Why? What should Edwize be that it is not, in your view?

UTP: No. There is no value to Edwize, other than its comic value. The site is just another clearinghouse for the Unity caucus and its agenda. Edwize should be a forum for the discussion of internal union politics and policies--just what it is not.

AUD: Was Edwize an important forum for debate of the contract? What were the benefits Did rank and file members who were not activists talk about Edwize and conteant posted there?

UTP: No. Edwize was not talked about by the average, rank and file member. Most members do not have any knowledge of Edwize, and if they did, they wouldn't have any inclination to follow it. They are too exhausted from doing the undoable.

AUD: Did you experience any censorship of your views on Edwize?

UTP: We have never posted there.

AUD: Should Edwize be a forum for discussion/debate in the upcoming UFT elections?

UTP: Most certainly.

AUD:Edwize does not link to the UTP, as far as I can tell. Have you asked them to link to your site?

UTP: No, we have not. We figured that after the Special Rep. for High Schools intimated that we were Nazis (we're not, by the way), we wouldn't waste our time.

Do you support a strong,democratic labor movement? Visit the Association for Union Democracy at www.uniondemocracy.org

The Choice That Is No Choice

2006-10-16T17:19:00.000-04:00

This month's Delegate Assembly contains a very interesting Agenda Item. It is the Resolution on a Bi-Partisan Committee to Recommend the DR's Selection Process. It reads as follows:

Whereas, the role of the District Representative is to implement the union's responsibilities to the members of the schools they serve; with particular attention to: providing school chapters with the expertise, support and services necessary to assist in building and maintaining strong, effective chapters which will meet the workplace needs of our members; community outreach, parent involvement, political action and those activities that promote the mission goals, aims of our union and the members we serve; and

Whereas, it is essential to provide continuity of service to chapter leaders and members in an effective way: and

Whereas, The Board of Education continues to organize and reorganize and has done so each year under the Klein administration and has signified an intention to do so; and,

Whereas, mayoral control is due to legislatively sunset in 2009; and,

Whereas, if mayoral control does not sunset, there will be yet another re-organization; be it

Resolved , that the President convene a bipartisan committee to provide recommendations to the officers and executive board as to the most appropriate District Representative selection procedure that best assists DR's in accomplishing their jobs, including their ability to serve chapter leaders, and the members in their respective schools, sites and work places; be it

Resolved, that the committee consider including the impact of mayoral control continuing or expiring in its recommendations; be it further

Resolved, that until the committee reports and action is taken by the Executive Board on the committee's report the process used for District Representation selection over the past three years will continue.

It seems that our leadership one again practices that nefarious sleight o' hand at which they are so adept, so wonderful. What are we really being offered here? Well, it seems we can take a "bi-partisan committee" that will no doubt maintain the status quo and bring back the desired result; or, on the other hand, we might reject the committee, and continue to let the dictator appoint the DR's, as she has been doing now for some time. Our Machiavellian leadership clearly can't deal with any more reorganizations, but they can continue their top down management style, even though it's the very thing they claim to criticize about the DOE. When it's their control that is threatened though, Unity leadership can sing a different song. They give you the choice that is no choice at all: mustard or mustard?

Band Aid for a Gunshot Wound

2006-09-23T16:37:00.000-04:00

What follows is a resolution that came from the UFT Executive Board Meeting.

Resolution on UFT District Representatives

Whereas, the role of District Representative is to implement the union's responsibilities to the members of the schools they serve with particular attention to: providing school chapters with the expertise, support and services necessary to assist in building and maintaining strong, effective chapters which will meet the workplace needs of our members; community outreach, parent involvement, political action and those activities that promote the mission, goals, aims of our union and the members we serve; and

Whereas, it is essential to provide continuity of services to chapter leaders and members in an effective way: and

Whereas, the Board of Education continues to organize and reorganize and has done so each year under the Klein administration and has signified an intention to continue to do so; and

Whereas, mayoral control is due to legislatively sunset in June 2009; and

Whereas, if mayoral control does sunset, there will be yet another reorganization; be it

Resolved, that the President convene a bipartisan committee to provide recommendations to the officers and Executive Board as to the most appropriate District Representative selection procedure that best assists DRs in accomplishing their jobs, including their ability to serve chapter leaders and the members in their respective schools, sites and work places; be it further

Resolved, that the committee considers including the impact of mayoral control continuing or expiring in its recommendations; be it further

Resolved, that until the committee reports and action is taken by the Executive Board on the committee's report the process used for District Representative selection over the past three years will continue.

________________

If you need a translation, it should read:

The role of the DR is to stifle dissent, create fear (strike!), avoid any real conflict with school administrations, pimp a contract that gives you less rights and them less to do, and promote apathy and ignorance in the rank and file. As UFT President, I appoint these positions as Boss Tweed would. However, because I failed to have the blatant power grab known as the "emergency appointment" process continued, we will now spin as such:
a)We will create a committee stacked with Unity appointees and flunkies (with a sprinkling of those pain in the ass ICE/TJC lunatics).
b)Thus we will continue to do whatever the hell we want, with a passing nod at democracy.
c)This will all take quite some time. It's not as simple as let the members decide.

__________________

So:

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT!) and the Unified Teachers Party are co-sponsoring a motion calling for restoring elections of District Representatives, to be presented at the next Delegate Assembly in October. Unable to get the floor during the ten-minute time limit last May, former UTP director and current ACT! editor, Joe Mudgett, and his allies will try again.

Considering the fact that the UFT's executive board failed to reauthorize its emergency appointment policy by last June's deadline, effectively making it null and void, and considering that UFT president, Randi Weingarten, continued to appoint DRs over the summer despite this fact, it is imperative to breathe democracy back into the ranks by passing this motion.

Teachers across the city are urged to take action by urging their chapter leaders and delegates to support the motion for democracy!

ACT! editor, Joe Mudgett

Alliance of Concerned Teachers

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

2006-09-11T18:18:00.000-04:00

WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE UNITY
There has been a great deal of what can only be defined as “anti-union” sentiment espoused lately on a variety of sites and blogs. Now, we all know that Unity is the governing caucus of the UFT. We here at the UTP want to suggest that you remain calm and cool in the upcoming months. We are already faced with new contract negotiations, and new elections. Consider your options. Think of the past and the future. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Have a TV dinner by the pool. Vote early and vote often. And when you do, just keep in mind some of the things that our Unity leadership has brought us. The other guys didn’t bring 'em: Unity did. So remember that when those upstarts like Wainer start saying that they can do a better job than Randi/Unity. Unity has done plenty. Consider the following brief list:

1) Veteran teachers being excessed, only to become subs.
2) The return of professionalism: 6R assignments and the class that it will soon become.
3) Work in August.
4) Longer teaching periods.
5) Letters in file without the right to fight them until they really come after you and your license.
6) A raise that isn’t even cost of living.
7) Voting themselves a raise
8) A spin job that makes it seem as if they did a good job, and did you a favor.
9) A union that is a dictatorship, and guarantees that Randi’s Unity caucus will remain in control.
10) A patronage mill that makes Tammany Hall look like the Burger King drive through.

How do you spell collusion?
R-A-N-D-I

Alliance of Concerned Teachers

2006-08-27T12:35:00.000-04:00

Joe Mudgett, former UTP Director, has founded a new caucus. It is called the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT). You can visit his site at www.actuft.org.

Return To Bountiful, Part 3: Night of the Carnival

2006-07-28T14:24:00.000-04:00

While conducting my bathroom/hall duty, I noticed that the clerk passed by a number of times in order to make sure that I was there. I finished the assignment and let myself into 6R to discover that the room was tiny and sweltering. There was an air conditioner in the window, but it didn't work. I sat on the end of the bed and turned on the television hoping to catch up with the latest news only to find that it received one local station. The station's news broadcast centered only on issues that concerned the town of Unity, and most of the stories revolved around what a terrific job the Unity administration was doing.

After a few minutes, I switched off the television and decided to take a walk to cool off. Once outside I felt better. The evening breeze was a welcome change from the oppressive heat of the room.I wandered the town in a random fashion, going up one street and down another until I found myself at the town athletic field where a summer carnival was going on.

The carnival consisted of the usual summer fare; concession stands sold cotton candy and corn dogs, while hawkers attempted to entice passersby into trying their hand at games of skill. The games, I noticed, were unlike any I had ever seen. One that struck me as especially odd was called "Whack a Member." The game was played on a large brightly colored board perforated with 10 inch round holes through which plastic people would pop up briefly. The idea of the game was to "whack" the person before they disappeared back into the hole. Each hole had a little title painted beneath it along with a point score, one hole read "health coverage givebacks-25 points".The higher the total score, the more the player won. I watched a tiny woman dressed in a blazer whacking the smiling figures with glee. She hit one figure, a bald spectacle wearing man, and turned to he companion and remarked, "Now those bastards will have to go back to work after the fourth of July!" Her companion laughed and winked at the hawker."Give the little lady a 15% increase on her prize!" he grinned. "No problem!" the hawker answered handing the woman a pair of discount airline tickets.

Toward the rear of the carnival, I came upon a large red and white stripped tent with a blue sign that read Col. Casey's Oddity Emporium. A pudgy brightly dressed hawker saw me and immediately began his spiel: "You have never see the likes of what awaits you inside!" he began in a slow monotone. "Inside you will find the amazing, the educational and the unusual! You will witness for yourself the incredible shrinking benefits package, marvel at the "Hall of Retirees" that control your very fate! Look with horror upon the "Incredible Money Magnetic" whose well fed body attracts money and who, although retired, is at work more than any working individual! They're all inside and they're all alive!"

I shook my head indicating I wasn't interested in going in to his tent and turned to leave the carnival. As I walked back into the darkness of the street the hawker called after me: "That's not a very Unity attitude!"

Unity vs. the Nazis

2006-07-26T12:31:00.000-04:00

Unity wins WWII, again!
See: nyceducator.blogspot.com

Return To Bountiful, Part 2

2006-07-21T20:13:00.000-04:00

The hotel lobby seemed quiet in the early evening. I stood at the ornately carved, turn of the century, oak desk and tapped the brass bell on the counter. After a few moments, a tiny man appeared. I quickly noticed that he was dressed the same as the men I had seen in the restaurant.

"May I help you?" he asked in a quiet voice.
"I'd like a room for the night," I answered.
A fleeting look of confusion crossed his face for an instant and then just as quickly was gone.
"A single is alright?" he asked, turning to survey the dangling assortment of keys hanging behind him.
"That's fine," I answered, reaching into my pocket for my charge card.
"How much will it be?" I asked.
A smile creased the little man's face.
"Well, mister, since I've never see you around here before, I guess it's safe to assume you're not a member of this town."
"Obviously, but what difference does that make."
"Well," the little man said putting his leather bound desk register in front of me, "we get most of our clients from right here in Unity. You know--club meetings, special events, elections--you know, Unity stuff."
"I fail to see what all that has to do with the price of a room," I answered handing the clerk my credit card.
The little man smiled. "You see," he began, "If you were one of us you could stay for free."
"We don't every charge Uninites. We help ourselves around here."
I must have looked shocked because the little clerk added quickly, "We get some outsiders here from time to time, you know, people like yourself, and they do fine as long as they follow the house rules."
"Rules," I stammered. "What rules?"
The little man shrugged, "Standard stuff mostly; no pets, no smoking, no loud noises after ten o'clock and bathroom duty."
"What do you mean bathroom duty?!" I demanded, feeling my annoyance beginning to turn to anger.
"Just a little thing really," the clerk answered innocently. "You'll be staying on the sixth floor and six there's only one bathroom.... So all the guests on that floor take turns watching the bathroom for whomever is using it, for privacy."
"But what if no one is using it at all?" I asked, certain he'd say "bathroom duty" under that circumstance, would be unnecessary, but that was not the case.
"House rules," he smiled. "No sense in having rules if you're gonna break 'em. Your bathroom assignment is from seven o'clock to seven forty five. You'll find a nice chair outside the facility."

The little man handed me a key.

"You're in 6R," he said flatly and walked away.

I put my bill in my pocket and walked toward the elevator feeling twice as tired as I did only moments before.

25/55 OR LIFE

2006-07-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

Although Mr. Manson is not on the pension committee, with Pataki's veto, he may see the outside before most veteran NYC teachers.

Governor Pataki vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have allowed teachers and all other non-uniformed public employees with 25 years of service to retire at age 55. Both houses of the Legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill; the Assembly by 138-6 and the Senate by 61-0.

UFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement:

”We are disappointed the governor vetoed this important legislation. We also think it is very interesting he would find 55/25 okay when connected to a bill on charter schools, but not by itself. Recruiting and retaining great teachers is the number one issue in education today. Research shows that teachers’ careers generally span 25 years, and creating an incentive that recognizes that would be a wonderful way to keep quality teachers.”

"We continue to try to get 55/25 legislation and have been working on two fronts to make that happen.

"We worked with entire public sector labor movement to get both houses to pass the legislation that, unfortunately, the governor chose to veto.

"We also working through the contract-created pension committee, in which the city obligated itself to jointly support 55/25 as long as it is cost-neutral.

"Even before the nationwide assault on pensions, as typified by the MTA's stance that spurred the transit strike, we always knew any new pension benefit would be an uphill battle unless the mayor was in agreement. The pension committee, which I chair, is still working, and the city and our union are making good progress on 55/25 legislation we both can support."

Return To Bountiful, Part 1

2006-07-18T16:36:00.000-04:00

Submitted for your approval:
One man’s journey from an idyllic summer vacation, to a waking nightmare in a small town.At the signpost up ahead; your next stop: the Unity Zone.

It had been during the middle of an especially hot July that I, seeking some relief from the climbing temperature, decided to visit the north country. I had been traveling for three days through a forgotten corner of the state passing endless farms and towns some of which were so tiny they consisted of little more than a post
office and general store.

It was toward the evening of the third day that I came upon a road sign alerting me that I was coming to yet another featureless town in what had become part of the expected driving rhythm of farms and towns. The sign that caught my attention had an unexpected peculiarity in its wording. It read: "'Unity': A Fine Place To Enjoy
Your Double Pensions".

A mile later I found myself on the main street of Unity. As a town, Unity was far more well kept than anything I'd seen in my travels. Its fine shops ringed a well manicured village park where colorful flowers surrounded a bronze statue of either a tiny union leader, or comedian David Brenner.

I was growing hungry, so I pulled my car into one of the white lined parking spaces beside the village green. I was stepping onto the sidewalk trying to maneuver the kink from my back when I noticed that across the street was the "Unity Restaurant." I remember thinking to myself that I was fortunate because it looked like a place where I could finally get a decent meal after three days of fast food.

I walked into the dim lighting of the restaurant and was startled to see what appeared to be a group of identically dressed gentlemen sitting at a table. Clearly they were very pleased with themselves for some reason.

"We're so sophisticated!" one bespectacled individual whined in a nasal drone.
"Real intellectuals!" another added.
"We've even heard jazz!" a third exclaimed, clapping the back of the fellow seated next to him.

I was still watching the strange conversation when a tall crane-like woman with a remarkably small head appeared out of nowhere.
"This way," she said and lead me off to a small table beside the bar.
The woman then asked me if I'd like dinner and I asked to see a menu. Suddenly the whole restaurant erupted into laughter.
"Menu?!" the woman repeated in disgust. "We don't need any menus here."
I was about to respond when she continued, "We all eat the same meal, each day. It may be different, but we all eat whatever the meal of the day is."My mouth hung open in disbelief.
"Today," she continued "We're serving Steak Friedman."
"I guess I'll have the steak." I said my annoyance growing, "What does it come with?"
"Hostility Potatoes and Arrogance Asparagus. They are the chef's specialty." she answered.
"Fine," I said. "To drink, I'd like an iced tea."
"Today is lemonade day." She smiled briefly and walked off toward the kitchen.

The dinner, to my surprise, was actually quite good and I enjoyed it even without any A-1 steak sauce, which wouldn't be available to anyonefor two more days. Eventually the waitress returned and asked me if there would be anything else. I asked for a cup of coffee. She said I could only have tea.

Once I was outside, I felt relaxed and tired. The sun was beginning to go down and some people were strolling around the park, while otherssat on benches lazing in the shadow of the bronze statue. I sat down on a bench and lit a cigarette, enjoying the gentle summer breeze. I had decided to spend the night in town and start my travels fresh in the morning. I was debating if I should ask one of the locals about a hotel when one of the men from the restaurant approached me."We don't allow smoking here." he said, the sunset reflecting on his glasses. "We think it sets a bad example for the children."

NEWS

2006-07-18T12:20:00.000-04:00

Mayor Vows to Keep Trying for Concessions by Unions
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he would continue to seek financial concessions from the city’s municipal unions, adding that in particular he hoped to tackle soaring health and pension costs.

Mr. Bloomberg expressed the commitment at a news conference yesterday at which he and leaders of the largest municipal union, District Council 37, announced a contract settlement providing a 10 percent raise over 32 months with no new concessions.

The mayor noted that the city continued to benefit from money-saving concessions in the union’s last contract, like reduced vacation and sick days for newly hired workers.

He added that the city and District Council 37, which represents 120,000 city workers, would set up a subcommittee to discuss pension changes and that he would urge the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group for the city’s unions, to negotiate savings on health coverage.

“We have an enormous need to get our costs under control,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “During the eight years I’ll be in office, paying for pension and health coverage benefits will have gone from something like $13 billion a year to something like $25 billion a year.”

The city’s labor commissioner, James F. Hanley, reached a tentative contract with District Council 37 late Wednesday night. At the time, the two sides agreed not to announce the deal until after the weekend because the mayor was on vacation. Nonetheless, several union officials disclosed details on Thursday.

The agreement includes a 3.15 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2005, the day the union’s last contract expired. The new pact also includes a 2 percent raise starting Aug. 1, and a 4 percent raise starting Feb. 1. District Council officials said yesterday that the union’s members earn an average annual salary of $30,000.

Lillian Roberts, the union’s executive director, said she was not surprised to have reached an agreement that included no concessions. She said the city’s projected $5 billion budget surplus made it harder for the mayor to demand concessions. Moreover, she said her union had shown the mayor that it was cooperative by giving some important concessions in its last contract, including a one-year wage freeze.

Explaining the absence of new concessions, Mr. Bloomberg said: “One of the problems we’re going to have is, it gets more difficult to find ways where you can continue to deliver services and do so with cost savings. That’s just because as we get more refined there are fewer opportunities, and certainly the opportunities are more difficult to come to an agreement on.”

Mr. Bloomberg made it clear that he thought the agreement should set a pattern for other municipal unions, including the new 20-union bargaining coalition that includes the teachers and sanitation workers.

“There is a labor history in this city that people tend to move in lockstep, and I see no reason why that would not continue,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said, “This sets a pattern of no concessions, and I hope that is part of what he envisions for the other unions.”

Then she added: “The mayor’s position is this sets a pattern. The coalition’s position is it intends to bargain its own agreement.”

Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Roberts agreed that one of the most important provisions in the agreement was ending the requirement that members live in New York City. From now on, they can also live in any of six suburban counties: Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange.

The union had pushed to end the residency requirement because many of its members were having problems finding affordable housing. “I have plagued this mayor to death about the housing problems my members face,” Ms. Roberts said.

Mr. Bloomberg noted that the city adopted the residency restrictions 20 years ago when many middle class families were leaving for the suburbs, but he added that middle class flight has largely subsided.

The mayor acknowledged that one of the city’s biggest problems was the high cost of housing and so ending the residency restriction made sense.

BOXCAR AND LIL' JIMMY

2006-07-08T13:16:00.000-04:00

THE UTP PROUDLY PRESENTS
BOXCAR STEViE AND Lil’ jimmy
FLAP JAWING TALES O’ CORRUPTION, greed and power grabbing by the UNITY caucus~

Our little story begins with two former NYC teachers, now hobos because of the Pataki 25/55 veto, sitting by the side of the old Erie Lakawana tracks somewhere in northwestern Pennsylvania. Autumn is approaching. The first cold winds of the season blow down from Canada and across Lake Erie. They fondly remember the warmth and security of their 6R assignment outside the bathroom. Their conversation is typical of those that the UFT has forgotten, those that don't have a double pension.

Jimmy: So STEVIE, WHEN RANDI got over
on
how dem district rep’s ARE PLACED, HOW’D IT HAPPEN?

STEVIE: WELL, IT GOES BACK A LONG way. THE UFT THOUGHT THEY WAS GONNA HAVE A BIG RUN IN WITH THE NEW MAYOR AND THE NEW DOE. ‘COURSE DEY WAS RIGHT ‘BOUT DAT. So the executive bd. Voted to give the president the right to appoint the dr’s .

Jimmy: but what about checks and balances, and preventing the abuse o’ power. Ya know, My pappy used to say absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Stevie: course he did.

Jimmy: And it should come as no surprise to you then that the Executive bd is made up almost entirely of unity followers. Lock -step followers. Soldiers, of a sort. Yes-men--you get my meanin’?
So they gave the president something that in a way wasn’t theirs to give: the right o f chapter leaders and members even to elect their representatives.
It’s a basic fundamental right, of course, and just one of many examples of unity abuse o’ power.
the fact that there is no one to prevent them from doin’ anydamnthing they like--like giving away something to the President dat she aint ever gonna feel
like givin’ back--is sump thin that has to change.
It’s a dang dictatorship at dis point.

Stevie: lordy, dat sounds tantamount to collusion to me. Dat executive bd needs to be seen to, if you get my meaning.

Jimmy: yer right. Its just like getting hit I’ d’ head wif sump thin. Its totalitarianism
And dem unity folk collaborated on it.

Stevie: goddamit nothing’ seems to change. It the same thing over and over. I bet they can vote demselves a raise too. I cantstandit no more. It makes me so mad! well anywho , jimmy, I gotsta calm down . I'm gonna put some neatsfoot oil on my 2nd basemans glove. It helps me relax, but Tell me again about whats it like to be DR, ya know, like ya always tell....

But Jimmy starts with a song:
"My heart begin to roam around and I begin to sing,
If that freight train goes through this town, I'll catch it on a wing;
I pulled my cap down over my eyes and stepped up to the track,
I caught the stirrup of an empty car but never did look back."

Both look up at the first night stars and wonder. They wonder what it would be like if their union really represented them....

IN UNITY THERE IS STRENGTH

2006-06-29T21:48:00.000-04:00

The recently announced 20 union bargaining coalition is clearly a “milestone for the municipal labor movement in New York.” All these unions have joined together to get their hands on the “largest budget surplus in [city] history.” With any luck, the rank and file of the UFT, and every other underpaid union worker in NYC, may make almost half of what a Unity DR makes.

It seems, though, that the NYPD, NYFD, and DC-37 have failed to sign on with NY’s Brightest and join the epoch making coalition. Instead the coalition has reached out to the following unions: Australian Dingo Trainers, the Peruvian Lama Excrement-Fuel Local, and the Serial Killers of Southern California (local: 25-life).

Clearly they do not know that the UFT President is co-chairing the coalition. Once they find out, we expect them to sign on immediately, if not sooner. You need a professional to help you get rid of job rights and protections that it took decades to secure.

UTP CHANGING OF THE GUARD

2006-06-25T12:44:00.000-04:00

Since it's inception one year ago the UTP has been successful in bringing important issues of reform to the attention of UFT members. The issues contained in our ideology are now being taken further into the political arena by the Independent Community of Educators (ICE) and Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC). The UTP website is undergoing a change, and will now feature new writers. This marks a changing of the guard and a new step in the development of the UTP. We would like to thank all of our readers, and everyone who participated in BLOG discussions. We encourage you to support ICE and TJC in their efforts to improve our union. Thank you for your support.

WHY UNITY MUST GO

2006-06-16T20:34:00.000-04:00

If you are one that frequents this site often, you may have seen the Unity caucus application. It’s an interesting item, but what is disturbing about the application is that it states, in no uncertain terms, that the caucus is more important than the Chapter, and the entire union. For example:

“Support the decisions of the caucus and the Union leadership elected from the caucus.”

And,

“Support in Union elections those individuals who are endorsed by the caucus.”

And similarly,

“Actively seek chapter leadership positions particularly when they are held by opposition caucus members.”

How are we to trust and accept leadership that demands that you mindlessly support the “leadership elected from the caucus”? What if that Unity leadership sucks? What if they constantly return poor contracts and provide less than acceptable services?

Why would you support individuals “endorsed by the caucus” if they are ineffective or inept? I guess being part of the caucus must be a good enough reason. Apparently incompetent Unity is better than competent Independents, or anyone else for that matter.

Finally, if someone other than a Unity member is in a “chapter leadership position,” you must oppose them. Why? Once again, effectiveness, militancy, and leadership do not matter; only being a Unity member matters. It’s a club: a special club. Kind of like an old boy’s club, but not exactly. It discourages criticism. It fosters cliques. It functions to further its own ends, not those of the members. It squelches opposition in any way possible. It fights against reform. If you’re Unity, though, it is more important than being UFT.

And that is the entire problem.

Some got to see the Unity cult work out their machinations in schools during recent chapter elections. It’s Unity tactics in microcosm. While we, in our school, have grown accustomed to our Unity person’s antics (removing material from mailboxes, taking flyers down off bulletin boards, spreading lies with slander and gossip, etc.), we saw it taken to the next Unity level.

We have a very aggressive, militant CL that defends our rights (what few we have left) and happens, on occasion, to be very critical of Unity. He replaced a CL that did nothing and was in bed with the Administration. He ran for his position again and won handily. The slate was also filled with candidates for the open Delegate positions, too, because democracy and a new energy had taken hold of our place: people saw what could be done. The exiting Unity Delegate in our school, though, did not run for any office (apparently breaking the Unity rule). Instead, she urged the staff (in a poorly written newsletter) to vote for anyone but the incumbent CL and Delegate. In fact, the Unity Delegate went so far as to recommend someone (an Independent) that they had never spoken a word to in their life.

But all this was typical. The Unity Delegate had for years done what they pleased. They had voted what they wanted, or what they were told, at the DA. They had never reported to the staff in writing, or at chapter meetings, what was said at the DA. They had anonymity and apathy: two things that they seem to enjoy most, because it allows them to feed unfettered.

At the school level and at the city level, Unity encourages apathy so they may continue to do what they wish with your dues. They are unaccountable and unrelenting in their avarice, lies and failures. They spin their lies with the ferocity of a dervish, and make the DOE look like rank amateurs.

FROM THE UNITY REVISION DESK

2006-06-14T18:32:00.000-04:00

Regarding the school year starting August 2006: "Classes, as always, start the day after Labor Day." -- New York Teacher (June 8, 2006) p. 16

In addition, food rations will be increased, as well as the supply of razor blades. We are making great headway in our fight against the common enemy. Thanks be to our great Leader.

Sincerely,
Winston Smith

THE TWO FACES OF OUR LEADERSHIP

2006-05-20T20:16:00.000-04:00

Just out…
The UTP membership department has forwarded a membership application to the office of President Randi Weingarten. We strongly suspect that she may want to join the reform caucus because her cry of “let voters decide” is so similar to the basic convictions of UTP ideology.

As our President and union attempt to raise awareness of class size as a major educational issue in our city, our UFT leadership finds itself in the same boat as the rank and file: hollering for democracy and representation, but having leadership--political leadership in this case-- turn a deaf ear. With not the slightest hint of irony, Randi asks for a democratic process and asks to let the voters of the city decide. Yet the dues paying rank and file can not choose their District Representatives. Director Joe Mudgett attempted to ask for this process at the most recent DA. But just as the city has twice bumped class size issues of the ballot, Randi asked for any other motions, looked directly at Joe, who had his hand raised ten rows from the podium, ignored him, and closed the motion period. Apparently our President thinks that there is a time and a place for democracy, and the DA clearly isn’t the place. As is common, the motion period was eaten up with Unity-time; that is, in this case, a chance to rudely interrupt and mock Presidential candidate Kit Wainer. Of course all this is commonplace in the would-be democracy of the DA, where totalitarianism and a dictatorship merely wear the cloak of democracy.

How ironic that Randi gets to see just how that feels.
How disgusting that the two faced nature of our Unity leadership is out there for all to see.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!

2006-05-04T16:56:00.000-04:00

(Guess it's not just the UTP.)
From the NY POST, 5/4/06:
TEACHER UNIONS VS. . . . TEACHERS

By RYAN SAGER

May 4, 2006 -- IT'S old news that teachers unions put their members' desires - short hours in the classroom, zero accountability for test scores - above the needs of children. What gets more clear every day, however, is that union leadership puts its own interests above those of rank-and-file members.

Case in point: The Los Angeles Times reported last week that New York State United Teachers, the state's largest teachers union, takes $3 million a year from Dutch insurance giant ING Group to steer its 525,000 members into questionable retirement plans. The returns on the plans can be well below par, thanks to sometimes-hefty fees.

The $3 million gift doesn't go directly into union officials' pockets, but it does help subsidize the state teachers union's extraordinary spending on salaries, overhead, conferences, entertainment and the like. (Supposedly the money goes only for administering members' benefits, but that just frees up cash for other UFT expenses.)

Earlier this year, the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability (a conservative education-reform group) compiled a report on NYSUT's lavish lifestyle. Among the highlights of NYSUT spending:

* More than $206,000 a month ($2.5 million a year) in occupancy costs for its 218,000 square foot headquarters (the size of five Wal-Marts) outside of Albany.

* Even though the NYSUT headquarters has a conference center, the union spent some $4.5 million in 2004-'05 for meetings and conferences ($501,307 at the four-diamond-rated Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown, $334,608 at the Gurney's Resort & Spa in Montauk and $1 million for its annual conference at the New York Hilton in Manhattan).

* $45,000 to the Group Sales Box Office in New York City for "entertainment."

* $42.3 million on salaries for employees of the union (including a $197,995 salary for union President Richard Iannuzzi, plus $25,839 in expenses).

* A fleet of vehicles values at $2 million.

New York City's local union, the United Federation of Teachers (an NYSUT branch), also racks up the expenses, including a salary of more than $250,000 for union chief Randi Weingarten - plus expenses.

Same story with the National Education Association: The The Wall Street Journal reports that the national union has a payroll of $58 million for just 600 employees - more than half make six-figures.

In other words, the real money in education is in union administration, not in working with the kids.

Then there's the unions' political giving. Last year, the NEA gave millions to political-advocacy groups. Some were education related, like $500,000 to Protect Our Public Schools, a group trying to block charter schools in Washington state. (Of course, since charter schools are public schools, the cash just went to protect the union-friendly-but-kids-failing public-school status quo.)

But other gifts included Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition ($5,000), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation ($39,940), the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute ($35,000) and the Human Rights Campaign ($15,000).

Any of these groups might be peachy on its own merits, but if union honchos want to give away money to liberal causes, shouldn't they dig into their own (hefty) salaries? And shouldn't rank-and-file members have a right not to have their dues parceled out to all takers?

The unions can spend their members' dues however they want, within the law. If high pay is what it takes to attract talented managers, good for them. If a fleet of cars and expensive conferences for union officials make union members' lives better, so be it. If union members want millions of their dollars diverted to liberal causes with little connection to education, that's their prerogative.

But the rank and file might want to start paying a little more attention to the fat cats upstairs. And parents might start wondering: If these guys aren't even looking out for their own members, where exactly does my kid sit on the food chain?

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

2006-04-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

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:

2006-04-28T17:35:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-27T22:21:00.000-04:00

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

2006-04-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

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.

ELECTION NOT SELECTION

2006-03-07T15:39:00.000-05:00

The following appears in the NY Teacher:
“To be effective,” Weingarten noted in a letter urging members to join the campaign, “we must understand that the union is all of us; it is the members who are the union .… Our goal is to use this bitter recent contract struggle, and the ratification debate that followed, to build a stronger, more unified and more militant union membership that is prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.”
At the first meeting of the volunteers, which was held recently at union headquarters, Weingarten laid out plans for building union activism chapter by chapter and school by school in what she hopes will result in “an intense engagement and involvement of members with each other, with parents and with the community.”
To that end, she suggested a plan to expand the negotiating team to about 300 members who will represent every district and aspect of the educational community at the bargaining table. The new negotiators, in turn, will be responsible for informing and soliciting feedback from the schools that each member will be assigned.
“All too often in the contract ratification debate we heard from members who said they never heard from the union before and the union does not listen to them,” Weingarten said. “This is a way of correcting that to ensure that there exists effective communication back and forth about what’s really going on.”

Our UFT leadership has recently fronted a new militancy, and it seems that our leadership has realized that it is out of touch with the members. It is an astounding admission of failure for the President of our union to say that there are “members who said they never heard from the union before and the union does not listen to them.” Perhaps recognizing the problem is the first step, but will the 300 person negotiating relay team change that? It remains to be seen. But this smacks of the same distraction as the Stossel hype. And are our leaders really so disconnected from us that they don’t know the difficulty of teaching five classes, of coverages, of 6R, of letters in the file from administrators that have taught two years or less, of being trapped in a terrible school with no guarantee of getting out? If they need a relay committee for this knowledge, then apparently so. The power of not teaching five (or more), with a double salary and a double pension, has disconnected them from us. They live as nobility; we live as peasants. Their job seems to have become their own maintenance, not our best interest.

As much as we might like to believe this new attempt at democracy and militancy, it is not without irony when our leaders states:
“we must understand that the union is all of us; it is the members who are the union.” Apparently they just noticed this. Well, we will believe in this new deal when Randi gives the power to elect District Representatives to the members, and not before. They are supposed to represent us, not her.

But that day is not here. There is an opening for a District 20 Representative right now. And as Robert Astrowsky (Brooklyn Borough Representative) writes:

“Per UFT Policy and Executive Board action, all current District Representatives are appointed in place by UFT President Randi Weingarten. Vacancies for the District Representative position will be appointed by the UFT President…” (February 28, 2006).

The union trots out a 300 person relay committee to be told what they should already know. Yet, those that serve us, our
representatives, are appointed for us. And our union claims this is democracy? We get scraps from the table, as they feast on.

2006-02-17T20:11:00.000-05:00

Joe asked that this On The Inside article be made available on the blog for comments. Here it is:

WE HAVE DUES PAYING MEMBERS? YOU’RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?

by Joe Mudgett

How do you know when your union is neglecting you? Well, one way is to read their web page. Prominently displayed on the UFT web page is a seemingly impressive: UFT ACTION CENTER. Within this box is the list of the union’s priorities. Here’s what was posted on 2/16/06:

UFT ACTION CENTER
PROTEST ABC-TV “20/20” LIES

The Sandy Feldman Fellowships For Service Through Education

Stossel Watch

Help Katrina Victims

Katrina Benefit Fund Raiser

UFT Spring ’06 Course Catalog

Contract implementation problems? Let us know!

Yes, that’s right, there’s nothing about the members until the last two lines. Sure, helping Katrina victims is a good cause. But what’s this Stossel/ABC stuff? Oh yeah, I remember now, didn’t John Stossel do one helluva a number on our president? I can see why that tops the list for UFT Action. Don’t be disresepectin’ Randi, you media dogs! D’ya hear?

I don’t know about you, but I am extremely disappointed and angry. Contract implementation problems appear to be listed almost as an afterthought, and don’t even rate all capital letters! Even worse is the fact that the number one issue facing the membership is missing entirely. Where is the bold action plan we’ve been promised for months to prepare the troops in all the chapters to show City Hall (and its puppet, the DOE) that we mean business? That we’ve shaken the dust and cobwebs from our armor and are drilling in union militancy once more? That we are preparing to enter the next contract talks in a position of strength?

What we get, instead, is a weakly-worded, and ambiguous Fair and Timely Contract resolution that calls for “exploring” ways to become more militant, perhaps considering a “no contract-no work” policy. This poor excuse for activism was approved at the last Delegates Assembly.

What’s a poor, dues paying, union member to do? Attack the one-party sickness that pervades the Delegates Assembly. Vote for chapter leaders and delegates who will put members at the top of the Action List. To reform our union, each of us must understand the issues, read all viewpoints (not just the Unity-controlled New York Teacher), and decide what kind of union we want to represent us in the 21st century. Let’s make the UFT a powerful union again, a force to be reckoned with in the next contract negotiations!

UFT SLEIGHT OF HAND; OR, THE GREAT RANDINI SHOW~

2006-02-07T16:27:00.000-05:00

The highly vaunted 25/55 sounds as if it has bit the dust. Not that it ever had a chance. What did Pataki call the idea? Ridiculous? Silly? Ludicrous? No more so than our COPE dollars backing him. No more than our leadership selling the idea as part of the recent contract.

On the other hand, the dramatically undersold 6R kicks in this week. Members get a blast from the past: you may experience all the wonders of five in a row. And what did our leadership sell here? That you can't get two involuntary assignments in a row. No one, not even veteran teachers, can predict how demoralizing this element of the contract will be. At least eleven or so years ago you had a term off; now, settle in for the long haul: this doesn't go away.

Over on the ICE Blog, Jeff Kaufman informs us that letters that are removed from your file are not destroyed, but sent to a city agency to be held there until you have retired (as if that'll happen) for six years. When the DR's made the rounds, that wasn't advertised.

But all these are in the past. Let's look at the future.

Well, we have the Mayor seeking concessions in the health benefits and pensions of municipal employees. No doubt our leadership will put up the same staunch fight that they showed in contract negotiations.
Prepare to be ravaged.

We also have our profession being beaten to a pulp in the media. And it is here that our leadership performs an even better sleight of hand. Here, they are in their true element: deception. After our President walks into the Stossel meat grinder, we find ourselves in a huff. Stossel did a hatchet job on the boss. Let's get indignant. Let's protest. But it's a day late and a dollar short. We've been getting pounded in the press and media for years. However, now it is convenient for our leadership to get haughty. It is convenient because if the membership is doing something else, they can't look at their own house. Unity leadership gives us the basic union 101 sleight o' hand: when you fail on all fronts: distract. In fact, let's have lots of distractions: let's have hurricane relief; let's have cancer walks; let's help the teachers in New Orleans; in fact, let's vote to bring our troops home too. As good as all these things may be, we have a leadership that can't even secure a decent contract for its members, and yet they can solve the problems of the world. Read the minutes to the Ad Com meetings, or the Executive Board meetings. This is what we pay dues for?

But it's a shell game, a sleight of hand. It's nothing less than a distraction from the abysmal failure that our Unity leadership has provided. It's the man that stands in the street looking at the stars while his house burns.

2006-01-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

A “UNITY MOMENT” BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE UNIFIED TEACHERS PARTY.

Unity’s candidate (above) for the upcoming 2007 election is similar to the sitting ruler: both display a rampant disregard of democracy, and believe that preserving the absolute Unity monarchy is more important than fair and adequate representation for those that pay their dues.

The Unity monarchy is built on the cornerstone of self perpetuation. The business of Unity is the preservation of the caste system that they have created, and maintain, in the United Federation of Teachers. The business of the UFT is the UFT.

The monarchy is built on a bedrock composed of many things: retirees, preventing reform information from reaching others, the single-minded subservience to Unity with absolute disregard to issue or problem, the emergency appointment of District Representatives and the cessation of their election, and so on. In short, the party comes first; the rank and file are far, far behind. Who else could offer a second rate contract to those that they are paid to represent, tell them that it’s the best they could do and they’ve got to accept it, and then, finally, give themselves a raise for their effort?

Reform is the UTP issue. Unity is the greedy myopic monster that feasts at the table and leaves scraps for those that work in the classrooms and in the schools. Instead of embracing reform and growing stronger, Unity keeps everything for itself. If they fought the Bloomberg-Klein axis with as much determination as they do reform, we would all be better off.

DEMOCRACY AND THE DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES

2006-01-21T01:54:00.000-05:00

One major issue affecting the rank and file of the UFT is the decrease of democracy. The fact that District Representatives are appointed by the president, and no longer elected, is of great concern. Appointed DRs are answerable to the executive who appoints them, and not to the union members in the districts they ostensibly represent. This has diminished their effectiveness. Clearly, there is too much concentration of power in the executive.

Why is this so important to rectify? With monthly dues exceeding $80, members should have a say in who performs liaison among the chapter leaders, the union leadership, and the DOE. If the UFT is truly committed to strengthening teacher activism, democratizing the DRs is an excellent place to begin. The new contract has placed greater obstacles in the paths of the members, so we must meet these challenges head on, by ensuring that DRs get more involved in the day-to-day struggles of teachers in each district. The plain truth is that elected representatives will work harder to please their constituents, than appointed ones.

What needs to be done? The simplest solution is for Randi Weingarten to use her powers and see to it that District Reps are elected by the members in their districts. There is no question that Randi has the wherewithal to accomplish this. Such a rebirth of democracy will strengthen activism within our union, and improve morale and working conditions in the schools.

If Randi is unwilling to make this reform, there are other means to accomplish it. But why fight among ourselves? That only weakens us relative to City Hall.

-UTP Director, Joe Mudgett.

UTP Commercial!

2006-01-05T02:04:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's time for a change!

Ladies and gentlemen, we're proud to announce the debut of our UTP commercial. Its focus is the exorbitant salary paid to our UFT leader. (See the UTP statement of ideology regarding our belief about union officials' salaries.)

Visit http://www.theutp.com to see the commerical, or link directly to it here: http://www.theutp.com/utpcomm.mov

If you would like to add this to your own site or blog, please let us know and we will send you the source code. I had quite a bit of trouble trying to copy and paste the code to this blog.

(Edit: You can try the below. If you have no luck, send us a message.)


<br /><br /><br /><param name="src" value="http://www.theutp.com/utpcomm.mov" /><br /><param name="controller" value="true" /><br /><param name="pluginspage" value="http://www.apple.com/QuickTime/download/" /> <br /><br /> <br /></embed> <br /></object><br /><br /><br />

Happy New Year!

2006-01-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

Here's to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2006. Here's also to archiving those December posts. No more scrolling!

Here's a great new blog. http://edzup.blogspot.com

Important fix

2005-12-29T14:04:00.000-05:00

As many of you know there was opposition in the TWU including their VP John Mooney, who abstained from the executive board vote, that considered the return to work and subsequent contract a sellout. One reason may be the following correction to the tables I posted yesterday:

As included in bold yesterday, the 1.5% salary deduction for health care is a major blow. Surely this is something the rest of the city unions can expect to have demanded from them from Bloomberg next time around. Deducting 1.5% from the TWU worker's salary changes the benefit by almost $2000. Include the fines and you essentially have a wash as far as the cash goes. Of course, the remaining benefits still give the TWU contract the advantage.

(By the way: This should go to show that this is not a propaganda blog; it exists to be democratic and reveal the truth, not advance an agenda at all costs)

New table (apologies for the scrolling, I can't control it):

TEACHER					TWU WORKER
month	sal	factor	new	difference	month	sal	factor	new	difference	new incl HC	new diff
1	50000	1	50000	0.00	1	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
2	50000	1	50000	0.00	2	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
3	50000	1	50000	0.00	3	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
4	50000	1	50000	0.00	4	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
5	50000	1	50000	0.00	5	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
6	50000	1	50000	0.00	6	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
7	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	7	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
8	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	8	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
9	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	9	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
10	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	10	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
11	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	11	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
12	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	12	50000	1.03	51500	125.00	50728	60.63
13	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	13	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
14	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	14	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
15	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	15	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
16	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	16	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
17	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	17	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
18	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	18	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
19	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	19	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
20	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	20	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
21	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	21	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
22	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	22	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
23	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	23	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
24	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	24	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67	52757	229.72
25	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	25	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
26	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	26	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
27	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	27	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
28	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	28	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
29	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	29	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
30	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	30	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
31	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	31	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
32	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	32	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
33	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	33	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
34	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	34	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
35	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	35	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
36	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	36	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
37	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	37	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88	54603	383.59
				7493.78					10947.48		8470.77

TWU Contract Fallout

2005-12-28T14:08:00.000-05:00

Newsday: TWU board OKs contract deal

http://www.twulocal100.org/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={B7B64A0A-A600-4129-B3D4-C03D985DC0A3}&DE={16B9FAB2-EC7D-46C0-BEA8-09FA55E2168F}

Two things of interest to teachers:
1. How does the new TWU contract compare to ours?
2. How much more did the union win by going on strike?

This is an Excel generated comparison of a worker for each union who makes $50K a year. Recall that teachers got a 6 month ZERO, 11 month 2%, 1 year 3.5%, 11 months of 5.5%, and 12.5 months of 3.25%. Note that to make an even comparison, only the first 37 months of the 52.5 month teacher contract is used (note, however, that if extended with even minute hypothetical increases in a following TWU contract, it would just make the TWU deal even better). The TWU got 12 months of 3%, 12 months of 4%, and 13 months of 3.5%.

SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN (SORRY!)

TEACHER					TWU WORKER
month	sal	factor	new	difference	month	sal	factor	new	difference
1	50000	1	50000	0.00	1	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
2	50000	1	50000	0.00	2	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
3	50000	1	50000	0.00	3	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
4	50000	1	50000	0.00	4	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
5	50000	1	50000	0.00	5	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
6	50000	1	50000	0.00	6	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
7	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	7	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
8	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	8	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
9	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	9	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
10	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	10	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
11	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	11	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
12	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	12	50000	1.03	51500	125.00
13	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	13	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
14	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	14	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
15	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	15	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
16	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	16	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
17	50000	1.02	51000	83.33	17	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
18	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	18	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
19	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	19	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
20	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	20	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
21	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	21	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
22	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	22	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
23	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	23	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
24	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	24	50000	1.0712	53560	296.67
25	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	25	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
26	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	26	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
27	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	27	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
28	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	28	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
29	50000	1.0557	52785	232.08	29	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
30	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	30	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
31	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	31	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
32	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	32	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
33	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	33	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
34	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	34	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
35	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	35	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
36	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	36	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
37	50000	1.113764	55688	474.01	37	50000	1.108692	55435	452.88
				7493.78					10947.48

Right away, it should be clear that Joe Blow earns $3500 more over the life of the TWU contract. Now let's consider the givebacks:

The UFT gave back 2 (3 if you work in Brooklyn or Queens) days of work. (1.1% giveback (1.6%, B+Q))

The TWU earned 1 more holiday off (MLK Day)

The UFT gave back 10 minutes of time for the money (2.5% giveback)

The TWU made NO such time for money swap.

The UFT contract includes harsher disciplinary rules including loss of grievance rights, as well as the elimination of seniority rights (transfers).

The TWU (ONLY by striking) eliminated demands for conductorless trains and changing the Token Booth job description, as well as secured a truly independent (not state employed) arbiter to assess alleged excessive disciplinary actions.

For the UFT, higher deductibiles and co-pays incorporated as permanent.

For the TWU, a 1.5% salary deduction (giveback) for health insurance premiums. (This is clearly troubling)

The UFT sold out new and future teachers with a reduced (albeit not as draconian as the cops) salary schedule.

The TWU held the line on demands for a separate 62 year old retirement for new workers (ALL workers will still have 55 year old retirement - another item ONLY won by striking)

2: What the TWU won only by striking:

NO increase in retirement age (with full pension) from 55 to 62 for new workers.

NO increase in pension contribution from 2% to 6% for new workers.

NO increase in pension contribution from 2% to 3% for current workers.

A refund for 16,000 workers for the difference between the 5.2% pension contribution they paid before 2001 and the 2% now mandated. This is worth between $10K and $20K for many workers.

LIFETIME HEALTH CARE - this from a former transit worker: "TWU lost it [health care] when we retired from active until medicare picks us up at age 65. So if you retire at age 55 you hadn't any healthcare for 10 years unless your spouse or you had another insurance."

PAID MATERNITY LEAVE instead of mothers having to use their sick days.(NOTE: this was only called a "stipend" in the Daily News)

*This was paid for with a 0.5% concession on the health care (the MTA had demanded 1% prior to the deadline)

All in all: far from a slam dunk, as the union won no additional wage incrases from the strike, and the health insurance issue is a major problem for organized labor in the years to come. You can guarantee Bloomberg is going to ask us to pay for our insurance as well. However, it's clear that a militant union strategy paid off, with several key givebacks eliminated as well as the addition of a couple of benefits. Perhaps most important - NO extra work.

The Scab

2005-12-20T20:18:00.000-05:00

I have heard enough the last two days of the "unconscionable", "illegal", "selfish" actions that our courageous fellow municipal employees are currently undertaking. The worst comes from those in private industry who complain that they don't get 3% a year, a pension, etc. Who do you think you have to thank for your 5-day work week, overtime pay, paid holidays and vacations, health insurance, child labor laws, and a minimum wage?
The fact is, there is an anti-union, SCAB agenda being pushed by those in power in this country. Anyone who goes along with that agenda is a SCAB. If you're not familiar with what a SCAB is, read on:

THE SCAB--by Jack London

After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles. When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out. No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with. Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British army. The scab sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer. Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict arnold was a traitor to his country; a scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family, and his class.

Too many people in this country, including the members of our own union, have been hurt by sellouts -- SCABS -- including the leader of our union. Now she masquerades as a real union leader, standing behind Roger Toussaint's shoulder. Meanwhile, she did not have the foresight nor the intestinal fortitude to defy the Taylor Law and join the TWU in a December strike, rather than submit to a disastrous fact-finding process. This is despite the fact that it was brought up by a member of the Union's Executive Board. The fact that she is standing behind this great leader when she did not even stand up for her own members is an absolute disgrace.

Sometimes -- perhaps even often -- morals trump laws. If Rosa Parks followed the law, blacks would still be condemned to the back of the bus. If the Founding Fathers followed the law, we would be pledging to the Union Jack every morning.

The stand the TWU is making is not shameful; it is just the opposite, for it is truly a shame to capitulate rather than stand up for fundamental values as Rosa Parks and Thomas Jefferson did.

However, this is not a fight just for Jefferson, Parks, and the TWU. Anyone else who does not act is complicit in the union busting agenda. Lest you think it's an impossible fight, think again. TWU President Roger Toussaint and his New Directions caucus only came to power in 2001. Like some UFT opposition caucuses, New Directions grew up as a rank-and-file caucus. Its main focus was opposition to the incumbent bureaucracy and it struggled for years to win the members' confidence. These activists gathered around a rank-and-file newsletter called “Hell on Wheels.” Over 15 years since its inception New Directions won many divisional and Executive Board posts. (This is from many sources; you can read more by Googling New Directions). Sound familiar?

Of course, we have a long way to go just to have a democratic union. Right now, as my friends have mentioned here and on the UTP website, the process is rigged in favor of our incumbent leadership. However, with hard work good things can happen. Plus, remember this: if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

-- your humble UTP webmaster.

DEMOCRACY AND THE DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE

2005-12-16T17:34:00.000-05:00

When you teach every day, there are many things that affect your work: your AP, your colleagues, students, etc. Your union also affects you every day. Your Chapter Leader, for example, affects the tone and workings of the school directly. A Chapter Leader that is "aggressive" in defending the rights of the staff affects the workplace every day. Outside of the school building, the person above the Chapter Leader is the District Representative. He is both advisor and answer man. His relationship with the Chapter Leader helps to determine the policy and practices in your school, to varying degrees. In short, the DR is responsible to not only the school, but every school in their district, and all the UFT members of those schools.

Years ago, DR's came into their position differently from today. Chapter Leaders cast a weighted vote, determined by school population, for the DR of their choice. The larger the school population, the more the votes. But in order to run against a sitting DR, a newcomer needed 5 signatures of Chapter Leaders, thus openly risking alienating the incumbent DR that could choose to give them less than stellar service in the future.

All in all, a flawed process, but more democratic than we have today.
In the last few years, this process was brought to a halt. DR elections ceased. The UFT President circled the wagons, "appointed" the DR's in place and waylaid the process.

Why?

Clearly not for the benefit of the rank and file that the DR is supposed to represent, but for the benefit of Unity leadership. And what has happened to the DR election is symbolic of what happens to democracy in our union on so many fronts. In this shift of power, the DR is no longer beholden to those they should serve (the Chapter Leader and the UFT members of the school), but to the management that makes their position possible. Management has denied us democratic representation, and in its place is salesmanship. To see this, all you had to do was look at DR's flooding schools before the contract ratification. Like locusts, the DR's descended upon the schools to sell the UFT (Unity)agenda.
The Unified Teachers Party proposes the election of DR's by the people they work for and represent: the active rank and file of each respective district. Anything less is unacceptable.

(Both "6R" and this article were contributed by Jeff Brace.)

6R

2005-12-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

About ten years ago, our union leadership was throwing down some zeros as a raise. They told us, then, that relief from chores such as monitoring exits, early morning scanning, and cafeteria duty was better than cash. Now, if you've spent any time in the cafeteria basement of a large Brooklyn public high school, you may actually believe that relief from that task is better than greenbacks. You may, in fact, be right. When batteries are whizzing by you as if you were Dave Parker in the Pittsburgh outfield, and when the cafeteria seems eerily similar to a prison exercise yard (haircuts, tatooing, weightlifting, etc.), youmay be quite sure that relief is better.

Ten years have gone by now, and our leadership has done an about face: cash is better, much better! They must've been wrong then; they must be right now.

In our school, our Chapter Committee recently met with our Principal to discuss -- casually and informally -- what we all could expect from the shortened Professional Assignment list. Now, we fought like hell to get rid of our previous abusive administration, and we find ourselves with a more teacher-friendly Principal. We are lucky. There must be countless schools, that aren't so lucky. What will they do? The administration holds all the cards. Our union leadership tells us that they can't give you the assignment two years in a row: well, for many, that's cold comfort indeed.

What was interesting at the meeting, though, was the comment of a young teacher. She has about five years. When she found out that the new teachers and those indanger of getting a "U" could be given PD, she was taken aback. I guess she thought she was safe. She realized, then, that her union had put her in a game of musical chairs: last person standing gets the cafeteria. Her comment was that the union divides us (the rank and file) against each other. Seniority is the answer, of course. Yet, she didn't begrudge seniority, and respected those that paid their dues, she said, but she wondered how our leadership could put its members in such a cut-throat situation. A situation that is so unpleasant, and in some cases so frightening to some, that your colleague would gladly cast you to your fate, as long as they didn't have todo it. Perhaps our leadership thinks that if we are fighting each other, we will not get around to fighting them. Perhaps they just don't care. We know that it's the best they could do. In a similar way, I guess, Dave Parker's teammates didn't want to stand too close to him either. From theupper deck, those batteries could probably kill you.