Arwen Invites a Conversation About Union Democracy

-->

 by special guest blogger Arwen E.

I received an e-mail from the UFT's Janella Hinds and Sterling Roberson the other day.   

It began:

"Dear Arwen,

Educator-driven unionism!"

It mentioned current contract negotiations next.  (We've waited for this awhile, but I understand fully that negotiating with Bloomberg would have proven very difficult at best given his attitudes towards teachers:  hold their "feet to the fire").

The Hinds-Roberson e-mail continues:

"While we are engaged in this important work, it is our philosophy as vice presidents of academic and career and technical high schools that our union is BY and FOR every member. Only through dialogue, collaboration and action will we be best able to advocate for what is best for our students, schools and profession."

I wish I could agree that our union is "BY and FOR every member," but I have learned that it is anything but that.  It is largely "BY and FOR" one point of view. 

I have learned about the UFT-Unity Loyalty Oath and the powerful purse strings attached. I have learned how this harms non-Unity as well as Unity delegates from voicing their opinions or those of their constituencies.

 

-->

Due to the Unity Loyalty Oath, 800 members are expected to vote the same way.  Both Ms. Hinds and Mr. Roberson were elected as NYSUT board members last week.  I am sure they are deserving.  Yet, I wish that they had been able to win an election in which 800 delegates were not bound to vote the same way.  Although the honors for Hinds and Roberson seem well-deserved, the victory is shallow when the democracy is a sham. 

  

In the 2013 UFT elections, MORE gained as much as 40% of the votes in high schools.  Yet, their candidates were excluded from participating in not only UFT high school leadership, but also NYSUT and AFT elections.  This winner-take-all policy severely mutes the voice of the people. Our Union policies are not "BY and FOR every member."

From all that I can tell, Unity really takes very little interest in the voices of teachers today.  Less than 20% of current membership voted in the 2013 elections.  Instead of trying to encourage current members to vote, Unity succeeded in having the retiree vote count for even more by changing the cap.  The UFT is one of the only Unions in the nation to allow their retirees to vote. Unity recognized full well that retirees will more than likely vote Unity.  According to one retiree, "I generally vote Unity...if I like the status quo."  We are not living with the status quo though.  Teachers are under attack as never before.  The public-education system of the United States risks extinction.

Last Thursday, there was a NYC protest against Andrew Cuomo's policies favoring charter schools.  I do not know why our Union turned a deaf ear.  There are plenty of teachers waiting to be mobilized.  Teachers share so many common interests with the parents who support public education.  Yet, Unity was absent. By his own admissions, Cuomo hates me by way of my profession, public schools, my union and, indeed, all unions.  Our Union should be leading our defense, not refusing to ruffle the feathers of someone who seeks to destroy us all!

I know there are plenty of highly intelligent Unity delegates, but one can hardly know this when they are not allowed to exercise their free speech outside of the Unity Caucus.  They are forced to leave the caucus as drones directed to vote as one.  I have read and heard so much of intelligence from opposition candidates.  They have their own blogs and websites, with distinct points of view and some good debates via the comment sections.  Apparently, Unity is not tolerant of the same.  If you want your paycheck, you might want to shut up and toe the line.  It is sad.

I am aware that Mulgrew took a more conciliatory tone at the last D.A. meeting and I am very thankful for it.  I hope it is heartfelt and not a Campaign of a Hundred Flowers.  It is my opinion that the people who think freely and question freely without fear of repercussion, forming their own conclusions and supporting them logically and passionately as their own, without being directly or indirectly paid to do so, will always sound more intelligent than parrots. 

Hinds and Roberson conclude their e-mail to me in the following manner:    

"It is vital that we have the difficult and honest conversations necessary with one another and work together to ensure that we as educators are driving the most important decisions that affect our schools, students and profession. Only through asserting our collective voice on every level, from school-level consultations to the national stage, will we protect and strengthen the most important institution in America — public education.

"Thank you for the work you do."

In solidarity"

These are "difficult and honest conversations," only I am afraid no one at Unity is listening to me or, for that matter, to other voices.  Unity's "collective voice" is not collective and in many cases, on many important issues, sadly, it is silent.     

UFT Leadership--Taxation Without Representation

In most schools in the state, you have a smaller district than we do. From within that district, you elect a president. Your president represents you in NYSUT and AFT, and thus gets your voice out somehow. You can talk face to face with this president, this president answers your email, and this president does not tell you you do not believe in democracy in front of hundreds of people should you disagree with one of his or her decisions.

If your president does a good job, he or she wins re-election. If, on the other hand, your president doesn't get you a raise for over five years, you select someone new. Things like that don't happen in NYC because the overwhelming majority of teachers expect so little and are so mired in cynicism they see no point in voting.

I have no objection to paying union dues. I also pay into COPE. But it's disappointing to realize that I, like every working teacher, get no say whatsoever in what the UFT does with my money. That is the province of leadership, which has secret meetings with their invitation-only caucus, tells them what to do, and then hopes the rest of us don't pay attention.

Outside your building, you have no voice in what your union does. This happens when you are represented by a chapter leader. Let's say, for example, your chapter leader, like most, is a member of the elite and privileged Unity Caucus. If that is the case, your chapter leader has signed a loyalty oath to leadership. Your chapter leader can help protect your contractual rights within the building. Outside, where we are under relentless attack, he or she can do nothing. Your chapter leader goes to conventions and votes as told. Your chapter leader is forbidden to oppose mayoral control, VAM, the awful APPR leadership placed in the hands of John King, the miserable deterioration of seniority rights in the 2005 contract, or the Common Core nonsense that hurts not only us, but also the kids we serve.

On the other hand, if your chapter leader is not part of the elite and privileged Unity Caucus, your chapter leader has no voice in the union either. A non-Unity chapter leader can make noise outside of the caucus, but gets no real voice in the direction of the union. After all, that person doesn't know the secret handshake, doesn't have the decoder ring, and is not part of the top-secret processes in which decisions are made.

So it's kind of a lose-lose. The only voices that set policy for the United Federation of Teachers are those in the highest echelons. All we get to do is pay dues so they can keep having those top-secret meetings at 52 Broadway and jaunting about to conventions and forums in which we have no say whatsoever. Should we support a budget that will essentially give away the city to Eva Moskowitz? Gee, should we maybe think about all the UFT jobs that will be lost when she starts opening schools any damn place she sees fit? Should we maybe do something to stop that?

Apparently not. Leadership doesn't see fit to ask the DA whether or not it's a good idea to oppose or block a budget that cut the legs off of the man who many saw as the best hope for progressive education policy in the country. (If they did, the Unity wing would simply vote as they were told anyway.) Now I'm reading stories of how The Moskowitz Budget may be emulated elsewhere instead.

I don't know exactly when the UFT became about representing the leaders rather than the members. But I know it's a Very Bad Thing, and it needs to change if we are to have hope for the future. We are the last bastion of vibrant unionism in this country, and we need to wake up the non-voters. That will not happen as long as we embrace counter-intuitive nonsense that enriches our enemies without a real fight.

I'm glad I have a union, and I'm glad for its benefits. But knowing that it represents the elite and privileged Unity Caucus rather than rank and file is disturbing indeed.

Arwen Questions the UFT-Unity Loyalty Oath

-->

By guest blogger Arwen E.

I urge cooperation between my sisters and brothers of UNITY and MORE. 

I plead for the sake of humanity that tomorrow at the D.A. meeting in Manhattan one Union brother or sister stand up and ask for a justification of the LOYALTY OATH.   More adamantly, I plead that this brave soul not be silenced.  And, I ask that reason, not tempers control the debate. 

I have read through our UFT 50 Years anniversary book and I have found deep inspiration.  Yet, nowhere in its pages do I find any justification for a LOYALTY OATH.  To the contrary, I find only disdain for loyalty oaths.  One might argue if everyone votes as one, the voice is stronger.  I argue the opposite.  And, I will tell you why.

The LOYALTY OATH stifles both sides of the political aisle.  It silences all chapter leaders who cannot for reasons of conscience sign the oath.  Despite their election, in some cases repeated election, by their constituencies, they are blocked from exercising their duly-elected voice at NYSUT and AFT conventions.  They are blocked from lucrative positions in union offices.  The doors of advancement have shut before their eyes.  It is shameful. 

The LOYALTY OATH stifles UNITY members as well.   They are not allowed to freely express their ideas in public, lest they conflict with that of the leadership.  If they freely express their views at the DA and they run counter to leadership, they risk raising the eyebrows or ire of leadership.  They may risk losing potentially very valuable jobs in union offices.  They may risk seeing the doors to advancement shut before them as well.  They may risk losing the privilege to attend assemblies and conventions across the country.  Some run scared.  They supposedly have freedom of speech, but they all know their words may cost them.    You know this, too.

I have heard a few defend the OATH.  They state that they agree with all leadership positions and their membership is aligned with them; so, they have no compunction about following orders.  This is no justification for a LOYALTY OATH.  I'm sure leadership appreciates these jolly troopers, but it hardly justifies a threat of cutting off the purse strings from anyone who feels differently.

Yes, there are other LOYALTY OATHS in play.  The President swears to uphold the Constitution.  I take no offense here.  The Constitution protects my basic freedoms and a democratic form of government.  Doctors swear to a Hippocratic Oath.  I take no offense here.  They swear to work for the good of their patients.  Most representatives vote as trustees, in accordance with the conscience, or as delegates, in accordance with the democratic wishes of their constituency.  For those who vote a party line without question, without regard to their conscience or constituency, because they fear losing monetary rewards or privileges, I say this bargain eats at the soul and insults the firmest principles of democracy as well as human intelligence.  I say it may ultimately cost them their re-election.

One voice is not stronger when it comes at such a price.  One voice is not stronger when it silences all other voices through implicit threats.  One voice is not stronger when it potentially costs one his or her conscience.  One voice is not stronger when it potentially divides a chapter leader from his or her constituency.  One voice is not stronger when it potentially squashes independent thought and innovation.  One voice is not stronger when leaders potentially move forward, but the rank and file do not follow.  I do not wish to be a member of a union with one voice that rules thusly.   

I am a minor character in the great play of events, but I will not be silenced.   I speak solely for myself, but I speak for the right of every individual to have his or her say. 

UFT-Unity Caucus Demonstrates How It Handles Dissent

Yesterday morning I watched from the audience as Lauren Cohen, a petite young woman from the UFT MORE caucus, got up and addressed the NYSUT Representative Assembly as a candidate. When Lauren mentioned the UFT-Unity Loyalty oath, my 800 brothers and sisters from UFT-Unity tried to drown her voice with loud boos. The moderator had to get up and explain that it was not in the best traditions of public forums to prevent people from speaking.

Lauren stood calmly, and continued undeterred after waiting a moment for the noise to subside. She demonstrated grace and thoughtfulness, neither of which was evident in the audience that saw fit to shout her down in the full view of UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

It is not in the best traditions of democracy to shut out dissenting points of view. Perhaps the participants deemed this activism.  But it was something else altogether.

In fact, activism does not entail drowning out your sister unionists, or voting in such a way that your part-time job at UFT stays a sure thing. Activism entails thinking, looking at problems, and finding ways to solve them. It entails consideration of multiple points of view, even those to which you may not subscribe.

Thus, it was an embarrassment when 800 UFT-Unity members tried to shout down their sister unionist. At the NYSUT convention, I heard many things said with which I did not agree. I booed no one. Nor did Lauren, and nor did any member of the MORE caucus.

Ironically, hours later, students took the stage to edify us about bullying. I hope the 800 members of the UFT-Unity Caucus who ostensibly represent us were paying attention. My friend Harris Lirtzman made this comment on Facebook:

Now let me get this straight, Arthur: it's OK to have a 'loyalty oath' but it's so NOT OK to mention its existence that the mentioner must be shouted down?

Unionism has to be about free speech, discussion and hopefully, agreement. Those who will not even allow us to express ourselves do not and cannot represent us.

Right here, right now, I defy the UFT-Unity Caucus to apologize for their attempt to silence this young woman.

Why Don't Contractual Rights Apply to Our UFT Representatives?

-->

 By special guest blogger Arwen E.

Eight-hundred delegates from UFT-Unity will attend the 2014 NYSUT convention this weekend.  If some don't regard the Loyalty Oath as morally null and void in this day and age and follow the dictates of their conscience or of their constituencies, then Mulgrew alone might as well hand deliver his eight-hundred pre-slugged ballots and dispense with the charade of democracy.

I love Article Two--Fair Practices in our last contract.  What I don't love, however, is the paragraph missing after #3.

Our NYC Teachers' contract (October 13, 2007 through October 31, 2009) stipulates in paragraphs one and two that neither the Union, nor the Board, will discriminate against persons based on "race, creed, color, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, handicapping condition or age or membership or participation in, or association with the activities of, any employee organization."

-->

-->

The third paragraph states, "The Board agrees that it will not require any teacher to complete an oath or affirmation of loyalty unless such requirement is established by law."

Sadly, there is no paragraph to affirm that UFT-Unity will not force its members to complete an oath or affirmation of loyalty.  In fact, they do force their delegates to sign the following UFT-UNITY LOYALTY OATH before they can be admitted into the ranks and the doors to potentially tens of thousands of dollars in extra income and free trips with spiffy accommodations magically open before them:

·       To express criticism of caucus policies within the Caucus;

·       To support the decisions of Caucus / Union leadership in public or Union forums;

·       To support in Union elections only those individuals who are endorsed by the Caucus, and to actively campaign for his / her election;

·       To run for Union office only with the support of the caucus;

·       To serve, if elected to Union office, in a manner consistent with Union / Caucus policies
and to give full and faithful service in that office;

Loyalty Oaths were wrong at the time of World War I.

Loyalty Oaths were wrong as part of the witch hunts of the 1950s.

Loyalty Oaths were wrong at the time of the Vietnam War.

Our Union recently pressed to have retiree votes weighted more heavily in Union elections based on the claim that it would make elections more democratic.   Yet, as long as leadership stays in power, it seems to care little that less than 20% of the currently-employed membership votes.   Disenchantment runs high.  Democracy is on its deathbed.

Loyalty Oaths are still wrong today! 

 
-->

Given that I try to teach people how to think, not what to think, I object strongly to the demands of UFT leadership that its delegates, eight-hundred strong, vote as drones or as mercenaries given highly-paid Unity jobs.  Given that Unions are the lifeblood of the common people, our representative must listen to our voices (as a delegate) or their own conscience (as a trustee).  Nothing less than this will do. 

Leadership can argue that they listen to all opinions and then make the best decisions.  Yet, it irritates me to no end that some delegates are hushed by fears of reprisals and others who operate free of Unity's shadow find themselves restricted from speaking at meetings.  Is our Union a bully pulpit for but one point of view, claiming to represent all? 

For those who charge that I am sowing the seeds of divisiveness by raising the issue of the Loyalty Oath, I would say this is no better than saying an American who questioned the wisdom of the Vietnam War was un-American.  I am American and I will faithfully remain, in the best tradition of Woody Guthrie, a "Union Maid."

The Sad Tale of UFT-Unity's Robo Voters

-->   By special guest blogger Arwen E.

Welcome to the NYSUT Convention in NYC. Your UFT-Unity representatives were programmed after last Wednesday's Delegate Assembly, and will be arriving at the appointed time.

April 4th-6th, 2014, Mid-Town Manhattan

-->

The Unity Caucus, representing about one third of NYSUT's convention votes, will send approximately 800 robo-delegates to vote according to the dictates of the Unity leadership, rather than the dictates of conscience or the dictates of a democratic representation of constituencies.  It is a sad and sorry fact that although our Union is the most powerful tool we have to defend the rights of teachers, students and public schools, it has made some very poor decisions in the recent past, including support for mayoral control in the Bloomberg era, Common Core State Standards which have blighted student populations and V.A.M. which will threaten careers based on junk science and simultaneously lead to endless lawsuits.  Will our Union continue to support union-bashers as well as policies to squash students and schools?  Let us take an imaginary look into the Hilton during the first weekend of April to understand some very real threats.

--> The Mid-Town Hilton Pool:  Saturday Afternoon, April 5, 2014  

-->  

Poolside, Saturday Evening:  Delegates Must Not Bend!

-->  

Robby Converses with Robby in the Lobby 

-->

A Breach of Security Sunday as the Convention Winds Down 

Will this potential breach to security be contained? Will our heroes be contaminated by rogue programming? Or will leadership thwart this dastardly plot from their magical and trusty seat at the table?

Tune in next time for another exciting adventure of UFT-Unity Caucus and their zany antics.