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Cuomo dumps on de Blasio and on NYC public school students

Published May 5, 2014 New York CIty Department of Education , NYC Closed
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(from the New Action leaflet distributed at the April 2014 Delegate Assembly).
For a printable version click: April 2014 Leaflet Front 2014 and back

This winter, when Mayor de Blasio approved most, but not all, planned co-locations, including several charter schools, he thought he had found compromise with the hedge fund billionaires, Moskowitz, and Cuomo. He was mistaken.

After weeks of unrelenting attacks in the media, Cuomo stood at the side of charter advocates in Albany and declared war on the Mayor and the public school students of NYC. He, with the State Senate, orchestrated a budget that robs NYC public schools to pay privately run charters. Former Mayor Bloomberg set the stage for this confrontation by destroying scores of public schools and turning over their buildings to charters.

Charters (privately managed schools that live off public money) operate on an uneven playing field. They select their own students, limit special education students, limit English Language learners, throw students out at will, and receive preferential treatment for co-locations.

According to Diane Ravitch’s recent post “New York Schools: The Roar of the Charters:”

On the same day that de Blasio organized a rally in Albany on behalf of raising taxes on the rich to pay for UPK, she (Moskowitz) closed her schools and bused thousands of students and parents to Albany for a pro-charter school rally. Governor Andrew Cuomo stood by her side, pledging “to save” charter schools and to protect them from paying rent; his ardent devotion to the charter cause may have been abetted by the $800,000 in campaign contributions he received from charter advocates in the financial industry.

This chapter is not yet closed. This Thursday, April 10, 4pm, parents, teachers, students and others will rally in front of the New York Public Library at 5th Avenue and 41st Street. They will protest awful provisions in last week’s State budget, including Albany forcing New York City to offer valuable public school space for free to all new charters. New Action urges our union to support this effort and calls on all staff and friends of public education to attend.

We should support Tish James for Public Advocate

Published September 29, 2013 NYC 1 Comment
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New Action has not discussed an endorsement for Public Advocate. Michael Shulman sent the following personal appeal to our Executive Board:

September 25, 2013

Dear New Action,

Most of you know me from my 40+ years as a union activist and as a co-chair of New Action/UFT. In the recent citywide elections, many of us put our efforts behind one or another candidate with the hopes of electingsomeone who would put an end to the failed legacy of Michael Bloomberg.

One election our union, the UFT did not make an endorsement for was the office of Public Advocate. Among other things, I have been working and supporting the candidacy of Letitia James for Public Advocate.

As you probably saw, the NY Times says there will be a very small turnout of 100,000 to 150,000 and that if all the unions that have endorsed Tish turn out their own members she will win. I believe the UFT stayed out of this race because both candidates are fairly progressive. “Tish” is endorsed by 1199, 32BJ,TWU 100, DC 37 and a number of smaller unions. Squadron is not endorsed by any unions.

At a candidates debate before the Sept. 10 primary, Tish took the positionthat public workers should receive retroactive pay. Squadron said it woulddepend on whether the city had enough money.

I have never known a candidate more committed to the interests of working people – poor and middle class – racially oppressed or white – and so capable a fighter.

And she is incorruptible in standing up to the 1% in behalf of the 99%.Recently, you could see her at demonstrations to save our libraries and our hospitals, and in the City Council as a leading fighter for the legislation to end racial profiling in stop and frisk, for sick leave, and for the legislation she led in sponsoring to protect tenants’ well-being from landlord violations of living conditions.

If elected, Tish James will be the only woman, the only person of color in a city of over 6 million people of color, and the only African American elected to office city-wide. Your help by voting for her on election day can help make up for her lack of money from the big-monied interests.

I am writing to urge you to join me in a big final push for Letitia James on October 1. Your vote really does count!

In solidarity,

Michael Shulman

Let’s Not Even Think about a Quinn Endorsement for Mayor

Published March 3, 2013 New York , NYC , UFT , United Federation of Teachers Closed
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(from the New Action leaflet distributed at the February 2013 UFT Delegate Assembly).
For a printable version click: NA/UFT 02/2013 leaflet

Bill DiBlasio, John Liu, and Bill Thompson may each be worthy of our consideration, but not Christine Quinn. The current City Council Speaker has acted as a sort of Bloomberg Mini-Me, spending the last six years greasing the skids for billionaire mayor. We should remove her from consideration for the United Federation of Teachers endorsement in the Democratic primary.

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