UFT Election Season is here – UFT DA Notes, 10-16-2024
Summary/Analysis: Mulgrew said it himself – it’s election season. Of course, he used this phrase to mischaracterize the speech of retirees who had just won a completed election to control the UFT’s Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC). No slate, in fact, has been announced to run against Unity this
Funding a Union
Unions have a democratic economic formula. Member dues are the main source of income for the union’s operations, which keeps union officials beholden to/ accountable to one special interest–the members interest–and ensures they are attentive. It keeps the organization honest. Peopl
UFT Executive Board Minutes 9/9/24
Summary/Notes: Last night was the first UFT executive board of the 2024-2025 school year. This will be the last year that the current 102 executive board members, elected in the 2022 citywide UFT election, will serve their posts (except for those who are re-elected of course). A new election is to t
Call to Action: Our ‘Get Out The Vote’ homework for upcoming UFT & TRS elections
Help us GET OUT THE VOTE for: Ben Morgenroth for TRS Pension Trustee, Fix Para Pay Slate for Para Chapter Election and Retiree Advocate for Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) We’ve seen way too many cuts to our healthcare and pension, and wages that lag behind inflation. Each one o
UFT Executive Board Minutes 4/15/2024
Note: Thanks to Ed Calamia and Mike Shulman for taking notes, which were used to type up these minutes. Sill opens the meeting – Mulgrew is in Albany. Open Mic: Speaker 1: union supported me putting together programs for students when principal didn’t. Speaker 2: Dental plan (dentist dropped; th
UFT Financial Report: Executive Board Minutes 4/8/2024
Summary/Analysis Further analysis to come later – unofficial minutes below. Open mic: Speaker from elementary school in D1: dental insurance, myself and people in my school are paying out of pocket a lot in terms of care, can’t find dentist who takes insurance, or we get dropped because g
Will the UFT Fight for Paras to Have a Living Wage? UFT Executive Board Summary, Analysis, and Informal Minutes, 3/18/24
Summary/Analysis: There’s more to analyze, as always, but I’ll leave the rest to the reader. For the full informal minutes, including the official minutes from previous meetings as approved just after the open mic period, see below. Open Mic: Name intentionally redacted: teacher who made comment
UFT Leadership: No, we won’t rally to stop budget cuts. 2-26-2024 Executive Board Minutes
Summary and Analysis: Informal Minutes begin Meeting starts late because LeRoy Barr and Mike Sill are both stuck in an elevator. Carl Cambria: Approval of the minutes. President’s Report: Mulgrew not here. Janella Hinds: March is Women’s History Month. Majority of union is women. We are going to
UFT – Want Tier 6 Pensions Fixed? Do More than Just Donate to COPE.
The majority of UFT members have a pension problem. Tier 6 members, who now make up most of the UFT, pay exorbitant ‘pension taxes’ in the form of over-contributions for their entire careers, while traditional Tier 4 members had stopped paying into their pensions at ten years and never at the hi
Feb. 5, 2024 UFT Executive Board Summary/Analysis
Summary/Analysis: Informal Minutes start here: Open Mic Tracy Ruffin: CL on UWS in a co-located school, advocating against being re-sited to Ascension Catholic School on 108th Street. Another principal is adding curriculum, such as Russian, which has nothing to do with the community. Those extra pro