New Action – UFT

Summary/Analysis: There was a packed agenda at the May DA. I can only offer a few words of summary and analysis, as my own schedule is equally packed. Here that goes.

Outside the DA, volunteers from United for Change handed out flyers with our five big demands before we concede a yes vote for any new UFT contract. Inside the DA, Mulgrew started with his usual summary of what’s happening in the State/City. We heard about the asylum seekers, and as of now it looks like they will not be housed in schools. We heard more on budget, including potential federal default and the unfortunate potential expansion of charters via the state budget. We then heard more on the ‘contract countdown.’ Unity is clearly in full on ‘get a yes vote’ mode, but adding some caveats to lower expectations. Weirdly, Mulgrew seemed to try and taper expectations on workplace issues and offer hope on the financials. But we aren’t going to beat DC37’s 3% – not by much. That’s been stated time and time again by his own lead negotiators at Executive Board meetings.  So if the hope Mulgrew is offering isn’t false, I’m lost  – especially since we clearly have no intention of striking. On the other hand, Mulgrew’s framing of the DOE on curriculum issues was very good. My only caveat is I personally (not speaking for New Action) would much rather see UFT fighting to have teacher ‘veto power’ over curriculum. UFT accepting city-wide curriculum mandates is acquiescence to our deprofessionalization.

During the new resolutions period, resolutions about Florida and the U.S. Supreme court were put onto the agenda. During the special order of business period, we passed the second of the NYC City Council endorsements. The resolution passed after an odd and somewhat hypocritical amendment, which supplanted all other debate. Using the old Unity trick to ‘bring all questions before the house,’ no debate ended up happening on the vast majority of candidates. Yay for democracy? As for the endorsement process before DAs, if anyone is interested, I sat on the hearing for who to endorse in CD1 a few weeks ago and offer my full thoughts here. There were also resolutions on other striking unions (not us of course, we’re ‘Taylor Law Proud’), the budget, and maternal mortality. In closing, I’ll note quickly that something seems off about the agenda order. Newer resolutions written by UFT staffers are inexplicably there burying older ones drafted by rank-and-file teachers. But, I’ll save dwelling on that for another time.

Informal Minutes Follow.

President’s Report:

Mulgrew: Asylum seekers. Constant challenge this school year. One group doing the work supporting asylum seekers are those in the schools. No plan of support, regardless of what they say. Have had dozens of schools – teachers running clothing drives, food drives, to help students/families. Now we see 150 cots dropped into a school gym. If it’s a last resort and we have a plan, sure. But it is NOT the last resort, it’s the easy thing for the City to do. We’ve contacted all over. No one is doing their jobs. Not a political issue for us, part of our daily lives. Armories all over, but under state control. Etc, etc. Not the time to say schools are the last resort. Simple things you have to do. First thing people want to know is have their been background checks. Yes. Second, are these standalone sights? Apparently, that has been part of this, but fine – who is handling safety for the asylum seekers and the kids. We need answers on things like this and things like impacted programs. No one talked to parents, why they’re upset. We officially filed for impact bargaining and still had to raise a ruckus to get a conversation going. In the next few days, we’ll find that they probably won’t use the school sites. But it’s the constant politicizing – crisis = schools. No! It has to be the last resort. Education is secondary for these children at this point, and we’re caring for them. If it’s the last resort, we’re OK, but we need questions answered and better communication. Only one building that’s been occupied, and we support these families, but City needs to do a better job. We’re here to help, but we need a plan.

Federal budget: defaulting on all debt? Hoping they figure this out. State level, session not over. Pushing with NYSUT and M. Person to get charters not expanded among other things.

City budget: people who we do business with all the time. The fear right now is that this administration will use the migrant crisis to torpedo the City budget. Important that the federal government does send money to NYS/NYC for doing this work. Most money is going to southern states, who are sending migrants to us. Still a lot of money inside of the NYC reserves. It’s about working with City Council. We had our breakfast 2 weeks ago in this room. All of our advocacy is out there. Other thing is, the City is supplanting State money. We get money from the state, they take it from education at the city level. So we are looking at the state to make a maintenance of effort or nonsupplant clause in all education funding. This has to stop. We’d be in a much better place if we got the right funding.

You have to start talking to people about city council elections. We need city council to stand strong with us.

Contract update: Rallies on the 24^th. We are trying, both us and the City, to get this done before the end of the school year. If there’s anything new that needs to be implemented, we need it done then. The overall piece here is that we’re sick of having our time wasted and micromanaged. The only way to keep driving at that is keep doing the public events. The rallies are about elected officials also understanding this. This isn’t just about a little extra attendance work – micromanagement is an issue all over the country, but especially in NYC.

Class Size: City says class size should not be an issue. Some disagreements. We have a law, this isn’t a negotiation. It’s the law of the state, so you must comply to have 20% of all of the classes in our school system from next year period. Not my individual school, district, it’s 20% of all classes in NYC. Should be based upon economic need. So if you have a school with high economic need, those schools need to start doing the work right now. We have a list of these schools, so does the BOE. It’s all out in public. Now the clock is ticking – because the state budget has ended, so they have 30 days. Problem is we don’t know what document they’re putting out. They write political documents about how they don’t have money, but they do, they just keep supplanting it. Overall, your principals – you should be having these conversations.

Curriculum: One union we’re closest to is CSA. (Audible groans and laughter). Their feeling is the DOE won’t give the money for class sizes and then blame them. Our feeling is they should be out their demanding more money so they can comply with the law. That’s why it’s stronger than having it in the contract – it’s the law. First announcement with this mayor and chancellor – a curriculum initiative. Let’s go back 30 years. Every school district did whatever they wanted and it wasn’t working out so well. You can go back further, but for now, 30. There was no incentive for a mayor to fund education since they had no control – not that we support mayoral control – but we were woefully underfunded, had to do many lawsuits. We had scandals all over the place. It was often about the politics of the school district rather than child’s education. Then we went to a strict system of mayoral control. Now it became every school does whatever it wants. This is a perfect strategy if you set up a system where it’s never your fault. At that point, they sold a bill of goods to the public / CSA – you do whatever you want, we hold you accountable. DOE became an accountability system and nothing else. There you go. Then for last 23 years, we’ve been under that system – and it hasn’t been working well for us or the students. Some places, it works; other places, it doesn’t for a variety of reasons. Throughout all of this, the DOE, none of this was their responsibility, since they technically weren’t in charge. So, when the chancellor came to me and said he wants to do this – a phonetic based literacy curriculum. We have all these different systems. Schools can add onto the system we choose – we’ll give some autonomy. Mulgrew says UFT will support that if there is a training regimen. But there have been some real difficulties. DOE’s knee jerk is to hire a vendor. After 23 years, a bureaucracy not having to do any work, this is what we get. So we’ve been going back and forth. Our two vice presidents, Karen and Mary, have been working with them. We’ve gotten to a point where we can support this. Not saying it won’t be rough. So this is a big endeavor. Chancellor said that principals can’t have complete autonomy – you’re doing what I’m telling you to do. CSA didn’t react well at all, which is their business. They haven’t been reacting well to anything since then. But if they use that anger to sabotage things that will be good for our kids, that’s another issue. Some principals have said it’s a fad, or don’t throw away your curriculum, etc, etc. But, the idea here is something we haven’t done for over 30 years – we have a school system taking responsibility for the entire school system. We’re having all the CLs and superintendents for the 15 school districts, in this room, on next Tuesday. There will be vendors, but there will be teacher center all over this. Some credit to DOE: they started taking apart what the vendors have sent them and analyzing it. So this is a real program that we’re trying to take this challenge on. Will there be problems? Yes. 15 school districts would be the second largest in the country – it would be the size of Chicago combined with LA. Large challenge.

Saturday, we had to close registration for spring conference. We always get people walking in and it’s sold out. It’s gonna be a nice day. If you already registered, going to have a good time.

Staff Director’s report (LeRoy Barr):

Was gonna mention the spring conference, but it’s sold out (applause). Thank you for making sure our members signed up. Tomorrow is Haitian flag day. Celebrated each year on May 18^th to celebrate Haiti’s independence from the French. Rallies on May 24^th at 3:00 PM. We are in all 5 boroughs. Make sure to come out and bring folks out with you. Teacher appreciation week was last year. Was also national school nurse day and administrative employees on April 26^th. CLs thank you for updating your consultation notes. We’re in May, so make sure you upload the 9^th one. Being told that there are t shirts outside for you, so assume you’ll be wearing them when you come to the rallies. (applause). Goal is to raise 5k for the AIDS walk on 5^th/72^nd st this weekend. 5k run on Saturday, June 10^th on Coney Island. First Book event at PS154. We give away books to students who come out. Juneteenth second annual walk, June 19^th, Monday, have off, gather here at 52 Broadway and walk across the Brooklyn bridge. Next DA is on June 7^th.

Question Period:

Dave Barry: In Feb. we passed a resolution on the Amazon workers in Kentucky. Currently, a few members have been removed as trainers. So we said in the reso we’d do things to help out. Took me a little while to find the resolution on the website, and we also said we’d donate money, so what’s the progress? What’s the AFT going to do on that? Are we putting it on social media?

Mulgrew: Yes, donations have been made. We’re working with the AFT. For next month, can get you more information. So, there’s a national effort to support these folks. Can get directly to you. In terms of emails, we send out a lot, so twitter is probably the way to go. If we send out too many emails, nobody likes it. Starting to see a shift as people think about things as workers.

Barrows: Calendar! Haven’t seen it yet. How will that affect SBOs, PTCs?

Mulgrew: Clerical day for this year is a clerical day. It’s not a PD day. Folks who have it get it to do their clerical work. If not, we will make a grievance and get you paid. Now on the calendar: many things that happen every year that require us to come to an agreement to move on to the next year. We’re having a hard time coming to agreements, probably as a result of other conversations we’re having. That’s all I’m saying.

Alexander Stimmel: Clarity about what we can talk to our members about in terms of what’s being negotiated. We haven’t heard much about money/raises, etc.

Mulgrew: Let’s just say, we’re far off. There’s a lot of people in our union who like to write about pattern bargaining. We can find ways around it. Our focus has to be to get as much compensation in our members pockets, not give back anything, and get relief from the craziness. Because, our profession…we have openings in every borough. We’re dealing with what the rest of the country is going through, and it’s not going to get better unless we get the right pay and respect. Micromanagement is disrespect. This constant ‘control your day each and every minute,’ no autonomy as a professional who dedicated their lives to helping children. Some sick people. We know about what’s happening in Florida, about policies that are failing. That’s what has to get stopped. That came across very broadly – one of the top issues for every chapter: stop wasting our time; stop the micromanagement. More than a third of our time is wasted by stuff that has nothing to do with our job. Yes, money is the number one priority, but this other stuff is important also. I’d like to do something creative.

Seth Gillman: Budget at the federal level. Federal gov rolling back money not spent on COVID. Don’t want to see money sent back.

Mulgrew: One thing that OMB should do quickly is spend the COVID money. Now, there’s been a large reduction in COVID money. So, it shouldn’t be an issue for us here in NYC.

Allison Kelly: How do the contract negotiations affect the SBO process? If they aren’t finished in time for the contract, how does that affect us with election buddy/etc.

Mulgrew: Real thing holding us up is calendar and workday. Think I answered that as best I could (read between the lines). If we do anything that affects the SBO…we hopefully can get the SBOs done within the next few weeks. We can always have provisions to have new votes in September, reopen processes. We’ll figure it out. What we’d like to do, if we have good conversations, is get the majority of SBOs done by the end of the school year.

Julia (d75 OT/PT): Asking about continuing education issues we’ve had – not been able to take classes remotely, been told we have to show up at school, even though scheduling issues. We get 1400 dollars for continuing education which we need for a license, but it’s been hard to get approval/reimbursement, so some have waited over a year to be reimbursed for classes. Remote classes / freedom of classes would help. Sometimes we’re asked to tie it to kids on our caseload, even if we have different caseloads next year.

Mulgrew: On consultation agenda. It’s gotten ridiculous for several titles. Can change to make this a free for all. Idea was classes should be germane to work, not students on caseload. Nothing about no online classes. Maybe bureaucrats are mad they have to go to school.

Julia: We have 3000 therapists, it’s different to get the approval. So where is the money going if we can’t use it?

Mulgrew: Next Tuesday, consultation, I’ll follow up. We had some interesting discussions with the groups who approve these classes. That’s the nicest way to put it right now. Everyone is now focused on this is broken and has to be fixed. Why not allow remote classes?

New Resolutions:

Margaret Joyce and Barrows: Attacks on public education and public employees unions in Florida. This month’s agenda.  In response to legislation being passed that’s attacking public education and unions. It’s trying to weaken collective bargaining rights. It impairs existing contracts and has constitutional issues. It has book banning, CRT banning (which is only taught at the college level anyways), and school vouchers (which are racist in origin by funneling away money from public schools where students are most protected from discrimination, and test scores aren’t even better). Unions have to now recertify to have 60% membership rate. If it’s less than 60%, they become bargaining agents.

On this month’s agenda: 82% yes.

Name missed: Resolution opposing overreach of the U.S. Supreme Court and its conservative agenda.

On this month’s agenda: 77%.

Resolution Period:

Mulgrew: Endorsement time, let’s have some fun.

See resolutions here.

Liz Perez motivates endorsement reso. We take this very seriously, come with a good heart, have a union who wants to protect our members. These folks vote for our protections. True, we might not always agree. The work we do every day – these folks can help us to reach our children the best way we can. We need the right people in these positions. We’ve done our work/due diligence. These candidates have been vetted, and we need to stand behind folks who will do right by us.

Lamar Hughes: Would like to propose an amendment. Wish to include Christopher Bay as an endorsed candidate for District 19 in Queens. Bay was also a candidate for the D19 seat. There was a lot of dialogue about conversations on who we should endorse. Members on the screening committee were informed, but we believe it’s in our members’ best interests to include both. Going forward from here, it’s time to gear up – we have to unseat the person in D19. They are not our ally. That individual has been disparaging to us. So, with pride and pleasure, I say that Christopher Bay should be included with Tony A. Members should have the opportunity to include both.

Mulgrew: Clarifies – same party, the goal is to do the general. Then there will be another endorsement for the general.

Point of Information: Ranked choice voting? Yes.

Barbara S.: It doesn’t make any sense. Can’t make a choice between two people and decide you want both. If we have an incumbent who is positive for us, then we look at the incumbent and choose them. If we say they’re wrong, then we select one person or another. We cannot say we like two. What happens if there are three? If there are three you like – don’t even make an endorsement. To select both, this makes no sense. Think it’s bad policy – decide who you like the best. Either say no to the incumbent and go to the challenger, but you cannot select two.

Point of information (Mary V.): The two candidates are not the incumbents. Vicky Paladino is?

Amy Arundel: Vicky Paladino is an enemy of public education. We had a rigorous process where we interviewed. We’re saying leave it to members of those 2, then we’ll get behind one of them.

Ilona Nanay: I thought last DA we tried to add a name to the process and were told no, it’s not the process, so I don’t understand what’s happening.

Mulgrew: That’s not what happened…Oh, we did explain…

Barr: At the last DA, the maker of that particular amendment asked us to endorse someone who was still in conversation at the local level. This is different. We’re trying to honor that process. That was a lot of conversation about moving behind both of these democratic candidates, so they can take on the incumbent. The other person was trying to short circuit it and not follow the recommendations of the process.

Question called on all matters of the house.

Mulgrew: That will be for the amendment and the resolution as it stands at that moment.

85%: debate ends.

Amendment vote: 72%, passes.

Resolution as amended: 79%, passes as amended.

Resolution in Support of the Writers Guild of America:

Janella Hinds: 2 weeks ago on May Day, 11,000 members authorized a strike. Wasn’t taken lightly. Shut down production. They’ve taken the decision to strike. Total cost of their demands is hundreds of millions of dollars, but the corporations make billions of dollars. In the time of the strikes, many of these companies have lost billions of dollars. Just one of them could have met the demands, but this is not about austerity, it’s about breaking the union. We as educators have to stand strong. I ask for your support.

Dave Kazanzky: Only thing I love more than looking after your pensions is watching TV and movies. No reason that the writers should provide millions of dollars of revenue and create views and talk about their work and not be able to make a living doing it. Doesn’t make sense doing it. Stand in support.

Martina Meijer: While I am very pro-union, I don’t support this reso, because our union is free to tweet whatever we want. Not sure why we are pro-strike for other unions, but not for ourselves. This is not the right forum. The use of parliamentary motions like in the last motion (City Council) is wrong.

Name missed: No time have I heard we wouldn’t stand up to strike. Tell me your strategy – so don’t come to the floor/table unless you have one. Where is yours so we can stand together?

James ?: Calls question.

86%: passes.

Mulgrew notes that it was the last endorsement. Thanks members who have done the work.

Budget Resolution:

Ilona Nanay: asking folks to support. Show of hands for people who lost staff due to excessing. Nervous about next school year? Many hands up. This resolution is important. A budget is a moral document that demonstrates priorities. We have revenues that have gone up. We finally received foundation aid. Still in the midst of a pandemic and slowly coming out. Schools are vital to the community. Calling the UFT to ask the DOE not to cut budgets next year. We’re also asking for funding to be restored.

Janella Hinds: We worked together and collaborated. This is a statement from the entire high school division of the executive board.

Passes: 98% yes

Resolution to Reduce US Maternal Mortality Rates

Karen Alford: What do Beyonce and Serena Williams have in common? They’ve experienced complications during/after child delivery. What should be a joyous time is not for many. Women are bleeding out and getting infections, dying. There are complications during delivery/childbirth. This is a problem exacerbated for black women. We had the opportunity in March as part of the Black History Film Series to watch Aftershock. It’s there that a spotlight was put on. On April 13^th, Biden proclaimed black maternal health week. This was necessary and defined during this week, from the white house, black women are 3-4x more likely to die during pregnancy during pregnancy. Bringing this here today because our moms are worth it. Think of children who are still here but whose lives are lost. We have to stand up. Must be attention shown in reference to maternal health disparities. So stand with us as a body to make sure that women leave hospitals and are alive to care for children.

Passes: 94% yes

Mulgrew: On the 24^th, everyone will be out there, doing what they need to do.

Quick Summary/Analysis:

• Strikes: We now have a pro-strike resolution approved to be on next month’s agenda, which means it’s quite likely to pass at a future DA. Matt Driscoll (MORE) motivated it, and you should take the time to read his full speech in the minutes below. I am thankful that Mulgrew called on Matt, a known opposition figure. I am also glad that, despite Unity having recently argued against our own right to strike, they did not speak out against this resolution. The difference here is that Matt’s resolution had to do with the general right to strike in the U.S., which is distinct from UFT arguing to reform the Taylor Law that prevents us from striking here in New York City. I look forward to hopefully seeing Unity expand its strike support to UFT’s own members in the future. In the meantime, this is a good move forward. Just look at what the mere threat of a strike just did for teachers in L.A.
• Contract: Mulgrew was a bit vague, but based on things he said today, it does appear that things are moving forward on contract. Might we have a tentative agreement by the end of the school year? I’m starting to think the answer is yes. Whether that contract will be worth the paper it’s printed on will be another story.
• Charters: We do still need to worry about charter school caps being raised in New York City. That’s still on the table. The High School Executive Board collaborated with Unity on a resolution presented at the end of the DA solidifying our opposition to Hochul’s move. There are other actions also happening. This needs to be on everyone’s radar.
• Curriculum: Things aren’t looking good on curriculum. I’ve gotta say, this could be a major workplace issue, and one which will hurt teachers and students. Unfortunately, it’s not a subject of collective bargaining, according to Mulgrew. Although, since we’re currently in the middle of negotiations, I do wonder why we don’t move to change that.
• Endorsements 1: The endorsements part of the DA was a farce, and based on the vote, I think that many members understand that. First, Unity used precious time in the motivation period to move the District Attorney endorsements before City Council. The DA endorsements were always going to be less controversial, which I thought was the purpose, but it turned out that two of the endorsed DA candidates were there. There’s something unsettling about Mulgrew having brought them before the endorsement – can you imagine the egg on face if we’d voted this down or contended it?
• Endorsements 2: City Council was more contentious. Ryan Bruckenthal introduced an amendment to add a missing name (Tiffany Caban). They responded that she might be in the next round and that she first should go through the process. Of course, the process is heavily flawed, monopolized by one caucus within the UFT, but I wasn’t called on to make this point. With a ‘second round’ of endorsements in mind, I’ll add that it’s not just who was omitted that was the problem. No, many of the candidates who were proposed to be endorsed were far from progressive. Some had voted for budget cuts and at least one was pro charter. A few people were allowed to speak out against and make these points, but not too many, and the Unity response here was that we should stick to the amendment. Then, the question was called for all issues before the house. If you aren’t versed in Robert’s Rules of Order, this means that the entire resolution was now going to be voted on, even though delegates had predominately only spoken about an amendment that Bruckenthal withdrew anyways.  Unity loves calling the question, but it was an odd moment to call it. Based on the results of the later vote, delegates clearly voted to end debate in part because many thought they were only voting to end debate on a withdrawn amendment. When immediately after ending the debate the entire resolution was up for a vote, a full third of delegates voted against the endorsement. This was not at all the unanimous result that Mulgrew probably wanted. Seemingly startled by the low approval, he gave an apologist argument for the ‘mistakes’ that endorsed members made last year.
• Peloton: A minor point, but UFT is doing a ‘peloton’ event. Do they have any idea how little we make? Pelotons are priced for UFT officers, not teachers. I’m a little lost here and heard from many members who felt it was out of touch. But I digress. The minutes follow.

Informal Minutes

Mulgrew: Introduces Pallotta, who did great work for us on the political side at NYSUT. NYC teacher who is retiring.

Andy Pallotta (Outgoing NYSUT President): Been a UFT member, District Rep. When we work together we do great things. Thanks for your support over the years.

Mulgrew: You will be missed.

Nationally, having conversations on gun control. Not sure what’s gonna have to happen. AFT has spoken to us, contact at NEA. Things are getting jumbled around. Thankfully good people down there.

Supreme Court: Constantly watching. Roe v Wade, what they’re doing on the other issues, overreach. If this unsettlement keeps happening, will be interesting to see what happens nationally. I know you wanted to see the Fox News Trial, but you can afford to lie with such a massive payout. Some more lawsuits.

State: Judges are done. Happy with some appointments. Seems like there’s some sort of bail compromise, but confusing because tied to housing, also important to us – difficult to live here. If we can’t increase housing stock, prices will go up.

Charter fight is not over. Not even sure how you come up with the term Zombie Charters. Not in the law. Same with expansion of charters from k-5 all the way to 12. Big thing is why are we even talking about this? Charters are half empty in NYC. NYC Charter Institute, basically Fox News, talks about waiting lists, but that doesn’t compute when schools are half empty. If you need more charters, backfill the ones you have. We have a class size law now in NY. So why would we put more charters in NYC when we need more space now? Thanks people who activated on Friday night to keep pushing. I know you aren’t hearing a lot about it, but need to understand it. If Albany doesn’t base it on the facts, kids are gonna get hurt.

Class size, three entities: CSA, DOE, UFT, not just about next year. In September, some schools will already get the reductions, based on student need. Moving on issue. Going well.

City Council / Budget Fight: City calling for more cuts. Council digging in heals. Progressive Caucus already saying they won’t approve the budget. Others as well. Appreciate that Albany sent more money to NYC, but the problem is schools still getting cut. Can the state tell the City what to do in terms of budgeting? Yes. If we have a second straight year. City Council Breakfast shortly.

Curriculum project is not going well. Lots of communication issues. Will see where that goes. Keep hearing about outside vendors, and we’re saying no.

Contract: Good governance negotiation this morning. It was constructive, moving. Money is one issue. We’re still playing with everything. Happy with colleagues in La who got 21%, so they can get their top salary up, which will help with recruitment. But, we’re now having a real problem with that too. The other issue that goes across all titles is time being wasted, autonomy being taken away, and being disrespected and having no voice. This is a national problem. Have to have this fight and have it now. When people are saying half of their work time is waste – nothing to do with why hired, that’s a massive problem.

Political landscape around education: We know who the enemies are in general, but some things are being done by us. Data Driven instruction is driving us nuts. They are now assessing the assessments – not kidding. Laughing, but no joke, this is what’s going on. And so disconnected from what’s happening to schools. Chapters just want toner for the printer, because they’re required to print so much. Schools are still submitting per session sheets – why not an app that makes it easier for us? Yesterday, there was a CAT team meeting. We’re finalizing the survey results – they’re strong. People are fed up with everything. Next week, we want a week of action of informational leafletting. ‘50% of my time is not me working for your child. The assessments are causing morale issues.’ So on Monday, we’ll send everything out to CAT teams. We’ll do a run of pre-printed leaflets. Then, from Tuesday to Friday, we want the leafletting, and we want NYC to understand that enough is enough. We want the city to understand we’re being made to waste our time. Borough Reps will pick some schools to distribute. I’ll be with the press. Money was the number one priority for members, we knew that, but this was close behind. There’s traction to move right now. So we have to move.

Secretary’s Report:

LeRoy Barr: Academic high schools awards on Friday, May 5^th. Doors open at 4:00 PM. UFT pedal pushers a virtual team Peleton riding group, April 25^th, reach out to Team High Schools (Peleton). Aids walk, Sunday May 31^st. 10^th annual 5k run, Saturday June 10^th at Coney Island.

Questions Period:

Name Missed: Question about curriculum. Y

Mulgrew: Right now it will be 15 of the school districts. All but 2 would be using HMH. We’re trying to work this out with them. This the tough part of the union. We know it’s in our interest to work with them, because it won’t work out if left to just them. But we get frustrated hearing the agendas, etc. We’ve had planning sessions, but we’re adamant on a couple of things, but we don’t have collective bargaining rights on it. We want teachers to work with teachers, masters teachers, teacher centers, career ladder – and that’s where we’re stuck. The DOE tells us they have no money, but in ten minutes I could slash millions of dollars of contracts out of the DOE – stuff that is a joke, works for no one. We also know as teachers we need to engage our students. The literacy/comprehension parts are solid, but we want to be able to fill in the other pieces. Culturally responsive instruction: we have 200 cultures we teach to NY. DOE doesn’t even seem to grasp that. Love that we live in the most diverse city in the planet, but we know that to engage our students we need to work out how we will support them. A little more positive last month than I am this month. But worth aggravation if we can get somewhere.

Jessica LaBarbera: Principal preference for possibly working remotely on curriculum days? All of the math/science depts are being told to come into the building to do virtual training.

Mulgrew: Our position is clear that it’s a waste of your time. City has said no longer support virtual work, but if you go to DOE on a Friday you see everyone is working virtually. If you really want people, treat them as professionals.

Christine Joseph: Open Market season is here. Most of my school’s teachers want to go on open market for many reasons. Are principals able to see when staff goes on open market?

Mulgrew: They can’t see it, but a principal can always call another principal. A lot of positions not there because of budget. City needs budget from state to put out their budget.

Name Missed: What is happening with the upcoming calendar for 2023-2024.

Mulgrew: Plan is it will be out by the end of this week. Or so we always hear. Keeps changing. Calendar is always tight, because the most diverse city has the most holidays. We are in one of those years where Passover and Easter are nowhere near each other. We feel we have a proposal making everyone happy – well we try, UFT has strong opinions. This has only happened twice in the last 50 years. I was around for the last one – and we had to tell everyone to love they brother and sister.

Name Missed (retiree): Last week there was a retired teachers meeting, but many of us were locked out with a glitch. We received a letter saying thank you for attending and then would be another one scheduled?

Mulgrew: Yes, another meeting is scheduled. There will need to be a series of specific meetings dealing with everything.

Matt Driscoll: For next month. Thanks LeRoy for making copies.

The resolution I’m motivating was written by Workers Strike Back and is part of a nation-wide push to demand the Supreme Court protects the right to strike.

For decades big-business has waged an unrelenting war on organized labor, Starting with the Taft-Hartley Act in 1948.  We saw state after state enact “right to work” laws designed to cripple labor unions, companies and political leaders have worked to destroy union after union,and courts continually side with corporations and bosses over workers. In 2018, the Supreme Court launched an unprecedented attack on public sector workers by reversing the Abood v. Detroit Board of Education precedent that allowed unions to require all public sector workers represented by unions in negotiations to pay dues or agency fees. In Janus v. AFSME all public sector unions in the country effectively fell under right to work rule in a blatant attempt to defund organized labor and shrink our numbers. In 2017 I worked in the UFT’s member organizing institute, knocking on the doors of hundreds of UFT members to talk about what it means to be a member of a strong union. Almost every single member I spoke to recommitted to the UFT. In the wake of this organization, and because of the hard work of rank and file, our membership actually increased after the disastrous Janus decision!

I am grateful to have a union with so many dedicated members, but the attacks I just spoke of have continued, and we need to continue to fight back. In January the Supreme Court listened to oral arguments in Glacier Northwest, Inc v International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Glacier NW is suing Teamsters Local 174 for alleged financial damages from a 2017 strike. In the 1959 San Diego Building Trades Council v Garmon Supreme Court case,  the court set the precedent that a strike protected by the NLRA preempts a company’s claims of financial loss. Glacier NW is the most aggressive anti-labor attack since Janus. 

Corporate bosses understand that the ability to strike is the strongest weapon workers in trade unions have in the struggle to maintain fair pay and safe working conditions. Glacier NW is nothing short of a direct attack on workers’ right to strike. 

Resolutions calling for national action to defend the right to strike like this have been pushed in other unions nationally, including dozens of unions and labor organizations in Seattle like UAW Local 4121, IATSE Local 15, AFGE Local 3197, and others. A similar resolution in the MLK County Labor Council, which represents more than 100,000 union members in King County, Washington, passed with 97 percent support. I call on the UFT to support our union siblings across the country in demanding that the court affirm the precedent set in 1959 protecting this basic right. We must affirm that the strike is labor’s most powerful tool in fighting against abusive bosses and a system that seeks to exploit workers for the sake of capital. 

As the resolution states “Unions are crucial bulwarks against racism, sexism, transphobia and other attacks on workers.” The right to strike is critical in maintaining the hard fought victories that protect workers from these attacks. I ask that every delegate and chapter leader here join me in standing in support of our union siblings in Teamsters Local 174.

No one speaks against. Matt asks a quick question and Mulgrew treats hostilely, saying he reminds him of an old administrator he used to have.  

Motion passes. 88% vote yes, on next month’s agenda.

Lamar Hughes: Change resolution to change 2 to 1 (district attorneys instead of city councils).

Mulgrew: Understand what you’re doing, but up to body.

78% yes.

District Attorneys:

Mary Atkinson: In support. Good candidates. For instance, Katz helped with schools who were in trailers (getting removed). Has worked with UFT. McMahon has done a lot to combat opioid crisis. Etc, etc.

Passes.

Then several DAs come up.

DA Clark: Thanks teachers. I wouldn’t be who I am without you. You shape lives each and every day. Losing a generation to violence. Need safe environments for our kids. Will continue to go to any career day. I will always be here. Will continue to fight to keep schools safe.

DA Katz: There have been three district attorneys in history of NYC. Heard the nominations before we walked in. Have been there for many fights around schools. Believe my job is to keep this borough safe. Put money into programs so that students know we care. Want our kids not to end up in court rooms to begin with. You are a huge part of that. Partnership that we feel with the UFT.

Resolution 2: City Council

Liz Perez: Moving City Council Endorsements.

Ryan Bruckenthal: Adds Tiffany Caban. She was out there trying not to cut money schools.

Mulgrew: Did she go through the process?

Name Missed: Name is not in this round, but will be in the next. We have 51 council members. What we did in this round is we took people with big primary races. Then we took  it to political action teams. Next round of endorsements in this next round.

Mulgrew: We have a process, Tiffany hasn’t been through the process.

Ryan: Still like to keep this on the floor.

Matthew Z: Speak against. I don’t know all the names. Not sure why we’re supporting those members who voted to defund schools. Feels wrong to do blanket endorsement for all of them.

LeRoy Barr: Against amendment. Don’t want to speak against Tiffany, but don’t want to disenfranchise the people in the district who went through the process. There’s a process. We heard her name is going forward.

Anthony Harmon: Rise to speak against the amendment. Trust the process. Don’t want to usurp .

Maritna Meijer: Question of why we are supporting members who are in support of charter schools. Why are we in support?

Anthony Harmon: Should only talk to the amendment at hand.

A delegate then calls question on all matters before the house, before there’s a chance to debate the resolution itself (not just the amendment). A big majority votes in favor of ending debate, but it’s clear from people talking in the room that there isn’t clarity that we’ve just ended debate for the entire resolution.

66% yes. Motion passes..

Mulgrew: Last year was a learning curve for City Council. Some voted for budget cuts, but wanted to do away with them. So it’s up to the committees to do the endorsements. Cuts.

AGENDA ITEM #3 – RESOLUTION ON MOBILIZING UFT MEMBERS FOR ACTION DURING THE WEEK OF EARTH DAY, APRIL 22, 2023 – Endorsed by Ryan Bruckenthal. (Copy available in agenda sent out by LeRoy Barr).

Item 4: Resolution in Opposition to Gov. Hochul’s 2023 Charter School Proposal motivated by Janella Hinds with Ilona Nanay. We know their proposal will be harmful to New York City. Invite to meet up in Bronx on Saturday to continue to rally. Copy available at bottom of minutes here.

Passes.