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UFT Leadership Says No to Strike Readiness; Adds Symbolic Reso to Fight for Lost Calendar – UFT Executive Board Notes, 6-12-2023

Published June 12, 2023 UFT Executive Board 9 Comments
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Note: Most of tonight’s executive board meeting was an executive session, as is customary for the final executive board meeting of the year. Therefore, I have only reported on that business which was conducted when we were out of session.

Summary: In tonight’s executive board meeting, the last scheduled meeting of the 2022-2023 school year, we heard two resolutions. One dealt with the calendar—specifically with UFT pushing to add two Passover days and Easter Monday to the observed holidays of the school year. The other resolution dealt with strike readiness. The former resolution passed; the latter failed. Let’s analyze:

  • The first resolution, motivated by Mike Schirtzer, successfully confirmed that the UFT would work to get the DOE to get back three days that are traditionally observed. These days are important to observant Jewish and Christian groups, respectively, and especially in the former case will require many to take religious observance days—at considerable financial expense. Meanwhile, even secular workers and workers of other religions take issue with extra days on the calendar when historically they are indeed taken off. UFC had two amendments, one which failed and one which passed.
    •  I motivated the first—failed—amendment, which advocated that UFT support a petition that had already gathered many thousands of signatures from teachers, parents, and community members to have those two Passover days restored. See here and here to see some of the publicity. My rationale for motivating this amendment was that UFT had already failed to get a fair calendar using our traditional methods, and that simply passing a resolution to use those same methods would merely be symbolic. Why not also join and help buttress a successful community-originated method that we haven’t yet tried? You can look at Unity’s arguments against below, but ultimately I think the real reason is that an opposition unionist—Melissa Williams of OT/PTs for a Fair Contract—did the bulk of the organizing.
    • Ilona Nanay motivated the second amendment, which advocated the addition of Eid to the calendar. This amendment passed, as did the resolution itself. There are still more days we should add to the list of course, but it’s a step up that at least the UFT recognized Eid as being worth a calendar fight.
  • The second resolution, brought to the table by the High School Executive Board, was motivated by Ronnie Almonte, and subsequently endorsed by Alex Jallot, myself, and Ed Calamia. We sought—not a strike, which we concede the UFT is not ready for—but rather a strike readiness campaign, so that we could be ready for one if it came to it. Unity spoke against the resolution, with all sorts of outlandish sophistry ranging from ‘we don’t need it, because we already have it,’ to ‘if we really needed to strike, we would just strike,’ etc, etc, etc. These arguments, are of course, absurd. The whole point of strike readiness campaigns is that it takes months to years of preparations for unions to be ready to strike. For a union who hasn’t struck since 1975, and who has publicly spoken against the right for teachers to strike, we’re clearly lacking the infrastructure to strike if we ever need to. That’s something the City knows all too well when it hands us over a 3% pattern, then prevents even a mediocre contract from coming out in time for the next school year. And if we were even ready to strike, we’d have more luck at the bargaining table. On that note, I’ll close by saying I think Lamar Hughes gave the most honest Unity take of the night, when he said that  ‘I am a firm believer that if you hang around the barbershop long enough you will get a cut. If we keep talking strike, members will say “whens the strike.’ I think, this is the truth. Unity fears a strike. We’ve heard Unity be anti-strike enough to know that they fear the idea that, once educated, membership might actually want one. I appreciated Lamar’s argument for its earnestness and lack of sophistry – even though I strongly disagreed. Ultimately, I hope we can get past this Unity anti-strike mentality so antithetical to what unions—especially unions with gains—are about.

Informal notes – minus the session portions—are shown below.

Minutes approved:

Mike Schirtzer: motivates inclusion of Easter Monday and Last Two Days of Passover in the 2023-24 NYC DOE Calendar: Calendar showed DOE doesn’t care about us. As a practicing Jew, this is a problem for me. There’s precedent for Easter Monday. Had the DOE collaborated with us, we would have told them we need these days.

Dave Kazankzky: Want to stand in support of this resolution. Passover is a big holiday – there are many.

Nick Bacon: Support, but motion to amend. Would like a second amendment too but will start with one since it’s 3 lines.

Be it resolved, that in the spirt of collaborating with our community groups, the UFT will publicly support the “Restoration of Passover Days” letter, which is already undersigned by thousands of New Yorkers, including teachers, UFT leaders, parents, and religious leaders.

Here is a copy of the letter with all 4,000+ signatures. The reason I support this amendment is because we’ve already tried negotiating with the DOE It didn’t work, that’s why we have this calendar. Joining with community groups to gain back that time is a strategy that might work. It’s also an opportunity to work with the community—parents, teachers, union leaders, and community members–towards a goal we share.

Michael Sill: Speaks against the amendment, although not particularly strongly, could be convinced otherwise. This is a community issue and we should make it a community issue – but I think there’s a way to do that without adding it to the resolution. Reason why I think this is so is because this is would be our first official response outside of the negotiating committee. We need to smack back against the DOE. Important on religious grounds. If the DOE thinks they can put out a calendar without our approval, they’re going to do it again. Next year, they’re going to do it again. We can’t let them do it. Not familiar with the letter – might be great, but shouldn’t be following on this issue, but leading.

DeShana Barker: Stand against amendment, because the first draft we saw was inclusive of the Christian community. I may be a backsliding Christian, but I’m a Christian. Find this divisive. Original resolution.

Dave Kazanzky: Never met a Jew that likes Bacon more than me. Haven’t seen this letter, it’s bad form to sign onto something against the amendment.

Ilona Nanay: Second amendment – addition of Eid to the amendment. To be inclusive for all religious communities.

Janella Hinds: Favor of the second amendment. I think we should add to the first clause. It is of critical importance that we build on ways that we honor and respect the different parts coming up.

Be it resolved that the UFT will also support the addition of EID to the school calendar. Passes.

First amendment fails.

Resolution itself passes.

Ronnie: This isn’t a resolution about a strike right now. This is a resolution about being prepared if we ever have to strike. Strike should not be carried out haphazardly. Saw Chicago teachers prepare in 2021 took a lot of time convos fundraising trying to get through member concerns about what a strike is what it is not. It has been mentioned we are not ready for a strike. I agree we are not. The only way we get ready is by preparing, I think we are at a moment where we need to start the process. We have not had a strike in decades lack organizational culture. We need to take the lead on this. 1.Hold workshops (like SF) where they educate members about laws around striking. 2.Encourace CL and Delegates to turnkey workshops. 3. Be able to bring those with strike experience here to help mentor us.

Lamar Hughes (opposed) I don’t disagree, however I am a firm believer that if you hang around the barbershop long enough you will get a cut. If we keep talking strike, members will say “whens the strike” Instead of ‘strike’ we should say ‘organized’ we should organize around what a union is and our collective power. If principal sees that you are organized that is more powerful than a strike. If we are truly organized we may not even need strikes.

Adam Shapiro (opposed) I feel like we are already doing that. Teachins grade-ins etc etc actions. It feels good to sign up for the marathon but I have no training. We need to move gradually to build the members up through the actions we have been taking.

Alex (support) We have done much since Feb. I don’t think this resolution opposes anything we have done so far. It strengthens what we have already been doing. Across the nation other teacher unions have put in the months of preparation and it has paid off. This is a chance for us to be educated on what a strike is and why it is important particularly in a city hostile to teachers. We know who the Adams admin is they don’t respect us.

Nick (support) We have come a long way doing many of the CAT strategies, but the City is not bargaining with us in good faith even after we implemented those strategies. That is not to say we won’t win with other strategies, but I think it will help us if the DOE knows we are strike ready. They know we have not had a strike in decades. We need something more specific than what Shapiro proposes. Members need to understand the difference between striking and other actions, need to be prepared for the consequences. This is not about a strike tomorrow, I hope we never need one, but if the DOE saw us preparing for a strike they would fear us more.

Rashad (oppose) our members are not here yet. Financial implications are not included in this plan. We would need to get ready on the financials. When we start using strike like we use the word ‘the’ it desensitizes the management.

Patty Christino: (oppose) Lived through the Bloomberg years, and the members have to be angry. Think we’re underestimating the effects of the strike. How long are the details? Not that wrong. Afraid they’ll hear 2 days pay – once they hear that, it won’t matter. I ask for now that you vote this resolution down.

DeShana Barker: Contract rallies, while successful, we know how difficult it was to get people out. We’re still dealing with the aftermath of COVID and trying to get people in to do things in person. If we have 140,000 members, 10% is 14,000. That’s a lot. Everyone is watching us. We have to be careful – we’ve been dealing with fake news. My sister and I are fighting, I don’t think we expose her. I appreciate Ronnie – last point, we’ve been building muscles with this. Strikes sound nice, but we can’t be the only ones ready to strike.  Table for when time comes.

Sean Rockowitiz: calls question.

Ed Calamia: Requests some leeway so that he is able to speak.

LeRoy Barr: Can I do that in Robert’s Rules?

Ed Calamia: If you say so, then why not? (Laughter – Ed allowed to make point).

Ed Calamia: Everyone has made good points. At a certain points though, if this becomes necessary, if we aren’t prepared, we’re going to get steamrolled. Even if it’s a mustard seed in the earth, we need to make that step.

Fails (Unity votes against, UFC for).

 Full text below:

Resolution to Educate Our Chapters and Communities for Strike Readiness  

Whereas, the City has shown evidence of negotiating in bad faith, releasing a calendar without negotiating with the UFT, and keeping us working for almost a year under an expired contract.

Whereas our current campaign strategy has helped organize our members and awaken the public to our plight, but has left the City unmoved to give us the fair contract we deserve.

Whereas more disruptive tactics such as job actions have been linked to the most dramatic union gains in recent labor history, as also demonstrated by wins by public educator unions in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Woburn; and by private-sector nurses here in New York.

Whereas, while the Taylor Law states “no public employee or employee organization shall engage in a strike,” public-sector unions have successfully defied this prohibition in the past, and have either payed out the specific penalties for job actions (such as the “2 for 1” penalty) or have bypassed them entirely.

Whereas, the UFT had previously gone on strike and won many times, but, in part because of the Taylor Law’s draconian provisions, has not gone on strike since 1975, and as a result has lost much of its infrastructure to be ‘strike ready,’ such that we are not at all ‘strike ready’ today.

Whereas, in the event that further disruption is required to advance negotiations in our favor for this contract or for future contracts, it is essential that we are definitively strike-ready, as only a well-prepared union can win a strike in such a way as to offset or bypass Taylor Law penalties.

Whereas, being convincingly strike ready would increase our bargaining power with the employer, even if we opted not to actually strike. 

Be it resolved, the UFT will organize “strike prep” workshops to educate chapter leaders and delegates on how to organize for strikes and run them, as well as what are the laws around strikes and why we should advocate amending them.

Be it resolved that the UFT will call on chapter leaders and delegates to hold “teach-ins” to turnkey those strike trainings to their chapters. 

Be it resolved that the UFT will coordinate with other teachers’ unions who have had recent successes using job actions to increase their bargaining power.

Be it resolved that the UFT will establish a strike readiness committee to monitor and oversee efforts, and to report on progress to the Executive Board.

Be it resolved that the UFT will coordinate with our allies in the community so that we have the support of parents and residents in the event a strike is ever deemed by the Delegate Assembly to be necessary.

Alex Jallot   Illona Nanay   Ibeth Mejia   Luli Rodriguez     

Ed Calamia   Ronnie Almonte   Nick Bacon

On Contract and Democracy – UFT Executive Board Minutes, 6-5-2023

Published June 5, 2023 Contract , UFT Executive Board 10 Comments
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Summary/Analysis:

  • It’s unclear how things are going on contract. The 37.5 strategy has clear problems, as I pointed out yesterday. Ilona Nanay also noted that CSA appears to actually want 37.5, rendering the strategy ineffective. When she brought up other tactics, Amy Arundell gave a speech about how we’re not strike ready. I agree, but I specifically blame the Unity-led leadership for that – who have completely thrown strike readiness to the wayside and gone so far as publicly trying to convince UFT members that teachers in NYC should not push to have the right to strike. On the other hand, the contract may be ready for a DA vote as early as next week, which is why the DA is now being rescheduled. Unfortunately, this now means we probably aren’t going to have full turnout. Either the DA will fall on Monday/Tuesday (extended day) or Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday (regents afternoon/evening shift proctoring for high school teachers). If the DA is on a Regents day, that will notably mean high school teachers will be disproportionately affected. Since high school teachers are statistically more likely to be opposition, that would make it easier for Unity to get an undeserved yes vote. I stood up for high school teachers being able to attend, after which Mulgrew got quite testy with me, but let’s hope they receive the message. Ronnie Almonte also pointed out that we need time to review the contract before voting, but Mike Sill did not give us an answer on how much time we’ll get. Frankly, even if we got it this week, that wouldn’t be enough time for a DA next week.
  • The DA ‘hybrid’ model was approved for a DA vote. I tried to amend so that folks over the phone could also offer amendments or motivate resos. My reasons were simple: more people attend over the phone than in person, and it’s unfair that ‘life’ should keep those who can only participate on the phone from meaningfully impacting union policy. What was left unsaid, but which is realistically why Unity voted it down, is that people over the phone are more likely to vote with the opposition. Indeed, while there are many who prefer to go to the DA in person, most of those who do so regularly are UFT employees (i.e. Unity) with voting privileges rather than rank-and-file teachers. There are exceptions—such as myself—but the vote breakdowns don’t lie: in person is predominately Unity, over-the-phone is predominately not. And that, I gather, is why Unity doesn’t want to give everyone else full democratic access.
  • For the full informal minutes, see below.

Informal Notes Follow

Mike Sill: filling in for LeRoy Bar.

Open Mic

Karen Miller: 2nd grade ICT gen-ed teacher at PS15 in D1. June, with everything going on wanted to reflect and share on some of the successes that go on in the classroom, and things that have been great at least in my room. Thought about this and what stands out. One thing is 12/16 of my class made over a year’s growth in reading – a testament to being able to close door, teach in way that works, comes with being able to do what supposed to do. Second success: February received 21 asylum children – 4 in my class. I don’t speak Spanish, so from April 5 to Memoria day, kids weren’t getting serviced, but went to my principal and she gave me a device, when I speak into it, it translates right away. Works in reverse too. Now my children are interacting with one another. It’s called a Pocket Talk. You can set it to any language. Kids love it. We only have one now, and am sure it’s costly, but think it’s to be noted that the children really love it. Doesn’t work as well for reading/writing lessons, but does in math, social studies, and other subjects – where they can feel engaged.

All minutes approved.

Reports:

Mike Sill: 5k run in Coney Island, fun day for families.

Deshana Barker: UFT Family Day at global sports complex in garden city. We’re at capacity. All about union comradery and fun.

Mindy Rosier: Save the date on June 14th, Park Slope bar where there will be discounts, plenty of fun.

Pat Christino: Expanding GED program for NYHA housing in a complex in Brooklyn. Hope this happens elsewhere in NY. JZ got his GED, as did his wife. Email me if you don’t have a GED program.

President’s Report:

Couple things going on. Thanks everyone on Contract Action Teams for doing the work last night and today. DOE sent out a calendar that we don’t agree with and didn’t approve. So now back to 37.5. That’s it – might change, might not. Contract negotiations are getting difficult and hostile. That’s what it will take. I have to go right back upstairs. This thing is either blowing up or getting done. If it blows up, we need a summer plan and school year. DA scheduled for Wednesday, don’t believe we’ll know if it’s getting up by Wednesday. So not sure it’s a good idea to have DA on Wednesday if we’re probably going to have to bring them in next week. So, rescheduling most likely.

Nick Bacon: High school teachers may have trouble getting there because of afternoon regents scheduling if you do this Wednesday or after, so can we avoid that?

Mulgrew: happy to take a question, as long as you don’t misquote me, though you probably will anyways. Thanks for point of information. Will try. If this blows up we may even have to have a DA as late as this summer.

Haven’t had a chance to read all the speculation yet, went to a play. Shulman was there, but a different show. I was at a The Show that Goes Wrong.

If we have to move a DA we will need an emergency executive board in advance as well.

Questions:

Ronnie Almonte: 2 1/2 questions.

  • How much time at minimum are delegates going to have before voting on tentative agreement?
  • In a PROSE school. Is the SBO process frozen for Prose or Prose modifications due to this tactic that’s being pursued?
  • Half question: at rally and were out of my size for teachers, so I need a size L, can I be hooked up. (laughter).

Sill: Usually, only have L or XL. Can order. Amount of time at a minimum – there’s gotta be some calculus, we don’t know when it’s gonna get done. There’s gotta be a date when it’s too late. I don’t know if I could state a minimum, but no one is interested in delegates not having enough time. Can’t give estimate on when we might be done, but it’s full steam ahead.

Prose schools – look. We’re in a moment right now when I don’t think what we wanna start to signal that there are these following ways to get around the predicament that the DOE has placed us in.

Sally-Ann: PROSE schools right now, what you have you have, but until this is resolved – no voting. What’s on your ballot is your ballot.

Ibeth Mejia: New lawsuit on Medicare. Will this affect negotiations on in-service healthcare?

Joe Usatch: Negotiation process is still going on, regardless of that lawsuit.

Ilona Nanay: Been speaking to members across the city, and a lot of them and principals are excited about reverting back to 37 ½. Appreciate this as a push back against the DOE, but are there other things we are thinking about? Mulgrew mentioned shutting things down? Are we working towards strike preparedness?

Mike Sill: Speaking as myself – others may disagree. Can’t imagine we’d entertain a strike between now and the end of the school year. That would be more for September if that were to happen. We will do an analysis of all kinds. At the moment, all the efforts are to get a fair, just contract that honors people’s time, reflecting everything that came out of the 500 member negotiating committee.

Amy Arundell: Add to this discussion around strike – there’s an organizing tool called a structure test around how organized is a group of people. I think that going from 0 to 1,000, for the City of NY, is not a romantic notion. It’s a serious act to take -not that we shouldn’t take it. But, there are many many millions of people who would be impacted by a strike by teachers. We have engaged in many different types of mobilization, and from my vantage point, I don’t see a demand for a strike from our members. That’s because we have a lot of work to do to prepare people for a strike – and the other place is with the community. So it would be reckless to say here at the executive board that we’re preparing for a strike. With the calendar, everyone is mad – us, parents, religious communities. But that tells me that we have to do work to build a coalition. So we’d have to have the community behind us. We know what happens in the City of New York. Look at what we are doing instead of what people believe we are not doing. Because in my experience as an organizer, we’ve been engaging our members in a different way to raise the stakes. We would not be where we are today if it were not for our actions – that’s why we had 3,000+ people who wanted to get on a Zoom CAT meeting. This is not 1900, it’s 2023, and a lot has happened in this century. Just saying – it’s true that we’re mobilizing, and would like to see more support of our actions from our union as a whole instead of what I see at nitpicking.

Alex Jallot: Was on the CAT yesterday and I was impressed at how many people tried to get in—I’m getting to the question—impressed with how energized are, including many of my chapter members who were livid about the calendar, but I’m holding a chapter meeting this week, and they want to know if we’re close or are we not.

Mike Sill: Fair question, but with utmost sincerity, I don’t know. I think we ought to be, but if they try to pull more stuff like on Friday, that’s another story. Think you can look at things like DA being rescheduled, but we aren’t gonna settle.

Janella Hinds: Pressure that we’re all bringing through emergency consultation meetings that are happening today, tomorrow, Wednesday – heard about picket lines, calling Mayor, etc – the actions being taken are impacting what’s happening. We are all pushing to make this happen. Ronnie mentioned time to absorb – we wanna make sure that is happening. People are not chilling/relaxing. This is serious business – we didn’t reschedule last month. Not operating in good faith required that response. DOE violated an agreement and that required a response – so we’re responding and will continue in our schools to respond, make our voices, and make our voices heard.

Mike Sill: Amy says a lot of people angry about the calendar – I bet I’m number 1. Even the way they went about doing something shady is shady. There are times we work more than 180 days, but there are not days when we do and some days that we’re working that traditionally are. They did that with that express knowledge on purpose – and we need to smack the for that.

Reports from Districts:

Name missed: gathering paraprofessionals at a hospital to focus on self care.

Nancy Armando: Brooklyn rally that we had a few weeks ago, great turnout. We ran out of shirts as Ronnie mentioned. Across all the boroughs. Council members. Celebrate how many people came out across the rallies.

Ashley R. / Adam S.: Met game last week, first of Brooklyn Queens event, well attended. Michael Mulgrew through the first pitch.

Janella Hinds: Today, we welcomed a group of students in the next generation of educators club at Curtis High School. They want to become educators. Young people were inspirational today. Thanks many.

Shawn Rockowitz: Our rally on the boardwalk, signed up 125 people that day – well over 300. Supported by SI Democrats and many labor groups. Also PS46 is under siege by a principal, who was reassigned several weeks, and an IA principal was put in today.

Danny Rodriguez: Rally in Bronx – we also ran out of T-shirts. Big showing, some politicians came, including Vanessa Gibbons, Robert Jackson, and Councilman Salamanca. Had fun. A lot of the public drove by and honked for support, including train conductors.

Lamar Hughes: D25 – Queens Rally. As with other rallies, great turnout. District 37 reps came. Had reps from Queens Borough President office. When we thought we were done, people stayed. Moments of solidarity do matter. Personal point of privilege: moment of silence for member who passed away, founding member. In working with Leo he was engaging, sweet gentleman, first D rep in D25, and we both taught in PS201.

Victoria Lee: May 25th had our AAPI Heritage Month celebration month – great turnout. Panel discussion, number of topics, networking opportunities, next generation. Awarded two students who shared their stories. Closed with opportunity to meet UFT representatives. Hope you’ll come out and support our next event. Thanks staff.

Faiza Khalid: D5 have big event coming up – first book event, Saturday June 17th, share out. We need volunteers for 16th and 17th. Let us know if you can – giving out books in Harlem.

Mary Vacarro: Excited to have 170+ members on SEL workshops for new reading curriculum. We will make it simple. Mind Up is now DOE/UFT collaborative, so we can get it free into your school. Important to understand that it’s free. Piloting at one high school in each borough. Excited about energy in room that day. Will do that a few more times if interested let me know.

Seung Lee: Last week, further AAPI curriculum in schools announced, initiated by SEIU. Teacher Center was there and others.

Mike Sill: Speaking of Vacarro, she shut down notion of doing PD at a clerical day.

Legislative Report:

Liz Perez: Stated meetings at City Council – making sure budget gets passed, especially education. Mobile phone bank trainings available. Primary election day is on June 27th, with early voting from the 17th to Sunday the 25th. Go out and vote.

Special Orders of Business:

Resolution to continue Hybrid DA rules: Thanks to Joe Diodato, who wrote his own minutes today and captured some of what was said when I was busy speaking. Some of the text below is quoted from him.

Amy Arundell: support. High levels of engagement.

Nick Bacon: motion to amend: Be it resolved that delegates on the phone will also be allowed to raise resolutions and amendments.

Nick Bacon: Motion to amend. Goes at the end.  “Resolved, delegates on the phone will also be allowed to raise resolutions and amendments”.  Motivation: more and more people (esp. In outer boroughs, have family at home) are unable to come in person. They can’t raise important business. To increase democracy in the union we give people a chance to participate. 

Rashad Brown: We should table indefinitely until we have a committee to look into it.  We’re all connected to somebody, if I can’t make it there’s someone else who can.  

Sill: Personal privilege as chair. Not sure it’s in Robert’s Rules to table an amendment. Not being certain, would prefer to err on side of caution and proceed with debate on motion.

Anthony Harmon: Rise to speak against the amendment. In-person DAs we tell folks that amendments have to be concise. We don’t know who the person is on the other end of the phone. I would ask that the body vote the amendment down and go with the original resolution as presented.   

Undrea Polite: Rise in opposition. If something is important enough to make a resolution, you should be able to come [and motivate/present it]. I have made time despite having sick parents and other circumstances. If it’s important enough for you to write the resolution, it’s important enough for you to come down here and support it.

Sean Rotkowitz: We’ve found a good balance with the new hybrid. Coming out of the pandemic, motions should literally be brought to the floor. Value in doing union business in the union hall.

Deshanna Barker: Truly believe that we’ve gone through a lot this year. Trust has been broken. Who is to say what’s happening on the back end when folks are at home making motions. Members aren’t always able to make it. But if members want to raise a reso or make amendment, we have to be able to meet members where they’re at. 

Faiza Khalid: appreciate the hybrid model, but prefer it to be in person, if there’s an issue that’s important to me. People can raise amendments if someone else speaks on our behalf. If it’s important to you, you should be in person.

Ilona Nanay: Rise in support of the amendment. Do so because we are extending the hybrid DA, because it does help engage delegates and chapter leaders who otherwise might not be able to engage beyond their school sites. There are also resolutions presented – and someone at home may have a strong amendment at home.

Pat Christino calls question, with a few UFC people in line.

Amendment fails, only UFC High School Executive Board votes yes. Motion itself passes unanimously.

Resolution to Combat Laws Targeting Transgender and non-binary people in Florida Through Educating the Public

Rashad Brown: Two laws that violate human rights, including transgender and non-binary people, contradicts documents we hold dear. A law cannot single out LGPTQ people, as it can’t to other groups. If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu. We had 315 last year, this year 540 attacks. There is censorship of school curriculum, so that people could understand. Teachers we need to change this law. If don’t have seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

Alex Jallot: Speaks in favor. As a high school teacher for about 10 years, this is near and dear to my heart, even though I’m a cisgendered male. Shocked at Florida, shocked at US. Think about my own students. Encourage everything to vote yes on this.

Passes unanimously.

Next exec board is next week, June 12th.

UFT Members – Why is UFT Leadership Misleading us on Contract? – Executive Board Minutes, 5-22-2023

Published May 22, 2023 Contract 8 Comments
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Quick summary/analysis:

Tonight, UFT leadership disappointed many rank-and-file attendees when it came to contract. UFT leadership has been misleading us about something big, effectively lying (at least organizationally), and making us ask ‘why?’ and ‘what else isn’t being shared accurately with members?’

Specifically, during a report tonight, Carl Cambria claimed that only the UFT wants to get a contract before summer; that the DOE could care less. Cambria’s claim contradicts directly what the UFT has been telling us in official communications. In a Chapter Leader Update as recent as May 18, we were told “Negotiation meetings are taking place daily as the UFT, the DOE and the city try to reach a contract agreement by the end of the school year.” Notice, here it isn’t just the UFT who wants to reach a contract by summer – it’s also our employer. And at the May 17 Delegate Assembly, Michael Mulgrew told us directly that ‘We are trying, both us and the City, to get this done before the end of the school year.’ That’s two places now – two – where UFT leadership has told us directly that the City also wants the contract done soon. So why is Cambria now telling us the opposite? I can think of a few reasons: (1) it’s a good rallying cry to get a yes vote – now the timeliness of the contract becomes what we’re fighting for; it will seem like a win when we get it in June if members believe that we had to fight for a contract before summer. (2) It helps UFT leadership justify rushing out the ratification process. Indeed, while I had initially thought we’d get the ball rolling as early as this week, I’m now starting to think the UFT might actually wait until June to even start. (3) Alternatively, maybe the nontruth was earlier, when the UFT signaled that the City wanted the same things as UFT leadership (a contract before summer). Maybe our top negotiators misread things so badly that they put into print something that wasn’t true. And (4) Maybe UFT leadership is lying organizationally but not personally. Maybe Mulgrew is saying one thing he believes (and including it at the DA and in the CL update), while Carl is saying what he believes (and including it in the executive board update). If that’s the case, that means the top layers of our negotiation team aren’t in sync, and both are conveying opposite positions in official UFT forums mere days apart. That possibility means our organization is broken. It makes me equally pessimistic on our contract future.

I’m beyond disappointed. At some point, someone in leadership misled us. And that makes me extremely skeptical about the contract process. To add insult to injury, Unity voted down a basic common sense resolution on giving delegates time to read the contract before voting. Some of their arguments were frankly ridiculous. Liz Perez, for instance, noted that a no vote campaign already exists (it doesn’t – she’s likely thinking of UFC’s vote no if we don’t meet five basic demands campaign). And she suggested that one reason 2 weeks would be a problem was because then people might publicize negative things about the contract. But that’s precisely the point – if there are negative things in the contract, delegates deserve to know about them before we vote on them, no?

Again, I’m beyond disappointed – even more than usual – with Unity. For more information on contract, curriculum, class sizes, and other items, see below.

Open Mic:

Michael DeShields (PS30): Speaking on pride month. Currently on the exec board of the UFT pride committee and member of pride at work. Patty Crispino president. Looking for members. $5 per month membership fee. Pride night at Yankee stadium, June 31st. Stonewall organization presenting scholarship that night. $45 range for tickets, go to scholarship. Advisor for my elementary school’s GSA (Gay Straight Alliance). Opportunity for students at school to have a safe space. Students have a chance to express themselves and share on LGBTQ issues. Since Trump was in office, started tutu Tuesdays, wear tutu to school religiously. Women will wear shirts and ties. This is our opportunity to show solidarity with the transgender community. Would love to push out to rest of DOE. Many states trying to ban things for trans community and take away rights. Working closely with Rashad, chair of pride committee. This all comes from more support from above. Would love personally if everyone started using pronouns now. If we start using them as the leadership, then other people will start following suit.

Ben M: Pronouns he/him. Talk about the contract negotiations, critical moment with the rally on Wednesday. Expresses gratitude for everyone working on contract negotiations – on the negotiating team and on the CATs. I think salary mostly speaks for itself. What I want to talk about is the job survey from last year – workplace flexibility. Our work has low levels of workplace flexibility comparable to other jobs. We’ve all missed family events, have had trouble getting time to get errands done, etc. There are ways to give work flexibility that doesn’t hurt students. I think we should fight for discretionary vacation days. DOE created this as part of the spring break arbitration decision. Now that this type of day exists, we could add to that flexibility. It’s important. Help prevent teacher burnout. Help keep people in teachers. Want to also give credit that UFT has done to improve working conditions for C6/extended days – it’s something that’s very important to teachers, time. This is an opportunity that we have right now – this could make a big difference.

Moment of silence

Vince Gaglione: Passing of founding member of UFT. Rise to ask respect in moment of silence in memory of someone whose name is probably unknown to most people in this room. Bob Miller was one of the founding members of UFT, teacher at George Washington HS, first rep in D6, serving until 1990s. Mentor/friend to me. When I worked in district 6, he encouraged my unionism. He had a big presence in d6. Honor to serve as his successor, but no one could ever fill his shoes, including me. Memory is a blessing. Moment of silence.

Minutes approved.

Reports:

Michael Sill: DOE put out ‘plan’ on compliance for class-size legislation. DOE’s plan reflects their attitude towards this work – they did the least possible. Criticism needs to come from us. Principals have reached out to tell us DOE is telling them not to worry about things, because ‘nothing is changing. ‘ Approximately 39% of classes are in compliance here technically, but DOE shouldn’t be lowering class sizes because it’s their legal responsibility – they should be lowering class sizes because it’s their ethical responsibility. We’re going to be asking folks to get out to public meetings, including CEC meetings, to speak out. There will be fiscal conservatives there who say the City can’t do it. We need to show them that they’re wrong.

Mary Vacarro: Rollout of curriculum meetings. Final agreement, this summer we will have P credit/A+ on curriculum. Excited about that. Also, the three types of curriculum, books are starting to arrive. Some issues with digital portion of grades 3-5. Last thing, postings are up for district positions, for elementary or middle school, for people who want to work at the teacher center, teacher center for one year, then you return.

Carl Cambria: Rally on Wednesday the 24th. Start with where we are in terms of the negotiations. Meeting every day, all day. Members of 500 member negotiating committee have put a lot of time into negotiations, both internally and with DOE. We are trying our best to get a contract to ratify before the end of the school year. We want to bring the best possible contract that we can bring. The problem is that management/DOE does not share that same goal. They don’t work towards that goal. They are meeting us, having conversations with us, don’t have the same desire to get contract to our members. In terms of pace, they’d be fine with the contract taking 5 more years. They don’t have a desire to show they have some sort of vision for September. So we’re always the ones who need to drive this car. In this case, it’s that much more difficult. You’ve all had situations where you know how frustrating it can be at a school-level consultation. We are going back to them almost daily reminding them what we’re doing. Constantly. Don’t know if there’s going to be an agreement. As we stand at this moment, there is no agreement. Is there a path to an agreement? Path, yes, but we have to prepare it ourselves. Make no mistake, there is no agreement. We have a number of tentative agreements. That means that the rally is extremely important. I know it’s been said over and over again. It’s important not just for us to feel good, but to show the DOE and the City that we want a contract now. That’s been our slogan: fair contract now. Wednesday is about letting that be heard. They need to know it’s not just us at the negotiating table who care, but that all of us care. So continue emphasizing that to our members. Because they are not going to give that to us. The pattern is there – I’ve said that before. But it’s not in our pocket. The time is there for that to happen. Only have a few weeks until the end of the school year. If we get to an agreement in the next couple of weeks, we need a fast turnaround in terms of getting the information out. We have a lot of work to do. But we won’t have any work to do unless we get out in the street on Wednesday and force the City to an agreement.

Reports from Districts:

Rashad Brown: For first time in a while, UFT participated in AIDS walk, raised over $6k, which surpassed our goal. We had a good time. Thanks a few people. This is an annual event. Let’s have 50 out there next time.

Melody A.: Thank you to those who came out on May 13th for teacher leader action workcase. Good turnout, but also want it doubled. It’s important, I’m passionate about it. It deserves the attention it got and then some. Always around the same time.

Dave Walter: Update on school in d26 that won a union animus arbitration, 40 pages of a principal abusing an entire chapter. Thanks many. That principal went on leave and got a taste of what it means to have a collaborative environment. Took that to the streets to suggest what a positive environment they’re in. Got community behind them, in front of superintendent. Did not want the ‘abuser’ returned to their family; that principal is now no longer at that school.

Seung Lee: Sunday after spring conference, AAPI heritage parade was excellent. Families at event. Shouts out many. Teacher center will be releasing an AAPI curriculum that they’re field testing.

Daniel Rodriguez: Attended with some of my members at Bronx Health Sciences High School at Truman, rolling out AAPI curriculum. Well received. June 2nd, Bronx High Schools having celebration event. Everyone here is welcome.

Janella Hinds: Secretary soirée on Friday June 2nd in this room. Transform this room to celebrate secretaries from all schools. Hope you’ll join us if secretary from your school is being honored.

Special order of business – resolution on contract full disclosure

Ed Calamia: Common sense resolution that affirms our values, transparency, etc – gives generous amount of time to debate/discuss contracts that will determine their future. You want to read every line of a contract. Everyone in the union is busy, especially volunteers who do extra stuff. We need time to study these types of documents. You want to parse text, get together with others, bounce it back and forth. At the end of the day, it’s the members – rank and file. We want them to be able to understand the contract as if doing itself.

Mike Sill: Rise in opposition to motion. Understand where it’s coming from. Don’t think we should signal to DOE that we won’t ratify without 2 weeks. Don’t know what the intent is here, but don’t think we should signal anything to our opponents in this negotiation. As carl said, DOE is not anxious to come to a conclusion in these negotiations. If they wanted to put off a ratification vote until September, of course they’d use it.

Alex Jallot: In support. Think the spirit speaks to our union. Hear what the speaker was saying before about showing DOE how we’re operating. But this is an important resolution. This will dictate our lives.

Rashad Brown: I stand on a few negotiation committees form the last few years, and what I can say is that when we come back to the union hall we go through the contract language and how to bring that to our members. I don’t think there needs to be a reason to extend that time period. We are on the brink of a recession, this could stall the process. I think we should move forward with the Executive Body to bring that contract to our chapter leaders so that it can be brought to a vote.

Nick Bacon: I stand in support of this resolution in part because I’ve been through contract ratifications before. I remember the 2018 contract and that delegates didn’t have enough time. People didn’t know what they were voting on, especially around health care. Certain items were not understood such as first year teachers could not get plus 30 in the same easy way that most us were able to. Stuff like this leads to discontent. Teacher unionists work full days and can’t just read through a TA with 24 hours notice. If we’re going to vote on a contract that’s going to dictate so much of our lives, we need to be able to read it. At the DA when we voted to release the contract so our members could vote, a lot of us were saying that we didn’t know what we were voting on. We were told that we were not voting on it, we were giving members the ability to vote on it. But everyday members hear that we voted yes to let a contract go for a membership vote – they hear that Chapter leaders and delegates actually approved of the contract. For these reasons, we can’t give 24 hours notice to chapter leaders and delegates to vote.

Patty Crispino: There was not one time that I voted on a contract that I wasn’t aware what my union pointed out to me and what I chose to read. I don’t think any of our members need two weeks to look at what is important to our members. I think this resolution is somewhat insulting, that it would take anyone two weeks to read what is important. I trust our union leadership, and I trust our union.

Seung Lee: Two reasons I have issues on this resolution. Paragraph 4 talks about feelings, harmony, and think there’s an inherent contradiction in the writing. But aside, the last paragraph talks about the need for 2 weeks at every step. Perhaps lack of clarity? Misunderstanding intent? But this causes unnecessary delay – logistical nightmare. Unless I understood more of what was written here, I’d never vote for it.

Liz Perez: How many people presenting this have actually read the contract and the 2018 MOA? How could you possibly have harmony? How could we have that whenever we have exec boards and DAs things are reported out negatively? Imagine the negativity that will come out if 2 weeks notice are given. Right now we have a vote no campaign – you haven’t even seen the contract.

Question called.

Motion defeated.

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