UFT Elections – New Action wins 10 seats – Disappointing Turnout
Based on yesterday’s unofficial returns (and as expected), New Action will have 10 seats on the new UFT Executive Board. New Action returns Douglas Haynes, Francisco Peña, Maria Ramos, Michael Shulman (at large) and Bill Goldman and Jonathan Halabi (high schools), and adds Joel Garcia, Regina Gori and Kate Martin-Bridge (at large) and Keith Fessel (high schools).
New Action’s vote was 9.4%, a decline from 2010, but better than the previous two elections.
The big story, unfortunately, is the overall drop in turnout. Less than one in four UFTers returned ballots. Among in-service members, just 18% participated.
This is symptomatic of many members not feeling part of the union, not being involved. But that is where a union’s strength should lie, in an active membership. New Action will continue to prioritize rebuilding chapters and organizing at the school level, to involve members in the life of our union.
The drop in vote is also symptomatic of members being overwhelmed, angry, and confused: Overwhelmed by the unreasonable and unceasing demands of a system that seems designed to punish educators with paperwork and impossible requirements, not to allow us to educate children; Angry about colocations and school closings, about the threat of being forced into the ATR pool, about losing 20 or more days each year to testing and test prep, angry about maltreatment at the hands of abusive administrators; Confused that our union is not doing more, and is cooperating with Danielson and a new, potentially dangerous teacher evaluation system. Each of these is a challenge to our strength. New Action remains committed to addressing all of these issues – be it by supporting the leadership, by urging a more active approach, or by opposing the leadership where they have taken a wrong stance.
There is much work going forward.
MH
What difference does it make. We never knew those who were doing their best or their worst anyway. It has been our experiences that “the phone calls were never answered.” Our claims were treated and are still treated as if an educator with a bachelors or and master degrees came from france small f, and not from the educational institute for high learning. The joy of the trip is bound by the great and mighty bountiful. What does that mean for those teachers whose claims were downsized, and down the line policies that allowed teachers to keep their jobs then the policies were removed from the “well since this was the first time I was able to convenience the union that you can work at another school, just not here., Now that I just dont like you. The board of ed. just stick it to us by changing the policy for a one time “u” that would have given us a chance to work at other schools, however we are told to “go back to that “administrative abusor and have them change their minds, while the union representing you must stand back and say nothing, doesn’t ever answer their telephones, and/or just dont say something because it’s close to our vacation time. Those who would challenge the great oz strategy and profiled statements which leeped on the two words coperal punishment to fabricate and showcases the demised of teachers, and subs. Yes, we can tell when we are wrong, but we can also tell when we are right . I know that teachers, substitute teachers were unfairly represented meaning that there have been practices that were unjust with messages written from infants really too sweet to turn down written in the ebonicks tones for the more than silk bosses, word out states “administrative abusers,” The truth is those on the inside could and would not talk just to keep their job security. Folks, you work in a vaccum that disappears when the thinking hits the fan, and a consultant works justifies their work so that their work can remain as something moviing in the spot light of the overall spectrum. Oh well, maybe its just the big screen tv or the really high profile cases, well the union does save jobs, everybody else is still looking to you to reset the polices and any criteria for the good and satety of its educational institution..