Summary/Analysis: Today was a brief meeting, so you can probably get through them without much in the way of summary/analysis. I raised the issue of a reso we passed to end disproportionate impacts on high school teachers, to which Mike Sill said he’d follow up with the state education dept. Alex Jallot asked about the new dental RFP. Ed Calamia asked about the ability for UFT parents to attend elementary graduations. Ibeth Mejia asked about rating days being turned into instructional days. After this, some brief reports, mainly about special events, were given. Some familiar resolutions were ..read more

UFT members – New Action / UFT will have our last general meeting of the school year this Tuesday, June 4 at 5:30. We will discuss various updates, including healthcare and numerous UFT elections. If you are not already on our email list and want to be sent a zoom link, please sign up as a member here before the meeting ..read more

Summary/Analysis: Two NAC members—myself included—and one MORE member spoke out against the UFT’s apparent endorsement of Micah Lasher, a former Bloomberg operative and charter champion who Bloomberg himself lauded as an architect of Tier 6. I wrote an article about this in greater depth here. The bottom line is that there are other candidates in the race who are viable and who have a much better claim to being friends of public education. My feeling is ‘we’ endorsed him because he is a close associate of Hochul and other establishment politicians (the endorsement is only of Lasher in name, bu ..read more

The UFT has a major endorsement problem. In the past, I’ve written recollections and critiques of the usual process. In City elections, small, appointed groups of UFT members/staffers speak to the candidates and select one (sometimes two) to endorse. Later, the Executive Board rubber stamps these lists, before bringing them to the DA. That process is imperfect – you can read my piece linked above to learn why, but that’s not the process I’m critiquing today. Today, I’m critiquing UFT endorsements that are made without even a nod to process. There are two, slightly different instances in which ..read more

RA-Slate-Statement-2024Download ..read more

Ben is the most qualified candidate. Ben, a Brown-educated applied mathematician with experience in the financial sector, has not only the drive–but the competence–to do whatever is in his power to keep the pension solvent for all tiers, while working to get Tier 6 fixed. His opponent worked for the UFT pension office, but not in a role that comes close to overseeing a 100-billion-dollar investment fund. Ben has that experience – and he got it on Wall Street. Ben is committed to making the member-benefiting pension reforms we need. Unlike his competitor, he is an actual member of Tier 6 ..read more

Summary/analysis: The meeting opened with Roberta giving an impassioned theatric performance about the flaws of commercialized healthcare and the need for the New York Health Act. There’s no way my minutes did her performance justice. Norm Scott (ednotes) followed Roberta about the problems with our welfare fund, both with respect to dental and prescriptions. He also discussed the importance of the NYHA and the flaws in Medicare Advantage. Mulgrew then spoke about enforcement related questions around the class-size legislation and a DOH law about state staffing. The bonus was also discussed. A ..read more

In what is literally a life or death situation, all UFT Retirees need to vote for the slate RETIREE ADVOCATE in the upcoming Retired Teachers Chapter Election. In a shocking and unforgivable betrayal, Michael Mulgrew and Eric Adams conspire to place all municipal retirees into a trashbag, for-profit, and deadly Medicare Advantage Plan to save the mayor and his cronies a few extra bucks. But RETIREE ADVOCATE has stood strong and fought for our rights at every turn; in the streets, in union halls, and in court, to preserve the Traditional Medicare that was promised to us when ..read more

Help us GET OUT THE VOTE for: Ben Morgenroth for TRS Pension Trustee, Fix Para Pay Slate for Para Chapter Election and Retiree Advocate for Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) We’ve seen way too many cuts to our healthcare and pension, and wages that lag behind inflation. Each one of these races challenges Michael Mulgrew’s dangerous establishment control over our beloved union. They are also vital in educating our union family about the crisis regarding health & pension benefits and about our struggles with sub-inflation raises/wages.  Please share these campaigns and ..read more

Note: Thanks to Ed Calamia and Mike Shulman for taking notes, which were used to type up these minutes. Sill opens the meeting – Mulgrew is in Albany. Open Mic: Speaker 1: union supported me putting together programs for students when principal didn’t. Speaker 2: Dental plan (dentist dropped; then next dentist ‘no longer in network.’ My current dentist has a dirty office and a minimal exam schedule. Dental hasn’t been updated since 2016. Sill: no details of any real budget deal. Staff director report: MayDA à May 22. Spring conference coming up. Labor seder on Thursday in Brooklyn office. Open ..read more