NYC Educator: The UFT Million Name Ballot Subverts Democracy

NYC Educator: The UFT Million Name Ballot Subverts Democracy:

The UFT Million Name Ballot Subverts Democracy

When you tell members of the elite, invitation-only UFT Unity Caucus that you don't like the fact that everyone with a vote in UFT, NYSUT, and AFT has signed a loyalty oath and represents leadership rather than membership, they'll first deny it exists. When you show it to them, they'll say it's just a guideline, or that it's meaningless, or some other such nonsense. When you tell them you're still upset that every rep without exception represents leadership rather than membership, they'll say no, there are elections, and everyone was elected. They'll forget that almost no one in rank and file knows about the loyalty oath.

Get up in public and talk about the oath and they'll shout you down. The truth hurts.

But they are right. There is a ballot, and you can vote. You can place a big X next to Unity, MORE, or New Action. You might know that former opposition New Action now supports the Unity presidential candidate, and you might not. But you almost certainly don't know the thousands of names on the ballot, and it's unlikely you want to split the ballot and pick names one by one. There are some Unity people I really like, but I wouldn't do that even if I found their politics acceptable.

One year I did, though, and it took me almost an hour. About twenty years ago Randi Weingarten came to our school. She came with the then-UFT VP for academic high schools, some guy whose name I forget. He got up and insisted that there was no truth to the rumor that UFT was going to make it 25 years to hit maximum pay, and that anyone who said so was a filthy liar. I raised my hand and asked why, then, did Sandra Feldman send me something in the mail asking me to vote for a contract in which it took 25 years to hit maximum pay.

The VP had no idea what to say to that. Randi answered very gracefully. I have no recollection of what she said but it was a tough question and she did give an answer. I decided she was the smartest person in the room. She also made very vulgar remarks about Rudy Giuliani, which I NYC Educator: The UFT Million Name Ballot Subverts Democracy: