UFT Town Hall September 2, 2020
UFT President Michael Mulgrew: This is the largest Town Hall we've ever done. This is a very good thing. People are getting on, wanting to hear all this information leading up to Tuesday. Thank you all for being here.
I want to start by thanking you for all we've been through since March. We made a promise back in April at our first Town Hall. We won't go back until it's safe. What was needed included PPE, face shields, ventilation, deep cleaning, ionization machines, etc, all need to be in place. We wanted an agreed upon procedure for entry, food, etc, and everything had to be worked out. We needed a mandated testing program and all was looked at by independent medical professionals.
Yesterday, over 2800 people heard the plan and approved. It became so personal for us as a union. We were hit so hard. Reading names who passed away on exec calls, every weak. Dealing with the craziness that included Spring break which still needs to be dealt with. Remote teaching needed to be worked out. We made it through the school year. NYC was doing better than everybody else. In April we made a pact that we would need certain things to make reopening work and we wanted to plan back then. Nothing in May. Started talking in June to start the process of getting all the equipment and supplies. We got the list together. In July the Mayor gave the green light to get started. We said this would be tough. The Mayor said we didn't need an agreement just go to school. He didn't think we would go back at him. All those interviews, he was posturing. He didn't take us seriously. We expected to be listened to when there's a problem. We will not be used as a political pawns. Again in July, there was no agreement about going in and nothing was going on. The plans were only fine for places where there were no outbreaks. Was not appropriate at all for NYC.
Then we started to have school based meetings about what a strike might look like.
We agreed to sit down and we were there to represent you all. Conversation was clear. We both want to open the schools.
This has to be real. We needed everything in our plan. This is a legal document we can go to court with. No grievances. This is a check and balance. This is something to CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: UFT Town Hall September 2, 2020