Andrew Cuomo (still) has much to answer for
Couldn’t blame you for missing it, with all the news this week. Disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo went to Washington to testify about nursing home deaths in New York during early in the pandemic. The MAGA panel tried to make him look bad. He tried to blame Trump. Here’s the full testimony. Here’s a news report before the hearing. Here’s Cuomo trying to lawyer his way out of it. And here’s a news report after the hearing.
It’s been a while. You probably remember that Cuomo resigned – but you may not remember why. Disgraced former governor. We say “disgraced.” But do you remember why?
There were allegations of sexual harassment, verbal and physical. That’s what most people remember.
And then allegations that he had Executive staff (people working for the state of New York) work on his book about how brilliantly he fought the pandemic. This was a pretty serious ethics violation, but the ethics panel itself had problems, and all its decisions were overturned. In the end, Andy pocketed over $5 million, much of it the fruit of the labor of government employees, doing their boss’ private work. Fewer people remember that. But proven corruption?
There was also what a jerk he was to people around him. That’s not why he resigned. But it is, when his world seemed like it was about to crumble, so many people who knew him well just watched it happen, and smirked.
But then there was this. At the start of the pandemic, when everything was a mess, patients were being discharged from the hospital, alive. Cuomo had assumed emergency powers. And he ordered that elderly patients, out of the hospital, go back to their nursing homes (the lawyers will say I got the details wrong. Let them). He sent thousands back, and infected thousands more. At some point that spring, if New York Nursing Homes were the 51st state, they would have been the state with the worst death rate in the country. It was horrible.
Perhaps worse, as the first wave of the pandemic subsided, Cuomo realized how bad this looked, and juiced the numbers to make it look like fewer died in nursing homes. He made a mistake in March, and compounded it by “lying with numbers” that summer.
Here’s a nursing home scandal time line (from Alessandra Biaggi, but I reprinted it). What’s missing is at whose behest Cuomo jiggered the policy. Stefanik (see below) suggests that it may have been at the request of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
He can be disgraced for harassment, for assault, for corruption, for mismanagement with fatal consequences, and for coverup. It doesn’t have to be one. They can all be true.
So the Republican house panel calls him in. It’s all about COVID and nursing homes in New York. They are vile. It’s all political. They try to show that Cuomo messed up. Hmm. They are vile and political. Slime. But on the other hand, they are right, Cuomo messed up, and then compounded it.
Cuomo responds by claiming he did nothing wrong. And blaming Trump. Well, yes, Trump was horrible. I saw the news conferences. “One day it will all go away” Trump lied. But Cuomo did nothing wrong? Pants on fire.
It’s easy to forget the details. Cuomo seemed so smart next to Trump (and de Blasio? meh) Here’s what I wrote about them then. Cuomo seemed smart and competent in comparison. In comparison with Trump and de Blasio. Talk about a low bar.
But Cuomo? Dishonest. Braggart. Loudmouth. Bully. Remember when Cuomo took away our spring break (and Mulgrew supported him)? Remember when Cuomo said he would never close schools? Jerk. Before he realized he’d messed up on nursing homes, he said, facing the camera, and addressing himself to parents “You will explain to them. Grandma and Grandpa will die.” No, he was no genius, no hero.
Trump can be an incompetent liar. And Cuomo can be a mismanaging jerk. Both can be true.
And as far as COVID – Trump’s response was abysmal. The US still has more COVID deaths than any other country. He blathered nonsense, and worse. But Cuomo, for his poise, left New York with the 7th highest case rate and 11th highest death rates in the country, trailing a handful of smaller, mostly southern and Appalachian states.
North Country representative Elyse Stefanik, a real slimeball, asked Cuomo to apologize to New Yorkers in the back of the chamber who lost parents and grandparents during the spring of 2020. He declined.
Stefanik is a slimeball. But Cuomo still has a lot to answer for.
Better Dental? Elections have consequences
The insurgents won the Retiree Election in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in June. We took office in July. This summer has been about getting set up, getting ready. Every officer, every executive board member of the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) ran as part of the Retiree Advocate (RA) slate. We’ve met several times, made plans for Labor Day, are working on plans for the first RTC meeting on October 22.
We also won all 300 retiree delegates to the UFT Delegate Assembly. Those delegates will start, in October, voting on policy for the entire union. And those 300 delegates, if the rumor is true, have already changed things.
Three hundred delegates is a lot. The UFT has, I don’t know, about 5000? But at any given Delegate Assembly (DA), somewhere between 400 and 1200 seem to vote. So 300 is a lot.
Of course, not everyone will attend every DA. When Unity had the 300 retiree delegates (this winner-take-all system is sick), it was hard to tell, but I think they often brought fewer than 100 retirees. So one thing we have been working on is a system to get more RTC delegates to attend DAs and participate. We’ve generated some real enthusiasm; I’m optimistic.
And if we have 200 – 250 delegates showing up – there’s the obvious question – to do what? Largely, listen to the reports, listen to the debates, make up their minds, and vote. This is a huge change. Barr takes his glasses off or puts them on, to signal Unity delegates how they must vote. Unity operates with “plants” in the assembly with scripts, and Mulgrew knows to call on them. Unity delegates read statements that were prepared for them, not their own words. That’s gross. And we (RA) are not operating like that.
But will RA or the RTC delegates bring matters before the Assembly? Of course. We were elected to change things. And looking at the issues and motions and resolutions from the last few years, several things stood out. We are angriest about Medicare, and what Unity (and Mulgrew, and the Welfare Fund) tried to do to retirees. Furious. But Mulgrew has backed down.
Aggravating, Annoying, UFT Dental Coverage
Another issue that came up easily brought together in-service and retired members: the UFT Welfare Fund’s dental coverage. Reimbursements have not increased in almost a decade. They are fairly low, even compared to other unions. My dentist won’t go “in network” because the reimbursements for cleanings, fillings, and crowns are way too low. Members find that implants aren’t covered, or are covered so minimally that they are left with big bills. Many dentists accept our plan, but then bill on top of it. Dental has UFTers annoyed…
Dental coverage costs money. But the UFT Welfare Fund has been stockpiling large amounts of cash. A decade ago they had a reserve that would not quite cover the payouts for a single year (if money ever stopped coming in, which it won’t). This year the Welfare Fund has almost three year’s reserve. That’s a lot! (2013 – $252 million; 2023 – $866 million). Also, the Welfare Fund, since 2016, has run a “surplus” of between $40 million and $100 million each year. This is not called “profit” because the Welfare Fund is “non-profit” – but you get the idea. They’ve managed to squirrel away – it’s getting near a billion dollars – and it is growing rapidly – while members are having trouble finding dentists.
Last April some Delegates brought a motion to the Delegate Assembly – it said, in essence, spend a little of that gold on improving our dental care. Unity used a procedural trick to defeat the motion – and they did stop it – but the margin was three votes. 3. One, two, three. Are you thinking what I am thinking? What difference would 300 new, independent, make-up-their-own-minds RTC delegates make? Mm-hm.
(For the April vote, see the details below, and the text of the resolution, at the bottom of this post.)
At the following two exec board meetings Welfare Fund representatives tried to justify Unity’s quashing dental improvements. Prescription drugs are costly, they said. They are holding money aside for Ozempic. They are doing a better job than the PSC (the CUNY Professional Staff Congress, that actually has better coverage than ours). When they were coherent, they were not compelling. There really was not good response
Elections have Consequences – 300 Delegates make a Difference
Clearly a dental resolution was going to be in the cards. We would have won. And we would have shown the whole Delegate Assembly that the 300 new delegates make a difference. We would have shown the whole UFT. Elections have consequences.
But Unity figured this out.
Later this month, probably at the Town Hall on September 17 or the Chapter Leader meeting September 18, UFT leaders will announce a plan to improve our Dental insurance. It will be something. It probably will not be enough.
But remember – the people bringing you these changes voted NO on improving dental in April. What happened? 300 new retiree delegates happened. Independent voices at the DA, that’s what happened. Even before the first day we show up, our presence, or rather, the rumor of our presence, is already forcing Unity’s hand. Those footsteps Mulgrew is hearing? That’s us.
Elections do have consequences. We just won a dental victory without firing a shot. I wonder what we will change next.
April 17, 2024 Motion to Improve Dental Care – Unity blocked it from the agenda:
April 2024. In hall: 47 yes, 184 no. On the phone: 432 yes, 298 no. Total 479 yes, 482 no. The motion failed.
Resolution to Raise Welfare Fund Dental Reimbursement Rates
Whereas, the UFT Welfare Fund’s dental plan reimbursement rates to dentists have not increased since 2016 and result in high out- of-pocket costs to members, and
Whereas, more dentists would participate in our plan if the reimbursement rates were higher, and
Whereas dental health is crucial to the mental and physical well being of members and their dependents of all ages, and
Whereas, based on the last 5 years of tax returns, the UFT Welfare Fund has brought in an annual average revenue of $94 million above what we spend, and maintains net assets of $800 million as of 2022, more than twice the fund’s annual expenditures, and
Whereas, since the Dental Schedule was last updated in 2016, benefits paid by the Welfare Fund has increased by only 11.6%, whereas the Welfare Fund’s investments have grown by 212%, and
Whereas UFT Welfare Fund reimbursement rates are less than other New York City municipal union welfare funds, for example PSC pays dentists more for every single dental procedure, including $341 for resin crowns, while the UFT Welfare Fund only reimburses $100 with a $150 copay, and
Whereas a recent rank-and-file initiated survey of hundreds of UFT members showed that 54% of members found it hard or extremely hard to find a participating dentist, 64% have had more than one dentist tell them they don’t participate in the plan because reimbursement rates are so low, and half of those surveyed have spent more than $1000 on dental care in the past year, therefore be it
Resolved that the UFT resume publishing the Welfare Fund annual report on our website, and make a detailed financial report on the Fund at annually to the Executive Board, and be it further
Resolved, that the Welfare Fund report to the Delegate Assembly the cost of providing members with the same level of reimbursement as provided by the PSC to its members and be it further
Resolved, that the UFT engage members with a comprehensive survey about how to use the excess revenue to improve welfare fund benefits and be it further
Resolved, that the UFT Welfare Fund raise reimbursement rates by at least 75% by the end of 2024, in a way consistent with maintaining a healthy reserve.
16 Days in Kursk in Maps
From ISW (Institute for the Study of War). All the maps, except the first, are at the same scale. One map per day, August 7 through August 22 (and yes, that’s 16, not 15. Think about how many maps there were August 7 through August 10. Not 3. That’s math.)
It’s not clear what the objective is – to boost morale? to harm the enemy’s morale? Those have been met, to some extent. To take territory? To take more territory? To create a buffer zone? To hold territory? Zelensky mentioned the buffer zone – which is likely part of the objective, making all of those objectives, which may be met. To cause a leadership or command and control crisis? Hard to say, but that might be, partially, a side-effect. To pull Russian divisions out of eastern Ukraine to defend Kursk? That hasn’t happened.
The area in blue today is about the size of Rhode Island.
The blue part is still getting bigger, but not as rapidly as ten days ago. I think it helps to see the maps when reading the latest news.
Oh, one more theory, floating through rumor mills, and I’ve also seen it in print: the objective or an objective might be – to have territory to trade when negotiations finally begin.
I have been reading a lot about this war. I hate this war. I hate the killing and destruction. I hate the loss of life. And I am fascinated by, and absolutely terrified of, the massive use of drones – observation, loitering munitions (essentially flying bombs), heat sensing… But while I hate this war, I read a lot about it, mostly, and ironically, from two deeply pro-war sources – ISW is one of them (I only reluctantly linked, and that’s because I used their maps), and one of the Russian milibloggers (military bloggers), the Fisherman (Rybar, Рыбарь), is the other. I guess I could put up Rybar’s maps, but they are far more detailed, and harder to parse at a glance.
Won in court, won at the ballot
No matter what anyone says…
Medicare Advantage for UFT Retirees was defeated, by retirees,
- In the courts and
- In the Retired Teachers Chapter election.
Check. And mate.
Mulgrew can make up excuses… but he was still supporting privatized medicare before the last appeal failed, and still boosting it before his retiree election slate got wiped out. He argued Medicare Advantage’s merits in his campaign literature. And he sent his lawyer to consult with NYC’s attorneys during the last appeal, while they tried to stave off defeat.
Today Mulgrew announced that the UFT was no longer supporting Medicare Advantage. And he gave excuses. Weak excuses. And he left out “because the retirees forced me. They beat me in court, and they beat me in union elections.”
Retired Teacher election… What if?
What if the election were held tomorrow? And what if all the results were the same as 2022? Except the retirees were the same as the election that just happened?
Let me explain.
Unity controls (controlled?) just about everything…
The party, actually “caucus” that runs the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is called Unity. And Unity has controlled the union from its founding. Really controlled it. They do not have all the chapter leaders (stewards) but they dominate the rest. They have had all of the officers, for 3/4 of a century, with one exception for one term (Michael Shulman, New Action, High School VP for one term, then Unity changed the rules so that that could not occur again, without a sweep. They have had all the exec board positions – except they’ve lost the high schools, at least in recent years, more than they’ve won them (but that’s 7 seats out of 102), and back decades ago they lost the middle schools once or twice. Unity controls the “functional chapters” (secretaries, nurses, etc) – with a notable loss of the Occupational Therapists / Physical Therapists an election ago, and a footnote on the Paraprofessionals this time who contested and won some positions, but not Chapter Leader or delegates.
… but not the RTC
And now the Retirees. In an earthquake, the Retired Teachers Chapter voted Unity out of the leadership. 24.9% of eligible retirees voted for Bennett Fischer, and 14.7% voted for Tom Murphy. So the edge is big, 63% – 37% of those who voted, but because turnout was ok, almost 1 in 4 voting for Retiree Advocate (and Bennett) is a big deal. Consider the last general election, 2022, where Mulgrew got 16% beating Camille Eterno’s 8.4%. By comparison Bennett’s 25% is pretty big for a UFT election. Just to fill in a bit, Retiree Advocate also won 300 delegates (how many delegates are at the delegate assembly? 5000? More? Less?). I have been posting – my own mini-victory post – an account of realizing what was happening (we used to call this a tick-tock – but that now means something else) – and some thoughts on campaigning and how I’d missed the prediction.
Think about the 2022 UFT election
For as long as I’ve been around, there has been Unity, and there have been others. Sometimes the other groups unite for an election – sometimes not. Using numbers that go back for two decades, I came up with three points:
- The retiree vote was stable, about 85-15%, for Unity, until the news of Medicare Advantage broke in 2021, and then it shifted to 70-30%, and now 37-63%. These numbers involve significant numbers of Unity voters switching sides, but also voters dropping out, and new voters coming in
- The Unity vote has been slipping for all in-service categories, with minor blips, but a major twenty year downward trend. From 2004 to 2022, they’ve lost about half their teacher votes. These votes have NOT in general gone to opposition groups. Unity supporters quit voting.
- The opposition group, totaled, has stayed pretty level over the same period. It generally goes down when the divisions are bigger, and goes up when the groups run together. Best two years, unsurprisingly, were 2016, when MORE and New Action ran together, and 2022 when a coalition called United for Change formed. Worst was 2019 when the divisions were bitter. In service totals (rounded) were: 6100, 6200, 6400, 5800, 8500, 4600, 8300. The ebbs and flows with these numbers do not correspond to opposite movement in Unity’s numbers – these are not Unity voters.
So Unity has been slipping. And in 2022 the opposition groups were united, which clearly generates extra votes. UFC won the high schools, and the middle schools were in range… but that’s only 7 of 103 seats, with another 4 that might have been possible.
Here’s the actual 2022 turnout numbers:
And here’s the actual 2022 results:
But what if…?
What if retirees voted in 2022 the way they did just now? Let’s change the table, and see.
An important note… retiree votes are “capped” at 22,000 23,500, to prevent us from outweighing in-service members in union-wide votes. So instead of the raw totals 17,227 RA, and 10,115 Unity, I am inputting 13,861 14,806 for UFC (which RA participated in) and 8139 8694 for Unity.
Fantasy results – 2022 – but with 2024 Retiree Numbers*
* Revised. The retiree cap is no longer 22,000, but now 23,500, leading to a slightly higher “fantasy” margin for United for Change
Look, there’s a lot of variables in play. These numbers do not represent an election that actually happened – I combined numbers from two elections. But we should not be talking about whether Unity will lose a division or two in 2025 – the overall vote is at stake.
I have not engaged in discussion, so I don’t know. I don’t know if an “opposition” will unite in 2025. I don’t know if the surge in retiree votes was a blip, and if it will revert to the mean. I don’t know if Unity will continue bleeding support. I don’t know how big that para vote was. But assuming a unified opposition? Big assumption – but assuming it – Unity would be favored to win elementary seats only, and middle school would be a toss up. The opposition would be favored to win high school, functional, and sweep the at-large positions.
Some considerations if this vote did happen
This would mean all 12 officers, 86 or 90 of 102 Executive Board seats, and 750 delegates to the AFT Convention. It would mean a voice on the national stage (or voices) that have previously been shut out. It would mean an opportunity to bring in democratic changes in the UFT, such as proportional representation, and ending winner-take-all, in a way that would be hard to undo (ironically, after one election cycle, this would guarantee Unity a voice, if it continued to exist).
On attitude – an open leadership would be more accessible to the membership. And we would also make sure that policies and proposals were reaching members in schools… we could reinvigorate the act of having a chapter or union-wide discussion. (We know, some resolutions are passed, filed away, and… nothing. We could stop that).
On policies? Certainly health care. Dental. Support for chapters in crisis. A platform discussion would be a serious thing – because it would have real implications. Where do we agree? What priorities could we agree to move? I like looking at the Retiree Advocate 2024 platform – both practical and progressive. But obviously there are more than retiree issues only. The 2022 UFC Platform was a mix of feel-good items and policy proposals. We would certainly want to look at that, especially in regards to items that we would jointly prioritize. Certainly this union needs to relearn how to mobilize membership. And as we do that, we will be capable, as a union, of doing more good for our members, our students, our city. Right? The question is not just a platform… we would be proposing change that we would be in a place to make happen.
How to make this happen?
It would be foolish to aim for 51%. A winning campaign would shoot much higher. In RA’s victory, because our margin was large, there was no challenge. Things would be different if it were close.
Certainly aiming for less than a unified coalition would be self-defeating. Too much is at stake for anyone to declare they would be satisfied with 7 or 11 Exec Board seats.
We would have to look at what went right and what went wrong in 2022. In some ways this will be easier, because there are fewer players. But clear guidelines will help. Who actually is at the table? Putting platform and division of position up front could establish better trust.
New Action has a leafletting operation – extensive, but with some questions about the impact. I think it is an essential part of a campaign, but not the only part. MORE did strong one on one work in some schools, and some text banking and phone banking. Those are very valuable. But there is a pretty big gap… outreach into schools and districts where we are not. Flyering a school where we have no one is better than not flyering, but has little impact. And one on one conversations can’t happen where we don’t have people. After actually forming a coalition, that outreach would be the biggest challenge.
Retiree Advocate’s recent victory helps provide some guidance. Certainly social media helped. We have, among us, bloggers (with more influence than me!) The NYCOPSR would have significant impact (the same or similar number in absolute terms, but less in relative terms since most of the votes will not be from retirees). But the ground game, the outreach – we would need to match that. “Each one – Reach one” would be pivotal. Leveraging personal networks into campaigning, and then GOTV work. And we could not run a symbolic slate. All the officers, all the exec board positions, and all 750 delegates. That’s because we would be running to win – but also because those 750 delegates would bring our ground game to life.
Will this happen? Lots could go wrong. Could it happen? Look at those numbers. You tell me.
The Retired Teachers vote – What I missed
If you asked me to predict the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) election in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) a few weeks ago, I would have said “we have a chance, but we are underdogs.” If you begged me for a number, and I trusted you not to repeat it, I might have said “43% – 57%, best Retiree Advocate result ever, but not yet enough to win.”
And it turned out, I was wrong. Not only did Retiree Advocate win, but we (I am part of Retiree Advocate, or RA) won big, it wasn’t close. Retiree Advocate beat Unity Caucus 63% to 37%. What did I miss? (Spoiler, I had all the evidence, but I ignored it.)
I have not worked with Retiree Advocate before. I wasn’t retired until two years ago. I had not previously seen their campaign up close. Each year RA ran 100 or so candidates – all the officers (10) and exec board (15), but not all of the delegates (300). As I understand it, the biggest part of previous campaigns was a one-page flyer. In RTC elections, ballots are mailed to retiree homes. Election rules include with the ballot a one-page flyer from each caucus. There also was some flyer distribution, and some social media. There may have been some phone calls? It was a credible campaign, although the result was usually a symbolic 10%-15% of the RTC vote.
(Three years ago, news of Mulgrew and the MLC’s Medicare Advantage plan broke during the election. RA added one line to its flyer – but that one line, and word of mouth, led to a surge in votes – 29%. A year later, in the general election, RA as part of a coalition also won 29%. Perhaps the damage to Unity was done, and this was the new reality?)
- Here is discussion of retiree voting patterns and numbers from 2022: The Retiree Vote
- Here is discussion of numbers for the election that just happened – 1 day before – Some Numbers
So what took an underdog campaign and turned it into a winner? Well, the easy answer is correct: Medicare Advantage. Retirees did not want Medicare Advantage, and instead of backing down, Unity doubled down. Mulgrew kept supporting the City’s appeals (at first openly, later you could tell because Mulgrew’s lawyer was helping the City) – and even on Unity’s election flyer they wrote that Medicare Advantage was better than our current health care. This was, for the most part, a one issue campaign.
But what were the mechanics that turned Unity’s pigheaded commitment to a scheme that enraged retirees into the votes that defeated them? UFT elections are generally low-turnout affairs… and Unity has loyalists… and was starting with a huge built-in advantage (all the jobs, all the positions, all the publicly facing stuff) and a voting record (16000 to 6500 in the last chapter election).
10,000 more votes than last
But the results came in. And we pulled in over 10,000 more votes. How did we get them?
NYCOPSR
The biggest single source was the support of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees (the group behind the law suits that have stopped the City/MLC/Mulgrew Medicare Advantage plan). Marianne mentioned us multiple times, had several of us on her YouTube shows, and pushed her supporters within the UFT RTC to vote for us.
Advertising, flyering, and media seems to have been a bigger campaign than in the past. We were in front of UFT borough offices, at events, even in complexes where concentrations of UFT retirees live. We took advertisements in Patch and the Chief and other publications. We got letters into local and community newspapers, and even into the Voice of the People in the NY Daily News. Compared to previous campaigns, I think this was a bigger, more organized effort. And it probably moved votes. Yet we know that this sort of indirect campaign helps, and helps set a tone, but that it takes direct campaigning to change many minds, to get individuals to mail in a ballot.
Retail campaigning , partially by accident, partially by design, was huge. One on one. Friend to friend. Acquaintance to acquaintance.
300 Candidates
Retiree Advocate made a crucial decision to run a “full slate.” ie 300 candidates. In the previous election we had run about 120. We made this decision because we wanted to present ourselves with a full ticket, wanted to underline that this was a real campaign, that we were an actual alternative. RA might have been a protest vote in previous elections – in this election we were a real alternative (even if we thought victory unlikely). And so it was important to us to run the full 300. (note: I was involved with the “candidate committee” where we coordinated recruitment).
It turned out not to be easy to get to 300. We asked RA members first. And people who had run with us in the past. And we stalled out around 200. Of course, we started early, so this was early December. We dug deeper – we reached out more broadly. And we brought more in. Late December Marianne put out an appeal, and then another, to UFT Retirees, and there was good response. And crucially, we asked candidates to reach out to more candidates – and ended up with people we had never met. We didn’t just get to our number (331) – but we broadened as we got there – and we began to activate our candidates in the process of building the campaign.
A couple more notes on the candidates. We asked all RA candidates to read and accept (not necessarily agree with every line, but accept) our platform. And the overwhelming majority did. As we got closer we did lose a few people – four rejected the platform, some never responded, a few changed their minds, a couple were UFT Retirees, but not members of the RTC, one woman passed, someone was trying to run on both RA and Unity’s slates – but we had our 300. We also were aware that Unity was having different struggles filling its slate. Some people were on their list who reported not being aware they were, others agreed but only after multiple calls. Some prominent names were missing. They seem to have finalized their 300 significantly later than RA.
As we moved into April and May, it turned out that among our 300 candidates, who included people Retiree Advocate had not known before this year – some from the NYCOPSR, many from friends of friends or colleagues of colleagues – among our 300, some of whom had already recruited candidates – we had campaign activists.
Each one, Reach one
We had 3 overlapping lists – the Retiree Advocate listserve – a Retiree Advocate mailing list (which we migrated to nationbuilder) – and our candidates. My work was mostly with the candidates – but there was some similar work with the lists. I have to say, the candidates we had already managed to – almost inadvertently – semi-activate during the recruitment period. This was pushing on an open door.
We asked candidates to develop expanded lists of who they could solicit for support. Friends. Acquaintances. Family. Anyone who is a UFT retiree. Former colleagues.
As we got closer to the balloting, we sent out more specific messages. Rather than describe them, I will share some:
Write emails to anyone you know who is UFT. Friends. Neighbors. Bridge partners. Book club members (please – this is one of the most important things we can do). Bring up election at lunch/social events with other retirees. (Please do)
Who can you reach who you have not reached? That’s the Get Out the Vote piece for us – since 80% of new voters will be RA votes. We don’t need to target – any retiree helps. Who have we not thought of? How can we get to them? A phone call is only one person – but much more effective than a mass-mailing. Are there phone calls – or personal emails – that we can still make? Please share ideas / success stories.
And keep calling and emailing retirees you know… every vote matters.
Can you email How your calls and emails are going? (positive responses?) when your ballot arrives and you vote? How many people you have on your list to call/email?
Did you reach out to every UFT retiree you know?
- Friends √
- Relatives √
- Neighbors – did you miss anyone?
- Former Colleagues? Worth trying everyone
- Members of social groups, book clubs, classes, etc? There are lots of people here
- Friends of relatives. Relatives of friends. Keep thinking!
Happy to organize some brainstorming – almost everyone can find a few people they had not thought of.
Call people who said they are voting for RA, and make sure they voted. There are people who promised to vote for us. Let’s make sure they follow through. This is a genuine “Get out the Vote” activity (the rest is campaigning) – and GOTV is what makes or breaks modern campaigns. If they say yes, they voted, ask for a detail. I usually ask which post office they brought it to. Most people will tell you – but some will say “oh, actually, I’m about to mail it in” – and you might have just saved a vote! These are OUR votes – and we need to make sure that none of them are left on top of the refrigerator
(optional) – Do you want to call other Retiree Advocate supporters, and help explain to them how to “Get out the Vote”? If you do, respond, and we can set you up with some calls.
Calls
Interestingly enough, we got a strong response for volunteers to make phone calls. We should have started earlier, and made more of them. The calls generally had three questions. Here’s an email I sent to a volunteer:
thank you for offering to make calls. The schmoozier the better – helps morale, keeps people pushing (the campaign runs until mid-June, but most of the voting will be done in a couple of days). The routine is, 1. Make sure they voted. 2. Make sure they did some outreach to others. and then the big one. 3. Ask them to get back in touch with everyone who said they planned to vote for us. Did THOSE people mail in their ballots? This has been saving a good number of votes.
I think distinguishing between phone banking voters (which is good) and phone banking campaigners (which is worth so much more) was very important.
And I made a bunch of calls. And the results were amazing. The responses were positive. And I had all the information I needed to realize that we were winning. And I felt great about the responses, but somehow I stopped myself from reevaluating how well we were doing based on this entirely accurate information. Disbelief got in my way?
Positive Responses I Got (and discounted, wrongly)
Phone call to a supporter/candidate. He’d been out making calls. Good. He had recruited key people who had worked at other schools, and got them to work the retiree lists from their schools as well. I asked about any pushback – what percentage were saying they weren’t sure, or voting for Unity. None. He said there were no Unity voters. I thought that was fantastic. But did not factor it into my predictions. And I also missed that he had reached groups retired from multiple schools, and turned some of them into captains. Each one, reach one? Or each one, reach scores?
Phone call to a supporter/candidate. Prominent in her community, gave her some extra clout campaigning. Also well connected with her retirees from her previous school, and with connections from some other schools. She had been diligent about reaching all of them. Any pushback? None. Not a single Unity voter. Fantastic! But I didn’t factor that in.
Phone call to a supporter/candidate who I knew from years ago, from my first school. Let’s call him Dave, because that’s his name. He’s been a supporter, but not super-active, I don’t think. I have not been in touch. But he was always a fun guy, nice to talk, and he liked talking to me. He was a little surprised, pleasantly, I hope, by my call, and happy to talk – and some people are just nice to talk to. You know people like that. He had done a little outreach, didn’t know that many people who were UFT Retirees, but those that he did, he had lined up their votes. And we were talking and schmoozing, and having a nice time, and some reminiscences from the old days, I remember I was on the phone, walking up Broadway, near NYU, and he remembered that he had numbers for a bunch of people from our school, and hung up – interrupted a nice conversation – to go make calls. How many points for enthusiasm is that? Fantastic! But I didn’t factor that in.
I reached out to people who are members of Unity, or used to be members of Unity. In some cases I appealed for a vote for Retiree Advocate, with some success. Several actually agreed to campaign. Some would not vote RA, but agreed to vote for me. So first, as a sign of respect, I was touched. And second, this included people who would not have done that in former elections. And it wasn’t just me.
Many of us were not afraid to campaign directly with members of the Unity Caucus. We got some votes. We learned that their support was already crumbling. Frankly, we could have done much more. Among this group, yes, there was anger over privatizing Medicare, but for some there was accumulated resentment, in some cases distrust. Unity had not done a great job among their own supporters.
Phone call to a former Unity member, who I knew would campaign for us. Told me back in January that they were unwilling to be a candidate, but would work their contacts. I didn’t need to make this call. The person has a significant network of contacts, from multiple schools, from a few adjoining neighborhoods, and even without my calls texted me periodically on the progress they were making harvesting votes. And nope, no pushback that people were voting the other way. Absolutely fantastic! But I didn’t factor this in.
There were a lot more calls. And I reached out to voters (not campaigners) as well – but once we had their vote, still tried to get them to find someone else. All good stories. But what I shared above are some of the best.
It is true, my friends and contacts were already willing to talk to an opposition person (me) which skews my sample. And most (not all) of these reports are Bronx and most (not all) of these reports are high school… But there was good evidence that the election was going far better than I thought, and I ignored that evidence.
Retiree Advocate – When I knew we had won
August 2023 – May 2024
We had a chance, but we were underdogs. I started saying that August 2023, and I stuck with that line until the results started coming in Friday, June 14, 2024. The Retired Teachers Chapter of the United Federation of Teachers – this election would be, at least, a little interesting.
And I meant it. I really thought we had a chance. I was one of the Retiree Advocate organizers who insisted, from Day One, that we fill all 300 slots. Why? Because we were running to win. No sense in winning, but running 200 delegates and handing the last hundred to Unity.
And, by the way, we got our 300 candidates. More than that. About 330. Someone passed away (Sheila Rashal – I didn’t know her – but she would have been a delegate). After we asked candidates to accept our platform, a few said no (three said it was too radical, one said it was not radical enough – there may have been some who didn’t answer because they didn’t like it). A few more just didn’t respond – we know that not everyone looks at emails. But we were ready, over a month in advance, with a few in reserve. And then when we submitted the names, a few were not eligible. And we were still ok.
May 2024
We have a chance, but we are still underdogs. I stuck to this. Ballots were mailed out mid-May (should have been May 10, but I think they went later. Story for another time). I worked on getting people to get other people to vote, and to mail in ballots. And I heard the stories. Our response was stronger than I expected. More Unity people were hesitant. Some had switched sides. People had agreed to run with them, reluctantly. Or had said no.
I began to look at the old numbers. I considered how the numbers would change. This was interesting. The last RTC election came as the news of the Medicare Advantage fiasco broke – and Unity had lost votes. But in the general the next year the votes had not gotten worse for them. So there was no guarantee that there was an ongoing down-trend.
Sources of change:
- Older voters leaned more towards Unity. Younger, more recent retirees were more likely not Unity.
- Unity voters who just couldn’t vote Unity this time
- Unity voters who were flipping to vote for Retiree Advocate
- New voters from Retiree Advocate outreach (it helped that some of our 300 were brand new to union politics – they had friends that no one had ever nudged to vote)
- New voters from the NYCOPSR appeals.
I did some back of the napkin math, and anyone I spoke to in May, into early June, if I gave them a guess (and usually I did not) but if I gave them a guess, I was saying 42% or 43% for Retiree Advocate. We have a chance, but we are still underdogs.
June 2024
We have a chance, but we are still underdogs. I still stuck to this. There was some interesting evidence to the contrary. Marianne Pizzitola put us on her youtube, several times, with seemingly strong response. I couldn’t tell what that meant. But I orchestrated a phone calling campaign, and asked some of the callers about the responses they got. Pretty positive. I called a few of my contacts – candidates who were out campaigning – asking their friends and former colleagues to vote, and then calling again to make sure they’d mailed in their ballot. I asked them about their experiences. All of them reported getting some Unity votes. And none of them reported getting any pushback, except from longterm Unity supporters. No one said “the devil I know,” no one said “but you are single issue,” no one said “we don’t want outside influence.” – No one.
June 13, 2024
I sat down to write my “Numbers” post. And something was off. We weren’t winning 75% or 80% of the new votes. We were much closer to 100%. But when I adjusted the numbers, our percent was going unreasonably high. My proportion of Unity people switching to us was too low. But when I pushed it where my guess took me, the percents seemed off. I was getting Retiree Advocate numbers that were too high, or so I thought. I tweaked the numbers downwards. I ignored my own evidence. I got it down to a low of 37% and a high of 56%. Even then, the average was 46%, up from my 43% guesses. But I really saw 40% as a low and 60% as a high. But how was 50/50 possible? I fudged my numbers against us. I ignored my own data.
One thing I noticed – last RTC election there were 23,000 votes. If the number went high, like to 35,000, Unity had no chance. At 30,000, RA probably won. But what I didn’t write, even at 26,000 I was seeing an RA win more than 50/50. Again, I had baked in the idea we were underdogs, and was instinctively rejecting evidence otherwise.
June 14, 8:30 AM
Ok, now I knew what I had seen with the numbers. Over 26k and we were better than 50/50. This was 27k. I reran numbers in my head. It felt like we really might be winning.
Norm was comparing the numbers to the totals from the general election in 2022. (if he was right, we weren’t doing so well). He called. I explained why I thought that was wrong. The valuable comparison was to the RTC election of 2021, and 27k votes was a very good number for us.
June 14, 10:15 AM
It’s not just 28k vs 27k, but up 5000 ballots instead of up 4000 ballots. That’s much bigger. Now I thought we were winning, and probably clearly. I wasn’t ready to make a public predication yet. Plus, doctor appointment at 11:20… wanted to get poked and prodded first. Plus some additional data would help.
June 14, 11:48 AM
That didn’t look close to me. The percents: 58%, 63%, 68%, 59%, 61%. Five random snapshots, and Unity wasn’t even close to tied in any of them. I knew what that looked like.
June 14, 12:37 PM
That clinched it. Percents were 64%, 68%, 60%, 67%, 60%, 67%, 60%. These were independent samples. Seven more, or twelve altogether. And they were tightly clustered between 58% and 68%. It was highly unlikely that the final result would be outside of that range.
At 12:36 Bennett sent that second batch of data. I was on the 4 train. I did the percents. “It’s over,” I told Bennett, “And not close.”
Ten minutes later, off the train, I ran into Rashad and Brad walking the other way. Coming from the count? Yes. We won? They are just counting.
Five minutes after that I was at 120 Broadway, looking for the counting room. I saw Norm. We won, I told him, 60%. But I wasn’t explaining the stats. Bennett’s samples, 12 independent samples, all between 58% and 68% for us, combined with the turnout, there was no way that the result was anything except a big RA victory. But even if I couldn’t explain it clearly yet, he would see.
June 14, 2PM
For the next hour I Facebooked and tweeted a few numbers, hinted strongly that this was done, and let the consistency of the samples sink in with the people in the room. They were getting it. What was true at 12:30 was still true at 2:00 – we had won. I made my prediction public at 2PM:
It was all over but the counting.
Retiree Advocate Wins!
Results are not yet official. But….
There are over 28,000 votes, up from 23,000 three years ago. Since the extra votes are mostly ours, and the margin was 9500 last time, and there were clearly more sources of votes for us – a win – which had seemed a long shot, now seemed really possible.
Here’s some discussion from yesterday about sources of votes and analysis of where the numbers might fall.
Higher turnout was a good sign. But counting votes in batches of 20 or 30 or 40 gave the proof. Retiree Advocate are winning almost every batch. A few are even. Unity is winning none.
I am 100% confident that Retiree Advocate has won.
UFT Retiree Election – Some numbers
The voting is mostly done in this UFT Retiree election. The vote count is scheduled for Friday, tomorrow. This will be the closest race ever for leadership of the Retired Teachers Chapter. One party “Unity” has won every RTC election, up until now. But the challengers this time, Retiree Advocate, are running a strong race.
(I am a retired United Federation of Teachers member, and I am running in this election with Retiree Advocate.)
Retiree votes in the United Federation of Teachers were stable for years and years. But the leaked news that Unity leadership was trading away Medicare for privatized ‘Medicare Advantage’ created a new reality. There has been one union-wide and one RTC election since, with surprising results. Instead of Unity’s traditional 85-90% of the retiree vote, they took about 70% in both those elections. And this one should be closer.
The Numbers
I wrote about the retiree vote before, here. Please note, for 2004 and 2007 I have the vote totals after the cap was applied. That means that the percentages are correct, but the raw numbers were proportionately a bit higher.
Here’s the percents:
Here’s the numbers (remember 2004 and 2007 I have scaled, no actual)
And here are the RTC 2018 and 2021 numbers and percents:
Crucial to understanding, there are 80,000 or so eligible voters. So the 2018 results are something like 19% Unity, 4% Retiree Advocate, 77% not voting. In 2021 we see 20% Unity, 8% Retiree Advocate, 72% not voting. Non-voters became voters, and they did not support the leadership.
What is different?
In the 2021 RTC election and the 2022 UFT-wide election the news about Mulgrew and Unity messing around with our health care was already known. So it is possible that the shift from 15% Retiree Advocate to 30% Retiree Advocate represents all of the change that we will see related to healthcare. The theory might go: “People who were angry enough to switch, switched, and 70% – 30% is the new and permanent reality.” I do not think that theory is correct.
We have two more years of the Unity leadership working with New York City Government, including the Office of Labor Relations – trying to force retirees off of traditional Medicare. We have a series of court cases – all decided against the City government, and indirectly against Mulgrew and Unity. The look – sore losers who won’t stop fighting even though their members are against them and they keep losing – it’s an unattractive look.
We have two more years of Unity losing – which changes the picture. Before news of their backroom deal leaked, they looked invincible. There was a 10-15% protest vote. But they lost 30%. They lost 30% again. They lost a court case. Another. They got blocked in the City Council. Another court loss (and now they are trying to claim it’s not their appeal, it’s the city, but their lawyer is there, Unity is acting like a party, even if they deny it). And another court loss. People who wouldn’t bother opposing them before, figuring “it doesn’t matter, Unity always wins” – now they figure different.
The retiree group that’s been beating the City government is the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees. The NYCOPSR is independent (of any union, and of city government, and of the bankers and insurance companies and their agents). They have quite a following among UFT Retirees. They look like winners while Mulgrew looks like a loser. The NYCOPSR has urged UFT retirees to support Retiree Advocate.
And both sides campaigned differently than in the past. I’ll save that discussion for another post.
How could the votes change?
In 2021, Unity won 16,269 to 6,755. That’s 71% to 29%. But more importantly, that’s a 9514 margin. I’m looking at 2021 because that is an RTC election (the “general” election in 2022 has higher turnout. Apples to apples. But keep an eye on that 9514 margin.
Big thing to consider – before the Medicare Advantage leak in 2021, retirees who voted for Unity in one election probably voted for Unity in every election. Those who voted for an opposition group in one election probably voted for an opposition group in every election. And those who didn’t vote once? They mostly didn’t vote the next time, or the time after that, or the time after that. Voting habits used to be fixed.
Turnout
There are about 85,000 eligible retirees. Less than 30% vote. Or, at least, less than 30% voted up until now. One of the big questions will be turnout.
Notice, from 77% non-voters in 2018, we were down to 72% non-voters in 2021. That was a big jump in turnout, and most of that went for Retiree Advocate.
A huge surge in turnout would be excellent news for Retiree Advocate. Most new voters will vote against Medicare Advantage, against Mulgrew, against Murphy, against Unity. In the last RTC election 23,000 voted. There were 27,000 votes in the last general election. If this time there are 40,000 votes, you don’t need to see the count – Retiree Advocate has won. If there are 35,000, Retiree Advocate has probably won. Look for a total more in the 26,000 – 30,000 range, enough to worry Unity, enough to make it interesting.
Just a note (and I’ll come back to this tomorrow) – when your leadership is counting on low turnout to preserve their power, that’s a good sign you need to get a new leadership.
Demographics
Who is a retiree changes election to election. Some retirees are no longer able to vote, or pass on. But there are new retirees every year.
Those who are older used to vote in higher numbers, and skewed heavily towards Unity (of those who voted). There were fewer opposition voters.
The newer retirees – many fewer of them are retiring with strong Unity loyalty. Some are retiring with strong opposition loyalty.
On demographics alone (losing older loyal voters, replaced by many fewer new retirees who are Unity loyalist), Unity will lose votes. How many? 500? 1000? 1500? That seems high. Let’s say 500 – 1000, knowing that’s just a guess.
Retiree Advocate will lose many fewer older loyal voters (we have fewer), but will replace those with a greater number of recent retirees who are loyalists. How much of a gain? 250? 500? 750? Call it 250 – 750.
Unity minus 750? Retiree Advocate plus 500? But we will have no way to confirm or disprove these numbers. Just guesses.
Shift: Unity voters ➔ non-voters
When the news of the Unity/MLC/Mulgrew/NYC Government backroom Medicare Advantage deal leaked… At that moment, Unity lost voters. That’s a big part of how their traditional 90% fell to 70%. Unity voters, tried and true, election after election – they stopped voting. Those weren’t votes for Retiree Advocate. But 1 vote for Unity becomes 0 votes. That’s a minus one.
But that already happened. Or did it? Notice that from 2018 to 2021 Retiree Advocate gained over 3000 votes. But Unity did not lose votes – in fact they were slightly up. This loss of actual Unity votes has not yet been felt. And we might see it at the vote count.
Are there more Unity voters, between 2021 and today who will stop voting for Unity? I think the answer is “yes” – but it is hard to measure how many. Remember, when the initial shock of the Medicare Advantage deal came out, Mulgrew pushed back hard, and explained to retirees how he knew more than they did. Independents and Retiree Advocate supporters were horrified. But Unity people have been trained to defer to the leadership, and some of them repeated his weak arguments (silver sneakers anyone?)
But after three years of Unity fighting to impose copays, to force retirees into Medicare Advantage, people, even Unity people, see. Claims about the system being broke – when it’s not. Folks notice, even Unity folks. Their solid support may be less solid than it once was.
One bit of evidence? A letter from a retired DR – exclusively to Unity members –
As this RTC election is upon us I am certainly aware of the deep concerns that people have concerning the health care issue. This note is not intended to discuss that issue….
There have been two comments from people that I want to address.
1) I can’t vote for the opposition but I won’t vote for Unity, so I won’t vote at all….
The message? “Please don’t sit out the election.” He only wrote that because Unity people were choosing to sit this one out.
The other part of the message? “Please don’t think about healthcare.” We know why Unity is asking people not to think about Unity’s record…
But there’s more. There have been Unity members for years, silently critical of Unity. There are rivalries, cliques, grievances. People don’t get the promotion they deserve. Incompetence is rewarded. Personal issues are ignored. There is casual indifference to members’ needs, or lack of concern. There are policy issues beyond healthcare – Bad political endorsements. Mistakes in the contract. Situations not addressed. All of this, in a situation where Mulgrew no longer seems invincible, is leading to quiet quitting.
But how many Unity votes are in danger? They have a base of 16,000 (last retiree election) and an expanded group of 19,000 (last general). Forget the extra 3000 – with Medicare Advantage, I don’t think Unity has any hope of regaining those votes. Could they lose 4000 more? Seems like a lot. Could they hold their losses to 500? Seems like way too little. Somewhere between 1000 and 3000? Maybe.
Call that minus 2000 from Unity.
Unity voters switching sides
This is definitely happening – I hear too many reports to ignore. But a ton? Probably not. All of the reasons from the section above – but to switch they would need to have more trust (or contact with) Retiree Advocate – or have definite alignment – could be on health care – could be on the record of some of our leaders (think about Michael Shulman and the work on the UFT Organizing Committee which Unity terminated eight years ago). How many “switchers” could there be? At least a few hundred. 2000 seems like too many. 200? 1000?
I’m saying 500, but that’s just making up a number. Minus 500 from Unity. Plus 500 Retiree Advocate.
NYCOPSR outreach
The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees has many UFT retirees among its members. Some of them were Unity voters, before the leak. Some were Retiree Advocate voters. Most seem to have been non-voters.
Marianne Pizzitola appealed to NYCOPSR’s UFT members to vote, and to vote for Retiree Advocate. She gave over several segments on her podcast/youtube show to Retiree Advocate leaders. And they, and she, have some serious reach. Worth considering is the high number of previous non-voters they reach.
How successful will her appeal to previous non-voters be? That’s a huge question. NYCOPSR could add 1000 votes – but that seems way too conservative. Could it be 5000? I don’t know.
Call this one plus 3000 for Retiree Advocate. Again, just a guess.
New voters
Retiree Advocate also did outreach! And an important aspect of that was the “Each one, Reach one” campaign. I got my friend to vote. That’s fine. I got another friend to go out and speak to their former colleagues, and spread the word. That’s more votes.
In the process of building this campaign, Retiree Advocate decided to run a full 300 delegates. In the past, we might have run 100, or 150. That’s symbolic. But if we were really contesting the election, which is what we are doing, it would be foolish to do so without a full slate. And as we filled those slots, we used people we already knew. But we also reached out more broadly, and found activists we did not know before. And that broader reach got us to new people whose “each one, reach one” brought in voters (previous non-voters) we had never before encountered.
We definitely activated new voters. 500? Probably more. 1000? more? 2000. Seems high.
And on the Unity side? I’ll write about this in a follow-up post – but they did not campaign for new votes. New voters for Unity will not be a factor in this election. Their numbers will be negligible.
New voters – plus 1000 Retiree Advocate.
The sum of my guesses
| Retiree Advocate | Unity | |
| Demographics | +250, +750 | -500, -1000 |
| Shift: Unity voters ➔ non-voters | -1000, -3000 | |
| Unity voters switching sides | +200, +1000 | -200, -1000 |
| NYCOPSR outreach | +1000, +5000 | |
| New voters | +500, +1000 | |
| Totals | +1950, +7750 | -1700, -5000 |
Worst case (based on my guesses) for Retiree Advocate: 6755 + 1950 = 8705 for us, 16269 – 1700 = 14,569 for Unity. 37% to 63%. That would be disappointing.
Best case (based on my guesses) for Retiree Advocate: 6755 + 7750 = 14505 for us, 16,269 – 5000 = 11,269 for Unity. 56% – 44%. That would be amazing.
But honestly? I don’t know. I just know that this will be the closest RTC election ever. Stay tuned.
Retiree Advocate Platform 2024
The Retired Teachers Chapter election is winding down. The count is scheduled for this Friday. What I’m doing here is, with a few comments, sharing the Retiree Advocate Election platform. It was first published on the Retiree Advocate website, here. We wrote it over the fall, finalized it at the start of February. All of our 300 candidates accepted it (doesn’t mean they agree with every line, but they accepted it overall) and we published it April 10.
- We do not have a one-issue platform. That hasn’t stoped Unity from repeating that Retiree Issue has a one issue campaign – healthcare (and then Unity proceeds to avoid talking about healthcare – taking away retirees’ Medicare is a bad look). Read for yourself. Healthcare is in there. It is prominent. It is not the entire campaign.
- Unity itself never publishes a platform. They run on “trust us” – after demonstrating pretty clearly that trusting them is an iffy proposition, at best. They do some things well. And then make backroom deals that force us into new copays. I wouldn’t trust them, would you?
- I really like the point about involving retirees in chapter organizing. We have decades of experience as activists and chapter leaders. It would be smart to put that to work.
- I like the last section, the social justice section. Jobs programs. Fight racism. Shifting money from the military to local communities and to veterans benefits. Some people thought that “social justice” would sink us. But I am proud of what we stand for. Read it. In fact, Unity attacked us for being leftists – but they made stuff up. There is nothing in our platform to attack us on – unless you are opposed to raising the minimum wage.
- Last point – we decided to publish the platform, but to push individual campaign leaflets. We ended up not pushing the platform out widely. Which was too bad. Looking at this platform today, I wish we had really blasted it all over social media. It’s a good platform. Oh well.
2024 Retiree Advocate/UFT Election Platform
ORGANIZE TO PROTECT AND IMPROVE RETIREE BENEFITS
- Protect our Healthcare from being privatized – No Medicare Advantage
- Protect our Pensions
- Improve the COLA formula on our pension to match full Cost of Living
- Expand Social Security benefits and ensure that they are not diminished
- Support and organize for a NY Health Act that protects and expands health benefits for all
- Work towards a national single payer health plan
EXPAND UNION DEMOCRACY IN THE RETIRED TEACHERS CHAPTER (RTC)
- End winner-take-all chapter elections (70% of the vote should not win 100% of the 300 delegates)
- Make RTC meetings more meaningful. Give voice to a greater variety of views. Allow real debate. Allow members to raise issues
- Let the full chapter vote on major RTC issues such as changes to our healthcare
SOLIDARITY WITH WORKING EDUCATORS / STRENGTHEN WORKING EDUCATOR-RETIREE ALLIANCE
- Everyone’s Health Care Matters! Work to protect in-service health care, as we fight to preserve retiree healthcare
- Lobby the state legislature for Pension Equity – Move Tier 6 to Tier 4
- Take steps to support educators working under abusive administrators
- Involve retirees in assisting chapter leaders and organizing school chapters. Use retiree knowledge and experience to empower our working colleagues and unionize charter schools
- Keep public schools public. No charters, no vouchers, no co-locations, and no funding schemes that undermine public education.
- End Mayoral Control
- Fully fund our schools. Slash the Tweed bureaucracy. Stop wasteful spending on no-bid contracts for consultants and vendors.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL
- We support:
- raising the minimum wage
- alleviating student loans
- universal parental leave
- subsidized childcare
- a massive jobs program to address racial and economic disparities
- a progressive tax system including a stock transfer tax
- Oppose and fight racism
- Prioritize local communities, social services, and veterans’ benefits over military spending
If Mulgrew wins… what happens to healthcare?
You have to ask this question.
For three years Mulgrew and Unity and the Municipal Labor Committee and Mayor Adams and the New York City Office of Labor Relations, and the insurance companies, and the City’s financiers have been trying to force retirees out of Medicare (Senior Care) and into Medicare Advantage. There’s a big pile money they can make by this change – which some people (including me) argue would be a reduction of benefits.
Today the City (OLR, Adams, NYC government) is in court, appealing a decision that has blocked this scheme. And today Mulgrew accurately states that the UFT is not a party to this appeal. However, accuracy and honesty are not always the same thing. Unity has supported the City in each of the court cases, each of the City Council hearings up to now, except one. And in that one Mulgrew’s lawyer, Alan Klinger, was consulting with the City attorneys during the hearing. Mulgrew has continued to claim, against retiree concerns and retiree research and all evidence, that his plan is better than what retirees currently have and are struggling to preserve.
But when you ask them…
They say that the election is not about health care. Or they say that the opposition only has one issue – health care. Can’t have it both ways – but Unity tries.
A retired Unity DR wrote “As this RTC election is upon us I am certainly aware of the deep concerns that people have concerning the health care issue. This note is not intended to discuss that issue.” – As if voting for Unity and voting to continue Mulgrew’s quest for Medicare Advantage could be separated.
Unity literature in the Retired Teachers Chapter election continues to boast about their support for Medicare Advantage:
The new health coverage plan negotiated by the Municipal Labor Committee is currently in litigation, and we await its outcome.
Notice how they don’t say where they stand on the litigation? And then:
Such a plan [Unity’s Medicare Advantage] would have features far superior to any current existing coverage.
They are still in favor of Medicare Advantage. They are still claiming it is better than what we have now.
And after the election?
It is true that the Chapter Leader of the Retired Teachers Chapter is not able to make decisions about who the MLC or the City is going to sue, and what backroom deals Mulgrew tries to make with Emblem or Aetna.
Retiree Advocate wins? We would use our voice to preserve Medicare
But a Retiree Advocate victory? Bennett Fischer will give public voice to retiree objections to the Mulgrew/Adams Medicare Advantage scheme. That will make it harder for the double dealing duo to pursue their plan. Kind of like denying them prior authorization.
Unity wins? Will they claim that retirees voted for Aetna?
And a Unity victory? You know, Unity could sit on the sidelines and watch what happens with the court case… except, that’s already not what’s happening. Mulgrew’s lawyer is already working with the City against us. I would not be at all surprised if Mulgrew attempts to intervene in the appeal, in favor of Medicare Advantage. He might even make the (false) claim that the RTC election was a referendum on health care, and that a majority of retirees are good with Mulgrew/Adams taking away Medicare. Untrue. Uncool.
Can we let that happen?
The election is almost over. There’s not too much you can do today. But if you didn’t vote… Please, you can still get that ballot in. Dig up the ballot. Vote today. The count is June 14. If you mail your ballot today, it should get there in time. If you can’t find your ballot, it’s pretty tight. Call AAA at 800-529-5218 and ask for a replacement. If you are in NY, I’d advise you to hand-deliver the ballot.
And when you get your ballot, check off the box for “Retiree Advocate” on the first page – and mail it in.
Anything else?
Even if Mulgrew and Murphy win, the City appeal does not look that good. The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees is still fighting, and has won every fight so far. But victory would make things so much clearer!
UFT Retiree Election – What’s at Stake?
Did you vote? If not, dig up that ballot. Vote today. The count is in one week. June 14. If you mail your ballot today, it should get there in time. If you can’t find your ballot, it’s pretty tight. Call AAA at 800-529-5218 and ask for a replacement. If you are in NY, I’d advise you to hand-deliver the ballot.
And when you get your ballot, check off the box for “Retiree Advocate” on the first page – and mail it in.
So – United Federation of Teachers Retired Teachers Chapter. UFT RTC. Run by Unity Caucus for its entire history. And up to three years ago, Unity crushed the elections, 85% – 90% of the vote. But not any more. Retiree Advocate will win at least 30% of the vote. 40% is more likely. And over 50% is possible. I’ll run the numbers in an upcoming post.
Big issue? Medicare. Unity decided to move retirees out of Medicare, into a privatized Medicare Advantage. They didn’t tell retirees – who learned about this from another union (the Professional Staff Congress – the CUNY professors’ union). Retirees were pissed. They didn’t want privatized health care. And they didn’t appreciate being played for fools.
Over the last three years the UFT leadership, the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC), Mayor Adams and the Office of Labor Relations have been fighting to make the move. An ad hoc organization of retirees (the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees) has been dueling them in court – and winning. For now, Medicare is safe. Each battle has shown Unity to be vulnerable – they lose. And retirees who might have once not bothered voting against them (because they were invincible? right? wrong!) might think otherwise. And each battle, each round of fights, has opened up more division between retirees and the UFT leadership and RTC leadership. And that division, plus the knowledge that Unity can be beaten, that will add up to Unity getting its smallest retiree vote ever; they might even lose.
But what would that mean? If Retiree Advocate won the leadership of the Retired Teachers Chapter, what difference would that make? Those are important questions, and deserve clear answers.
Officers and Delegates
Retiree Advocate would win all 10 officer slots. You probably know some of the names. Bennett Fischer would be Chapter Leader. Long-time New Action chair Michael Shulman would be a Vice Chair. Fiddler/Blogger/ESL Teacher Arthur Goldstein would be as well. Activist Gloria Brandman would be Secretary. I’d be Assistant Secretary. Other officers would be: Bobby Greenberg, Michele Rayvid, Sheila Zukowsky, Greg Di Stefano, and Ellen Fox.
The 15 Executive Board members would be: Fred Arcoleo • Joel Berger • Novelette Foote • Daniel Harkavy • Doug Haynes • Prudence Hill • Bruce Markens • Dacio Quintana • Denise Rickles • Roque Ristorucci • Norm Scott • Alan Stein • Marian Swerdlow • Doris Wallace • Mary Therese Whelan. (all Retiree Advocate, because of the winner-take-all format)
And there would be 300 new Delegates to the Delegate Assembly – all Retiree Advocate.
Meetings
One thing that would change right away – the format of RTC meetings. I am tired, I think we all are, of the chair frustrating people by not calling on them, by cutting short discussion, by berating fellow retirees. I remember him poorly controlling meetings, but I also remember meetings where he raised his voice at our members. Not ok. There needs to be adequate time for discussion. And there needs to be greater fairness in calling on people. And we will absolutely put items of importance to people on the agenda. It is outrageous that the Medicare Advantage plan was not shared with members until another union broke the story. Retiree Advocate will not hide important information from retirees, the way that Unity did. There’s a lot of “fluff” at RTC meetings. Soft topics. Fun topics. I always believe that they have a place – but they will no longer be used to “run out the clock” and prevent real discussion. We can talk about trips and classes AND political and financial issues.
The UFT Delegate Assembly would not change – but it would change. The RTC gets 300 delegates. Currently they are 100% Unity, and mostly vote as they are told. “Lock step” is how LeRoy Barr once described Unity voting to me. But with a Retiree Advocate victory, there would now be 300 independent-minded delegates. They would listen before they voted. No lock-step. Nothing automatic. 300 delegates is enough to swing some issues – the level of debate would improve – as each side would actually need to convince delegates. What a novel idea! I don’t know the way each vote would go. But you want an example? The resolution on improving dental care, which Unity killed. I don’t think that happens with 300 independent retirees at the DA…
Communication
This is tricky. Retiree Advocate would seek to improve communication. But we know that Unity, which still controls the apparatus, may try to prevent us. Let’s see.
Putting Retirees to Work
Some of this is easy. The political action we already do? We would want to do, and do it better. We would want to involve more retirees in it. We think there are many retirees who would like to be more involved.
The UFT used to have a program that put retirees into schools, to assist chapters and chapter leaders. We would want to restart something like that. We think there are many retirees who have knowledge and time to devote to helping in-service members
Medicare Advantage
Ironic, right? This is our biggest issue. Unity lies, and says it is our only issue (read our platform, here). But right now New York City is appealing the latest ruling against Medicare Advantage. The UFT is not even a party to that appeal. So what difference would the leadership of the Retired Teachers Chapter make?
- It would be significant if the leadership of the RTC opposed the CIty’s appeal (opposed Medicare Advantage, supported maintaining our current coverage). Perhaps we could formally intercede against the City? And if not, we could still speak out publicly
- It would be harder for Mulgrew and the UFT leadership to join the City’s appeal. Now, they might not try anyhow. But they might. And also, Mulgrew might not formally support the appeal – but his lawyer Alan Klinger was working with the City at the appeal – maybe we could stop that.
But could we put the brakes on? Nope. Would our victory change the landscape. Yup. And that would be a very good thing.
The UFT Retiree Election and “Unusual Activity”
My Gmail on my phone stopped updating. Wednesday. Somehow I’d been signed out. So I signed back in, just to learn that Google was threatening to disable my account. “Unusual activity.” Cleared that up right away, restored access no problem. The issue? I sent so many emails about the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter election, along with hundreds of flyers, that I triggered some algorithm. Since I am getting so many positive responses, I am encouraged to keep reaching out to more retirees. My account is back. I am fine.
Early this week we (Retiree Advocate) got a strange report. There were people handing out Unity flyers in front of the Brooklyn UFT Office, trying to catch Si Beagle participants. Unity does not flyer retiree events! They seem to be sweating this election. This is unusual activity.
Last week I got a flyer in the mail. Not my ballot. A Unity election flyer. They paid for an extra flyer. It wasn’t very good, but they paid for it. They never pay extra for retiree elections. Unusual activity.
Last Tuesday my Facebook Messenger stopped working. You guessed it – unusual activity. I was messaging every UFT retiree I know. Facebook slowed me down. The service came back on Thursday.
I’ve gotten several texts, emails, and messages asking me to vote for Retiree Advocate. What? I’m asking people to vote for Retiree Advocate? Why are people asking me? Friends of friends. Someone asked someone to ask someone to ask someone to ask every UFT retiree they know to vote Retiree Advocate. We are all reaching out, in a way that does not usually happen. Unusual activity.
In this case, the unusual activity is a Very Good Thing. Keep it up!
Make sure to vote for Retiree Advocate.
And then make sure to make sure *everyone else votes for Retiree Advocate.
* Friends, former colleagues, relatives, members of social organizations or clubs, neighbors – literally every retired UFT member you know. Call, text, email. You don’t usually contact so many people? Do it. Just for this election. You know, “unusual activity.” 😉
UFT Retiree election, Medicare Advantage, Yes or No?
The number one issue in the UFT Retired Teachers Chapter election is healthcare.
How do you know?
- Health care is probably the issue YOU care about the most.
- Health care is the issue you have heard the most about
- Unity still supports Medicare Advantage (see their flyer with the ballot, notes below), supports forcing you out of traditional Medicare
- Retiree Advocate / UFT still supports keeping your current health care (see our flyer, below)
Unity – Still wants to force you into Medicare Advantage
This is too easy. Look what Unity sent you (you will receive this with your ballot):
Need to pause for a second. They included Mulgrew – which is an interesting choice. Many retirees are furious at Mulgrew, at how sneaky he was trying to get rid of Medicare, how deceptive he was when confronted about Medicare, how he talked down to retirees who were far more experienced and knowledgeable than he is. People don’t like being lied to. Putting Mulgrew’s face on the flyer is a strange choice.
But let’s get back to the text of their flyer, to the bottom of the column. Unity tells anyone who will listen that this election is not about health care, but what are they writing about? Healthcare. And what do they say?
The new health coverage plan negotiated by the Municipal Labor Committee is currently in litigation, and we await its outcome.
Folks – that would be the MLC which is 50% controlled by Mulgrew…Mulgrew negotiated this. No fair putting on a hat and saying “blame him, the guy without the hat!”.
And then:
Such a plan [Unity’s Medicare Advantage] would have features far superior to any current existing coverage.
They don’t get it. They are still in favor of Medicare Advantage. They are still trying to sell Medicare Advantage. They still want you to be forced out of traditional Medicare. We need to tell them no. And the way you can tell them no is by voting for the RETIREE ADVOCATE slate.
And Retiree Advocate? Wants to protect your current health care
Other issues?
Retiree Advocate has a full platform (here).
Unity never issues a platform. In fact, it’s impossible to tell where they stand on issues. Except retaining power and retaining their jobs.
Anything else on healthcare?
Interestingly, there are some internal Unity letters about the election. Which contradict each other on healthcare. They know they are in trouble, but cannot agree on what to say. Maybe there is nothing that will help. One Unity delegate tries to wriggle out of responsibility for Medicare Advantage:
the City and Municipal Labor Committee (the MLC) generated the plans through their mutually-agreed propositioning and selection process.
Another Unity spin-doctor confesses:
this has been a challenging year for many of us, especially in terms of the issues related to healthcare
while the first whines:
their agenda is NOT healthcare; they full-well know that their input can’t change the health plans;
Sorry, Charlie
Electing Retiree Advocate will absolutely help the movement to defeat Medicare Advantage.
And our agenda is a full platform (see here) but the central point is:
Protect and Preserve Our Healthcare
And that’s what Retirees need to do. And we do it by voting for the Retiree Advocate slate.
Check “Retiree Advocate” and mail in your ballot, as soon as it arrives.
Vote for Retiree Advocate!
Your ballot is in the mail, or has just arrived. When you get it, vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate wants to preserve our current healthcare. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Mulgrew and Unity (and Tom Murphy) want to trade your healthcare for inferior Medicare Advantage. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate will ask members to play a role in RTC decisions. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate will preserve programs that work. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate is committed to using retirees’ knowledge, skills and experience. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate wants retirees expertise and experience to be used to support UFT chapters in schools. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate wants to preserve and expand our political action, and involve more retirees. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate will work to keep all of our benefits, SHIP, reimbursement, Si Beagle, etc. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate knows that your health care matters. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Retiree Advocate will not secretly trade away your benefits. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Build a more open UFT chapter. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Protect our healthcare. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
Check the box on the left. Vote for Retiree Advocate.
UFT Retiree Election – You Can Make a Difference
Ballots were mailed today. Our moment is near at hand. But what can we still do? You probably already know about voting yourself, and using social media. Skip down to #3 – “Get Others to Vote”
A. Vote!
The day your ballot arrives, mark the first box for Retiree Advocate, seal it, and return it. Here’s a video telling you how to vote. Here’s another video. It’s a beautiful thing, casting a vote to cast out Unity.
B. Post on Social Media
(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, etc). Here’s a page with flyers you can borrow and post. And at the bottom is a flyer I like, and a meme.
C. Get Others to Vote
Usually people say “get out the vote” and they mean “get out your side’s vote” but since 80% of the new votes will be our side’s votes – let’s just focus on getting more people to vote.
There is a ranked priority for how to reach people. The principle – direct personal contact has a more direct effect.
- Face to face
- Telephone (voice to voice)
- Personal e-mail
Mass emails, or facebook posts – that’s like a public announcement, and they are cool – but getting people to vote takes an actual direct contact. Make it personal if you can.
- Make a list of retirees you know. Not just your friends. Not just people you like. Every retiree you know.
- Friends who are retired NYC teachers
- Family who are retired NYC teachers
- Neighbors who are retired NYC teachers
- Former coworkers who are retired NYC teachers – do you have an old email with everyone’s email address?
- Members of clubs or classes who are retired NYC teachers
- Relatives of friends who are retired teachers (I wrote to Steven 2 days ago – his mom is a retired NYC teacher – he gave her the flyer and asked her to share it)
- Decide who you can visit (that’s tough) who you can call, and who you will email.
- Decide when you will call or email.
- Call or email everyone on your list.
Couple of notes.
People we are not fond of: You might know former NYC teachers who are not your friends, maybe people – you didn’t care for each other. Look – doesn’t matter. We are not forming new relationships – it’s a one time ask. You know the phrase “I wouldn’t bother you, except…”? Feel free to use it. And “except” what? Except “our health care depends on it”? How’s that? Because, you know, its true.
Timeline: Ballots go out today. Some will arrive tomorrow. Most will arrive Monday and Tuesday. By next Saturday they should all have been received. And people who vote, most of them vote right when the ballot arrives. That means, all of your phone calls, all of your emails – tonight, Saturday, Sunday (that’s Mother’s Day – do we skip Mother’s Day?), Monday, Tuesday. I don’t know, maybe Wednesday and Thursday… but that’s awfully late.
Message: Vote for Retiree Advocate – to preserve our heathcare, and against Medicare Advantage – to allow members to make decisions – against Mulgrew – for openness, and against secret deals. That’s probably enough.
Target audience: Everyone. Every retired NYC teacher you know.
Part C, getting other to vote. This is a challenge. It’s not what most of us are used to doing. But this is where you can make the biggest difference. Can you get your vote plus two more? Plus ten more?
We have done enough work to make this a close election. Now let’s see if we can do what we need to, each of us individually – me, you, Bennett, Gloria, each of us, to put us over. Let’s cast our ballots, and let’s get others to cast their ballots, and let’s together cast out those people who should no longer be running our chapter.
“Get out the Vote” is Different for UFT Retirees
Get out the Vote (GOTV) is a cool idea. You figure out who might vote for you and not the other side. And you remind them to go vote. If they listen, +1 for you. If they don’t listen, 0. GOTV does not change peoples’ minds. It just cashes in votes that should be yours.
Figuring out who your voters has gotten harder. Once, Republicans would call Republicans, knock on their doors. Democrats would call Democrats, knock on their doors. Unions would call all their members. But think about it – randomly calling Democrats in Staten Island – how many are actually Republican voters? And calling Republicans in Fairfield County? You get a lot who vote for Democrats. Making a call and earning -1 is a bad deal.
So the clever people in the parties, and fancy consultants too, have figured out ways to rate voters, to ask about previous patterns, to dig deeper than the party label, and end up with call lists that are pretty reliable your voters, if you can get them to vote. By the way, there’s big money in being able to assemble and process that sort of data. What about people who have never voted before, or where the data is missing? Consultants and data folk can predict those, too. Young people overall vote more Democratic, but lean into demographics, state, race, income… and those lists are pretty good.
When the government tries to get everyone to vote, that’s lots of +1s and -1s, in general, a wash. Good government groups like that. But for partisans, that is not GOTV. GOTV is about collecting +1s.
Compared to the political parties, unions have it even harder. Can you set up a phone bank and call all your members and tell them to vote for Biden? I bet you motivate some to vote for Trump. Plus people don’t pick up their phones. I think union phone banks are just about done.
Anyway, that’s for political campaigns. This post is not about a political campaign. It is about the election in the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) in the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Retiree Advocate / UFT, “the opposition,” is running a pretty good campaign. And Unity, the party that has controlled the union and the RTC for decades, stumbled. Badly. They messed around with Retiree healthcare.
Get out the Vote? GOTV? For Unity, this is a problem.
- The biggest issue is healthcare, and they can’t talk about it.
- Their natural group of voters are people who have always voted for Unity, and kept voting after news about Mulgrew’s secret negotiations to force retirees out of Medicare kept the news. This is a group that is not growing.
- They can’t campaign on personality.
- Achievements to campaign on? I don’t think so. There was one win for paras around pension, but no other victories for retirees in decades.
Instead, Unity is struggling to keep the vote they have. They have slipped badly from what used to be a huge advantage. Before the Medicare sell out-their margin was so big that they used to win 5:1 or 6:1. Even after Mulgrew and Murphy’s self-inflicted wound, they will still get a large number of votes. But they have lost a significant number of votes – some to non-voting, some to opposition. And they will never get those votes back. Anecdotes has Unity struggling to retain even those who voted for them in 2021. There is no new constituency for them to reach out to. Their major path to victory does not consist of a successful GOTV campaign – but maintaining the status quo, not losing current voters, and bringing back some of their lost voters.
And Retiree Advocate? The opposition?
Well, our task is different.
- Our base, our floor, those who always have voted for us – that’s a much smaller group. One or two rounds of emails or calls should get them all to vote.
- But recent converts? There’s a lot. Our vote jumped from 15% to 30%. Our recent converts, we need to get them out. GOTV. A campaign. A real campaign. A lot of one to one contacts and confirmations.
- New voters. This is cool. Someone who has never voted before, if they vote this time, it will be to vote against Mulgrew/Murphy. Between 70% and 90% of that vote is ours. And among recent retirees that number will be at the high end. And there’s implications…
How does Retiree Advocate / UFT win?
We could just say “GOTV” – but that misses an important detail – RA does not need to activate our voters – we need to activate all voters, any voters. Because if we activate 10 voters, and we get 7 of those votes (and that is very low), 7 – 3 = 4. That’s a +4 for us (or +0.4 per new voter). And I think it will be more like +0.6.
In the past, Retiree Advocate campaigners mostly targeted likely supporters. But this campaign, every retiree is a likely supporter (unless they actually have a Unity job), if we can just get them to vote.
Who do our campaigners need to reach? Everyone. Neighbors. People you are friendly with. People you are not friendly with. Cousins, in-laws, even those you don’t normally talk to. Former colleagues, including those you don’t normally talk to. Literally every UFT retiree you know.
Message can be detailed, but it can be simple:
- You have a chance to vote against Mulgrew’s people (red flag you’ve just convinced a few people) (for some people, saying Unity might work, but Mulgrew generates more anger, and I would rather only use the name of one slate – ours)
- You can vote for the people who want to keep Medicare (and against Mulgrew’s Medicare Advantage)
- We want you to be able to vote on important issues, like healthcare (but you have to vote for Retiree Advocate / UFT for that to happen)
- The ballot is coming in the mail – look for it – open it
- Vote for Retiree Advocate / UFT. Just check the box. And mail it in the same day.
Wonder if everyone who marched to extend the vote – actually still votes. I hope they do. The more who vote, the better the chances for change in the Retired Teachers Chapter.
Chaz
This is a repost. Eric Chasanoff died from COVID-19 the first week of May, 2020. Were he still with us today, he would have been writing blistering attacks on those (Mulgrew, Murphy, Adams, Unity) who are messing with our Medicare. He would have been devastated by the passing of James Eterno. He also would be supporting me again, this time in the Retired Teachers Chapter Election. And I do think that he could have been convinced to run himself. Anyhow, it’s four years (and two days) since his passing, and I remember him, and want to share. – jd
Two years and three days ago New York City teachers lost a friend, and an advocate. Most of us knew him as “Chaz” – famous from his blog “Chaz’s School Daze.”
But his name was Eric Chasanoff. Eric was an earth science teacher – and before that, a meteorologist – a weather man. His second career started roughly the same time as mine – September 1997
Chaz was hired at Jamaica High School, and became well-integrated in the school community. He taught, coached multiple sports, and served on the School Leadership Team.
Until one day there was an accusation made against him. This was the early 2000’s, and school reformers were going after teachers’ protections, unions, and livelihoods. And the gutter press was happy to oblige. Chaz was victimized, faced charges leading to dismissal, and survived. He was certainly not the only older man put in that position.
I digress: A member of Michael Mulgrew’s staff used to write attack articles against accused teachers.
Chaz survived. But he was horrified to see, in the 2005 contract proposal, that important protections were being stripped away. Teachers were to be suspended without pay on the accusation of sexual abuse. Punish first, and then due process. I “met” Chaz on line around this time – arguing over exactly this policy on EdWize – the UFT’s long-forgotten blog. Leo Casey defended stripping teachers of their rights – those of us who noticed, including me and Chaz, were incensed.
His blogging began around that time – his first post is from 2006, and continued until a few days before his passing. He wrote 1,935 times, quite an extensive assemblage.
He wrote about himself, sometimes. And he wrote about odd topics that appealed to him. We debated way back then the correct status of the planet Pluto.
But mostly he wrote about schools. He wrote about fairness. He stood up for teachers. And Eric understood how vulnerable a teacher under attack could be. After his case was over, he got moved to the ATR pool, and bounced from school to school. He stayed upbeat. He wrote about the system. He was so unassuming that teachers usually didn’t realize that Eric was Chaz.
He directed a lot of fire at the chief’s of the DoE – Bloomberg and Klein, and then Walcott, but he kept it up for de Blasio, Fariña, and Carranza. He wrote about DoE policies, major and minor. But he was most focused on things that made it hard to teach high school.
Chaz had no tolerance for bad union policy. He mercilessly went after leaders who he thought put teachers in harm’s way. Most frequently on the receiving end of Eric’s critiques: Michael Mulgrew.
Chaz also wrote about politics. I am a leftist. He was not. I found him middle of the road on many issues, with a slight lean in my direction. But slight. He did not vote for president in 2016. I do not believe he would have in 2020, either. We disagreed quite often. School integration. Foreign policy. Even testing.
But Chaz judged people by what they did, not what they believed. The people he treated with respect had a wide range of beliefs – but they all stood up for teachers, for fairness. For Chaz, fairness was a bottom line.
On April 26 he blogged about school budgets. He had been writing every two or three days, right through the pandemic. Super regular rhythm. Then on April 28, 29 nothing. I noticed on the 30th. On May 2 I emailed him:
No response. Next day I wrote to his former DR, and his Borough Rep. Amy answered on Monday – he was sick, family was being private. And on Tuesday his son announced on his blog that Eric had passed.
Please click through the comments. Look at that outpouring. And look what they say. About him. Look at all those “little guys” – just regular teachers who depended on Eric for straight information, or who looked to him because he told the truth, or just felt better because he gave them a voice.
Many of us memorialized him. NYC bloggers I regularly read, James Eterno, his former chapter leader at Jamaica High School, Arthur Goldstein, the chapter leader in a school Eric worked in as an ATR, me. Others. Norm Scott. NYC teacher-bloggers recognized him as one of us. Those posts, they all say different things about him. Bookmark this page, and when you have time, read them all.
The UFT was starting a memorial site, and it seemed to me that it mattered, so I filled out the form as best as I could to get the ball rolling. I think James picked up the slack – he knew Eric, personally, and I didn’t, actually.
I like this story: “I remember when I first met Eric, he ran up to me in a diner on the west side. “Jonathan!” He knew me. But I looked confused. “It’s Eric!” Still confused. We had been reading each other’s blogs for five years. And I didn’t know his first name. Hard to recognize him without his light blue background. “
The UFT Honors post for Eric is a nice one. They quoted James and me. And then the editor asked if I wanted to leave a comment. And I scratched my head. All of us had been writing about teacher-blogger Eric Chasanoff. Others had more stories, and better stories than I did. And then I remembered.
Way back when Eric was starting blogging, when he was defending Pluto’s planet status, he wrote something that stuck in the back of my mind. A girl’s basketball coach had a huge star. And against a weaker opponent, they were going to win. But the coach kept the star in, kept his team playing hard, and the final score, 137-32, is painful to imagine.
Chaz wrote:
* Don’t run up the score on an inferior opponent.
* Keep your best players out once it is a blowout.
* Never embarres another team.
* Show class and be a role model for your players.
Undefendable – Eric Chasanoff
And I shared this on his UFT memorial, and wrote “It was that same sense of right and wrong that motivated his defense of teachers. And it is that sense of class, and that dedication to fairness that I will remember.” and Eric’s son, Bryan, responded:
That is a great example of my father and one he lived by. I remember times when he coached my teams that we were up 5-0 in soccer and my father would sub out the best players, switch positions and even run 10 players instead of 11 to try to keep the game as competitive as possible. Our team always won the sportsmanship award every year whether we finished 1st or 8th place.
And everything everyone thought about how attuned he was to treating teachers with fairness, turns out he thought everyone should be treated that way.
Eric shared his choices in UFT elections for the 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019 elections. He is not around in 2022. And everyone who is voting has already voted – it is too late to change anyone’s mind. So I think it is okay to share how I think he would have voted this time.
His issues would not have changed. But he would have added some great disappointment over how the leadership navigated the pandemic. He would be vocal in his opposition to the Medicare Advantage scheme. He knew science. No doubt in my mind where he would have stood on vaccination. And he would have been delighted that all the opposition groups had come together.
But he would have continued to frustrate me, and vote for individuals, not a slate. He voted on his personal take, on a person’s politics, but more on a person’s character, and most on what that person actually did or didn’t do for the members.
There will be opposition people on this list. But there will be Unity people. And Eric never felt a need to vote for every seat, if he did not have someone to vote FOR. There are names he never encountered before. He might have supported a few of them, but I do not presume to know, and I will not guess on an unknown quantity. But for people who’s names were previously on the ballot I will pretend to know what Eric would have done:
For President: Camille Eterno. He endorsed her twice in the past, and denounced her opponent many times.
For Secretary: LeRoy Barr. I know, right? But Eric endorsed LeRoy before, and endorsed few MORE members in 2019. And remember what I wrote just above.
For Assistant Secretary: Mike Sill. Endorsed twice, including 2019. I’m more sure of this one.
High School VP: Me. It is true, Eric endorsed Janella once. But he endorsed me all four times that he wrote about the elections. And while I complain about his ticket-splitting, in fact he split his ticket more than once to support me, though he did not support most of the people I was running with.
VP At Large Education – by my rule, I should leave this blank. But Gloria Brandman has been such a powerful leader on the Medicare issue, I think she would have won his vote.
Exec Board Functional – I’d like to believe that he would check off all the UFC candidates – but his track record here says he would vote for Norman Scott and no one else.
Exec Board at Large (all based on past performance)
- Jay Werner (UFC)
- Ellen Fox (UFC)
- Mike Schirtzer (Unity)
- Mike Shulman (UFC)
- Greg DiStefano (UFC)
- Mindy Rosier-Rayburn (Unity)
- Richard Covelli (UFC)
- Angela Artis (Unity)
- James Eterno (UFC) – it is just a fluke that Chaz mentioned James just 3 times – in fact, Chaz showed more enthusiasm for James than for any other candidate, ever.
- Peter Allen-Lamphere (UFC)
- Amy Arundell (Unity)
Here is the list of everyone Chaz wrote about voting for:
Retired Teachers Election
Can Unity run a campaign while they are trying to hide?
This is shaping up to be the most interesting Retired Teachers Chapter election in the United Federation of Teachers. Ever. Bar none. The insurgent Retiree Advocate / UFT group (note – I am a member and a candidate) has a real chance against the entrenched Unity Caucus.
It should not be close. Unity, which is organized around preserving its power, not around politics, not around doing work for the membership, has had a decades-long lock on power. They control all the union jobs, including for retirees a bunch of patronage jobs through Si Beagle (classes for retirees). They collect hefty dues. They reward loyalists with “delegate” positions – which the loyalists treat as free trips to conventions across the country. Unity’s power extends into every corner of the union, but nowhere was its power greater than the Retired Teachers Chapter, where 85% – 90% of those who voted, in election after election, supported the incumbents.
It could have gone on like that for years. Retirees don’t complain about difficult principals or tricky work rules. We don’t worry about getting tenure, or if our sick days are counted correctly. All Unity had to do to keep its lock on the retiree vote was protect our pensions and protect our healthcare. But that proved to be a little too complex for them.
Protect pension. Protect health care. Maybe offer some bridge classes, or a trips to museums. Was that too complex? Yes. In a complicated deal with the City, Unity (or Mulgrew, but it amounts to the same thing) agreed to fork over members’ money (in the form of health care cuts) and in return the City would better fund Unity’s patronage mill. But Unity was falling short on what it promised to hand over, and so the City (through the Office of Labor Relations, but really the bankers who back the whole house of cards) demanded that Mulgrew screw the retirees. “How high?” asked Mulgrew.
Mulgrew/Unity entered into secret negotiations to throw retirees off of their healthcare – Medicare. Now, retirees like Medicare. It more or less works. It is a legacy of Johnson’s Great Society, itself an extension of FDR’s New Deal. Retirees are both politically and personally attached to the New Deal and the Great Society. Can you imagine how they would react if their union tried to take a key element away from them?
We don’t have to imagine. Mulgrew and Unity were secretly negotiating to throw retirees off Medicare (into an inferior, privatized “Medicare Advantage”) – and then they got caught. The news broke. The Professional Staff Congress – the CUNY professors and adjuncts (and HEOs, etc) union told its members. And all hell broke loose. Retirees were pissed. Super pissed. They did not want their health care messed with. And they did not like being lied to. Not by Unity, not by Mulgrew, not by anyone.
And Mulgrew lied to retirees. He used insurance industry talking points. He talked down to people who were clearly smarter than him. He was rude and insulting. He became toxic.
Some timeline
News that Unity was downgrading retiree healthcare leaked in Spring 2021. There were RTC (Retired Teachers Chapter) elections that were just going to ballot, and on the rumor of the news, Unity’s vote fell from 90% to 70%. They still won big, but not what they were used to.
In the union-wide elections the next spring, same, about 70%. Maybe the damage had been done? Maybe Unity hobbles away, no longer a 90% powerhouse, but still a dominant 70%? Maybe. But maybe not. In the course of the last two years Medicare vs Medicare Advantage has stayed in the news. There have been multiple court cases and appeals. There was an attempt to change NYC law. Retirees (through an organization outside of the UFT – the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees to Preserve Benefits) have been fighting to keep Medicare. New York City and its Office of Labor Relations have been fighting to force retirees out of Medicare into privatized Medicare Advantage. And Unity and Mulgrew have been siding with the bankers, against the retirees.
It is possible that Unity’s vote fell to 70%, and will now stay there. But it is also possible that Unity and Mulgrew’s ongoing public lobbying against Medicare will erode their vote further, even much further.
And now?
Ballots will be mailed out to 80,000 retirees on Friday. We have a month or so to return them (but should return them right away). Both sides have done some on-line campaigning. Both sides get a piece of literature sent out with the ballots. Unity actually sent out a mailing (they should have paid for it – we are still looking into that) last week. Lots of people got it. I didn’t. But I know what it says (back to that, below).
For Retiree Advocate / UFT, we began planning late last summer. Oppositions often run token campaigns. Not this time.
We decided to contest all 10 officer, 15 chapter executive board, and 300 delegate assembly positions. We hammered out a platform. We made a decision about campaign theme: mostly, but not completely about Medicare. There’s a little progressive stuff in our platform. We have to include issues about how the chapter is run. And because we expected scurrilous attacks, we thought we should underline our collective experience (yours truly was a chapter leader for 20 years, a delegate 3 years before that, 11 years UFT Exec Board. And I am just middle of the pack; we have quite a team)
In fact, we were done assembling our slate over a month before Unity; they had to scramble, and were turned down by many people they asked. Who wants to run with the people who are taking away our healthcare? As usual, Unity has no platform. They stand, as always, for nothing, and everything. No overt politics, and total control. They kept their Chapter Leader candidate secret until petitions were turned in, April. Retiree Advocate / UFT announced our candidate, Bennett Fischer, around New Years.
A big question – how are they going to campaign? Their chapter leader candidate looks unhappy when he runs RTC meetings – like he’d rather be just about anywhere else. He’s not going to campaign. But the first Unity flyer, the one that got mailed to many retirees, focused on this man, on their Chapter Leader candidate:
- The flyer that got mailed to many retirees had 5 points, the main was on “civility” – hardly the stuff of a serious campaign – but what else is there?
- “Tom Murphy” reads another point, “respected by many” – now, I have to say, that’s pretty weak language. However, rumor has it that this is actually the best they could come up with. Other suggestions? “Respected by Several,” “Revered by a Few” and my personal favorite, “Liked by Some”
- The flyer closes with a list of things the union (not Unity) did 30 and 40 years ago. No mention of healthcare.
In any other year you’d roll out photos with the union President – but Michael Mulgrew? Talking to retirees? Every appearance he does probably LOSES them votes. They can’t run on politics – they have none. They can’t talk about healthcare – people hate them for what they tried to do (and for lying about it).
Retiree Advocate / UFT talks about the strength of our team. But Unity is hardly in a position to do the same thing. All of their officer candidates have been shilling for Medicare Advantage. One of them publicly testified that Medicare Advantage was not good enough for him! But it gets worse. Stare at their list long enough, and retirees might realize – 5% of New Yorkers are from Staten Island – but 50% of Unity’s candidates are. And tell any New Yorker that Staten Island has 10 times more representation than expected – and we know exactly what that means.
What else could they do? Some cheap attack? Sleazy campaigning? They can’t NOT campaign; this matters too much to them – they are going to try.
And, to be honest, they still have lots of power as the incumbents. And maybe they are vigorously campaigning, but super-stealthily. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone describe them as “stealthy” though. But even with a weak campaign, lots of retirees just throw out their ballot. Others automatically choose the incumbents. It’s not going to be easy for Retiree Advocate / UFT. But Unity has given us a chance, a real chance.
UFT Welfare Fund nest egg – bigger than most nests
A nest egg. A rainy day fund. A reserve. Back up. We all have some, or would like some. In case things go sideways, a way to pay some bills in the meantime.
If you have assets that would cover a full year of expenses, that’s pretty good. And in 2011, the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund was about two-thirds of the way there: they had assets of $239 million, and expenses of $306 million. They also had revenue of $289 million. That means they lost a little, and the nest egg went down to $222 million.
As long as revenue and expenses were balanced, the assets (the rainy day fund, the nest egg, the reserve) stayed in that range. At the end of 2011 $222 million.
| Year | Assets |
| 2011 | $222 million |
| 2012 | $227 million |
| 2013 | $252 million |
| 2014 | $258 million |
| 2015 | $268 million |
Stable. Expenses surprisingly did not go up ($306 mil in 2011, $300 mil in 2015). This makes sense, right? I mean, to the extent that chunks of cash large enough to pay Donald Trump’s bond make sense. I don’t know about you, but I have trouble grasping just how much these numbers are. But however big they are – expenses not rising, revenue not rising, assets not rising, or just rising a little, that would seem to fit.
But look what happens next:
| Year | Assets |
| 2016 | $303 million |
| 2017 | $350 million |
| 2018 | $434 million |
| 2019 | $523 million |
| 2020 | $634 million |
| 2021 | $752 million |
| 2022 | $800 million |
What the?
Every year since 2016 the UFT Welfare Fund has taken in much more money than it has spent. Assets are doubling in 4-6 years? Wow.
Today, no answers. Just wow.
Revenue mostly comes from the City giving the Welfare Fund money, that the Welfare Fund then spends on administrative costs, and on us. Or, apparently, doesn’t spend. Those are some pretty hefty crumbs leftover.
Maybe 2014 was an inflection point. Maybe these huge increases have to do with the deal – when Mulgrew snuck into the contract provisions to cut health care (they call them health care “savings” – they save, we pay)
We should dig into more reports. Can you imagine putting fifty mil in the bank each year? And think about this. The Welfare Fund is saving money. Somehow. How?
Could it be that the eyeglass and ophthalmological reimbursements could be higher? Would that cut into the Welfare Fund eight hundred million?
Could it be that our dental plan, pretty lousy for a NYC union, is a discount plan – and that a plan like DC37s or the PSCs (note to self, let’s check other dental plans) would cut into that 9-digit UFTWF bankroll?
Look – I have a few questions now – no real answers. But before Mulgrew gets control of a cool billion, maybe we should dig into this. Maybe the Welfare Fund should be spending more money on, well, something worthwhile. Like our members’ welfare.
The Company You Keep
At the hearing last Thursday… (oh there’s a lot to write, but I won’t)… the UFT’s lawyer was there… Alan Klinger… sitting with… the lawyers for the City… sitting with those who are trying to force retirees into Medicare Advantage. And doing it on our dime.
The United Federation of Teachers’ lawyer sat with the City attorneys and helped shape arguments that, if they succeed, will force retirees out of traditional Medicare.
Just another reminder…
60
I turned 60 a month ago. Made me smile.
I used the day and the days immediately before and after to celebrate. Not sure what I was celebrating, in particular, but celebration seemed in order. When the odometer rolls over, there is a sense of excitement, but the world hasn’t changed. Maybe it’s just a moment to reflect.
Friday before my birthday I went to the bar – and was joined by friends, former colleagues, former students, family. Hours passed, chatting, relaxing. I felt good. I wore my brand new “60” t-shirt. Someone brought me home-made chicken soup.
And my birthday day? I met ten people at Van Cortlandt Park. And we walked through the park and through the woods and by the golf course and around the pond. Three or four miles of walking and chatting and most of them did not know each other so meeting new people. It was gorgeous weather and I had a great time. I should do this again next year.
Afterwards some people went home, but half of us made our way to Com Tam Ninh Kieu, and I had birthday pho.
So the idea, instead of the big party with gifts and cake and all the other sort of formal stuff, instead of that, going somewhere comfortable, being surrounded by friends, and doing something relaxing – I like that. It worked. I’ll do it again.
Which brings me to my New Years resolution #10 – Have a Good Birthday. I accomplished that one.
What about the other resolutions?
#3, #8, No Progress: No zoos so far. No ferries so far. But with warmer weather.
#6 – flowers in the apartment. I have had some every day this year. Today there are three amaryllis in bloom.
#1, #4, #7 – Tracking stuff – I’m solid. Logging the books I am reading, the hikes I am taking, and recording vitals. Does it help me read more? I think so. Hike more… not really, but it might in the future. Pay more attention to my health? Not sure, but it doesn’t hurt.
#2 – say yes to more social invites. I forgot I made this one. I’m not sure. Birthday energy soaked up a lot of my social time, so it’s hard to say how I’m doing. But I did have birthday outings, beyond the two I wrote about here. And they all involved food, drink, walking/hiking, or some combination.
#5 – politics – speak the truth, work for change – yup – involved. Working for a ceasefire. Working on the campaign to take back the Retired Teachers Chapter (and preserve medicare).
#9 – do not download games to my phone? Phone’s clean. Not a one. But it feels like going through withdrawal.
#10 – Have a good birthday. Yup! Yup! Yup!
2718’s 2024 Resolutions
- Log my hikes. I won’t resolve to hike more (even though I mean to). I will resolve to record them though, in my “Hike Book” – a black and white cover bound composition book.
- Say yes to more social invites. I was out last weekend – at the sort of thing I usually miss – and it felt good.
- Visit all the NYC zoos. And the Aquarium.
- Log my books. I won’t resolve to read more – see above – but I am recording my reading, whether a whole book or part of a chapter, in my “Book Book” – a black and white cover bound composition book.
- Reread my advice to myself. I think kids asked for advice for a yearbook quote. And this is what I came up with, here: “Speak the truth. Work for Change. It’s not about you.” And expanded here: “Act against racism. Act against anti-immigrant bigotry/hatred. Act against sexism. Act against homophobia. Act for fairness. Act in solidarity. Looking away = acquiescence (and is absolutely unacceptable)” Figure this will drive what I do/say about Gaza, and about preserving medicare.
- Keep flowers in my apartment. I may grow some. I may buy some. I may buy plants that flower periodically. But this is easy, and flowers make me happy.
- Track my vitals. Won’t promise to lose weight or get more fit. But I resolve to pay attention.
- Ride as many of the NYC ferry lines as I can. Even Rockaway.
- Do not download games to my phone. I deleted all of them, one at a time, last summer and fall. I miss them – but like withdrawal – not like nostalgia. My screen time dropped immediately. Stay the course. Solid resolution.
- Have a good birthday! I needed one resolution that felt like a resolution. And three score is a lot. I should have a day or two to smile about it!
New York City’s Hidden History – Freedom Day
Huge civil rights protest, half a million, 60 years ago. And some of you might want to say, “but the March on Washington was sixty and a half years ago – and it was a quarter million” – which is correct. And it makes the point. A protest, twice the size, not in Washington DC but here in New York City, happened 60 years ago, and it is hidden.
The NY Daily news sent a note to subscribers – 60 years ago (Wednesday) a few hundred school kids skipped schools to greet the Beatles at JFK. A few hundred. None of the NY newspapers sent out notices about the 60th anniversary of half a million kids boycotting school earlier the same week.
Why hide the history? Few people know about “Freedom Day” – it is omitted from our history text books – around the country, and, worse, in New York State and New York City. Why do leaders and educators hide such a major event?
Let’s pause for a second, and just review what happened. February 3, 1964 was Freedom Day in New York City. 470,000 students boycotted school, and many engaged in additional protest and demonstration. They were demanding integration. They got empty promises, that were broken.
I don’t trust you anymore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ25-U3jNWM
You keep on saying, “Go slow”
Go slow
But that’s just the trouble (too slow)
Desegregation (too slow)
Mass participation (too slow)
Other actions, strategies, and protests have occurred since. With the same results. Or less. New York City operates one of the most highly segregated big city school systems in the nation today.
From Time Magazine, September 2020:
(that’s an 8 minute video. There’s also a print story)
So Freedom Day was momentously huge. It did not bring about change. It set the pattern for promising discussions or studies down the road, and delivering nothing.
Is Freedom Day part of our history?
If a textbook in Colorado skipped over a huge protest in another part of the country that did not result in big change – I kind of get that. But half a million students is a lot. And the fact that the Civil Rights Movement produced the March on Washington that we think of as a turning point, but Freedom Day, twice as big, that did not change anything… probably worth mentioning.
But we are not in Colorado. We are in New York City. And when there are large national events or changes, we often include lessons on how they played out in our state. New York City during the Civil War (draft riots). New York City and immigration (Jacob Riis and Tenements). New York City and suburbanization (Levittown). But what about the struggle against segregation? That was across the country, including here. And a massive school boycott – that’s the biggest political action by students in New York City, well, ever. How do we leave our history out of our textbooks?
There is Black History in New York in our textbooks. I don’t have a DoE approved book at home – but Brittanica Kids has an article about riots in Harlem. But nothing about Freedom Day. Freedom Day was organized. It involved many, many more people. Why would Brittanica (and I assume other texts) privilege a story of chaotic response over an inspiring, bigger story of well-organized response?
Is Freedom Day “uncomfortable”?
If the March on Washington is history, but Freedom Day is not… If the Harlem riots are history… but Freedom Day is not… maybe the question is who is making that decision – and do they have an interest in including some stories and excluding others.
Yet, King highlighted the venality of more “polite” forms of racism and challenged Northern liberals to address racism at home — and not just in the South. Violence and hate-filled rhetoric were not the only methods by which White supremacy was maintained. King identified how people, including those who may have deplored Southern injustice, maintained the racial status quo. Moderates and liberals deployed “both-sidesism,” argued that time would solve the problems of racism, cast disruptive protest as unwise and unreasonable and embraced ideas like the “culture of poverty” to justify strong-arm policing and explain away inequities in their own cities.
https://www.aaihs.org/martin-luther-king-jr-s-challenge-to-his-liberal-allies/
Freedom Day challenged – and the fact that it occurred challenges – present tense – the racial status quo in New York City. The stories of the riots provide a rationale (false) for more and more aggressive policing – and that is “policing” which was, and continues to be, largely directed at people of color. And the story of the defeat of Freedom Day highlights the duplicity of those who counsel patience, going slow, “this is not the right time,” more study, etc.
More Links
I have been writing about Freedom Day for several years. This year I am four days late. Short post. Meandering story I told kids one year.
Chris Bonastia’s book covers much of the story of Freedom Day in detail. I recommend it.
Who decides what is history?
Freedom Day is uncomfortable. It is inconvenient. But it was a huge, huge event. It was defeated by double-talking politicians. And it continues to be mistreated, by being kept hidden from generations of students. Who has decided, up to now, that it is not taught in our schools? And who will decide to remedy that injustice?
Does your dog bite?
This is a post about questions that do harm, but do not make sense.
Does your dog bite? Really? No. Here’s my question.
“Can you help me find my bicycle?” “I don’t know, what does it look like?” “I don’t know. I don’t have one.”
See, the question doesn’t make sense. That was my turn. Now it’s The New York Times’ turn. Perhaps they want to talk about “learning loss” – they do that a lot. “Our students suffer learning loss” – says the Times, whose staff’s children are presumably not part of ‘our students’. “What did they learn and then ‘lose’ or forget?”
You know why there’s no answer? Because the question doesn’t make sense. Because the claim makes no sense. It would be easy to call the Times ignorant, but no. They know that “learning loss” is an artifact of ignoring students (who do learn) and instead looking at standardized test scores. They keep harping on “learning loss” because it fits their narrative.
And I’m not going to make the case here – but for The New York Times, pushing a preferred narrative is their primary purpose. They pretend to cover news as a cover. WMD. Learning Loss. Anti-progressivism. This is the publishing arm of an unpopular political current.
Today they had a different line: “children are still behind.” Behind what? They don’t say. “The students are nowhere close to being fully caught up.” Caught up to what? They don’t say. “In math, students have made up about a third of what they lost.” What did they ‘lose’? The Times does not say. They can’t say. There is no answer. They are hoping you don’t ask the question.
What happened
The pandemic came. Schools shut down. There was a really badly thought out plan to keep schools “open” even while they couldn’t be. Schools did something, students did something, but it wasn’t close to ‘normal’ school. Students’ educations were interrupted – some completely, some partially.
Interrupted Education
Education is interrupted for many reasons. Sometimes a family moves, and in that move school attendance is disrupted. Sometimes there is a crisis in a family, and school attendance takes a back seat. In circumstances like that, decisions are made on a case by case basis – give the student extra support to “catch up to where she/he otherwise would be” or let the student repeat learning the content that was missed.
But sometimes there are bigger disruption, bigger interruptions. War, famine – what does The New York Times say about ‘learning loss’ in Gaza? Child labor. Forced migration. What do societies do when education is interrupted, and then can restart? They pick up kids where they left off.
The pick up kids where they left off.
When a child transfers into our school system from another state or another country, we do not choose their courses (at least in high school) simply based on their age. We look at what they have already studied, and mastered, and what they have not studied. And we schedule them appropriately.
What should have happened
When schools came back, functioning almost normally, we had an opportunity. We could have assessed, and adjusted curricula to start where students were. We could have, we should have, scheduled students appropriately.
But that was not what happened.
What was the response
Sadly, educators’ voices were marginalized. Non-educators, who the Times speaks for, held sway. Our union, who should have been speaking for the rights of our students and teachers, instead pushed the myth that our schools had been open, and were fine. “New York City” boasted Mulgrew “kept our schools open.” If he’s boasting that our schools were open, he’s not so likely to talk about appropriate curriculum for students whose educations were interrupted. Because if education was interrupted, that would mean schools had not been really ‘open’. He could stick to his false narrative, or he could help students and teachers. He liked the narrative.
The children and their needs were marginalized. High stakes testing was centered. And each child was dropped into the course they would have been placed in had we not just suffered through a pandemic. This was cruel. This was frustrating. And this was totally unnecessary.
And my response
When a child has needs, and the system does not adjust to meet those needs, the child has not failed the system.
The system (think Department of Education. think the New York Times) has failed our children.
And no, my dog does not bite.
But you know…
No Battle for Second Place
After wasting tens of millions of dollars, Ron DeSantis dropped out the day before New Hampshire. He didn’t contest a single primary (Iowa was caucuses). Republicans have run some pretty awful campaigns. Chris Christie. Rudy Giuliani. Rick Santorum. Greg Abbott. Chris Christie. But DeSantis may be the worst.
Is that me, kicking the smug vile torturer when he’s crawling away? Nope – look here:
So sad for me. I was creating maps. Also rans. Who would be the big loser to Trump. My maps were showing who was in second. I just started last week, not anticipating DeSantis’ slimy early exit. Look here:
Oh well. That was just a time sink anyhow. Neither DeSantis nor Haley stood a chance against Trump. The Republican base has revolted, and is no longer loyal to its traditional leaders. White shoe, corporate, board of directors, golf meetings… they are still there… but they do not command the loyalty, and certainly not the votes within the GOP.
I guess DeSantis had an angle – Trump’s politics, without Trump. But the rank and file LIKE Trump. They like his obnoxiousness. They like when he’s a jerk. Someone wants to be Donald Trump without being an asshole? Why would anyone pay that person any attention? Why? Why Ron? (and just an asterisk, that “without being an asshole” is a stretch). So off he goes, just like a Burmese Python (in the sense of, sorry Florida, he’s yours.) And while he went without a whimper, he’s not running for vice president, so we (except for Floridians) won’t see him again.
Haley is left standing, but has no angle. She appeals to those corporate Republicans who have been removed from power – in other words – to no one who is going to make a difference. She’s got a chance to win New Hampshire (but Trump probably wins 60-40) and a long shot to take her home state of South Carolina, but that’s pretty much it.
There is a huge question mark left. What if one of Trump’s trials goes badly for him? So, yeah, I don’t know what happens then.
There’s a smaller question mark, too. Haley looks like she might be campaigning for vice president. Unfortunately, she is somewhat intelligent, and somewhat capable – baggage that Elise Stefanik just does not have to carry. Plus, can you imagine Haley doing this:
Nolo contendere!
JD2718 