UFT Retired Teachers Chapter Election – coming this Spring

This spring, every chapter in the United Federation of Teachers will hold elections. In each school, a chapter leader will be elected to a three year term. In some schools para reps will be elected. And in each school, one or more delegates will be elected, depending on how many members are in the school. My high school, the HS of American Studies at Lehman College, we got one delegate. At Brooklyn Tech, which is huge, they got four delegates.

The “functional chapters” also hold chapter leader and delegate elections this spring – paras, secretaries, everyone. And the biggest of the “functional” chapters is the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC).

Retirees elect not just a chapter leader, but a chapter leader, nine additional officers, and a fifteen person Retired Teachers Chapter Executive Board (not the UFT Exec Board). That’s 25 people. They also elect 300 delegates.

These elections are “winner take all.” And in every RTC election before this year, the winner was Unity Caucus. In fact, until recently, the elections were not even close. Unity would 80% – 90% of the vote, usually towards the upper end of that range – and they would consequently win the Chapter Leader, all nine other officers, the fifteen seats on the RTC Executive Board, and 300 delegates. Those delegates are delegates to the UFT Delegate Assembly.

At 90% to 10% the election results were not in doubt. For the opposition, Retiree Advocate (RA/UFT), they were a chance to share ideas with other retirees, even to let some know that an opposition existed. RA/UFT ran for Chapter Leader, the officers, RTC exec board, and maybe 100 or so additional delegates – didn’t matter because the result was not in doubt.

Medicare Advantage

Mulgrew and Unity changed that. In the spring of 2021 word leaked – the City and UFT and MLC had been secretly negotiating to remove retirees from Medicare and put them into a private Medicare Advantage program. Retirees were pissed, times three.

First, why change? We (well, those already on Medicare, which isn’t me, but I’m going to keep writing “we”) like our doctors. We are familiar with the system. We like public Goods, including programs from the New Deal and Great Society. We don’t like privatization. And we certainly didn’t ask for private care instead of Medicare.

Next, the negotiations were secret. Word leaked from another union. I can hear Unity already objecting “we don’t negotiate in public!” OK, but even if we accept that (and I don’t know that we should) – members expect to know WHEN they are negotiating, and over what. When there’s a contract, we know that the UFT leadership is talking to the City, and we have a rough outline of what they are bargaining over. But the retirees? Mulgrew kept them 100% in the dark. They were blind-sided.

Finally, the UFT leadership’s response, was, well… Mulgrew. Mulgrew tried to speak to retirees directly. He was speaking to zoom rooms full of pretty smart people. He spoke down to them. He pitched hard, and retirees knew they were being snowed. “Silver Sneakers” he told 100s, maybe 1000s of people who knew exactly what a “free toaster” is worth. Coming off like a used-car salesman would be bad enough, but he came off like a salesman, trying to sell to mechanics.

Competitive Elections

And what happened right away? RA/UFT’s vote doubled. Immediately. 30%. Highest ever. That’s not because RA/UFT was brilliant. It was because Mulgrew and Medicare. In the unionwide election the following year, 2022, the united opposition (including RA/UFT) again polled 30%. I did some analysis, here.

Now, 30% is not 50%. But that’s a big breakthrough. And if anything, over time, more retirees have seen Unity beaten in the courts, and looking awkward defending what can’t be defended.

I don’t want to bet. Going from 30% to 50% is still going to be tough. And, as Unity is in control of all levers of power, and is not afraid to cross lines and break rules, it’ll be even tougher. I’d call us (the opposition) heavy underdogs. But this is not 2018. We have a real shot, even if the odds do not seem to be in our favor.

Stakes

Chapter Leader of the biggest chapter in the UFT is a Big Deal. The symbolism of holding that office – it would be hard to underestimate the power of that. But there’s not much actual power in the chapter leader, and Unity would try to hamstring the entire leadership team, if the opposition won. But there still is some power. We could open up meetings to allow more representative member voice. We could serious discussion of serious issues back on the agenda. And we could officially register the RTCs strenuous objections to the Medicare Advantage scheme. That would make it tougher for Unity, if they were seen imposing this on retirees, against their will.

Bigger Stakes

In chapter elections in our schools, often the delegate (to the Delegate Assembly) is an afterthought (it shouldn’t be, but it often is). But retirees do not elect 1 or 2, or 4 delegates to the DA; we elect 300.

The Delegate Assembly often seems to be a loud theater, lots of noise, but in practice a rubber stamp for Unity. In the last few years however, that’s seemed a bit shaky. In the spring of the hybrid year (2020-21) Unity lost an endorsement vote – probably not because of the candidates, but because delegates thought Mulgrew was being a jerk. And then the following fall, Mulgrew mishandled the room and lost an important vote, and then completely lost it (his composure, the vote was already against him).

How do the RTC delegates fit into that? Well, there are 300 RTC delegates. Unity expects them to vote in “lock-step” (LeRoy Barr used the phrase speaking to me, explaining why they would not support non-Unity delegates to the AFT convention. While that is a different kind of delegate, “lock-step” represents Unity’s thinking in both settings). Anyhow, not all RTC delegates dial in, and not all of them vote as they are supposed to. But most of those who dial in, do vote how Unity tells them. I don’t know, maybe 150 are on the call for the meeting (just guessing) and 140 vote the right way? Those are wild guesses, but if correct, that’s a margin of 130 votes in favor of what Mulgrew/Unity wants on every motion and resolution.

Over the last year, vote totals for Delegate Assembly votes have been between 650 and 1050 (total votes, including both sides of the question). Most votes have had between 750 and 900 delegates voting. A built in +130? That’s really a lot, especially as Unity’s grip over the DA has at times seemed to be less firm.

But if RA/UFT wins? Let me pause here. In the last RTC election Retiree Advocate ran maybe 120 delegates. That was fine, when we knew there was no chance. But now there is a chance. Can you imagine us winning the election, filling 120 delegate slots, and the rest going to Unity by default? Not going to happen. We will absolutely not let that occur. We will run the full 300. Unity will as well… but they may struggle a bit. When they recruit AFT delegates, that’s easier for them, there’s a free trip involved. But that’s a different election. Delegate Assemblies – there’s no hotel room, no flight, no interesting city at the other end – you sign on from your couch. Since most Unity delegates are motivated by factors other than personal conviction, Unity may struggle a bit with motivation.

Let’s get back. If RA/UFT wins, a couple of things. Our Delegate Assembly attendance will be higher than Unity’s. RA delegates will be free to vote their conscience – we would expect nothing less. But on what for Unity may be key votes, that built in 130? Gone. They will have to convince delegates. And on stuff where Unity is dead wrong, like health care? Now think about 250 votes against them. And remember, there are only 900 or so votes being cast. Our 300 DA Delegates, should we manage to win, would be a game changer. The DA would no longer be Unity and Mulgrew’s rubber stamp.