I've had it with the Superstorm Sandy PD Days By Candlelight Michael Mulgrew refused to fight against.
I've had it with the UFT's Race to the Top collaboration that brought us the vaunted new APPR teacher evaluation system (20% state tests/20% city tests/60% Danielson rubric and other assorted nonsense.)
I've had it with the UFT's collaboration with the DOE on the Teacher Data Reports that saw many good teachers smeared in the press.
Sure the UFT "fought" to keep the TDR's from being released to the press, but who agreed to the program in the first place?
And who failed to point out that the TDR's were using a value added methodology with a 52% median margin of error and swings in stability so wide they make Charles Manson seem stable?
I've had it with the ATR agreements the UFT has made with the DOE that sell out my fellow teachers stuck in the ATR pool, sending them to a different school every week in order to destabilize them and make their work lives as difficult as possible.
I've had it with the UFT's promotion of the Danielson evaluation system, the one with the 57 page rubric, as the bestest thing since sliced bread in the way of teacher evaluation.
I've had it with the UFT's refusal to negotiate a contract before Bloomberg's third term, their refusal to get the 4% pattern that all the other unions were granted even as they sat on their hands and made sure Bloomberg got his illegal third term.
I've had it with the UFT's refusal to strategically fight school closures before they happen by pointing out how the DOE sets schools up for failure by cutting financing even as they ratchet up the number of high needs students.
I've had it with the UFT's refusal to fight mayoral control - the system that gives a Little Autocrat sole power over schools, students and teachers.
And those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head.
I know there's whole bunch of other stuff the UFT has done to screw its membership.
I've had it.
It's time for a change.
What next outrage will Michael Mulgrew and his merry UFTsters bring us?
Merit pay?
End of salary steps?
You better you better you bet the UFT will be bringing that home to NYC, just the way Mulgrew's patron Saint Randi of the Collaborative Sisters of Corporate Education Reform has been bringing those to cities all over the nation - from Baltimore to Newark to New Haven to Detroit.
It is time to send the AFT and the UFT leaderships packing.
Let's start with the UFT leadership.
Accountable Talk write the following last night:
Does ANYONE at this point have ANY faith that Unity is going to do anything but sell us out yet again on our next contract? I sure as hell don't.
If you vote for Mulgrew and Unity this March, you have no one to blame but yourself when they sell us out yet again. It's time for a change. I urge everyone to vote for the MORE caucus http://morecaucusnyc.org/.
Can you imagine Julie Cavanagh, who is running for UFT President on the MORE slate, selling us out? I can't.
I sure can imagine Mulgrew doing it--and then sending out his reps to every school to tell us how grateful we should be that we didn't do even worse. The only skill these Unity hacks seem to have is putting lipstick on a pig. They sure as hell can't negotiate.
Get the word out. Vote for MORE. Get rid of Unity.
While you still have a job.
I want to echo AT there.
It's time to rid the UFT of Unity.
I want MORE out of my union.
We are facing the perfect sorm of mismangement and hostility from the DOE and UFT.
ReplyDeleteThey could have made of the days by changing the PD days of January 28, June 6, and the rating day of June 21 into instructional days.
That they chose not is too is and indicator of
incompetence and complete disregard of the needs of students and teachers. They always put children and teachers last. They always put their political ambitions and their greediness first.
I agree with everything you say. Everything.
ReplyDeletePolitical Ambitions And Greed First. Always.
Dear bloggers. MORE (where members of former opposition caucuses ICE and TJC and current members of GEM have all joined forces) is fighting back, we are having meetings, held CTU solidarity actions, are preparing to run in the spring UFT elections, and are building our network of activists and allainaces. This recent sell out is just another example of how the current leadership does not have the best interests of our teachers or the well being of our students at heart. It is another example of backroom deals without any democratic process for rank and file UFTers. The ground swell anger of bloggers and tweeters must direct their energies to helping us organize. We can not hold rallies or meeting without all of you. We cannot have a change of leadership in order to save the UFT and make real educator led reform without all the great people writing on the web. We need all your help, it can be donating as little as $20 to our cause or even helping by joining our media team to publish MORE blogs and press releases. the time is now, the elections are coming soon, we all believe that The UFT can be a force for good, we can be even more powerful than Chicago's CTU becuase we're over 80'000 strong, but MORE cant do it with just a few dedicated members. it would be great if you all could help us get our names and literature out there, but you input and energy would be even more welcome, and to be brutally honest its going to be necessary- the voice of dissent will not survive without more people joining us.
ReplyDeleteFind us at facebook.com/morecaucusnyc
twitter.com/morecuaucsnyc