Perdido 03

Perdido 03

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Karen Magee Indicates Cuomo Endorsement From NYSUT Can Still Be In The Cards

What do you make of these tough-talking words from our tough-talking new NYSUT leadership?

Karen Magee, a Westchester County union leader, was elected the third president of the New York United Teachers over the weekend and the first woman to lead the labor.

...

Magee said that for now there’s no desire to endorse Cuomo’s re-election bid, but she didn’t shut the door entirely.

“There’s no sentiment to endorse the governor,” she said. “There’s a lot of time between now and August.”


Ah, yes, the old "lots of time between now and endorsing season" statement.

Dunno about you, but given everything Cuomo has done to harm public education, traditional public schools, teachers and unions, I want a less equivocal statement out of the new NYSUT president her first week in power, especially since her slate supposedly ousted the old leadership because of a lack of aggression against Cuomo and the state's education reform agenda.

It's possible she's just being politic here before the push for evaluation tweaks, but those tweaks are going to happen no matter what NYSUT does or Magee says.

As has been pointed out here at Perdido Street School blog and elsewhere, the governor's stance that CCSS tests are not fit to be used on students but are fine for teacher evaluations and employment decisions won't stand up to public scrutiny or a court challenge.

Cuomo is not expected to go much beyond those minor changes to APPR, so I don't think there's any real good reason for Magee to play coy here about a potential future NYSUT endorsement of Sheriff Andy - you're not getting anything else out of him and frankly, even if he were open to some other "compromise" with NYSUT, I'm not willing to pay the price for it.

At any rate, if you're wondering where the Revive NYSUT leadership slate is looking to take NYSUT, you're already getting an indication from Magee's statement today. 

11 comments:

  1. Again, seeing the puppeteers behind this putsch, Quisling is as Vichy does.Hopey- changey, hah har hardee har har!Just sliding around the deck chairs.Same old same old! I call BS on the whole thing.When folks realize what garbage they've been fed and willingly digested, I fear that hanging mighr be too merciful an end for Weingrew and Casey.Unless of course, it follows the Saddam Hussein model.

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    1. Alas, I don't think much is going to happen to our Unity leadership in the way of being held accountable by the membership. Haven't seen it happen yet, hard to see it happen over this.

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  2. It's a done deal without Magee even saying it or putting it in print. I see it already without having to wait til August. Cuomo will be endorsed by the pull-my-strings NYSUT puppets. Why? You gotta keep Randi happy. Her future career is at stake of becoming the greatest faux-teacher/leader in our union.

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    1. Either Ms. Magee doesn't know it yet, or this is just carnival barking for the rubes, but a Cuomo endorsement is a lock.

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    2. Not sure it's a lock, I tend to agree with what Norm says down below, but I do want to point out the conciliatory tone she's using (and have a new post with the same theme) just to point out how full of crap the Revive Jivester slate was.

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  3. What about a class action suit against a union that requires that anyone stepping into the inner circle take a loyalty oath? The loyalty oath can serve to preclude delegates from representing the true will of their members, sort of like our elected representatives in Congress and the Senate.

    Seems to me that is how a fascistic plutocracy is run.

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    1. Stalinist - that's the Unity caucus. Follow the leadership or else.

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  4. karen can see Albany from her house. But - all indications are that NYSUT won't endorse Cuomo -- it won't make a difference anyway - but AFL-CIO will - which is what people tell me Randi was more concerned about - and feared that Iannucci could throw a monkey wrench into that endorsement.

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    1. Randi's inability to tell the truth around the putsch is classic - she lies right to you when you ask if she was the one behind the putsch. Classic Weingarten.

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  5. I agree with Norm. The important issue is not whether NYSUT endorses, but whether they vote NO on the AFL-CIO endorsement, thus precluding it.

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    1. I am most alarmed at the conciliatory tone, given how the Revive jivesters supposedly knocked Iannuzzi off because he wasn't "aggressive" enough. I don't think they'll endorse him either, I do think they'll enable an AFL-CIO endorsement however.

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