Randi Weingarten Touts Access To Voting

AFT President Weingarten on Twitter:

Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. Elected officials shld encourage, not block access to the ballot #NCVotingRights #ThisIsOurSelma

— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) July 14, 2015

Voting is the cornerstone of democracy says Randi - oh, the irony, coming after the furor of the last few days.

She's right, of course.

Voting is the cornerstone of democracy - it's the way we get to have a say in how we are governed.

Would have been nice to get some say in the AFT endorsement process for the 2016 election.

Instead, like everything that the AFT and/or UFT does, the process was tightly controlled and kept in the hands of a select few beholden to Randi Weingarten.

If Weingarten were honest, she'd tweet something along the lines of "Loyalty oaths are the cornerstone of AFT democracy - we control everything via the loyalty oath and patronage system."

Because that's how this endorsement went down, despite the leadership protests to the contrary about polling members.

Thing is, the curtain was pulled back a little with the Clinton endorsement and the backlash - many people were able to see how the union is run by the leadership with little regard for what the rank and file members think, feel or want.

The counterattack from the leadership to the backlash - which amounts to, too bad if you don't like the Clinton endorsement - has only underscored how little the leadership thinks or cares about the rank and file.

But reckoning is coming, you can be sure of that.

The Supreme Court has taken up the Friedrichs case and is widely expected to rule that people cannot be forced to pay union dues.

Let's see how well the AFT leadership strategy of "You don't like what we do, too bad!" works in a post-Friedrichs world where union dues can no longer be compelled.

You'd think the AFT leadership would be concerned about this and be adjusting their strategy now, treating the rank and file with courtesy and concern instead of with their customary disdain and contempt.

But you'd be wrong if you think that they might adjust pre-Friedrichs.

Instead it's same old same old, with Weingarten talking democracy and voting rights and all that good stuff on the Internet and in speeches while continuing to run the AFT like a Stalinist.

Perhaps Weingarten and the cronies and yes people around her are incapable of adjustment.

Perhaps the arrogance they suffer from does not allow for adjustment.

Whatever the case, they're simply doubling down on how they run the union, calling all the shots, insulting and/or shouting down anybody who doesn't agree with them, and continuing down the road to extinction.

Like I wrote earlier this week, I'll continue paying my dues because I think it's the right thing to do - but you can bet a whole bunch of other people will quit paying the minute they can.

Let's see how "powerful" the AFT leadership is when the dues money these parasites live off of gets cut in half.

AFT Will Call For Duncan's Resignation Too

Norm Scott at Ed Notes:

Former Chicago TU Pres Debbie Lynch Calls for Arne Duncan Resignation.

Lynch, who was CTU president from 2001-04 and ran and lost in '07 and '10 and is now a delegate from a college, made a special resolution calling for Duncan resignation. This came as a surprise to Randi and pretty much everyone in the house it seems since there was already a planned similar reso, as pointed out by Randi, that she knew about in advance. She suggested they be combined. They are finishing the committee nursing resos.

I think I reported earlier that word was out that the leadership would not openly oppose this -- as some have pointed out - the AFT never likes to look less militant than the NEA, which called for the end of Duncan's reign. And so it is Lynch at mic captures the limelight. Needing a 2/3 vote to put on agenda tomorrow's calendar, it passes unanimously. Will be on agenda tomorrow.

Of course, since Randi Weingarten just spent last Monday standing next to Duncan as he trotted out his "Educator Excellence Equity Project," I don't think this resolution has any real meaning other than, as Norm says, the AFT leadership doesn't want to look less militant than the NEA's, and they want to throw a bone to the rank-and-file.

Frankly, I don't care whether Duncan stays or goes.

Duncan isn't the problem.

His boss, Barack Obama, and the billionaires who put him into office, are.

Whether Duncan stays or goes (and he likely stays for the next two years), nothing is going to change policy-wise out of the Obama administration - they're not turning back on six years of deform work.

So it's cool that the AFT seemingly will call for Arne's ouster, but it doesn't have any real practical effect on much of anything.

Now if they had allowed an anti-Common Core resolution to come to a vote and given the convention the chance to call for the "End of the Core," that would be something else.

But there's a reason why Randi and her AFT minions are allowing this Duncan resolution to come to the floor but killed the anti-CCSS resolution in committee.

That's because they know the Duncan one doesn't mean much, but the anti-CCSS resolution would have meant an awful lot.

So Much For Randi Weingarten And The AFT Fighting The Common Core

Norm Scott is at the AFT convention in L.A. - he reports Randi Weingarten and her Unity/UFT minions had the votes to secure their own pro-Common Core resolution but rigged the committee process in order to ensure the Chicago Teachers Union resolution condemning Common Core didn't pass anyway:

Since we were not allowed in, we were watching the Education Issues Committee debate from outside the glass doors. With long lines at the mic, it was clear that Chicago TU people did not have the muscle to win the room over to its anti- common core resolution to counter the Weingarten pro common core - with conditions.

...

But just like at home where winning a majority is not enough, the Unity Caucus block voting machine (they model the Hassidic community) which controls the AFT did not leave any stones unturned.

Having experienced Unity tactics in the last 2 conventions, the CTU crew tried to get a step ahead. One of them asked me how much earlier they should get there to gain seats near the mics. "You should have left yesterday," I said.

Well, they got there early enough to get seats at the mics. Seeing the situation, never underestimate the slugs. They just cleared the room to force the CTU people out of their seats and had everyone re-enter, thus allowing Unity and allies to capture the seats around the mics. One CTUer left a bag on the seat. But when she got back, the bag had been moved and Mulgrew was sitting in the seat.

The CTU should have brought chains and locked themselves to their chairs - make Unity use a fork lift to get them out. Actually, I need to share some of my "I refuse to move, call the cops" stories with Chicago. Just don't move when they tell you to and invite them to call the cops. I once lay down on a table in the lobby at the DA when they told me to remove our lit. Think that is why they think I'm crazy or is it just my imagination?

I think mid-westerners are just too nice.

That's Weingarten's "vibrant AFT democracy" in action.

Remember this morning when I asked "Is Randi Weingarten REALLY Getting The Message" about how much opposition there is in the rank-and-file to Common Core and the ancillary corporate education reforms that come with it?

Remember how I said to watch what they do rather than listen to what they say over this stuff?

Well, if you were watching this farce, you saw happen exactly what I thought would happen - Weingarten and her shills talked a good game about opposition to Common Core and leaving it up to the membership whether the condemnatory CCSS resolution passed or not, then rigged the game to make sure that didn't happen.

In other words, they ensured that their lame "The Common Core Standards are wonderful if only the implementation was better" resolution passed.

Dunno what the usually astute Stephanie Simon was drinking last night when she wrote up her Politico piece about how the AFT leadership was escalating opposition to the CCSS, but whatever it was, she should stop drinking it so we can get back the astute reporting she always does.

Because the AFT leadership had NO intention of letting the condemnatory CTU resolution on the Core pass committee and go to the convention floor.

Randi Weingarten and the AFT/UFT leadership remain as pro-Common Core as ever - the proof was in the committee vote.