It seems I was the first to raise this issue in a public forum at an Executive Board meeting back in the fall of 2004 or 2005 when I and Betsy Combier helped defend a teacher from John Adams HS at a U-rating hearing. The UFT rep assigned was basically helpless and only wanted to address the letters in the teacher's file,not the underlying causes of why the letters were placed there.
When I raised age discrimination, even the hearing officer perked up, saying, "I'm older and that would be terrible." I angrily called the Queens borough office and got a run-around.
So that night I went to the UFT Ex bd meeting, livid at UFT inaction, asking why I, in no way officially connected to the UFT, had to be the one to use age discrimination as a defense. I think Betsy may have been there and she can corroborate the story if she was.
UFT leaders feigned surprise in the Claude Rains Captain Renault tone of "there's gambling here" that such a thing could exist and disingenuously announced at the next Delegate Assembly that teachers suspecting age discrimination should contact the UFT. Randi Weingarten emailed me asking for names and I sent her some. Then the UFT held a press conference with some teachers and announced a suit.
I knew it was bullshit because someone on the inside tipped me off that 25 teachers in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn has filed a suit a year earlier against District 20 Supt Vinnie Grippo, a political ally of the UFT, and their lawyer was not only getting no help from the UFT, but obstruction. The act of making it seem they hadn't heard of such a thing was academy award material.
Chaz writes about it here, Randi & Joel Do It Again - The UFT Secretly Dropped Their Age Discrimination Lawsuit When They Signed The Unenforceable ATR Agreement based on a report from JD2718, a New Action member of the Executive Board. (Since 8 New Action members only got on the Executive Board with Unity Caucus endorsement, you have to read between the lines. I read it as barely suppressed rage. Or at least, that is what I'm hoping, as it would be nice to see New Action, whose existence depends on being propped up by Unity as a bogus opposition, actually take some action.)
I wrote about this story numerous times and if you want to follow the trail, search the blog for "age discrimination suit."
Here is my October 2007 post:
What happened to the Age Discrimination lawsuit?
The UFT has been making the rounds of the Reassignment Centers. UFT Rep Jeff Huart was asked this question:
What happened to the Age Discrimination lawsuit?
Jeff Huart: The UFT is going forward with the lawsuit. People who believe they qualify should get their information in to the union.
Question: But information is out there that the UFT is not going forward with it.
Huart: The UFT is going forward with that one and the one for the people in the Reassignment Centers.
Question: Do teachers know about the general age discrimination lawsuit. Many teachers claim never to have heard about it.
Huart: District reps went to all the schools to tell about it.
How many schools do District Reps reach a week? Might as well use a milk carton and string to deliver the message. Not in the NY Teacher. Not in the UFT Weekly Updates to chapter leaders. Not a flyer handed out at the Delegate Assembly, or even an announcement to have senior teachers contact the union. But whispers from District Reps (those that are competent or awake). That's showing you are serious about age discrimination.
When your union functions as little more than a public relations factory, what can you expect?
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