UFT Elections: The Anti-Randi Factor

I was at dinner recently. "I didn't vote for ICE," said one of my friends. "I voted for Mulgrew. They say he's a nice guy. He should get a chance. He's a teacher. At least he's not a lawyer," she said with a sneer - an indication that the move from Randi to Mulgrew may give Unity some breathing room. Coming from a rank and file teacher who does not often show much union consciousness, the hostility directed at our former leader is another iteration of how deep RandiWear runs in the UFT.

The anti-Randi comments emanating from throughout the union - the rank and file and internally - I truly have not heard one positive comment said about her from within and without Unity Caucus- are an indication of the total sense of defeat people in the schools feel. When you talk about UFT policy errors to union officials, you get "Randi's not here anymore." You hear things like "Mulgrew doesn't take things personally like Randi did." A good thing. Who needs the angst? Randi seemed to read everything that people on the blogs said. What a waste of time. Mulgrew doesn't seem to give much of a crap what is said. Another good thing.

From the perspective of someone who is not involved in the daily machinations of the UFT as many of us are, the logic of my friend is not off the chart because she views Mulgrew as an individual and is not aware of the Unity machine and how Mulgrew is a product of that machine - a machine that endorsed and promoted and defended every single policy Randi espoused -and still espouses. Just watch all 800 Unity Caucus members traipse to Seattle to the AFT convention in July and cheer every word and awful policy she puts forth. We'll ask observers who are present to check the votes and watch 100% support for Randi from the NYC Unity crew.

The consciousness of Unity Caucus as an entity has not penetrated too deeply into the schools. Surprising you might think considering they have run the union for 50 years. That is part of the Unity strategy. Ask people in the schools if their chapter leader is in Unity and they often don't know. My sense is they are told not to tell their members. Or make much of a deal that many of them are going to Seattle this July to the AFT convention with our dues paying the freight.

It is the job of the opposition to make these connections and disseminate them far and wide and one of the failures has been to do this only every three years at election time, when there is easier access into schools. Now, if every UFT member read Ed Notes diligently, they would be fully aware of Unity and would see clearly that Mulgrew as a product of the machine will turn out to show cosmetic changes only.

So with the UFT election count just days away, the watch will be on to see whether Mulgrew is really more popular than Randi and if he is, does he have coattails for Unity as a caucus, which may take some hits for the conditions in the schools. Some people might show their dissatisfaction with Unity but vote for Mulgrew by choosing New Action. One chapter leader even told me some people in his school were voting for Mulgrew and the rest for ICE-TJC. That seemed pretty strange.

The drop in Unity votes over the last few election cycles is worth noting. I looked at the Ed Notes election report issues from 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2007 and will do some follow-ups over the next few days. The figures are fascinating to wonks like me.