UFT at the AFT - Part 2

When the UFT held a meeting for delegates at 52 Broadway a few weeks before the AFT convention (according to Unity insiders this meeting violates labor laws - as does any meeting of Unity or New Action on official union property) they harangued them with words like, "You don't represent yourself, but 200,000 UFT members."

Sure. What they are at the AFT to represent are the policies of a small group at the top. Certainly members are not represented. For example, Arthur Goldstein as chapter leader of Francis Lewis HS, the 2nd largest HS school in the city with 300 members could not be a delegate - unless he joined Unity - and then he would be forced to vote the way he was told - not by his chapter but by the leadership.

Even though ICE/TJC got only 9% of the vote - or however we would calculate the votes for the AFT- one could argue they should have gotten a proportion of the delegates. Even 50. Even New Action which ran a slate of their own even if they endorsed Mulgrew should have gotten a share too. Would that make the AFT and UFT more representative of the members views?

But not in the winner take all system of the autocratic UFT/AFT.


What did it cost to send 800 plus Unity people to Seattle?

Each delegate was given $2000. Do the math. If you add in the extra people who were invited as guests and the staffers, I get $2,000,000 of our dues. At a minimum. Add in the costs of the NYSUT Convention in Washington DC a few months ago and the numbers are staggering.

Last Sunday we ran into a delegate from Wisconsin - one of 2 out of 20 they could afford to send. She carried the votes of 10 delegates.

In other words, the UFT could have sent Mulgrew by himself to vote the entire block of votes and save 2 million bucks. Why not? Unity has caucus discipline and everyone is required to vote the same way.

Well, we know why not. These trips are one of the things that keep the Unity faithful, well, faithful. So faithful that even if they agree with us, they will hoot and cheer people like Gates and lead the flock they represent to the slaughter (make sure to read Arthur Goldstein and Sharon Higgins on the sidebar).