How do We Empower Chapter Leaders in a Member-Driven Union?
Middle school teacher and UFT chapter, Gary Malone, shares why he’s running with A Better Contract. - By Gary Malone
On my first day as an English teacher at Junior High School 189 way back in January of 2002, I was given this advice from a veteran teacher: The two people you want to get to know right away are your payroll secretary and your chapter leader. The payroll part seemed obvious enough, but as a brand new hire, I wasn’t too familiar with the term “chapter leader”. This wasn’t my first union experience; I had spent 4 years as a member of the Transport Workers Union when I worked for American Airlines after graduating high school, and my dad had been a Teamster and a shop stewart when he spent some time as a warehouse worker when I was a kid, so I always knew the importance of unions and union reps. And as a teacher, I found out very quickly how important having a good chapter leader really was.
I was only a few weeks into my teaching career when I was the victim of a false accusation of corporal punishment. It’s hard to describe the panic and sense of helplessness that overcame me when I found out about it. I felt that my career could be over before it even started. Everything I worked for was at risk. Fortunately for me, my chapter leader was incredibly supportive. (Shoutout to Ron Isaac) He made sure my rights were protected. He had my back through the whole ordeal. Thankfully, the truth came to light; I was exonerated and was soon able to settle in and really begin my career.
Fast forward a few decades, and I’m still at 189. I am now the senior member of the English department and in my 13th year as chapter leader. Both of those roles have their own set of challenges, but in many ways, my unpaid role as “union rep” can often be even more difficult than the job that provides me with a salary, benefits, and eventually a pension.
As a chapter leader, I feel a lot of pressure in representing this union to our members. The reality is, when it comes to our union, the chapter leaders are, for lack of a better term, the “face of the franchise”. To the vast majority of our membership, especially our newer members, the chapter leader IS the union, or at the very least, their only real connection to it. Most of our members probably wouldn’t know their borough rep or the VP of their division if they were stuck on an elevator with them. That’s not meant as a knock on any of those people, but it is the simple reality of any large organization, including our union: The higher the position you hold, the further away you are from the realities that the frontline workers face on a daily basis.
Members expect a lot of their chapter leaders. What does the contract say about this? Ask your chapter leader. Question about pension or certification? Go see your chapter leader. Admin’s giving you a hard time? Notify your chapter leader. No toilet paper in the bathroom? Make sure the chapter leader knows.
UFT leadership also expects a lot from chapter leaders. It is up to us to introduce our union and the benefits it provides to new hires and convince them to sign up to become members. We are tasked with having a strong knowledge of the contract and making sure it is enforced at the school level.
Chapter leaders are responsible for keeping members informed of the latest union news and initiatives, and for pushing them to engage in political action such as reaching out to elected officials, signing petitions, and donating to COPE. Among other things, we are expected to organize “days of action”, to spearhead various charity drives, to attend meetings both in and out of school, and to sit on and/or lead an endless list of committees.
During the pandemic, it was chapter leaders on the front lines making sure that schools supplied adequate PPE, that covid testing was happening, and that social distancing rules were being followed. The chapter leader role comes with a lot of responsibility. I think it should also come with more respect.
I don’t want to give the impression that I am suggesting that there aren’t any helpful, appreciative, and supportive people in the upper levels of our union. There absolutely are. I have had great experiences with some of them in my years as a chapter leader. One such person was my former Borough Rep, Amy Arundell.
If you are reading this, you are already well aware that Amy is currently running for the position of UFT President with A Better Contract. I am also running with ABC for a spot on the Executive Board. Recently Amy asked me what I think our leadership should be doing differently when it comes to chapter leaders. While there is a litany of things that I could say in response to that question, for the sake of brevity, I will narrow it down to two things: Compensation and collaboration.
Compensation
Being a chapter leader is a job; it should be respected as such. Newer members are often surprised when they learn that I don’t get paid for this job and that I also teach a full program. I’m not suggesting that chapter leaders be given full time salaries, but the $6 per member annual stipend is a joke for all that is expected of us. Even worse is the additional stipend you can “earn” by meeting certain benchmarks like convincing members to contribute to COPE. Our union has always been strongly opposed to merit pay…except, apparently, when it comes to chapter leaders. It’s insulting.
If improving the financial compensation is not a realistic possibility, at the very least, the UFT should negotiate for chapter leaders to be given more time during their scheduled work day to fulfill their duties. I can only assume that the UFT must have a committee specifically dedicated to inventing new committees for the chapter leader to serve on. When I began, I think it was just the consultation committee and the SLT. Now we have the PD Committee, the MOSL committee, the Special Ed Committee, and so on and so on. That’s not to say that these committees are not important (some more than others), but there is definitely some redundancy, and it is a lot to add to the plates of teachers who already have a full program. Give us the time to do this work.
Collaboration
As I mentioned earlier, the UFT expects a lot from chapter leaders, but I often feel that it is not a reciprocal relationship. We are the boots on the ground, the ones expected to do the grunt work, but very rarely is our input sought or even considered. For example, I recently saw a post on the DOE Teachers Facebook group related to the controversial bill about delaying the state’s funding to our pension system. A member who commented on the post seemed furious that chapter leaders were not keeping their members informed about this alleged “backroom deal”. The reality is, we were not made aware of it. If the membership thinks that the higher ups in the UFT are consulting (or even informing) chapter leaders about these decisions, they couldn’t be more wrong.
There are so many head scratching decisions that are made at the top that I feel would be made differently if the chapter leaders were kept more in the loop. This latest idea to offer free photo-ops to mayoral candidates who want our endorsement? I can’t imagine that any actual teachers came up with that one. It seems like nothing more than an election year publicity stunt- for all involved.
Now I may be weakening my own negotiating position here by admitting this, but the fact is, I would still be chapter leader even if there was no compensation. I believe in the importance of this role that much. And because I believe in its importance, I am advocating to make this role more appealing, so that it is one that members want to compete for rather than one that’s often left to the only one willing to take it.
I am in my 5th term as chapter leader at my school, and since my initial election bid where I was chosen over the incumbent, I have run unopposed 4 consecutive times. Now I would like to think that is at least partly a testament to the job I have done in this role and a sign of my members’ satisfaction, but it’s also not surprising that teachers, many of whom already feel they do a thankless job, aren’t clamoring to volunteer to do another one.
Chapter leaders play a crucial role. If you have confidence and trust in your chapter leader, you have confidence and trust in your union. The reverse is also true. In my years in this system, I have known some great chapter leaders, and maybe some who were not so great. I feel they all still deserve respect for stepping up and taking on a role that most would run from.
The top down approach that currently exists in our union will not make us stronger. We need to focus on building our strength from the ground up. To become a stronger union, we need stronger chapters, and to help build those stronger chapters, we need strong chapter leaders. That is a lot easier said than done.There is a shortage in chapter leader candidates for the same reason there is a shortage of teachers: The expectations far outweigh the appreciation and the compensation. As the ones on the frontlines dealing with members’ issues face to face on a daily basis, chapter leaders need to be treated with more respect from our leadership.