Snow Days Aren't the Real Problem

The snowstorm debate exposed a deeper, decades-long problem within our union.

Over the last couple days there’s been a lot of discourse from UFT members revolving around work yesterday being in person and the question of going on strike. While a strike isn’t necessarily the best response for this latest snowfall, the impotence of the UFT’s Unity-controlled leadership and their inability to affect change understandably rankles many of us, and additional context could help us better grasp the underlying problem.

Several years ago a resolution was brought to the floor of the Delegate Assembly proposing the UFT lobby state legislators to amend the Taylor Law — specifically, removing the no strike pledge while preserving the parts of the law that protect our pensions. It was pointed out that there was precedent for Taylor being amended, specifically the Triborough Amendment.

Unity Caucus, which controls the Delegate Assembly along with every other instrument in the UFT apparatus, voted the resolution down. If you’re wondering why, ask yourself what’s easier for Mulgrew and the rest of the Unity-controlled UFT leadership: organizing a 200,000 member-strong strike? Or shrugging and saying “nothing we can do, Taylor Law makes striking illegal.” There’s your answer.

Here’s the harsh truth: if you’re not happy with the way the current UFT leadership represents you, you need to get off your ass and vote in the next union election, and get others to do so as well. If 170,000+ people can sign a Change.org petition calling for remote instruction in less than 24 hours, it’s not hard to believe more than just 29% of the members (approximately 58,000 people) can be bothered over the course of a month to take less than five minutes to mail in a ballot. It’s not hard to believe they can then summon the effort to speak with the colleagues they see every day and encourage them to vote too.

Otherwise, respectfully, folks should really stop complaining and just admit that they’re actually okay with the status quo. Admit they’re okay with a union that limits comments on social media posts because the leadership has nothing but contempt for the members (who pay their overinflated salaries) and what we have to say. Admit that they’re okay with endlessly screaming into the void of a Facebook group with the same legitimate complaints again and again and again instead of finally doing something about it.

Please follow ABC on social media. Please reach out to us and get involved if you would like to see an alternative to the current Unity-controlled UFT leadership that has dominated our union for the last 65+ years. The next union-wide election is in 2028, but we have plenty of initiatives we’re working on between now and then that you can help with, many from the comfort of your couch if you have a smartphone or other Internet-enabled device. Like a well-planned, inclusive lesson, there are entry points for all levels of activism in ABC.

If your response to that bare minimum ask is “I don’t have time for that,” ask yourself if you “have time” to dig your car out and schlep to work for 15% student attendance and zero meaningful instruction taking place every time we get hit with a foot or more of snow. Ask yourself if you “have time” for that second job you have to work because our union leaders can’t negotiate raises that even keep up with the cost of living, much less outpace it. Ask yourself if you “have time” when you continue to work a 155 minute longer school week (over 90 hours per year!) for a raise we got over twenty years ago.

Friends, at some point we need to recognize that we “don’t have time” because of Unity’s leadership, not in spite of it. Unity’s absolute control of the UFT and our working more for less aren’t unrelated data points — they have a direct causal relationship. And so we ask if you can make the relatively minimal investment over the next two years of helping ABC end Unity’s reign of errors for good and give yourself and the other 200,000 people represented by this union a decent shot at better pay, more respect for your time — in short, a better, healthier work-life balance.

We’ll close with one final point: pulling your dues will not help you or fix this crisis — in fact, it exacerbates it. We know from last year’s election that Unity maintains control of the UFT because they can reliably turn out 30,000 votes — about 15% of the overall membership. About 13% voted for the opposition. A whopping 71% or so remain totally disengaged. Fed up UFT members pulling their dues actually increases Unity’s share of the vote and makes dislodging them even more difficult. What we need right now is for people to lean in, not withdraw. Look at it this way — if just the 42,000 members of the big DOE Facebook group voted for ABC, Unity would lose in a nearly twenty point landslide. Now imagine if half of all UFT members — 100,000 people — bothered to vote. Unity would get blown out by forty points.

None of this is beyond the realm of possibility. All it requires is a rejection of apathy, a temporary investment of minimal effort, and a desire for a better life for us and our families. Seven decades of uninterrupted, absolute rule isn’t union democracy. It’s a dictatorship. It’s a union president making nearly half a million dollars per year off our dues while telling us to be thankful for anemic 3% raises. Ignore Unity’s fear mongering and obfuscation and join us in working for a better future we can all support.