When Surrender Replaces Solidarity
What a Bronx Unity rep's comments revealed about the deeper problem in our union
If you’ve spent any time on the NYCDOE Teachers Facebook group or UFT-related social media, you probably saw the disturbing controversy that erupted on Thursday.
The following video summarizes this - Attack on Norm Scott by UFT District Rep
A Unity district rep from the Bronx—a paid union staffer—posted vile, disgusting remarks about Norm Scott, a 50-year UFT member and retiree who’s currently battling cancer while still organizing for our members. This wasn’t just inappropriate. It was inexcusable. And it was done on union time, with your dues funding it.
While many members rightfully condemned the attack on Norm, something just as important got overlooked in the exchange: what this Unity staffer said right before the offensive comments.
They were discussing how members are increasingly frustrated by micromanagement and mandated, scripted curriculum—curriculum that our union leadership co-signed without our input. And here’s what the staffer wrote:
“Again, what makes you think Mulgrew had all the power in that? The Department of Education is the employer… ultimately they dictate our jobs and they want uniform curriculum and they want to tell us how to teach and it sucks and I miss the days of autonomy in the classroom but they don’t exist anymore. We teach to a test.”
Read that again.
This isn’t a rank-and-file member venting. This is a full-time union representative justifying micromanagement and giving up on one of the most fundamental aspects of our profession: teacher autonomy.
According to them, autonomy is dead. “Those days don’t exist anymore.” The DOE “dictates” what we do. And the president of our union? Powerless, apparently.
We don’t share this to shame anyone. We’re not naming names. What matters isn’t the individual—it’s the mindset. It’s the passive, defeated posture that has taken hold of a union that once prided itself on fighting back. And that mindset is coming from the top.
Are we really supposed to accept that the DOE “dictates” everything now?
What happened to negotiating? What happened to using our collective power to push back on mandates that demoralize teachers, reduce our craft to scripts, and turn classrooms into test prep factories?
Let’s be clear: this isn’t leadership. It’s surrender.
A Better Contract was formed to challenge this very posture—to reject the idea that the best we can do is shrug our shoulders and say, “It sucks, but what can you do?” We’re here to say we can do better—and we must.
Teachers deserve more than symbolic appreciation or cookie-cutter solutions. We deserve:
A real say in curriculum decisions.
A union that negotiates, not capitulates.
Leaders who fight, not just fundraise and fall in line.
We hear it all the time: after salary and healthcare, loss of autonomy is the #1 concern from members in every borough. And yet Unity’s message seems to be: accept it. Get used to it. It’s the new normal.
We don’t accept that.
We are educators. We are professionals. And we will not be dictated to—by the DOE or by a union that’s forgotten how to stand up and say “No.”
We fight because we know teaching doesn’t work without teacher voice. We organize because we still believe in collective power. And we run for union office because our members deserve better.
If you believe autonomy still matters, if you believe we should be more than passive recipients of top-down mandates, then join us. Vote A Better Contract. Let’s lead like we mean it.