I know Amy from our earliest days of teaching. We were in a writing group together. Even then I was so impressed to her dedication to service. I wasn't surprise by her pivot to working in the union. I haven't spoken to her in over 25 years, only watching her career from afar but with pride for knowing her. Her commitment and idealism is matchless. She definitely has my vote.
As a teacher at Forest Hills High School, I'm voting for ARISE. Here's why:
-> Dedication to rank-and-file organizing: the candidates on the ARISE slate recognize that true union power does not come from the strong personalities of leaders, but from the capacity to bring in the masses of workers into decision making and action taking. The promise to create an organizing department demonstrates a sincere commitment to this principle.
-> Transparency and democracy: Both opposition slates discuss open bargaining, but only ARISE has a true track record fighting for such. During the previous round of contract negotiations, candidates in the ARISE slate were pushing for the creation of Contract Action Teams and transparency with members, while Arundell shouted down members who dared question the sub-inflation raises.
-> Truly new union leadership: ARISE is an entirely rank-and-file slate, composed of chapter leaders, delegates, and school-based activists who have been in the fight on the ground and pushing against Unity since day one. Arundell has been a UFT staffer for 21 years, meaning not only that she has been behind Mulgrew through every bad decision made by Unity, but also that she hasn't been in a classroom since the invention of smartphones, much less since COVID.
-> View of the big picture: ARISE understands that, to win truly just contract demands, working conditions, pension reform, and healthcare, the UFT cannot act alone. ARISE has a plan for leveraging union and community partnerships to remedy the issues with Tier VI and reform the Taylor Law through collective pressure.
While I have deep respect for anyone standing up to Unity, it takes more than saying, "We're better than the other guy!" to truly organize.
I know Amy from our earliest days of teaching. We were in a writing group together. Even then I was so impressed to her dedication to service. I wasn't surprise by her pivot to working in the union. I haven't spoken to her in over 25 years, only watching her career from afar but with pride for knowing her. Her commitment and idealism is matchless. She definitely has my vote.
Hi Kimberly. I have such fond memories of our writing group!!!
Every ABC argument against ARISE is just “splitting the opposition vote is bad and ABC is the only viable option” with zero substance to support
As a teacher at Forest Hills High School, I'm voting for ARISE. Here's why:
-> Dedication to rank-and-file organizing: the candidates on the ARISE slate recognize that true union power does not come from the strong personalities of leaders, but from the capacity to bring in the masses of workers into decision making and action taking. The promise to create an organizing department demonstrates a sincere commitment to this principle.
-> Transparency and democracy: Both opposition slates discuss open bargaining, but only ARISE has a true track record fighting for such. During the previous round of contract negotiations, candidates in the ARISE slate were pushing for the creation of Contract Action Teams and transparency with members, while Arundell shouted down members who dared question the sub-inflation raises.
-> Truly new union leadership: ARISE is an entirely rank-and-file slate, composed of chapter leaders, delegates, and school-based activists who have been in the fight on the ground and pushing against Unity since day one. Arundell has been a UFT staffer for 21 years, meaning not only that she has been behind Mulgrew through every bad decision made by Unity, but also that she hasn't been in a classroom since the invention of smartphones, much less since COVID.
-> View of the big picture: ARISE understands that, to win truly just contract demands, working conditions, pension reform, and healthcare, the UFT cannot act alone. ARISE has a plan for leveraging union and community partnerships to remedy the issues with Tier VI and reform the Taylor Law through collective pressure.
While I have deep respect for anyone standing up to Unity, it takes more than saying, "We're better than the other guy!" to truly organize.