Win or Lose, We Must Put Union First

By Gary Malone, ABC Candidate - Middle School Executive Board

Here we are. Voting has come to a close, and there are just a few days left until the final ballots are counted and the results are revealed. This is a pivotal moment for our union. This has no doubt been the most talked about UFT election of my career, and being even a small part of it has been an interesting experience to say the least.

I wanted to write and share this now while the votes are still being tallied because this is intended as neither a victory celebration nor a concession speech. For me, regardless of how this election turns out, my role and responsibility as a UFT member will be the same. I am not in the running for an officer position, so the results of this election won’t determine whether or not I take on a new job (or lose one). Win or lose, I will still be an 8th grade English Language Arts teacher and chapter leader at JHS 189 in Flushing, Queens. If ABC wins and I land a seat on the Executive Board, my voice in how our union is run will be a bit more amplified, and I know that I will definitely have a UFT president who values my input, but even if the election goes a different way, I will still continue to be an advocate for my members and for our union.

I have been around this system and this union for quite some time, but by no means do I think I know everything. There is always more to learn. One thing I learned over these past few months is that union politics is a dirty business. I’m not naive. I already knew that this was the case, but to see a little more clearly the way the fear of losing their grip on power has caused some people to behave was a bit disappointing to put it mildly.

I did my best to not go low and to keep the conversation focused on the facts and on the issues. In the previous pieces I wrote over the past month or two, I shared my concerns from the perspective of a chapter leader, a middle school teacher, and a long-time active union member. I don’t think there is anyone from any of the slates or caucuses who I spoke negatively about, and I stand by every word I spoke or wrote during this campaign. The fact of the matter is that I didn’t get into this to run against anyone; I did it to run for our union. I think the vast majority of people in this union, regardless of their caucus or slate affiliation, are good people, and most of them are making an effort to do good by our members and to improve this job for us, for those who came before us, and for those who will follow us.

Win or lose, I still strongly believe in the importance and the potential of this union. Regardless of who is in control of it, I will still be doing my part to advocate for myself, for the members at my school, and for the UFT as a whole. I will still be at the rallies. I will still be on that bus to Albany for Lobby Day (even if it breaks down again on the way home) and regardless of who ends up in these leadership positions, I feel that we should all be willing to speak out if we feel they are not doing right by our members. I feel that is the duty of all of us. That is the reason I first took on the role of chapter leader some fourteen years ago: to have my voice heard, to speak out for those who may not feel that power in their own voices, and to try and instill in my members my belief that WE are the UFT.

If ABC wins, I will be excited to be part of a change that I feel our union needs and I am confident that Amy Arundell will be an effective president because she has always been an advocate for us, she sees the value in our rank and file membership,and she actually listens to our concerns. If ARISE pulls off an upset, I will be interested to see how Olivia Swisher adjusts when elevated from the classroom directly to the top spot in our union, and will be hopeful that she and her caucus can find ways to bring our membership together despite the wide range of personal political views among our ranks. And if Unity holds on to power, I hope that the close election that I expect this one to be will be a bit of a wake up call for the leadership and that they can find a way to live up to their caucus name and do more to bring our membership together. I don’t think we need Unity, but we definitely need to be united. Win or lose, I will be part of that.

I had an interesting conversation with someone at the Queens ‘Fix Tier Six” rally earlier this month. I saw a face that looked familiar, and initially mistook this person for someone I had attended HMH PDs with in District 25. I soon found out, however, that I had the wrong guy; Ironically enough, the person I was talking to was actually someone who was running directly opposed to me in this election as a candidate for the Middle School Executive Board with the Unity caucus. We had a relatively brief, but mostly friendly conversation. Obviously, we were not in agreement on what we wanted the outcome of the election to be and I know that we checked different boxes on our ballots, but we had a lot more in common than we did in contrast. We are both middle school ELA teachers, chapter leaders, and guys who grew up in Queens and now make our living teaching here. And I have no doubt that we both want what is best for our union, even if we don’t agree on who we think will best help lead us there. Before we parted ways, he shook my hand and said “No matter how the election turns out, let’s continue to do this.” I interpreted “this” to mean showing up to advocate for our members, to engage in civil conversations, and to put our union before any caucus affiliation. If I interpreted “this” correctly, he took the words right out of my mouth. Win or lose, sign me up for that. Or “this”.

Between the three slates, approximately 1,800 UFT members ran in this election, and I assume the majority of those people were speaking to their colleagues about the process and urging them to get out and vote. I don’t know this for a fact, but I fully expect a large increase in voter turnout. Regardless of how the election ends up, these are all positives for our union. If all of those who ran maintain that energy and spread it on to others, our union can truly become the powerhouse it has the potential to be. When the last ballots are counted, someone will be declared the winner, but this union will only truly win when we actually unite for the things that we all want. With Tier VI far from “fixed” and contract negotiations on the horizon, our union leadership will have some tough tasks to tackle, but those battles will not be won by Unity; they will not be won by ARISE, and they will not be won by ABC. They can only be won by the UFT: By a truly UNITED Federation of Teachers. So whoever ends up in power needs to make their first order of business to find a way to make that a reality.

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