Teacher Union Official: Right to Work Inevitable

The president of the largest teacher union local in the nation has declared that teacher union officials are concerned about the possibility.  Although his exact words have been somewhat disputed, Mike Antonucci provides all versions as well as an explanation of how Right to Work still leaves teachers in states with monopoly representation still under teacher union official rule.

The United Federation of Teachers in New York City is the largest teacher union local in the nation. At its delegate assembly on Wednesday union reps from all over the city endorsed Mayor Bill de Blasio for re-election, and that’s what grabbed the headlines.

But according to several attendees, something remarkable was said by UFT president Michael Mulgrew – and in such an off-handed way it provoked resentment.

The exact verbiage used by Mulgrew differed from source to source, so here are the accounts of two who attended. First, Arthur Goldstein of the NYC Educator blog:

Unless there is a big shift…things can change…we will all be right to work sooner or later. Will it leave states to decide when 1975 decision is overturned? We have legal people and strategists thinking about it. 27 RTW states. NY and CA, MA union strongholds. Believes it will happen, and we have to organize. At AFT exec. committee, we help RTW states organize. Says elections matter.