Do unions speak for their members?
Do unions speak for their members? Apparently Steve Light does not think so as he excoriates United Federation of Teachers (UFT) prez Michael Mulgrew and teacher unions in general, for not standing up for their members in contract negotiations. Apparently some UFT members were also not happy about the manner in which the contract was agreed upon. The irony is now, with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation-won Janus v AFSCME decision by the Supreme Court, these teachers who do not approve of the contract can resign their membership immediately.
More irony is piled on as Mulgrew has been “outed” for taking more than $8,000 in Tennis Open tickets over past years. The whole story is on the World Socialist Web Site.
With four months remaining before the current contract was due to expire, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the New York City affiliate on the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), pushed through a concessions-laden contract without giving educators adequate time to study and discuss its terms.
On November 4, the UFT announced that the contract had been passed by 87 percent of those who voted with a two-thirds participation of eligible voters. The “yes” vote, however, was not a vote of confidence in the UFT. It was the result of the campaign of lies and deception and the widespread knowledge among teachers that the union would do nothing to fight for anything better even if they rejected the deal.