2/4/12 State of the Union Conference & (MTA notes! &) the Stakes for the Future of the UFT

Teachers are under attack, as never before.
And with the UFT's lethargy and passivity in the face of the attacks, it is on a suicide mission. Lawsuits are insufficient responses to the onslaught. Without intensive education and mobilization of the membership the assaults will succeed in destroying the profession and teachers' unions.
We must resist together.
I. Basic blurb on State of the Union [UFT] conference
II. Directions to State of the Union conference (with weekend MTA service changes considered)
III. Ed Notes' salient observations on the timely strategic issues at stake as the conference approaches

Public education is under attack! Stand up, fight back! As educators we are strongest when our voices are united. That is what a UNION is for. The UNION makes us strong.
For far too long the leadership of our union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), along with the national American Federation of Teachers (AFT), have been silent, thrown up minimal defenses too little too late, and have even collaborated in the assault on our profession, our students and their families.
It is time to re-imagine our teachers’ union.
Imagine. . .
A union with true democracy.
A union where members’ concerns, ideas and opinions form the union identity.
A union that works to educate, organize and mobilize its members in support of public education, our careers as professionals, and our students, their families and communities.
A union that works to end mayoral control and other racist policies that have removed the voice of educators and parents from decision making.
A union that works with individual schools to recruit and train chapter leaders and delegates who share this vision.
A union that supports Chapter Leaders in struggles with administrations and in their work to educate and organize members.

Workshops include:
UFT 101: Introduction to the UFT
What can you do if your principal does not follow the contract.
Organizing 101: parents and teachers working together--a vision for a community oriented teacher union
The UFT past and present
What is social justice unionism?
What happened to Brown vs. Board of Education: resegregation of our schools
The disappearing Black and Latino Teacher and the deprofessionalization of Teaching
What's the 1% want with our schools? (Privatization 101)
Mayoral Control vs. A People's Board of Education
Building your chapter: how do you organize at the school level?
Federal, State and local policy and our schools
What does democracy in our union look like?
Strategy and tactics: after Occupy Wall Street, what’s next for our movement?
Teacher evaluations and transformation schools
Hope to see you there! FEB. 4- STATE OF THE UNION: TIME TO FIGHT BACK
Register at: http://stateoftheunionconference-estw.eventbrite.com/ Saturday, February 4th, 2012 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at The Graduate Center for Worker Education 25 Broadway, 7th Floor, the historic Cunard Line Building, SW corner of Morris Street and Broadway, between Rector Street and Bowling Green. New York, NY 10004

By Public Transportation: Take 4, 5 to Bowling Green and cross Broadway. Other stations in walking distance include the: R [northbound] to Rector Street; 1 to Rector Street; A, C to Fulton Street/Broadway Nassau station to the 4 or 5 train. We are about 1/2 mile south of the Fulton Street Transit Center, the Staten Island Ferry and PATH train service to New Jersey.

Access points to 25 Broadway:
R, northbound (Brooklyn to Manhattan), exit at Rector Street, rear exit from platform, exiting to Morris Street and Rector Street, walk one block east to Broadway
4, 5 to Bowling Green. However, the 5 is running with 20 minutes between trains this weekend
1 to Rector Street
J does not run south of Chambers Street on weekends. Change there to take the 4 or the 5 to Bowling Green.
Directions: http://workereducation.org/contact-us Find us on Facebook: State of the Union $10.00 pre-registration $15.00 at the door
Scholarships available upon request.
E-Mail - stateoftheunionfeb4@gmail.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObZ3rdO-T3I http://stateoftheunionconference.eventbrite.com

Let's follow the observations at Ed Notes Online. It couldn't be put better:
Public education is under attack! Stand up fight back!

The UFT leadership under Michael Mulgrew supports mayoral control, charter schools and a deal on evaluating teachers based on faulty value-added test scores. And recently, Unity Caucus pushed through a constitutional amendment that will result in an even further reduction of the voice of the classroom teacher in the union. Do you agree?

Are You Concerned With the State of Our Teachers’ Union?
“I still support the idea of Mayoral Control. I still believe it is a better system.” – UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, January 19th, 2012 Do you disagree?

“The UFT should never have partnered with DOE and state for RTTT. It was obvious that test scores would become a major factor, despite absence of any support from testing experts and consensus that value added is not ready for prime time. The UFT thought it had negotiated 20%, but even 20% is wrong because there is no scientific basis for 2%, 20%, 40%, or 90%. It's all political, not professional.” –Dr. Diane Ravitch, January 25th, 2012 Do you agree?

“The United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit on May 18, 2011, seeking to prevent charter school co-location in public school buildings. But UFT President Michael Mulgrew sits on the board of the very organization — New Visions for Public Schools — responsible for opening two charter schools on the Kennedy campus.” –Nikki Dowling, Riverdale Press, January 11th, 2010 Does this disappoint you?

During the delegate assembly on January 18th, 2012, with virtually no democratic discussion among delegates, nor time to bring it back to members, the UFT leadership pushed through an amendment to the UFT Constitution to add to the voting power of the retirees in UFT elections. Did you know about this important change to our union's governance rules? Prior to this amendment, the retiree vote was capped to weigh in at 18,000 votes no matter how many retirees voted. The amendment raises that cap by 30% to 23,500. That number is not that far off from the number of active teachers who actually vote in union wide elections, so retirees basically now control the union. Active rank and file groups have no legal recourse to access retirees during election time (no emails, addresses phone numbers etc) ending any chance of democratic governance in our union by active teachers. Not surprising when President Mulgrew and the UFT leadership still believe in Mayoral Control, even though the majority of parents, young people and educators believe it has been a failed experiment. “If teachers unions are to continue to exist as a meaningful form of workers’ representation, members need to transform them — and fast.” –Lois Weiner, January, 2012

Join rank and file union members and their parent and community allies at The State of the UNION Conference.
Come meet other UFT members who want a new kind of union, while learning about the history and functioning of the UFT in workshops facilitated by rank and file members, union delegates and education activists.

Saturday, February 4th, 2012 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at The Graduate Center for Worker Education 25 Broadway, 7th Floor, SW corner of Morris Street and Broadway, between Rector Street and Bowling Green. New York, NY 10004

By Public Transportation: Take 4, 5 to Bowling Green and cross the street. Other stations in walking distance include the : R, W to Rector Street; J, M, Z to Broad Street; 1 to Rector Street; A, C to Fulton Street/Broadway Nassau station to the 4 or 5 train. We are near the Fulton Street Transit Center, in addition to several local and express bus routes, the Staten Island Ferry and PATH train service to New Jersey.
Directions: http://workereducation.org/contact-us Find us on Facebook: State of the Union $10.00 pre-registration $15.00 at the door Scholarships available upon request. E-Mail - stateoftheunionfeb4@gmail.com

SUBWAY RESTRICTIONS, SATURDAY, DUE TO CONSTRUCTION:
Access points to 25 Broadway:
R, northbound (Brooklyn to Manhattan), exit at Rector Street, rear exit from platform, exiting to Morris Street and Rector Street, walk one block east to Broadway
4, 5 to Bowling Green. However, the 5 is running with 20 minutes between trains
1 to Rector Street
J does not run south of Chambers Street on weekends. Change there to take the 4 or the 5 to Bowling Green.