That partner is us, the teachers of NYC. We are the enablers that allow the UFT/Unity to not only give us poor contract after poor contract, but we enable UFT/Unity to continue to time and time again to throw us under the bus, whether it is putting up a fight for our contractual rights, to the lack of being treated professionally by Tweed. UFT/Unity can't do what it is not doing without our acquiescence.
One of the BEST people I have have known in the DOE shared two stories on her Facebook timeline yesterday;
One who was provisionally out of the loop for two months thought the contract was wonderful because she said with a smile,"Once all of the retirees leave, there will be lots of open positions for ATRs"....and she needed the $1000 dollars to go on a trip this summer.What this person fails to understand is that a virus, like in Stephen King's "The Stand," can wipe out every non-ATR teacher in DOE and not one ATR will be hired permanently in a school. Anyway, after taxes your $1k bribe will be about $600.
The other statement shows the folly of allowing retired members of the union the right to vote in UFT/Unity elections;
The other was literally gloating to me, ecstatic to be retiring, couldn't care less about my feelings or that we had to remain and work under the new contract because he said that he had, suffered and 'paid his dues'Yes, you paid your dues. You are entitled to what you have earned and the right to enjoy and well rested and lengthy retirement. But remember this. You are able to retire today and able to enjoy your pension and all that comes with it thanks to other UFT members before you. Especially in 1968 and 1975.
But these are just two examples. I'm sure there are more. It's all apathy and ignorance, ignorance and apathy. Sy Syms used to say, "An educated consumer is our best customer."An educated and informed teacher is a mortal enemy to UFT/Unity.
If we are buying an air conditioner we will research the brands and the prices. We will buy Consumer Reports, speak to friends, read reviews online, and shop for the best price.
We will even do the same for a restaurant or a hotel. Research, check Trip Advisor, Yelp, Google.
But when it comes to our jobs, we do none of that. We stay ignorant. We stay apathetic. WE ARE EDUCATORS. We are supposed to teach out students how to think, how to question, but when it comes time for us to do it when it concerns our livelihoods and our future, We just get stupid. We get what we deserve.
UFT/Unity will not change, or rather conform, to our wishes until the ignorance and the apathy is no more. You must be involved and knowledgeable about our union. You need to go to chapter meetings. Vote in UFT/Unity elections. You need to ask questions. You need to stop thinking that it "Won't affect me," because guess what, it just might one day. And when and if it does you will be kicking yourself for not knowing what you got yourself into.
5 comments:
Excellent post and so true. many teachers are not paying attention and not realizing how the current abuses can be stopped nor how future teachers, (our students and own children), will suffer down the line.
I agree with your post 100%. I told every teacher voted "yes" at my school that I do not want to hear a peep out of them in regards to complaints till 2018.
Not a peep til 2020. And unfortunately, the educated consumers are the ones reading your blog. The others have their heads up someplace else, sometimes up the principal, but surely cannot be bothered with informing themselves.
After 26 years in the system, I've come to the same conclusion that I came to in high school. Teachers, by and large, are morons. I was stunned when I found out I was the only person in my building to vote to get the Mulgrew gang out. I graded exams last year with a group of teachers who thought themselves politically savvy, yet had no idea who Diane Ravitch was. I am not proud to be among these people. In my building, the best and the brightest, young and old, have been flushed out. Now the stars are functionally illiterate professional brown nosers. So sickening. Glad I pulled my kid out of the system before they made her retarded.
I'm taking the money and going to retire this June yet I still voted no on the contract because my conscience would not allow me to throw my fellow teachers under the bus! My young colleagues did not even bother to vote in the union election so yes they got what they deserved.
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