UFT Solidarity: The Grand Illusion of Francesco Portelos

Dang, just when we here at SBSB thought we have seen it all along come Francisco Portelos with a treatise masked in martyrdom, untruths, and narcissism.

Martyrdom, untruths, and narcissism associated with Portelos you ask? Of course. But seeing is believing and one must read it all.

And one must read the SBSB analysis of the gibberish.

Welcome to the grand illusion/Come on in and see what's happening/Pay the price, get your tickets for the show

Our grassroots support is ever growing. We are in schools in every district, from early childhood to high school and gaining more and more retiree supporters daily.

No it's not. We here at SBSB call bullocks! Schools in every district? So what? Big deal.Hmm, let us see. There are about 33 districts or so multiply it by one school in each district and you have....33.

But to be fair, as Portelos was quoted as saying,  

"...it was too early to quantify the slate’s support, but counted about 100 active members, a number that he said sounded low, but was high compared to other groups."

We apologize for claiming 1 member in each district. There are 3.03 members in each district. 

The stage is set, the band starts playing

Please excuse my language, but our sources are telling us our “campaign is scaring the sh*t out of people.”

Yes, your campaign is scaring the shit out of people but not for the reasons you create on your mind. 

To make matters worse, UFT leadership’s own Unity caucus members are joining our group UFT Solidarity.  

Name them. 

Others are silent supporters who want to keep their job’s at the UFT central and district offices. Unity members do not have to leave Unity to support Solidarity. We will not be cleaning house of the many good reps that are out there.

 Wow, these people must feel so relieved. They must be sleeping well now. 

Tonight was the UFT Executive Board meeting. It takes place two Mondays a month, is comprised of about 100 members and has a lavish buffet that sets the UFT back about $12,000 a meeting.

$12,000 a meeting for a buffet for 100 people? That is $120 per head. Do you have proof of this? Or is this a number that is just pulled out of some orifice? 

We here at SBSB fact checked this and at most the spread is about $3k. Yes, even that is too much money. We here at SBSB think a shitload of pizzas will do or some six foot wedges along with cole slaw and stuff or even ordering out for wings, but please, get facts straight. 

Suddenly your heart is pounding

We are dealing with wannabe bullies here.

Whatcha talking about Willis? Actually some people are not wannabe bullies but true bullies. **cough cough** **wink wink** **nudge nudge** Know what I mean, know what I mean? 

You're wishing secretly you were a star

Once I spoke and Exec Board member XXXXX informed me after that he found Mulgrew standing alone in the next room where the buffet was listening during my speech.

 Maybe he was adjusting himself. Or just wanted to laugh his ass off in private.

Upon my return VP of Non-DOE members Anne Goldman was on the mic.  She is also the wife of former UFT Manhattan Representative Jerry Goldman and mother of UFT political guru Jason Goldman (next to Paul Egan of course).

So what does it matter about her family? Why must her family be involved?  What purpose does this serve? 

But don't be fooled by the radio/The TV or the magazines

I was driving home from school one day and stopped at a red light. My phone always sits on my dashboard, within arms reach, and I often use voice activation to call or text.

Impressive. I keep my phone between my legs when I drive. Who cares where you keep your phone or that you use voice activation. Why? Because it is all "look at me! I use technology!"

A message reminder I had set popped up stating “Call Nurses.” Before the light changed I had quickly navigated to the UFT Nurses Chapter page.

Hmm, it's starting to get interesting. Hold on everyone. Amazing how one can do this and drive at the same time. 

 They'll show you photographs of how your life should be/But they're just someone else's fantasies

The nurses page had links to every private hospital that employees UFT nurses. Each of those pages had the names and phone numbers of the representatives and what times they were available to be reached. By the next red light I started calling and quickly found out that the information was outdated both in phone numbers and in times of availability. “XXXX XXX-XXXX? No she works during the morning.” “XXXX? Oh you mean XXXX? He’s not here now.” “____? She retired.”

Let's disect this. What gives Portelos the right to call people, nurses, at work, to discuss union business? Were these nurses working at the time? Were they attending to sick patients? 

Now, The Crack Team has heard that these were delegates and surely they must be used to getting phone calls during their shifts, but phone calls that are pertinent to the union, i.e. a member needs help, etc... Not from someone who stands behind a podium and plays pretend as a union president while having his photo taken. Yeah, the phone calls might have been permissible, but they were ethically wrong. Again, this is the same old "me first" story that we see time and time again. 

What's worse is that a nurses full name was published. Again, what gives Portelos the right to do that?

Apparently, as we expected, Anne Goldman found out about our calls, and maybe even some flyers others put up at the hospitals and online.

This is not verbatim, but she says something such as “…AND I AM APPALLED…THAT SOMEONE IN THIS ROOM WOULD DARE CALL OUR NURSES, DURING WORK HOURS TO PUSH THEIR POLITICAL AGENDA, WHILE THEY ARE TAKING CARE OF SICK PATIENTS, AND PUTTING THOSE PATIENT’S LIVES AT RISK!”

Now I truly believe most people in that room had no idea what she was talking about. I did though and I began to smirk as she glanced over at me and says “…AND I AM TALKING ABOUT MR. PORTELOS …AND I ASK THAT IS LEADERSHIP ORDER A CEASE AND DESIST, INVESTIGATE AND REPRIMAND THIS MEMBER.”

She's right. Maybe her tone was wrong, but she is right. But again, Portelos is all about himself. 

So if you think your life is complete confusion/'Cause you never win the game/Just remember that it's a grand illusion

I raise my hand to speak and respond, but UFT Secretary Emil Pietromonaco nodded no. Then another gentleman from the Executive Board, representing the nurses, gets on another microphone and adds something about “…the phone calls to the nurses are monitored and recorded. They violated our contract and could now face disciplinary charges. A cease and desist should be ordered and a full investigation by the board!”

As we have seen with the continued unsolicited emailing of teachers principals we see it again here. Not caring whether or not he puts someone's job and career in jeopardy Portelos does what he wants, when he wants, for himself.  The same script, only different victims. 

So a bunch of people are pissed at Portelos, and rightly so. But instead of possibly for the first time ever seeing the error in his ways, Portelos of course turns this to all about himself. 

This is what it really comes down to…what their fear and desperation is leading them to do. 

NO, NOT FEAR AND DESPERATION!! Just fed up with the pattern we have seen all over. Harassing women over Facebook who decide to speak up for James Eterno. Taunting emails to female members of MORE. Taunting texts to other members of MORE. The bullying on Facebook and on this blog. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be Portelos. 

So if you think your life is complete confusion/Because your neighbor's got it made/Just remember that it's a grand illusion

But here comes the martyrdom....

Portelos wonders what the UFT can do. From the UFT Constitution he mentions Article 3 Section 6 that a member can be expelled, and Article 4, Section 5, that a member in good standing can't run in UFT election and then claims.....

Desperate move, but it appears that a rigged panel will set up a rigged special review board to expel me and make me ineligible to run.

But where is he getting this? According to our sources at the exec board meeting nothing of the sort was broached nor even thought of.  It won't happen, and sources tell us they won't support it. There are better ways. As one source shared; "But that makes him stupid, not guilty of a breach"

But shouldn't Portelos be more concerned about Victor Jordan who has not been a member of the UFT since Clinton was president. 

One method is shunning as the Amish do. The other method of discipline, if there is any, is something that has been suggested by The Crack Team. 

The Crack Team calls for Portelos' super magic UFT Junior decoder ring to be confiscated as well as his UFT Junior  coloring book along with the UFT Junior realistic grievance book used by grown ups.  Oh yeah, and the whistle too.

So let's do the math. One hundred members of Solidarity, plus let's say...10 nurses, not bad. Though not even enough to get on the ballot.