UFT has had a long history of rank-and-file organizing that didn’t lead to election wins, until now. The victories can easily be traced to the contentious contract fight from last year that saw the union agree to the New York City Mayor’s attempts to force all city retirees into Medicare Advantage plans; while forcing a rejected contract on paraprofessionals that left them with substandard pay raises compared to other departments in that contract.

These losses, combined with upcoming union elections have prompted Michael Mulgrew, UFT President, on June 23, to write a letter to the city’s Municipal Labor Council (MLC) withdrawing the union’s support for the Medicare Advantage plan, that originated with a MLC vote led by the UFT delegation in the first place. This is simply too little too late for Mulgrew to hold onto power.

I often like to say, “A worker can smell bullshit a mile away” and the smell is ever-pungent here. The UFT rank-and-file haven’t forgotten it was Mulgrew and his sycophants that led the MLC vote in favor of Medicare Advantage, and they haven’t forgotten it was Mulgrew who agreed to it in their last contract either. The paraprofessionals haven’t forgotten Mulgrew’s refusal to renegotiate a rejected contract, followed by a forced revote. To add insult to injury, as of yet the letter rescinding support has yet to be followed up with a campaign against the plan, which shows it was nothing more than a symbolic last resort to hold onto control of the union.

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The Retiree Advocate slate received 17,226 votes, or 63 percent of the total, while Unity got 10,114 votes. The Retiree Advocate caucus, led by rank-and-file organizers, has fought against the city of New York’s efforts to switch their retired member’s health insurance from Medicare to Medicare Advantage.

Bennett Fischer who was elected as chapter leader, said “We’re teachers, we oppose the privatization of education. We should be equally opposed to the privatization of our great health care system”. Fischer also explained that he wants to bring democracy to the chapter. The retired teachers chapter has about 70 thousand total members.

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