Charles Cogen

Nov 8, 2004 4:24 PM

It's your typical August day in Washington, DC: One of those patentedpool-of-sweat afternoons when most people have peeled off as much clothingas good taste -- or at least the law -- allows.

But here in his small Georgetown apartment, propped up in his easy chair,Charles Cogen sits in suit and tie. On the walls are pictures of a youngerCogen -- you can't miss him, he topped out at 5' 2" -- with presidents, politicalfigures, labor leaders and one of him in Selma, Ala. standing next to MartinLuther King. As the rays of the afternoon sun wash the room, Cogen lookslike someone very much at home in this upscale rest home.

There's only one problem: Charlie Cogen isn't ready for a rest. An occasionalafternoon nap, maybe. But definitely not a rest.

Sure the years have caught up with the 93-year-old first president of theUFT -- he has round-the-clock care and recently has taken to a walker. Butwhile a lot of his fellow residents sit staring blankly into space, Cogenmanages to get around to the theater, museums and movies. When not out andabout, he stays involved with the residence's book, poetry or current eventsclubs.

Lately, a series of articles by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert on theatrocious working conditions of garment workers in El Salvador is the hottopic. Cogen has taken to circulating copies, hoping to light a fire undersome of the oldtimers.

"Typical Charlie," anyone who knew him no doubt would say: Choosing to liveout his life the way he lived it -- alert, attuned and incensed by injustice,wherever it be.

The seeds of social conscience and a healthy disrespect for authority wereplanted long ago in pre-World War I Brownsville, Brooklyn. Cogen remembershis father, a Russian immigrant, union garment worker and socialist, takinghim by the hand to a nearby streetcorner to listen to soapbox orators. "Onone corner was a socialist," he recalls. "On the other a communist and anothera Wobblie (Industrial Workers of the World) and then a vegetarian."

Asked if any of his father's politics had rubbed off on him, Cogen remindsme that he was once president of the Socialist Teachers League. So did youbelieve that workers and bosses' interests are inimical. "I did then andstill do."

Was that a hard sell for teachers who saw themselves as professionals andpublic servants? "No doubt, but in my mind working for the government isno different than working for Henry Ford."

Cogen sees no justification that teachers and other public sector workershave long been denied the right to strike. He dismisses as "propaganda" thenotion that the state, unlike private business, represents the public interest."Who is to say what the public interest is?"

He's a man of a few well chosen words delivered thoughtfully and softly.For someone who once held the spotlight of national power, he's not one forholding court or particularly interested in hearing himself talk.

But Cogen was never your typical up-from-the-streets union leader. In a worldknown for its rough cuts, he was anything but. After all, how many laborleaders' resumes can boast a Cornell B.A., a Fordham law degree and a master'sin economics from Columbia -- all by the age of 27. Though he left teachingfor a while to try his hand at the law -- his wife Tess was a lawyer as wouldbe both of his sons -- it was the depths of the depression and he couldn'tmake a go of it. He came back as a $4.50 a day teacher-in-training at GroverCleveland HS. Later he was one of the original faculty of the Bronx HS ofScience where he stayed until he was appointed chairman of the social studiesdepartment at Brooklyn's Bay Ridge HS in 1952. Cogen even authored a textbook,"Economics in Our Democracy" in 1950.

While a reserved man, Cogen delights in retelling the time Mrs. Fitzpatrick,the principal at Bay Ridge, "fell for him." An old school type and true believerin the doctrine of principal infallibility, she and Cogen never hit it off.After repeated run-ins over his union activities and her wanting to dictatewhat texts would be used, she tried to have Cogen transferred. They had aface-off at the superintendent's office where she lost her case. To add injuryto insult, upon exiting the meeting she suffered a leg injury when she slippedand fell on the ice. "When I got back to school, word had gotten around thatI had something to do with her injury. In fact, one person said to me: "Ihear you broke Mrs. Fitzpatrick's leg," Cogen says, laughingly.

Forty years later, he's still a thorn in the side of his keepers. Among otherthings, Cogen had some run-ins with the residence's administration over thehandling of trips. He recently complained when an outing was cancelled atthe last minute due to a poor turnout. And made his displeasure known whena trip to the Holocaust Museum was abruptly ended after only one hour.Undeterred, he made his own arrangements to go back soon afterward.

During lunch in the dining room, the residence's executive director stopsby for a visit. A pleasant woman, I ask her if Cogen's been giving her alot of trouble given the fact that he made his living by making trouble forthe authorities. "Oh yes, we know all about Mr. Cogen," she says. "He certainlydoes keep us on our toes."

When she leaves, Cogen leans over and in a conspiratorial whisper says: "Don'tbe fooled. She runs this place with an iron hand. Maybe, it's not my place,but I'd really like to do some organizing," he says, his voice trailing off.

Typical Charlie: He's not going down without a fight.