Jul 2, 2009 2:55 PM
There was an urgency at the 46th annual Retired Teachers Chapter Luncheon on June 8: an urgency about the precarious economic times we’re living in.
UFT President Randi Weingarten told the 475 retirees gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan, “There is no dignity without economic dignity,” and said that, despite criticism, she would never apologize for the hard-won economic dignity the union has achieved for its members. She contrasted that dignity with the economic despair faced by auto workers and by the unemployed in towns across America, especially those with no pensions or health benefits.
Weingarten warned retirees to be prepared for uphill battles in a tough year ahead. “We will have to fight like hell,” she said, “to maintain all we’ve worked for and won to date.”
Citing the economic downturn and teacher layoffs of the 1970s when, she said, kids were not the city’s primary concern, she added, “This time we will have to keep the mayor on the hook for kids.”
But hard times was not the only agenda item at the luncheon. The UFT president paid a warm tribute to the man she described as “the embodiment of the heart and soul of the UFT,” Tom Pappas, the popular chapter leader of the RTC, who is retiring.
She noted Pappas’ long years of service, from the early strikes to win collective-bargaining rights, to the fights for class size, resources, asbestos-free and safe schools, to his advocacy for retirees. She called him the embodiment of trade unionism and an “opportunity agent for the children, teachers and public schools of New York City.”
The retirees in the room expressed their appreciation for their chapter leader’s achievements and dedication to the UFT and the RTC with a standing ovation and with thunderous applause.
At the morning awards ceremony, Pappas spoke with his usual sense of humor about the 40 pounds he’s gained doing the luncheon circuit on visits to all the retiree sections around the country and beyond. And he spoke of the “joy of the opportunity to be together,” reminding retirees that the UFT is the only union that doesn’t say goodbye and good luck at retirement.
“We want you to be an active part of the union,” he said. “You have been written into the constitution, you have voting rights and you have your own chapter.”
In accepting the Sylvia Levinson Award for outstanding chapter leadership, Paul Bradford, who had a long and distinguished record of union service and is now coordinator of the RTC Florida West Coast section, remarked, “When you’re far away from New York, the union sustains you.”
He also noted that no one calls him these days about prep periods. The calls are about “health and wealth.”
Richard Miller, a former UFT vice president and coordinator of the RTC Las Vegas section which has grown from a handful of retirees to 300, was honored as Retiree of the Year for his years of service to the union. He was described as “still fighting for social justice.”
Other awards and winners include: the Fanny Simon Award for achievement and human rights to Jane Acosta; the Pearl Berger Award for political and legislative activity to Hazel Fershleiser; and the Edith Potter-Anne Reel Award for service to the Si Beagle Learning Centers to Frances Brown.
NYSUT, the UFT’s state affiliate, presented Community Service Awards to Betty Canaris, Louise Colavito, Evelyn Gomer, Sally Kane, Jeanette Katz, Enid Moskowitz, Ellen Ratner, Mildred Safar and Sheila Zachter.
Sixty-Year Member Awards went to Melvin Isaacson, Anne Kessler and Florence Widmer. Receiving 50-Year Awards were Edward Assante, Norbert Billig, Fannie Block, Mollie Blatt, Maryrose Blumberg, Murray Braunstein, Max Brimberg, Barbara Canavan, Myra Goldstein-Dworetsky, Arline Fischer, Maurice Gandler, Vivian Golden, Saul Goldstein, Kenneth Goodman, Helen Guthwin, Harold Hanover, Morton Horowitz, Arthur Hyman, Charles Imbergamo, Herbert Kohn, Ruth Klausner, Doris Lewis, Melvin Milstein, David Norflus, Florence Novack, Robert Redka, Shirley Roth, Rosalind Rothman, Edward Silva, John Traube and Anna Mae Vener-Canavan.