Meeting Minutes for Nov. 15, 2011

Attendance: Brandle, Callahan, Cumba, Curcio, Dehler, DiStefano, Einbinder, Feingold, Gaglione, Garcia, Gloskin, Gottlieb, Gross, Jance, Johnson, Kellerman, Leventon, Lowenfels, Mann, Martin, Masur, Millstein, Minnick, Nobles, Pagnozzi, Ristorucci, Rosenblum. Rosenstein, Rosenstrauch, Schkrutz, Shulman, Silberman, Silvera, Smith, Spielvogel, Stuhlberg, Tokar, Weinstein, Zuckerberg

Agenda: Grievance Report - Ellen Procida, Director, Grievance Department; Strategies for Dealing With Abusive Administrators; Political Action - Paul Egan, Director of Legislation and Political Action; Occupy Wall Street; Good and Welfare.

David Kaufman - The meeting began with a moment of silence in memory of David Kaufman. David passed away this week from cancer. His family is sitting shiva this week in New City and asked that donations be sent to the hospice facility that was so kind to David and his family throughout their ordeal.

David was responsible for helping to create this committee several years ago. He was a co-chair of New Action Caucus. As a union activist, he clearly understood the threat to unionism from the DOE and the mayor. He felt that a bipartisan organizing committee would strengthen the chapters and the union. He was a teacher for 35 years, a chapter leader at MS 135 for 25 years, a co-chair of the UFT Action Committee, a UFT Executive Board member, and an active member of our committee.  

Grievance Report - Ellen Procida discussed several ongoing cases involving:

• Class size
• SAVE room and guidance counselors
• Library Media Specialists

Copies of the grievance decisions were given out to the members.

Ellen said that the city is blatantly ignoring grievance rules. The arbitrators have expanded time for fact-finding if the DOE is late, which is often the case. The DOE was intentionally slowing down the grievance process but now if that is done, the union will be given additional time.
She said that letters might be removed from teacher files if they violate another part of the contract.
She gave figures for the number of grievances brought against the DOE and our track record. The results speak to how the DOE is ignoring the contract.

Contact information is EProcida@uft.org. She requested that we provide any written directives which appear to violate the contract.

Political Action - Paul Egan made a presentation on upcoming events:

• November 17 - Occupy Wall Street at 5 p.m. at Foley Square

• December 1- Unions affiliated with the Central Labor Council will march from Herald Square to Union Square in support of the continuation of the millionaire’s tax and for jobs.

• December 10 - Protest voter suppression at the United Nations

• Ohio - Members were thanked for their help with the recall elections and defeating SB 5.

The VOTE/COPE campaign is set up for December-January.  51 percent of our members are enrolled in COPE. The numbers are dismal in the high schools with only 28% enrolled. Paul said that he would be glad to go to any big schools to make a presentation for VOTE/COPE. He gave his contact information: Pegan@uft.org.

He gave statistics on our successes with legislators. The UFT has endorsed several Republicans. District Attorney Dan Donovan is a Republican from Staten Island who has proven to be a strong advocate for teachers and nurses. He won reelection by 70%.The committee was asked to encourage members to enroll in COPE.

We were also asked to encourage members to register to vote. 81% are registered but elections are often decided on small numbers, every vote counts!  Let your school know what legislators have done and how members can get that information. The UFT has handouts with this information. Organizing Team members can play a roll with voter registration in the schools.

Paul stated that up until Occupy Wall Street, union workers were considered the “Fat Cats;" now the finger is pointed at the top 1% of the population. 

Abusive Principals - Greg DiStefano made a presentation about principals who are going after chapter leaders. It appears as though the threat of a grievance is no longer effective in those types of schools. Greg felt that the Action Plan that was developed is an effective tool when dealing with these situations.  Every DR has a copy of the Action Plan. Greg is currently working with the DR on Staten Island to customize approaches for these schools. The Action Plan has 39 possible strategies that can be implemented. Chapter leaders and Committee members should discuss what steps can be taken. Committee members must not take any actions without conferring with their DR. 

Good and Welfare – Gene Mann announced that there will be a presentation entitled “Pawns in the Game: Accountability and School Closing Under Mayor Bloomberg” to  the NYU Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa International at the Torch Club, 18 Waverly Place at 6 p.m. Please contact Gene to be sure the event is still on.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 pm.

Respectfully,

Judy Rosenstein