Girding up for the good fight

Solidarity, leadership, persistence, action. That’s what it takes to fight back against unprecedented attacks on public education, unions, working people, immigrants’ rights and democracy itself, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) President Melinda Person and other education leaders said at the body’s Representative Assembly in Albany.

“While we’re here standing up for working people, there are powerful forces pushing us in the other direction,” Person said at the two-day, 54th annual Representative Assembly, the highest policy-making body for UFT’s state affiliate.

NYSUT members, who number nearly 700,000, “are not waiting for change — we are responsible for it. We are the people we’ve been waiting for,” said Person, who was reelected as president, along with Executive Vice President Jaime Ciffone, Second Vice President Ronald Gross and Secretary-Treasurer J. Philippe Abraham.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said unions must do “everything in our power to get money into people’s pockets,” including pension reform, a living wage and a working-class tax cut. “That’s what unions did at the start, and that’s what we need to do now,” she said, “and we need to be unapologetic about that.”

At the convention’s UFT legislative breakfast, President Michael Mulgrew rallied members to continue fighting to improve the state’s pension Tier 6 and for the paraprofessional RESPECT check. “We’re not going to stop until we rectify and get what we know is right,” he said.

Among the few dozen resolutions adopted at the Representative Assembly were policies to oppose federal vouchers, to support legislation requiring voter approval of new charter schools and expansions, and to seek legislation and funding to modernize civic learning. The seven successful resolutions submitted by the UFT call for protecting students from ICE detention and supporting illegally detained students; protecting school play; and mobilizing in New York and nationally to defend public education, public sector collective bargaining, students and teachers who are immigrants, and others.

Four UFT members received awards for their accomplishments.

Patricia Crispino, representative for transfer high schools and District 79 programs, received a “Not for Ourselves Alone”: the Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award, a top honor. Crispino began teaching at the HS of Graphic Communication Arts in Manhattan in 1987 and quickly distinguished herself not only as a teacher but also for her strength in standing up for others and her compassion in reaching out to members with HIV and AIDS and their families, UFT leaders said in a NYSUT video shown at the convention.

Mulgrew said he nominated Crispino — who is retiring on Sept. 1 — for her “nonstop, dogged determination” in the pursuit of justice for members.

Teachers Assigned Chapter Leader Naomi Rodriguez, who works with early childhood educators, received a School-Related Professionals Member of the Year award. She said in a video that she leads with respect and accountability and quipped that she is a “squeaky wheel” with “angry thumbs.”

Maria Paradiso, a nurse at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, received a Healthcare Professional Member of the Year Award. Paradiso said she “learned at a young age how to speak up” for family members and does the same for patients and fellow nurses, including as an advocate for safe nurse-patient staffing ratios.

Sterling Roberson, retired UFT vice president for Career and Technical Education, received a Retiree of the Year award.