Kipp Dawson, a teacher in Pittsburgh public schools and a dedicated member of the American Federation of Teachers, attended the recent AFT convention in Los Angeles. She experienced a convening of brothers and sisters in the movement that encouraged her. Yet she was disheartened by the iron control of the New York City-based Unity Caucus, which dominates the Progressive Caucus, which calls the shots.
Dawson sees this as a crucial time for union in general and for teachers’ unions in particular. She calls for a new kind of democracy. She would like to see open debate with no instructions to members of the largest caucus.
For those who are on the outside of union politics, this was a fascinating insider’s perspective. What do you think?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I wrote something related the other day. I am always concerned when we have “democratic” institutions with no real internal opposition, where one side dominates: http://academeblog.org/2014/08/12/opposition-in-a-democracy-and-in-a-union/
Weingarten can walk away with clean hands: her New York Unity Caucus did her dirty work and “…the executioners face is always well hidden” (thank you Bobby Zimmerman”.
Wasn’t it last week there was a story about a charter school that decided to unionize and they picked the Teamsters rather than an education union? Telling.
“The AFT leadership’s refusal to differentiate itself from these politicians, or from the specifics of their attacks, continued policies which could derail our union.”
Triangulation is a strategy that will serve a few but it doesn’t promote a sense of trust in leadership. That’s always been a problem when I read or listen to Weingarten- I don’t know where she stands on critical issues. Her behavior and words are inconsistent- one day she’s getting arrested, the next she’s embracing money with Gates’ strings, or using weasel words to “explain” CC & testing.
The decision to circumscribe AFT’s focus to CC ignored other important issues facing teachers and US public education. AFT avoided confronting the fact that the financial power-elite are not popular with anyone in or out of unions. The NEA took quite a different stand and forced a discussion of the elephant in the room- Democrats, Duncan, & Wall St.
I fully agree.
The union is a fatally compromised and overly synchronized machine in NYC.
Julie Cavanaugh should head the UFT.
There are so many amazing people of heroic proportions who should have higher and better platforms and better associations with the UFT: Arthur Goldstein, Patrick Sullivan, Leonie Haimson, Diane Ravitch, to name just a few.
Julie Cavanagh
Julie Cavanaugh in today’s New York Daily News.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/cavanagh-common-core-testing-creates-narrative-failure-article-1.1904485#bmb=1
Thank you Kipp for the AFT Conv report. UFT/AFT are crony power machines to keep teachers quiet, divided, and compliant. Ousting the thug leadership is of course very hard given how many generations of leaders have passed down their growing skills of iron-fist rule. If leadership demands compliance, we need to openly and noisily oppose them at whatever venues provide an opening. If they ignore education advocates like Zephyr Teachout for Gov in NY, we should come out and bring out everyone to vote for her in the Dem Gov Primary Sept 9 to give Cuomo and Mulgrew the black eyes they so richly earned. If Teachout fails to win, we should en masse opt for Howie Hawkins for Gov under the Green Party. We need public political opposition. Wherever Dem or GOP privatizers go, they should be met with noisy protests like that arranged for Gov Christie recently. The union leadership wins its place at the table of the billionaires by silencing its membership, so we have to break the silence.
Great reporting and left us with plenty to think about.
I made some videos of the debates at the AFT convention. This link focuses on the CC debate between Chicago teaches and NYC leadership and you can see the distinct difference between real teachers like Sarah Chambers and Michelle Gunderson and the people running our unions. http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2014/08/aft14-video-sarah-chambers-and-speech.html
This is exactly why we need to stand up and be heard because blindly following and accepting what Weingarten and Mulgrew are selling is hardly the way to grow a strong leadership. Mulgrew wants to punch my face because I am against the Common Core. Nice to know that my dues are going to a man who doesn’t believe in free speech, or rather, his way or the highway and a black eye to boot.