From the NY Post:The UFT spent $245,406 lobbying the City Council alone in 2008, and another $47,074 in the first two months of 2009, records kept by the City Clerks Office show.
There are 30 in-house lobbyists registered with the UFT whose sole job is convincing or cajoling city lawmakers to share the union's point of view.
The big reward for approved candidates is an influx of union cash in the form of campaign donations and access to the UFT's network of phone banks.
In each borough, the UFT sets aside rooms with tables and telephones for its army of volunteers to call registered voters to get them to the polls to support its favored politicians.
Further, a political endorsement means access to a small army of teachers (the union has 135,000 members) to appear at campaign rallies or press conferences. For many parent voters, support from teachers translates into a general seal of approval.
16 comments:
The union is entitled to do that. It is a partisan organization with a specific point of view and its member's dues are supposed to pay for access and clout.
Why are only wealthy individuals and corporations entitled to a voice?
I was surprised to find out that rw was a vegetarian.
Why are only those in unions entitled to a voice? Most people in NYC do not belong to a union.
"For many parent voters, support from teachers translates into a general seal of approval."
Most of them are just fools who actually think that Weingarten and the DOE are doing their thing so that their kids get an education.
What most kids get is simply a place to stay out of the rain until about 2:30 or 3PM. They are soon to discover how they were betrayed when they learn that all the jobs are taken by the illegal aliens who will work for 10% or less than graduating citizens.
Employers want skilled, literate, competent employees. Giving the youngsters that is NOT the plan of the UFT, the Commissar, or even most of the teachers.
Believing that the UFT exists to provide a full education for students is much like believing that arms dealers are in that business to bring peace to the world.
Unions are not the only ones entitled to a voice, but union members are paying good money to ensure that their voices are heard, and this is an appropriate use of their funds.
You are also entitled to fund the candidate of your choice, join organizations that represent your point of view, petition candidates and so forth.
The concept of Americans joining clubs and associations that represent their interests go back to the days of the book, "Democracy in America."
If you think unions are the only special interest group or are particularly unusual, you are living in a cave. Please see trade associations, PACs, NRA and so forth.
It is a municipal union. The teachers are supposed to be civil servants. It is disgusting how this union works solely to benefit its members, milk taxpayers, and could care less about the children. It should not be a "partisan" organization with a "specific point of view" when its members are civil servants.
"...It is disgusting how this union works solely to benefit its members, milk taxpayers, and could care less about the children."
Please do not interpret what the leadership of the UFT does as what the membership wants. As far as the members are concerned, the UFT does not represent our interests anymore. Randi Weingarten has effectively sold out her members for her own political gain. Most of the teachers in this system are dedicated people and want nothing but the best for their students.
So stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it.
Really? Public servants should be gagged? They do not have the same rights of free speech guaranteed the rest of us? Especially when they are the first to see the horrendous effects of what city stupidity has wrought.
Do you think that the Board of Education is run by angels? I remember when teachers were being paid by promissory note.
I remember my sister, a struggling entry level teacher digging into her own pocket for supplies because Board of Education big shots stole supplies meant for children and teachers. In fact, one of the biggies stole a piano!
Read some history. Start with the Boston police strike when policemen were starving as World War I inflation reduced them to penury as salaries stalled at below poverty levels.
I, a secretary, told her that if I joined a company that demanded I buy my own office supplies, I would assume they could not pay me either and I would not take the job.
I am not a teacher, owe the union nothing, but I know my history and I say, too bad the owning classes haven't completely extinguished the voice of labor.
In fact, we should have stronger and more unions and we would improve the quality of work done, introduce some accountability and restore the middle class in America.
IG as a teacher, how would you fix the system?
Do you believe in standarized tests like Regents exams?
Randi Weingarten & Christine Quinn gave birth to Elizabeth Crowley. The three of them want to be role models for the children. The Moral Squad. Cheat, Eat & Beat.
ew-3:
I actually do believe in standardized tests. But they should not be the sole source of evaluating a student which is exactly the policy that Joel Klein has put in place. Therefore teachers spend much of the school year teaching to the tests. When I went to elementary school(P.S. 184), we spent at best, one month preparing for the citywides. And that was it! Somehow we all made it. It's a miracle. Isn't it?
Where the city went wrong in my view was steering away from traditional reading and math programs and implementing "whole language" programs. Scores always sucked in poor neighborhoods. Everyone knows the reason for that. But in our schools, why were kids all of a sudden having trouble? More ESL kids coming in is definitely a factor. But whole language in general is just not a solid program. Children are often left too much on their own. Teacher-directed activities are discouraged and kids usually spend all LOT of time on their own or with their reading/writing partner. Phonics and grammar instruction is frowned upon and even punishable if your principal is mental enough. Joel Klein comes along and buys into Teacher's College's bullshit Reading & Writing Workshop(created by a woman who never taught her own class herself) and there you have it. We need endless test prep or the scores just won't cut it for that miserable failure we know as Joel Klein: New York City Schools Chancellor.
Since b-berg took over the schools,kids are taught to pass a test,not to think or learn.More stats ma!
No one wants your children learning how to think--that's for the children of the elite. If your children start thinking, they might wonder why they are being fed crap on a plate.
America is being prepared to be a society of retarded people. Libraries and museums are being destroyed.
The school days are filled with inane testing to the exclusion of actual instruction. Read Phillips, "American Theocracy", or Frank's, "What's the Matter with Kansas," so that you can see how spewing dogma has replaced thought, research, and common sense. These two men, from opposite sides of the political aisle identify the exact same problems in America and describe how we are digging our own graves.
Anonymous said:
"You are also entitled to fund the candidate of your choice, join organizations that represent your point of view, petition candidates and so forth."
Well, not really. See campaign finance laws. See the limits illegally and unconstitutionally placed on free speech. Free political speech - the reason for the First Amendment.
Limits that all unions are exempt from following.
Furthermore, unions regularly use member dues to fund parties and candidates and policies that are vehemently opposed by many members, without asking permission from those members.
fuck the UTF, they don't live in your community where they want to plant a school and most likely their children go to private schools. Most of them live in Long Island, so please tell them to shut the fuck up already.
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