The Changing of the Guard at the UFT: Randi Passes the Orb and Scepter to Mike.

 

In the 1973 classic movie, Sleeper, Woody Allen wakes up two hundred years in the future and is told the reason is Albert Shanker.

 

 Twenty-four years later, in 1997 President Clinton eulogized Al at a Memorial Service,

 

Al Shanker once said something about Bayard Rustin that he should have said about himself. He said the great thing about Rustin was that he didn’t put up his finger to see which way the wind was blowing. He had the guts to say what he felt was right, no matter how unpopular it was.

Al Shanker would say something on one day that would delight liberals and infuriate conservatives. The next day, he would make the conservatives ecstatic and the liberals would be infuriated. He really — even though he came out of the, if you will, the left wing of our society in the sense that he was a passionate union leader, when he thought about the future, he never thought about what wing he was seeking; he thought about how he could seek the truth and synthesize the facts and move us all forward. And that too is a great gift that we will sorely miss…

And again, I say, he let no one off the hook — no one — not politicians, not administrators, not the public, not the students, and certainly not the teachers…

Al Shanker’s cause was education. And through his lifelong devotion to it, he lifted up our children, our schools, our teachers and others who work in our schools, our nation and our world. He was truly our master teacher…

Today, education is the number one priority of the American people. Al Shanker helped to make it so. His life was full of tumult and controversy, of growth and triumph. But what I think he would want to know is, does it count? You bet it does. It counts, Al; and we thank you, we love you, and we bid you Godspeed. Thank you. (Applause.)

 In the summer of 2008 at the American Federation of Teachers Convention Randi Weingarten was elected president. At the time it looked like Hillary would be president and Mike Bloomberg would be term limited. Who would have thought that a democratic president and a firmly democratic Congress would be challenging core union issues a scant year later.

 

To some, Randi, like Al, is looked upon as a union bully, threatening and using the political power of the union in spite of the detrimental impact on students and their education. Al moved from that “bully,” parodied by Woody in Sleeper, to a key advisor to the president.

 

Can Randi change the course of Obama/Duncan educational policy? Can she convince her disparate members to support Obama policies? Is the new NYC Green Dot contract the beginning of an epoch change in union negotiations?

 

At the UFT the new president, Michael Mulgrew is an relative unknown. A year ago Randi appointed Mulgrew as Chief Operating Officer and Michelle Bodden, who many felt would be the successor left her position, Elementary School Vice President.

 

Mulgrew will be endorsed by the major caucus in the union, the Unity Caucus and elected by the Unity-dominated Executive Board until the full union election takes place in early 2010.

 

Over the last few months Mulgrew has been the face of the union, on the Baruch College School Governance Panel with Joel Klein, and, last week, on the Milano Panel on Small HS/Large HS with Eric Nadelstern.

 

The “panels” that will  “evaluate” Mulgrew are the hundred thousand plus UFT members in the spring, 2010 union election and the millions of New Yorkers who have admired the highly visible Randi, who ,at times, appeared to be the leader of the school system.

 

Over the months Mulgrew’s “story” will be rolled out … see first installment here.

 

The September school opening could be chaotic with the excessing of numerous teachers and principals waiting for the “freeze” to be lifted before hiring … will Mulgrew be the collaborator and the problem solver or simply toss hand grenades over the fence at Tweed?

 

And, oh yes, the contract … speculation abounds that Randi has a deal with Bloomberg and the contract will be a ritual dance, with a 4% + 4% with no give backs and some gains …if so Mulgrew will be able to “make a name” for himself in the two years under the new contract. If there is no contract, and the negotiations lag, and move to mediation, impasse and fact finding his mettle will be tested, both by Bloomberg/Klein and his members.