UFT Retiree Chapter Update: Retiree Advocate Takes Control
Norm Scott
UFT Retiree Chapter Update: Retiree Advocate Takes Control
Saturday, July 13, 2024
The reality of winning the RTC chapter election began to strike home on July 1 and a follow-up meeting on July 8 when elected Retiree Advocate officers met with UFT officials to discuss transfer of control. All ten officers were given UFT ID cards and CL Bennett Fisher given and two auxiliary cubicles on the 17th floor of 52 Broadway. Bennett has already been going in most days to answer emails and deal with other business. After some negotiations he will be on a salary equivalent to what Tom Murphy earned.
Let me remind you the RTC has 70,000 members, by far the largest group in the UFT. And we now have to deal with managing the chapter for the next three years with a steep learning curve. But I feel our team is up to it, especially Bennett who wanted to win so badly because he was confident he could do the job. Even our internal group who have worked with Bennett over the past 6 years since he retired, have been impressed with the way he has taken charge. I know I could never have managed and would have put a pillow over my head.
Now if you've been reading this blog you know I never expected to win.
But Bennett did. And so did Arthur, who is one of the ten officers.
The
Retiree UFT Chapter, now under the control of Retiree Advocate Caucus
which has replaced Unity Caucus for the 10 officer, 15 exec bd and 300
delegates, goes way beyond the relatively small group of RA organizers
and supporters and we must keep in mind that the RTC is NOT RA,
something Unity often forgot. In fact many of the people who won with us
are not members of RA but independents.
We do not intend to forget that we represent 70k not a few hundred and must act accordingly. The monthly RTC meetings at 52 Broadway are not RA meetings and we must give voice to all factions in the UFT, including Unity - if they have anything to say. But they will have a voice - after all they got 37% of the vote.
RTC meetings will be run very
differently. I am interested in helping plan those meetings and make
them more meaningful and informative. I've already had long
conversations with Bennett and we have some exciting ideas. Meetings
should be somewhat fun to attend.
At this point, we view the top 25 electeds - the officers and exec bd as a governing body of the RTC, not rubber stamps as Tom Murphy used them. Our group is eclectic with varying views and we always won't agree but that's good. Diversity of opinion.
A
bigger job is organizing the 300 delegates, some of whom do not live in
the New York area but can attend the DA remotely. If even 50 show up,
that will have a significant impact on the DA, especially if linked up
with the working delegates. This is not about just showing up but
showing up in an organized and meaningful manner. There will always be
the wild cards who have their own personal agendas and expect some
cringe moments at the DA.
As for RA, our relatively small organizing committee must continue to meet and grow the caucus to meet future needs. We won this with almost no budget. It would be nice to have greater outreach - dues are only about $25 a year. We also must keep our facebook page while also managing the UFT retiree FB page in a non-partisan manner, unlike Unity which cut critical comments. We welcome critical comments.
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Norm Scott
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917-992-3734
Twitter: @normscott1
Facebook: NormSco
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