Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Is MORE Unraveling As It Shifts Left?

























There are some disturbing rumors that the opposition caucus MORE has turned sharply leftward and has made some long-term members uncomfortable about remaining in MORE.  Apparently, the MORE steering committee has removed those moderate members who opposed this new leftward ideology.

In MORE's proposed contract negotiations, MORE is long on social justice issues and short on teacher rights   They want to join forces with the militant far left organizations and proposes risky work stoppages and job actions along with rhetoric that emphasizes civil rights and social equity over teacher rights.

I never joined MORE because of the influence of the left faction, which, if not communist is close to it.  Now it seems they have taken control of MORE and has shifted the opposition caucus to the far left and I believe that the moderate members of MORE will be asked to leave or leave on their own and form another opposition caucus, probably ICEUFT.

Read Norm Scott's article to get an insider's perspective  Here.





23 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:50 AM

    We don't need social justice, we need teacher justice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:10 AM

    Being in the DOE we are in the heart of a Marxist wasteland. I have fellow staff members who openly talk about 'collapsing' the American system so they can build a new world based on socialism or communism. Whenever I pointed out that communism and socialism have failed everywhere they were tried, they tell me, as if it was a scripted answer because they all parrot the same line, "Oh, it wasn't done right," or "Oh, it will work here because those other places were too underdeveloped to make it happen.'

    Uh, okay. Are you willing to collapse the only political and economic model that has truly lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and provided an engine of growth for the world, just because it has a few shortcomings, in favor of a pie-in-the-sky dream that may not work yet again?

    They don't realize that once you destroy a system you cannot rebuild it again. It takes Americans and Westerners to have Western democracy. Mass immigration programs to replace us politically and then Leftist social engineering to strip us of our culture will create a broken world and civil war and ultimately a big mess that will start a new Dark Ages.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very well said 8:10. It's sickening and disturbing that colleagues are working as a Fifth Column to destroy our country and our civilization.

    In regard to MORE, I'm not surprised, unfortunately the only organized opposition to Unity (who are basically the establishment Left) consists largely of the more radical anti-establishment (e.g. Sanders, Kucinich) Left. Prior iterations of MORE (remember TJC?) were similar.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:33 AM

    Yeah, I knew it was a messed up organization when South Bronx blogger started sickenly mewing and cajoling about it. Don’t you know MORE is resonsible for helping an ATR?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous6:38 AM

    Don't worry...after all of the scandals to come out soon about Dems (Clintons, Obamas), there won't be much of a party left... We have them within our sights..this will be the death of the Dem Party as we knew it. May God bless Donald Trump...and may God Bless America


    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaz,
    MORE has not turned leftward. It has always been left. As was ICE.
    Where MORE seems to be turning -- and it will vote this Saturday -- is in a certain direction similar to the old TJC where it talked contract and strike. ICE, also a left group of people, formed partly in reaction to the narrow TJC line. We raised testing and mayoral control and student learning conditions. So let's not be simplistic about what is going on. This disagreement in MORE is akin to the original differences between ICE and TJC that were sitting like a rock in MORE and never resolved. The reality in the UFT is that the opposition is and will always be marginal, never getting more than 25% of support, which may drop when more anti-Unity people leave the UFT.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The problem with social justice caucusing is that it is at cross-purposes with a teacher's union. Not all teachers are proponents of leftism (I myself am not; though I could count myself as leftist in some respects and more rightist in others), and building an entire caucus around those issues will inevitably turn off members who aren't in that choir and aren't keen on being preached to. The purpose of a teacher's union is to be a united voice for teachers as a whole and on an individual basis when necessary (3020a hearings and what-have-you). This is not to say that a caucus can't have working groups within it to capture the broad swathe of teacher ideology, much of which is quite leftist, but making it the watchword? That's not going to motivate voters. Voters will only be motivated if they see a union caucus effectively advocating for members, and making it THE central plank of all their work, with social issues a peripheral thing, picked up if they serve a purpose (like carving ourselves out a space in the public opinion and building large coalitions for work that affects us as well as others), but... eh, it shouldn't be the only thing, not by a long chalk.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous5:13 PM

    @6:38 The "hypocrite, name caller, adulterer, draft dodger" in chief already thinks he is god so blessing him is a waste!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5:47 PM

    To 11:05 - I've been saying this for a while. A teacher's union is not a political platform to advance unrelated causes. We pay dues to get benefits and representation for our profession. Many of us are not communist sympathizers who want to praise Che Guevarra and Stalin.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9:09 PM

    Trump 2020.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous6:57 AM

    Who cares? These guys take themselves much too seriously. They’d be better served by joining Norm’s acting troupe.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous8:39 AM

    Yes but the problem is that our union must be involved in politics otherwise the politics and politicians will create laws that adversely affect us. You all see the problem here? So lets say none of us want our dues monies to go to political activities. Ok. Well then what will happen is that the politicians in Albany will have a field day.

    Longer school days, no summers off, pay for your health care, policies are how schools are to be run, work duties for each individual profession i.e. teachers, counselors, social workers, paras...their roles will be defined from people like Scott Walker from WIsconsin....So, the issue is that we NEED to have our union involved in politics otherwise the goons will have it their way. If it was not for the UFT Cuomo would have us working till 8 pm every day..as a famous judge once said...be careful what you wish for.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I care about teacher issues. While social ideas are nice, they are not wholly our concern. Though as an ATR, I'm not sure why I should care about what some group decides to do. Is said group going to help me get a full time position? That is what I care about.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous9:56 AM

    @5:13...Hmmm...Trumps adultery was consensual...and that whore Sleazy Daniel was 10 years ago...if thats all u have on The Donald...u LOSE...again...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @9:56...consensual? Melania consented? Donnie can't keep a staff longer than a year. He gave working class folks the shaft(don't worry it's a coming) after you enjoy your lol tax break. Race baiter,adulterer, poor decision maker, Archie bunker-style communication style, ThiscObama-chaser is simplisticz--in my opinion. But hey, you're entitled to your one vote boo.

      Delete
  15. 8:39,
    If it wasn't for the UFT we wouldn't have Cuomo as governor - Teachout would have won.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous6:28 AM

    Has anyone noticed that the open market has zero vacancies? What is going on? Market opened on 4/15. Seems strange because in past yrs we would see some vacancies and more would open up.

    Principles usually have some idea of the staff they need for the next yr!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous8:31 AM

    Trump reunites the North and the South (Korea)-just won the 2020 Presidency.











    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous8:45 AM

    @9:56 what "ONLINE" college did you get you degree? hint, hint, wink, wink trump university!
    "I would run into school with active shooter" "sorry feet hurt can serve country" WE ALL LOST!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous8:47 AM

    To 8:39, but how do you define necessary political causes?

    Not all political issues affect us. In fact, most do not. What we are talking about is that if the political issue does affect us, like messing with our pensions or something, then the Union should step in.

    However, if it is transgenders in which bathroom or helping illegal immigrants come here, that is not something that affects us per se. Don't say, "Oh, we have students who are trans or students who are illegals and so we must help them."

    We have no obligation to help people with their communal or social issues. We are here to impart information society has deemed useful for future societal strength. Bringing in endless flows of illegals hurts us as teachers because our classrooms get more and more crowded and legal resident students lose out on services they are entitled to in favor of lawbreakers and invaders.

    I could go on, but we must not confuse what is good for the teachers with what we 'think' is good for the society or a type of society we want to create. Support those causes on your own time and own dime.

    A teacher union must maintain teacher rights. Period. Don't advance other causes the members do not care about or may disagree with. Would I claim to represent the people of an organization and then veer off into something else? That would be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous7:02 AM

    @ 8:45...POTUS just brought peace between the North and South(Korea), denuclearized it as a matter of fact. He just won the POTUS in 2020. Something the Maoist Twins (Hussein/Hitlery) couldn't do in 8 years. Actually, they GAVE ROCKET MAN HIS NUKES!

    A great achievement that can't be denied.

    Hey 8:45...The Donald is your POTUS 2020...get used to it...orange hair and all.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 8:47: I agree 100% the Union should maintain its focus on serving its dues-paying members and stop with the politics. I also agree with 8:39 in regard to the Union fighting for our interests, for example lobbying to get rid of the bad evaluation system and everything that goes with it.

    However, let's note 2 things:
    1. If we only considered our self-interest as teachers, we may actually cynically want to support open borders and so-called "sanctuary city" policies, since more illegals on the register means more teachers that need to be hired.
    2. The Nassau County PBA supports Chuck Schumer's jihad against concealed carry reciprocity. It arguably makes their cops' jobs easier (I say arguably, since places with lots of gun control like Chicago have very high crime), so he argues on Schumer's behalf.

    In those 2 cases, the Union would arguably be looking out for its own interests by getting involved in political issues, yet would be arguing in the grander scheme of things for things that are wrong, namely ignoring the law when it comes to illegal immigration and ignoring the Constitution as it pertains to the 2nd Amendment. So, we have to be very careful what we wish for when we empower our Union to "look out for interests" or to, for lack of a better phrase, "get political".

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous4:36 PM

    @7:02 while your whipping off to the orangeman poster remember it was CHINA that keeps rocketman in line! CHINA the same place the "africaisashithole" in chief was buying his steel while americans were out of work!

    ReplyDelete