Why I’m Running with ARISE in the UFT elections

I wrote this in an email to my chapter at The Clinton School in District 2 and decided to share it here as my first post.

Hi everyone,

As many of you already know, I am running for an at-large executive board seat in this year’s UFT election on the ARISE slate. ARISE (Alliance of Retired and In-Service Educators) is running against Unity and ABC (A Better Contract). My reasons for supporting and running with ARISE stem from my belief that our union can become a more member-driven and democratic organization through our shared vision. ARISE is a coalition of three different caucuses that agreed to run for leadership together: MORE, New Action, and Retiree Advocate. Unity is the caucus that has controlled the UFT since its founding in the 1960s. ABC bills itself as a “non-partisan” slate of UFT members focused on bread and butter issues.

ARISE’s platform prioritizes issues that I believe will strengthen our union. Fighting for fair pay across all titles, fixing Tier 6 pensions, expanding healthcare coverage, and expanding 6 weeks of paid parental leave to 12 weeks of paid family leave will help virtually every UFT member at a time when our paychecks are stretched thin and we have to worry about diminishing benefits. Ensuring that our working conditions guarantee professional autonomy will protect members across the city from administrative abuse and micromanaging. Finally, expanding democracy and making our union more transparent to members will help ensure that the union is actually member driven. I was a member of the 500 member negotiating team during the last contract fight. Despite being the chapter leader at the time, I was not allowed to talk to the chapter about negotiations because of an NDA that all members of the team had to sign. I firmly believe that keeping members in the dark when we negotiate with the city is not how we will build a stronger union. I believe that engaging all of our in-service membership in the negotiating process will lead to stronger contracts and better working conditions in the future.

ARISE’s leadership slate includes individuals I have known for years and have had the pleasure of working with in previous elections and campaigns. Olivia Swisher— our presidential candidate— is a middle school art teacher, chapter leader, and union organizer. I got to know Olivia during the pandemic while we both advocated for safe schools during the pandemic through MORE’s Health Justice Committee. Olivia has proven to me that she is ready to lead our union through her organizing experience, her dedication to teaching, and her empathy. Michael Shulman is our candidate for UFT Secretary, the #2 seat on the ticket. Michael is a retired teacher and was a chapter leader for 20 years in Brooklyn and served as the UFT VP for Academic High Schools from 1985-1987. He is the only non-Unity candidate to win a VP seat. As co-chair of New Action Caucus he has helped lead the charge against Unity’s 65-year single party rule of the UFT. I got to know Michael during the last campaign when I ran as part of the United for Change slate. He is one of the most dedicated unionists I know and has the experience needed to lead our union to a brighter future with Olivia and the rest of the officer slate.

I have been critical of Unity’s leadership for years. Under President Mulgrew we have seen raises that fail to keep up with inflation, our healthcare costs have increased through higher copays, the Municipal Labor Committee (of which Mulgrew is a vice chair) tried to privatize Medicare for our retirees, and our union has kowtowed to politicians who don’t have our best interests at heart. It is through the hard work of opposition groups that Mulgrew and Unity have been forced to backtrack on Medicare changes and to fight harder to get our paraprofessionals fair pay. Likewise, I am highly skeptical of ABC’s dedication to building a more democratic and member driven union. Their presidential candidate, Amy Arundell, has a long history of aggressively attacking union members who disagree with her (like at a recent Delegate Assembly where she berated a rank and file delegate as they left the meeting). Amy’s role in the contract fight was pivotal in the union’s failure to fight hard enough for better pay and better working conditions. Members who questioned the union's tactics and priorities were berated by Amy while she ran contract action team meetings. And while ABC’s platform seems solid, they have been the only slate that has not come out against the attacks we’ve seen from the Trump administration. ARISE, Unity members, and UFT leadership spoke out against the administration’s lawless and unconstitutional actions against immigrants, while ABC has remained silent. ARISE, Unity members, and UFT leadership have pushed back against Trump's attacks on public education, ABC has said nothing. We need leadership that will stand up to the bullies in Washington, not leadership that capitulates to a would-be authoritarian. To be clear, my intent is not simply to point out why I’m not supporting Unity or ABC. But I felt like I wouldn’t paint a full picture if I didn’t touch on that.

- Matt