Hot To Trot

[LeoCasey at aol.com]

There are many ways to respond to these points, some of which I agree with. 
It is, of course, true that a teacher's union, to stick to the immediate 
example, needs to have public support in its general struggle to save public 
education, and its specific struggle, such as the one the UFT is in to get a 
decent contract. That is done in a number of ways, most of which will not be 
readily evident as other than isolated acts to an outsider who does not see 
the shape of the entire effort. The UFT is in the midst of a major, long term 
effort to win and keep public support for our contract battle right now -- 
leafleting campaigns during the holiday season, neighbor to neighbor house 
meetings in the early spring, radio and television ad and UFT speakers bureau 
to go to meetings of community organizations, houses of worship, etc. There 
are also major, more long term efforts to work closely with parents 
organizations and groups. The problem here is that there is very little in 
the way of a strong central PTA/parents organization presence in NYC, so you 
have to make links, as we have, with what an array of more 'local' groupings 
-- with Alinskyite groups such ACORN and East Brooklyn Congregations, which 
has developed a strong presence in NYC schools in a number of communities and 
even sponsored a few schools, with a group called MOM [Mothers on the Move] 
in the South Bronx, which was organized to improve schools in some 
educationally desperate settings, with what PTA organizations exist. In part 
because of the lack of a strong central parental presence in NYC, the UFT has 
developed its own parental outreach programs -- Helpline's for parents on 
educational issues, a publication that goes to parents on a regular basis, 
and citywide parent conferences once or twice a year. Indeed, as far as I 
know, we are the only group that does such a citywide parent conference. We 
have a number of full-time staff people who do nothing but this outreach to 
parents. The very nature of all of this work is that it is not going to be 
high profile and visible. It is natural that even rank-and-file teachers 
would not be aware of the full array of UFT outreach to parents, just of the 
particular projects they may be directly involved in, so I am not surprised 
that Doug would not be aware of it. Nor am I surprised that the assumption 
always is that the UFT isn't doing it, and doesn't care about it. Not only 
are the views of us, as a union, shaped strongly by the general negative 
frame this society has of unions, but we also find ourselves defined by all 
sorts of memories, shaped over 30 years ago in the 1968 strike by perceptions 
and misperceptions that have now just blurred into one vague impression.

On the more general point, neither the UFT nor any other union could not -- 
even if it wanted to -- participate in every attempt at organizing a 
coalition. Those efforts -- and the request to participate in them -- are 
begun on a daily basis in NYC. Political energy, political capacity and 
political organization are subject to real, material limits, for 
organizations just as for individuals. More and more, I find myself -- 
against my instincts -- talking about them in terms of "political capital," 
because they are something which one possesses in limited amounts, forcing 
strategic decisions on how to best spend what one has to get what you want. 
It is a truism that one can spend it well, or spend it poorly. The very fact 
that I have no memory of the particular effort that Doug mentions suggests to 
me that it was one of many stillborn efforts, and that a strategic decision 
not to use resources to support it were probably well founded. 

On the AOHell question, as Kelley calls it: I had already taken all the steps 
you suggest, but there appears to be no way to turn on "plain text" only, and 
so when I send out of AOL, the message appears twice [at least in the digest 
I get back], one in plain text and one in HTML, with all the bloody codes. I 
have looked everywhere, read the material provided to the list by the quote 
kvetcher, but nowhere can I find a solution. The web mail is a big pain, so 
any help would be appreciated.

I am off to Jamaica tomorrow evening for a family reunion of my significant 
other, so I do not know how regularly I will be able to post for the next two 
weeks. 


> Depends. In this case, the "differences" themselves are part of the 
> issue - specifically the ludicrous anti-Communism Feldman professed. 
> The whole point of a coalition, though, is bringing together people 
> who differ in many particulars but who are united on one or more 
> specific issues. I'm not privy to Feldman's inner deliberations, but 
> I'm guessing that "avowed Communists" was shorthand for anyone 
> slightly to the left, and that she was very reluctant to be seen 
> signing on with some broad anti-austerity agenda.
> 
> Though it's been a long time, one of the points I remember from Marc 
> Maier's book on the NYC municipal unions was that the city was 
> adamant that the unions it recognized not make any kind of alliance 
> with the public to protect the quality of services. Wouldn't it be 
> nice if the teachers union allied with parents to agitate for better 
> schools, if the transit unions allied with riders for better subway 
> and bus service, etc.? Not likely to happen anytime soon, though. How 
> much public support do you think there is for the teachers in their 
> contract battle with Rudy? Seems pretty low to me, though maybe I'm 
> wrong.
> 
> So, again, Leo, the Douglass quote bothers; it's amazing how easily 
> pragmatism and anti-sectarianism morph into conservatism and inaction.
> 
> 

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who 
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and 
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass --

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