Are We Prepared? How Will Teacher Unions Respond to a Trump Presidency and a Republican Congress?

“I don’t belong to an organized political party … I’m a democrat.”  Will Rogers

The Democratic Party is in disarray with the Democratic Convention only a month away, donors and electeds are urging Biden to withdraw his candidacy while others wholeheartedly support the President.  The polls favor Trump and the gap appears to be widening. While Biden vigorously defends his ability to serve four more years the democratic constituency mud-wrestles.

Trump and a Republican Congress is certainly a possibility.

Next week the AFT Convention will convene, 1.8 million members across the nation, a fifty state effort to mobilize AFT members from the bottom up.

At the same time caucuses within the UFT are ramping up attacks on union leadership, the beginning of the union leadership elections in the spring.

I always urged Chapter Leaders not to come to the principal with a complaint without proposing a solution, the principal may not accept your proposal, it begins a dialogue leading to a solution. 

During the last round of contract negotiations one caucus urged union leaders to begin to “prepare for a strike,” Bloomberg and company were ecstatic. We are on the cusp of earth shattering changes in the delivery of teaching services. Artificial Intelligence (AI) such as personal Chatbots and “new” methodologies must be incorporated into our current teaching-learning domain, not replacing teachers or schools,

The 23-24 school year began with the mayor proposing drastic PEG (Program to Reduce the Gap) cuts. A coalition, UFT, the City Council and a host of advocacy organizations worked together, the June budget restored the proposed cuts.

The Class Size Reduction law behind the scenes planning will be a model for advocacy for years to come – the law is costing the city $1.5B as we enter year three of the implementation.

Mayoral Control was not ended in spite of almost universal opposition because there was no agreement upon a replacement plan.

Throwing stones does not resolve differences and except for the most dire actions, strikes are rare, extremely rare.

In the 22-23 budget cycle Bloomberg agreed to pay for $5M for TV ads to support Hochul’s plan to override restrictive housing covenants in suburbs, In return Hochul agreed to abolish the cap on charters in NYC. UFT leadership convinced legislative leaders to delay the budget for three weeks until Hochul relented. 

You need a wily union leader who can navigate the twists and turns of the City Council, the state legislature, the mayor and governor.  Mulgrew has been an adept player. Bloomberg blames the union for destroying his run for the presidency, the Manhattan Institute wants to eliminate tenure, the Success Academy is using its millions to expand charters. Will a union riven by internal conflicts be able to fight off the anti-union, anti-public education tribes?

I’m sure I will be accused of “scare tactics”If you’re not scared you’re living in a cave.

I fear internal union conflicts as a Trump presidency tries to overturn public education and teacher unionism

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David Kirkland, formerly director of the NYC Metro Center and currently CEO of edForward writes,

Our failure to engage in constructive disagreement undermines our strength. True progress requires us to move beyond superficial agreements and confront the complexities of our varied perspectives. How do we shift our focus from striving to be heard to fostering a culture where respectful, robust disagreement is seen as a pathway to deeper understanding and genuine collaboration? How do we quiet our passions long enough to listen to our hearts and move more thoughtfully with our heads?

David is a wise man.