My Union Dues Pay Lawyers to Threaten Me
by Arthur Goldstein, nyceducator.com -- Mulgrew has UFT lawyers busy writing a spate of letters threatening dissenting union members. Goldstein, educator and unionist, is now his latest target.
Posted with the permission of the author, Arthur Goldstein. Originally posted on Arthur’s blog: http://nyceducator.com/2023/04/my-union-dues-pay-lawyers-to-threaten-me.htm
I rarely check the blog email. It's full of spam and nonsense. I seem to have received the letter below late last month. Michael Mulgrew may not have time to protect our health care, but he has plenty of time to read blogs and fume over those of us who dare question his judgment
I have parodied two school chancellors on this page, rather unmercifully. Neither of them bothered to threaten me with legal action. I can only suppose they have thicker skin than my union president.
I now parody Mulgrew. This is because he now appears to work for Eric Adams, cutting our health care to save the city money. I've removed Mulgrew's precious digital signature, but left the parody. Last I heard, parody was protected in these United States under the First Amendment. Evidently, lawyers paid with my dues disagree.
Note that the "client" does not appear to be UFT, but rather snowflake extraordinaire Michael Mulgrew. Evidently Mr. Mulgrew feels HE is the UFT. I don't know about you, but I've been teaching NYC kids for 38 years, way longer than Mulgrew did.
In fact, I am the UFT. You are the UFT. I'm proud to be UFT. I'm proud to speak out. It's extraordinary that leadership would attack and threaten dues-paying members. I'd expect this sort of thing from Ron De Santis, not a unionist (let alone a union president). But there you go.
A friend suggests that some members in Unity Caucus may not be able to differentiate between my pieces and actual Mulgrew letters. Perhaps, he suggests they mistakenly quote my blog rather than the letters that carry that valuable digital signature.
In any case, here's what Michael Mulgrew sees fit to spend our dues on:
More on this topic, here:
Arthur Goldstein is an ESL teacher at Francis Lewis High School, former chapter leader and a former UFT executive committee member. And plays a dang good fiddle.
Find him on Twitter @TeacherArthurG.