No transparency from UTLA: Dear Ms. Morgan, I absolutely will continue to allow facts that I am made aware of to change my thinking. Leaders in any organization dont always want to do the right thing, but are compelled to act through circumstances beyond their control. Where students are concerned, it is absolutely critical that we continue to bring light to issues of inequality and decision-making that is done while consciously or unconsciously not putting the needs of students first. UTLA had not been calling for Mr. Deasy to resign -- I believe Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Pearl had not been calling for him to resign - and that was a mistake. We got lucky. What forced Mr. Deasy to resign was when these emails became public showing his relationship with Apple and Pearson. Without those emails becoming public, Mr. Deasy would still be the Superintendent of LAUSD. While his leadership was problematic, we also need to remember that Mr. Deasy was Mr. Cortines hand-picked choice to run the district. So we need to be careful about celebrating (and Im not saying you were). But given LAUSDs history, things arent likely to change overnight. Whats problematic is that UTLA calls on the district to be transparent about its budget and expenses, but UTLA doesnt even bother to disclose even the most basic of of this information to members (as you and others have pointed out). Sadly, elected union leaders tell us to attend a House of Representatives meeting if we want budget and expense information, then, as you and others have pointed out, when you attend the meeting, they dont give you the information requested. Then at the same time they say the union needs a dues restructuring. So they want members to pay more, but dont even tell us what theyre spending our money on right now. And make no mistake it is our money -- they shouldnt treat that money like a UTLA slush fund. Instead of coming to members and saying, we spend your dues money responsibly, they say they have to hold a leadership conference at the Taj Mahal of nonunion hotels, the PGA hosted home of the 1% non-union La Quinta Resort and Spa -- apparently so union leadership can get spa treatments and private suites some of which I have been informed are literally the size of a large house. How can anyone possibly defend such behavior? To make matters worse, UTLA has a 17.6% salary demand retroactive to the 2013-14 school year that they are now ignoring. Instead, UTLA has settled for a 10% demand (and nothing retroactively). If youre a 2013-14 retiree, UTLA just threw you under the bus. A union leader even said on this message board that the retroactive demand was dropped because the money is no longer there -- but thats what the district is saying. If anything we should be challenging what the district says, and not agreeing to it. And the district could always build a retroactive salary adjustment into any budget - so the explanation that the money is not there is either an incompetent explanation, or dishonest at best. UTLA at some point needs to put its foot down and stop capitulating to what the district tells us. To make things even worse, when you talk to a rank and file teacher at sites, many just flat out dont believe in UTLA -- and this is not an attack on current leadership -- these members havent believed in UTLA for years. Thats part of the reason only 20% vote. If the status quo continues, that will not change. Class sizes are huge, nurses and counselor ratios are insane, substitute teachers are getting written up and the union doesnt help, and as Eddie and others pointed out, Substitute Teachers have no due process and UTLA has no interest in making that happen -- instead they just want to bend your ear about stuff you already know. Housed Teachers are another example. Activists point out how CTA used to provide insurance. So when we ask how to make that happen again, instead UTLA leaders give us (vague) figures and lectures about how much UTLA currently spends for housed teachers, but they dont provide any information or strategy about how we can get some sort of insurance -- apparently there is no plan from UTLA to get insurance for housed teachers. Instead, it seems the UTLA prefers to spend a boat load of money on supporting various democratic candidates (most of whom) have never done anything beyond the bare minimum to support us. And we send our dues money to groups like AFT so they can support folks like Bill Gates: https://youtube/watch?v=x6Ezri0pVOg He gave a speech about teacher effectiveness. The President of the AFT Randi Weingarten just sent an email to members a day ago saying how outraged she was at the Time magazine article that just came out that said it was hard to fire teachers -- teacher effectiveness. Meanwhile, Ms. Weingarten makes 350K+ while taking trips to Kiev (eagnews.org/weingartens-concern-about-ukraine-is-touching-but-does-she-care-about-the-condition-of-aft-schools/). Well, gosh darn it, what about OUR schools? As if this werent all bad enough -- we live in a delicate time for unions -- there has been and will continue to be more challenges to the idea that union membership is mandatory. Its gone in Wisconsin and many members dont voluntarily participate there because the leadership is out of touch with the members. To be fair, here in LA, I feel the same way, and I want to be proven wrong. If we lose mandatory union participation here -- if the disdainful view leaders seem to have of any member who doesnt just parrot the party line (not just UTLA but AFT, CFT, and NEA) - but actually speaks up to challenge the status quo -- members wont voluntarily join and unions will only be a history. And those who were silent or traded a bag of money or a perk for their principles and for standing up for justice -- they will have caused this to happen. Some want to argue that I and others are causing all of this to accelerate, or we are just bitter and angry or are even sore losers. Classic political move -- smear anyone who challenges you (so anyone else thinking about asking basic questions will think twice and know better. This is the sort of tactic you see in AFT). By making our unions responsive to the needs of ALL members -- especially those who did not and do not vote -- we can create a city-wide movement that has the possibility to change the course of public education in Los Angeles and throughout the entire country. Just imagine if UTLA were doing the right thing - spending money responsibly, defending members, following its own policies, being 100% transparent and going out of their way to show that, we are being extremely frugal with your money because we know it should go towards defending members. Apparently, Mr. Fletcher gave back the union credit card and literally wouldnt spend the union dime, and a smear campaign was started against him by union leaders because they wanted to spend money without having anyone questioning what they were spending it on. If this is all just fiction, why isnt UTLA transparent and why dont they tell us how they spend money and on what. Its a little sickening that a union would have credit cards in the first place. What are they buying with our money? I would argue that we have a right to know how those credit cards are being used -- if they want our support. If theyre being responsible, there should be no reason to not readily publish this information for members -- so they show how transparent they are. Doing so would help keep them honest with our money, helping the union movement. Accountability. Please take a look at the two links below. The Union Power team immediately closed their unionpower2014.org website after being elected. Below is their campaign promises -- one link is a video and one contain some of their campaign literature. Please compare what they said to what theyve actually done. https://vimeo/108665066 https://scribd/UPwhattheydontwantyoutosee/documents I agree with you that we need to support the elected leadership and do everything possible to make them as successful as possible. But we also need to hold them accountable. Its like with a small boy. At first, he doesnt decide to not steal the cookies because he knows doing so would be wrong. He decides not to steal because he knows if he does, he will get caught. But if you leave the room and leave the cookie jar open and the boy knows that you dont know how many cookies are in the jar -- when you come back -- half the cookies will be gone and the boy will have chocolate on his face. And then hell say to you that someone else must have taken the cookies. If you question him on that, that doesnt mean youre a negative or bitter person -- it just means that you want to help the boy to understand his own actions. In Unity, Bill Smith PROFESSOR MORGANS RESPONSE: Dear Mr. Smith, Your disgust and anger is warranted. You make a LOT of valid points. Most people do not want to hear or read about it because they feel like they are POWERLESS to have any affect on the situation or they are major contributors to the crisis. For years the House of Representatives has been receiving a financial accounting of UTLA spending. There has bee NO itemization. At best it has been ridiculously vague. It is the equivalent to personal tax returns that would be audited by the IRS in a second. Made up EXAMPLE: AUTO expenses: $10,000 Household: $30,000 Travel for work: $20,000 This is not legal or acceptable as a transparent budget. Perhaps it is time for a legal audit of UTLA spending? This last UTLA Officer election brought forth many INCREDIBLE Defenders of Public Education. NONE of them won the election. Every office was won by the Union Power Team. Fair or not, if we dont support and give power to the current UTLA leaders, ALL bargaining unit members will suffer monumental losses. From your posts, I believe that you support Unions and their protections. So use your anger and energy to connect with the people who have the POWER to insist upon the necessary internal changes. Picking them apart doesnt seem to be getting us any closer to the goal. Use your sound logic to get them to understand the need for changes. Also, it is important that you allow facts that you currently are not aware of to change your thinking and responses. There are many TRUTHS that need to be considered when you want change. Example below: _______________________________________________ Bill Smith said: Thu Oct 23, 2014 9:40 pm (PDT) . Posted by: To Professor Morgan, What are you a PROFESSOR in exactly? Education Management, perhaps? Do you work for Marshall Tuck? PROFESSOR MORGANS RESPONSE: I have a PHD in Human Relations. It is HONORARY from the country of India. In 1993, while visiting India as tourists, my little 9 year old son and I accidentally saved thousands of people from an earthquake caused tsunami. I was doing everything in my power to save my son and myself. Others just followed us. I was told later that they had a kind of spiritual connection to me and they KNEW they would be safe if they followed my son and myself. My little son and myself were yelling orders back and forth to each other and whoever heard us followed those orders. Those who could not hear, watched and followed anyway. The Indian Government awarded me with an honorary PHD in Human Relations. My son got an engraved plaque for saving so many lives. I dont use my PHD to make money; nor does my son use his plaque. But they are reminders of the possibilities of MIRACLES against overwhelming and possibly fatal odds.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 16:43:19 +0000
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