Last Wednesday was my first experience with the Delegate's Assembly (DA) of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). As a new chapter leader I was invited to take part in listening to reports made by the President of the UFT, Michael Mulgrew, then to take part making, debating, and voting on motions put out to the floor. There were at least 500 people at the meeting by my count even though there are enough chapter leaders and delegates (more information on the difference later) for there to be 3000.
The Delegate Assembly ostensibly starts at 4:15pm, although we really began in earnest around 4:30pm, but does have a firm ending time of 6:00pm, with the option to extend if a majority of voters decided to do so (which rarely, if ever, happens I found out). This DA took a majority of the time to listen to President Mulgrew update the leaders on what is going on in the world of the Union at the city, state, and national levels. While interesting, it is really something that could have been sent over email or in the mail. In my opinion, it was somewhat of a waste of time that could have been spent on others things. In fact, there was an article printed in the UFT newspaper immediately after that I cut out and scanned, saying the same thing that was shared at the DA.
There is one important aspect of the DA that should probably have a majority of time spent in order to endorse our democratic values: motions on the floor. There is a small mention of motions at the end of the article sharing the "wonders" of the DA that two motions were passed, which leaves out a lot of what I saw: some chaos and a lot of undemocratic choices made.
Before the prepared agenda items were voted on (there were around six provided ahead of time and we voted on only one) there was time for floor motions to be made. Many people raised their hands, including Jie Lee of the Movement of Rank-and-file Educators. A person behind her was called on for an interesting motion to add an item to the agenda of next month's meeting and then 10 minutes began of debates on Robert's Rules of Order (it was very reminiscent of debates in the Park Slope Food Coop General Meetings). No more people were called on after that one motion was passed.
If the UFT wants to be truly democratic in its background, it needs to make sure there is more time for its membership to voice concerns and get things put out onto the floor of the DA. I hope this upcoming election will spur some change.
Before the prepared agenda items were voted on (there were around six provided ahead of time and we voted on only one) there was time for floor motions to be made. Many people raised their hands, including Jie Lee of the Movement of Rank-and-file Educators. A person behind her was called on for an interesting motion to add an item to the agenda of next month's meeting and then 10 minutes began of debates on Robert's Rules of Order (it was very reminiscent of debates in the Park Slope Food Coop General Meetings). No more people were called on after that one motion was passed.
If the UFT wants to be truly democratic in its background, it needs to make sure there is more time for its membership to voice concerns and get things put out onto the floor of the DA. I hope this upcoming election will spur some change.
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