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Keith Firestone's avatar

Mr. Hill,

No 1:

You have to rely on the US Postal Service to deliver the ballot.

No. 2

You have to rely on the US Postal Service to deliver the returned ballot.

How reliable is the US Postal Service Mr. Hill? Not very.

But let’s be honest, the UFT leadership is very satisfied with the current voting system because

it keeps them in office: period.

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Laura Genovese's avatar

Thanks Arthur. This makes total sense to me!

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Arthur Goldstein's avatar

Thanks Laura. It makes a little more sense since I edited the first paragraph. It seems no matter how many times I check, little things get past me.

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Rita Loughlin's avatar

Thank you Arthur for persisting.

As for union lawyers, I hired my own lawyer many years ago when the the DOE was working hard to get rid of senior teachers. The case I won against the DOE (Loughlin vs. The New York City Dept. of Education was precedent setting) and enabled me to work as long as I wanted to (53 years). I remember one union official thanking me and relating the following: “I am always saying that we need to take out more of these Article 78’s.” When I told Mr. Mulgrew that I won my case, the response I got was :”You did?” Luckily, I had the money and knew that I had to spend it.

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Arthur Goldstein's avatar

Thanks for taking a stand, and thanks for your service. I thought my 39 years was a lot. Remarkable they always said it but never did anything. Alas, talking rather than doing seems a pattern with them--just as they do with our health insurance.

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Joe Hill's avatar

what is the problem with tossing a business reply envelope into a mailbox? If you care so little to do that little act then how are you supposed to research the candidates. if you can’t put an envelope into a mailbox then maybe you shouldn’t be voting.

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Arthur Goldstein's avatar

You're certainly free to your opinion on who should be voting. Regardless of your opinion, I know teachers who work their asses off and have barely a moment to reflect on anything other than how to get through another day. It behooves us to make voting as easy as possible, boost participation as much as possible, and make it as simple as possible for overworked, harried members to vote.

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Laura Genovese's avatar

Totally agree with Arthur, Joe Hill. There are teachers and school staff buried in crazy workloads and dealing with their own home responsibilities who could use the help in getting their votes in. Also there are instances where members received incomplete, late, or no ballots but had mobility issues so they couldn't report to the in-person voting locations. What about the ballots that were mailed and never got to GES that we'll never know about? To have the option to e-vote actually reflects how much any Union Leadership cares about its members.

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Arthur Goldstein's avatar

To NOT have the option ALSO reflects how much leadership cares about its members.

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Laura Genovese's avatar

You bet!

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Renée Silverstein's avatar

Please change the word “ no” to “ not” in the third paragraph of your resolution. Otherwise, I wholeheartedly agree!

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Arthur Goldstein's avatar

Thank you so much for catching that. It's fixed. And thanks for reading!

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Dana Ohlmeyer's avatar

Agree, wholeheartedly, that lockboxes in schools, together with mail-in ballots, would enhance participation. (A niggle: please copy edit the submission. As a long-time writer and magazine editor, pre DOE time, reading this as written sets my teeth are on edge.)

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Diane Pagen, LMSW's avatar

I was part of the UFT and would have voted, but the UFT kicked me out after the DOE forced me onto leave without pay then fired me for declining the Covid shot. UFT never sent me any formal notice, I found out while trying to get information about whether UFT was ever going to support reinstatement of the unvaccinated educators. Mulgrew kicked us all out without a care. He's a fucktard and so are his pathetic minions.

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