The electoral sweep by opposition forces in the paraprofessional and retiree chapters are nothing less than an electoral earthquake in UFT politics. By winning close to 2/3rds of the votes in these former bastions of Mulgrew’s UNITY caucus, the union activists in Fix Para Pay and Retiree Advocate slates have proven that it’s possible to electorally defeat UNITY’s 60 year control of the UFT. 

If the 2022 United for Change slate had received the same margin amongst retirees as in this years chapter election, we would have won by 51%

The retiree activists also have provided some new innovative and inspirational tactics and strategies we need to apply to our general union elections next year. Combined with the lessons learned from MORE’s participation in the 2022 campaign, they provide guideposts to building a grassroots UFT campaign that could not only change the union leadership, but also strengthen rank and file organizing at the base in a way that will ensure that the union's transformation is deep and lasting. 

Three members of MORE have been on the UFT Executive Board since 2022: Ronnie Almonte, Alex Jallot, and Ilona Nanay. StrikeHot sat down with the three of them and discussed what they have learned so far and strategy going forward. 

StrikeHot: What motivated you to run for the Executive Board  and what did you hope to accomplish in your term on the board? 

Alex: The bigger picture is to hopefully enact some sort of change in our union and to pass some resolutions that would benefit the rank and file and push our leadership to do the right things. The way that our union leadership runs right now is frustrating. It's very much top down. But I also wanted to see what the inner workings of our union were like. So being on the board for the past year has definitely opened my eyes to how leadership operates and what their motivations are.

Our union needs a new strategy, and we need a strategy to change our union. 

Over the decades the UFT has abandoned its militant origins. Today, our leaders rely on friendly relationships with politicians to cut inadequate, concessionary deals with the city.  Recent labor victories point to a better way.  NYC nurses struck against two powerful hospital systems, and won major improvements to their pay and working conditions. The United Auto Workers struck all three domestic auto manufacturers, using escalating tactics to achieve historic wage gains. These victories weren’t an accident.  They were the product of careful planning, mass mobilization, and direct workplace action, up to and including strikes.   StrikeHot invites today’s rank-and-file UFT activists to discuss strategies for rebuilding our union into a force that wins similar victories.

The goal of this publication is to promote a conception of strategy borrowed from the early Civil Rights Movement.  Civil Rights campaigns were shaped first and foremost by a shared understanding among movement activists of who they were, who their opponents and enemies were, and the political and economic landscape in which they all operated. They used a strategy focused on putting grassroots activists like Fanny Lou Hamer in the leadership of the movement and prioritizing conflict created by mass action over compromises with liberal politicians. The movement treated strategy as a living compass—a guide on which tactics to employ and when, and a framework fluid enough to be revisited and revised based on new, collectively debated assessments.

Today, we need a strategy based on strike-ready unionism.  Strike-readiness can serve as a roadmap in our efforts to reform the union.  A strike-ready union is one where the vast majority of members know that their power comes from uniting in the workplace to fight back against the boss.  Making the UFT strike-ready means understanding why we win fights (and sometimes lose), identifying what issues matter most to our co-workers, and designing campaigns that draw the greatest possible numbers of union members into action at their schools. In this way we can contend for power throughout the union.

Strike-readiness provides a framework for friendly strategic debates in this publication. These debates will help us evaluate our work against a clear set of goals, organize more systematically, and to grow in size and influence.

StrikeHot looks forward to hosting discussion and friendly debate about union strategy among MORE members, other union activists, and all members of the UFT.

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