It’s been a hectic and frenetic few months. I was confident, last year, that retirees would take over from indifferent, crumbling Unity leadership. This year, I can’t make an educated prediction. I’m concerned about rank and file. Those who’ve come to ABC meetings are likely to vote for us, but there are so many more. I certainly hope more of us have decided voting is worth our while. That would work in our favor, and against Unity.

I’m sure Unity thinks they will win, as they did last year. I’m just as sure if they don’t lose by a wide margin, they’ll cry foul and demand a do-over. They’ve done it before, and I don’t believe they’ve grown or changed much since 1985. They had no issue saying take it or leave it to the OT/PT chapter. Until shamed into submission, they had no problem trashing paraprofessional Migda Rodriguez. Their campaign MO has not changed at all. We have a plan, we do the work, they say, shamelessly suggesting no one else does.

I’m proud of the campaign we ran. We stuck to our message in the face of withering criticism from both opposition parties. I could not help but respond to some of it, but for the most part I’ve stuck with the message that our ossified leadership has failed us, and that we have an alternative vision. We’ve pushed the notion of a member-driven union, and that’s what union must be. I remain convinced our current leadership has no concept of what union is.

I’m proud of our candidates, and I’ll name just a few here. I’ve observed and worked with Amy Arundell for years. In my borderline impossible position as chapter leader of the most overcrowded school in the city, the largest in Queens, she was always available to help me or my members. That may sound like something simple, but it’s not. I had a District Rep. who was not bad at all, but Amy got back to me quicker, always, was smarter and had more resources than anyone.

Amy is very best person to run our union, and if we lose, the whole union will lose as well. Regardless how the campaign goes, she was brave to break with Unity. It’s quite disappointing no one higher up followed her. They all know our union has devolved into a veritable dictatorship, and nowhere is that more evident than in the awful health care deals Mulgrew and Unity have foisted upon the city, utterly without member input.

Daniel Alicea is a force of nature. He knows everything about computers, social media and electronic communication. UFT would tremendously benefit having him on our side against the enemies, the real ones, that face us. I’m impressed by both Jessica Kim and Leah Lin, neither of whom I’d met before, who’ve shown incredible energy and determination in our campaign. Katie Anskat is an unstoppable force, and has boundless energy. On Zoom and elsewhere, we’ve met with at least 45 schools, and with various titles as well.

Unlike the caucuses, we had to start from scratch. With no existing infrastructure, we recruited from the ground up, something no one else had to do. It was challenging. ABC tried to work with the caucuses, but they made it impossible. They turned down a 75% stake with us, were utterly inflexible when they met with us, and made ridiculous offers afterward, dismissing us as irrelevant.

We had absolutely no money either. I donated, as did others, but we worked on a shoestring, reaching out as we could. Our opponents had glossy color brochures. I don’t think glossy brochures are the key in a UFT election, but we’ll soon find out how much of a difference it makes.

We have the best candidate for President, and we have the best message. It was sometimes overshadowed. I am horrified that people accused Amy of antisemitism. I grew up with antisemitism, and I recall it vividly. When your peers let you know that you personally killed Jesus, that you are rich (Really?), that you control the banks and media (Who knew?), it’s not something you forget. When they let you know Hitler had the right idea, it sticks with you.

These days, there seems to be a new kind of antisemitism. Evidently, if you think atrocities are being committed in Gaza, you are now antisemitic. You must accept and support everything Netanyahu does without question, or you are an antisemite. In my case, I’ve additionally been called a “self-hating Jew.” It’s a handy label if you tolerate no point of view that varies from yours.

I grew up in pretty much an all-Catholic neighborhood. I know better than most what antisemitism is. I deplore it. Furthermore, I’ve worked decades as an ESL teacher. I’ve learned, firsthand, over and over, that no stereotype holds true. I’ve met people from all over the world, and everyone is different. Your religion, your nationality, your skin color, your gender, your sexual orientation does not define you. Our slate will work to improve the lot of all members.

The United Federation of Teachers, under Unity, has been failing us for decades. Whatever the results of this election, we’ll continue the fight to turn that around. We’ll continue the battle to halt Mulgrew’s sellout of retirees. We’ll continue to insist health care for rank and file improve rather than decline. We’ll continue to speak truth to patronage no matter what.

In spite of Unity’s cynical move to restrict “campaign interference,” my friend Marianne has been a key factor in helping retirees. Her group is the only reason we still have real Medicare. Her support propelled Retiree Advocate to victory last year, even though some mistakenly attribute it to their brilliant campaigning skills—a huge reason they didn’t run with us, and a huge reason we didn’t manage to put forth an amicus brief in Bentkowski or support 1096 as we’d promised. But for vanity, we’d have done both.

Regardless of what happens, we’ve pushed Unity to acknowledge inequity. Our brothers and sisters in Fix Para Pay, aligned with ABC, forced Unity, for the first time ever, to acknowledge that paras aren’t making a living wage, and that it’s unacceptable. We’ve forced them to make minor improvements in the Welfare Fund, and hopefully there are more to come. The flurry of improvements during the campaign were most certainly not a coincidence.

We educated members on upcoming changes to health care. While Mulgrew may feel comfortable issuing commandments that we are not to question his loyalty-oath signing minions, we warned members of the re-amortization scheme, as well as the very real possibility it will rear its ugly head again.

Even as Unity attempted, via an odious resolution, to shut us up, we continued to shout to the rooftops that retiree health care was and is imperiled. We refused, and continue to refuse to accept the facile lie that all things were settled once Mulgrew paid lip service to supporting real Medicare. We continued to challenge the outrageous assertion that retiree health care is attached to the Taylor Law or collective bargaining.

Mulgrew says we are always in a war. While it’s certainly true that we as working people will always have enemies, they ought not to be the people who lead our unions. We will not sit down and shut up, not ever, and we will continue to battle to improve the lot of working UFT members.

I very much hope we win. We shall see. Regardless, we won’t give up the fight for a better union. We’re desperately in need of a union that represents members rather than bosses and patronage recipients.