Here Are Rank and File Comments on the AFT Video for Hillary
I am a member of the AFT and the AFT does not speak for ME. I do not support Hillary Clinton. You should look at her voting record and public support and comments on critical issues both nationally and internationally and equally important look at the big money that supports her campaign. The AFT video on Hillary Clinton is an embarrassment to thinking and inquiring minds. As teachers, our job is to help our students to gain the tools, skills and confidence to be critical thinkers. Your video tells me AFT members are voting for the President of United States because she's "electable...wonderful person...supports nurses...believes in what we believe in..." This is the emotional knee jerk propaganda that American are feed and blindly shallow. Hillary Clinton is not about saving unions-any union for that matter. She support the TTP - all aspects of it as she supported NFTA . Randy you know what NAFTA did for working people and unions and if you don't, you should. Shame on you Randy for selling out the AFT - another nail in the union coffin.
Remember the AFT convention where Mulgrew gave his punch you in the face and push you in the dirt speech in defense of the precious Common Core Standards neither he nor any of his Unity Caucus slugs even use on a daily basis? The Chicago Teacher's Union was having none of Common Core and they were all about making it known. Mulgrew and Weingarten as usual contrived to shut down any and all dissent by limiting discussion of said standards. But while comments were allowed it was tweeted by some rank and filers that a clear pattern was emerging--- a division between teachers who were forced to use these shittily crafted Gatesean standards and those of the "union leadership" class whose daily bread has nothing to do with spending an entire mind numbing month reading "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Werewolves." In short, the people being forced to use the CCSS knew them for the insidious, time wasting, age inappropriate steaming piles of shit they are while those busying themselves with lunch dates, AFT tote bags and wearing red t-shirts for photo ops in their local's newsletter consistently made the point that Mulgrew was right about the standards and anyone who disagreed had best have a solid supplemental dental plan.
Forgive me if I seem stuck on a theme here friends but this two-tiered sleight of hand used by so called "leadership" has no place in our current modus operandi and will be even more outrageous in the coming landscape of Post-Friedrichs unionism. We all witnessed the disgust and outrage of our colleagues when we learned that Weingarten had slid the AFT endorsement to Hillary when none of us were paying attention. Lily waited a few days in the hope of making her sell out look more deliberative than Weingarten's then she too handed NEA's blessing to the pantsuited one. I have noticed various unions on social media going to same way, too many, but not all.
The chart below explains it quite succinctly and it's as sharp a divide as the one witnessed at the AFT Convention. Rank and filers given a voice spoke loudly for Bernie Sanders just as they did against Common Core. Top Down "leadership" affiliates where rank and file were muzzled and management were free to bang home their own imperatives were quick to throw their support to Bill's wife. Where it says anything about "membership polling" remember that's what AFT and NEA claim to have used as well. Do you know anyone who was contacted for either of these polls? Yeah me either. It sounds almost legit but it's usually pure bullshit.
The chart below explains it quite succinctly and it's as sharp a divide as the one witnessed at the AFT Convention. Rank and filers given a voice spoke loudly for Bernie Sanders just as they did against Common Core. Top Down "leadership" affiliates where rank and file were muzzled and management were free to bang home their own imperatives were quick to throw their support to Bill's wife. Where it says anything about "membership polling" remember that's what AFT and NEA claim to have used as well. Do you know anyone who was contacted for either of these polls? Yeah me either. It sounds almost legit but it's usually pure bullshit.
Have a look:
| Organization | Who They Endorsed | Their Endorsement Process |
| American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) | Hillary Clinton | Executive council vote following polling of membership |
| Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) | Hillary Clinton | Executive board vote informed by membership poll |
| American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) | Hillary Clinton | Executive board vote after collecting member feedback |
| American Federation of Teachers (AFT) | Hillary Clinton | Executive council vote after non-binding survey of membership in summer 2015 |
| Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence | Hillary Clinton | Did not respond to requests about how decision was made |
| Human Rights Campaign | Hillary Clinton | Board of directors vote |
| International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) | Hillary Clinton | Executive board vote |
| League of Conservation Voters | Hillary Clinton | Board of directors vote based on recommendation from political committee |
| NARAL Pro-Choice America | Hillary Clinton | PAC committee, staff, and president decision |
| National Education Association (NEA) | Hillary Clinton | Executive board and PAC council vote |
| Service Employees International Union (SEIU) | Hillary Clinton | Executive board vote |
| United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW) | Hillary Clinton | Executive board and president’s collective decision after focus groups and polling with members |
| American Postal Workers Union | Bernie Sanders | Executive board vote |
| Communications Workers of America (CWA) | Bernie Sanders | Three-month process involving meetings, discussion, culminating in an online vote |
| Democracy for America | Bernie Sanders | Open online vote |
| MoveOn | Bernie Sanders | Open online vote |
| National Nurses United | Bernie Sanders | Executive council vote after internal poll showed overwhelming support for Sanders |
| Working Families Party | Bernie Sanders | Open online vote followed by national advisory board action |
I won't tell you what you just read. I will tell you though that the status quo is broken and it doesn't serve rank and file. In a country where all the wealth is going to the top 1% are we willing to continue to go along with a top down style of unionism that puts us all at risk while our so called leadership cavort with the very parties who are hell bent on ending public education? I'm done with business as usual. Maybe Bernie won't bring on the revolution this country needs. But as union members we need one now more than ever. As Preet might say, Stay Tuned...
