Is Iannuzzi Toast?

Iannuzzi’s only path to victory was to form a solid wall of EVERY non-NYC local larger than about 500 members (there are about 50 of them) and then use that momentum to start peeling off individual delegates elsewhere. Fuhgeddaboudit....It’s illustrative that few people even know, or particularly care, who Karen Magee is or what she plans to do as NYSUT president. It’s assumed by everyone involved that she is a proxy for United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew and New York City’s Unity Caucus.... EIA

Iannuzzi has gotten more aggressive in the recent weeks while the Pallotta/Mulgrew slate is still hanging out with Andy Cuomo and giving him bags of cash for re-election. The Orwellian nature of AFT/NYSUT/UFT politics never ceases to amaze. Literally up is down and black is white. The less aggressive "challengers" are getting supported because the Iannuzzi regime hasn't been aggressive enough.

You can't make this stuff up - Rumore is going to back the challengers who have been raising cash for Andrew Cuomo because Iannizzi and his slate hasn't been aggressive enough against Cuomo, even though they have ratcheted up the aggression in the past weeks....Orwellian beyond belief - but par for the course at the AFT/NYSUT/UFT. ...  Reality Based Educator at PerdidoSS

Below, Mike Antonucci does the numbers and they don't look good for Iannuzzi. Small locals will still resist and maybe even run a slate even if Iannuzzi withdraws -- I'm not basing this on any real info other than Randi working behind the scenes to get this settled without an election and try to create illusion of NYSUT unity in time for the AFT convention in LA in July.

But there will not be unity. Can there be a real insurgency in NYSUT? The problem is that Iannuzzi is damaged goods and can't lead it. I would think those 50 local union leaders would need to declare themselves publicly very soon.

I spoke to a very wise NYSUT person recently who was there at the creation when Al Shanker and Tom Hobart merged the AFT and NEA in NY State to form NYSUT. He made a comment at the time to a very happy person at the merger: Are you ready for dissolution - (he could have also said disillusion.) What comes together can come apart if there is not enough glue to hold it.

The small locals are outraged as the hemorrhage services and members and at the bully tactics of the UFT. If someone can cobble them together into an effective force the other big cities a year down the road will look at things anew as new leaders rise.

The problem is there is long-lasting hostility to Iannuzzi as evidenced by these comments posted on ed notes when the Phil Rumore/Buffalo story broke last night.

	oh boy.. This does not look good.. I wonder if Rumore will be slapping himself in the a#$ if/when a new slate takes over and it does not go the way he would have intended. on Buffalo's Rumore Taking Stand in NYSUT Split?   And a response:	Tamar Flower	at 10:58 AM
	When the NYSUT Representative Assembly met a few years ago in Buffalo the Buffalo Teachers Union walked out when commissioner King spoke to the assembly. President Iannnuzzi specifically told the delegates not to join in with our 'Brothers and Sisters" from Buffalo as they walked out. The commissioner had made some very harsh cuts to their education funding and the BTU wanted no part of King. Here is a reason for the lack of support for Iannuzzi. on Buffalo's Rumore Taking Stand in NYSUT Split?

 
Here is the full EIA piece from Mike.

http://www.eiaonline.com/intercepts/2014/01/30/iannuzzi-is-toast/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Intercepts+%28Intercepts%29

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Iannuzzi Is Toast

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 10:39 AM PST

I don’t like to try to predict the future. There are too many uncertainties and you usually end up looking foolish. But I’ll take that chance in this case. As much as I would like to see a closely contested election going down to the wire, it is inevitable that Karen Magee will be the next president of the New York State United Teachers.

It’s illustrative that few people even know, or particularly care, who Karen Magee is or what she plans to do as NYSUT president. It’s assumed by everyone involved that she is a proxy for United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew and New York City’s Unity Caucus.
It’s also noteworthy that there is significant opposition to this UFT move by individual teachers and locals, but the structure of NYSUT’s Representative Assembly doesn’t allow for a popular vote. There are about 2,000 delegates to the RA, allocated to locals based on membership size. UFT accounts for at least one-third of these delegates. The next largest local, in Buffalo, accounts for about 1.3 percent.
UFT’s delegates can be counted on to deliver all their votes to Magee’s Revive NYSUT slate. And the president of the 30,000-strong United University Professions local also declared for Revive NYSUT. That puts incumbent NYSUT president Richard Iannuzzi in the position of having to secure three out of every four remaining delegate votes just to squeak by. He can’t do it.

Iannuzzi has some support. The presidents of 50 locals got together to form Stronger Together on his behalf, and both sides are citing endorsements by various locals, but in all cases these don’t matter. The election won’t be decided by who picks up more locals that control 0.1 percent of the vote.

Iannuzzi’s only path to victory was to form a solid wall of EVERY non-NYC local larger than about 500 members (there are about 50 of them) and then use that momentum to start peeling off individual delegates elsewhere.

Fuhgeddaboudit. According to this Capital New York story, Buffalo is leaning towards Revive NYSUT, and the other large locals are uncommitted and far from glowing in their assessment of Iannuzzi’s tenure.

Insiders think the election will swing on the issue of buying 10 seats at a Gov. Cuomo fundraiser instead of three, but it’s strictly a question of counting votes. Those with an interest can now forget about the election itself, and start investigating exactly what the Revive NYSUT slate has in mind when it takes over.