MIchelle Baptiste on the UFT Election

I'm excited and proud to be part of MORE/ New Action 2016, offering hundreds of involved, activist candidates as an alternative to the Unity machine that has monopolized our union forever. Win or lose, we are all in. I'm running for HS Executive Board, and I'm excited about having real opposition voices inside the union for the first time in years.

Below is a video by my friend Michelle Baptiste, who I meet at various events and demonstrations around the city and elsewhere. She's just one reason, one person, of many that I'm excited about. I love her quote about how teachers are not supported and how they should actually expect to be supported. It's the Wild West for us, and if you don't happen to have a supportive supervisor, you're on your own.

We'd like to offer teachers alternatives other than 40-50% junk science. We'd like to have, for example, a fair contract. And we'd like to move the conversation from, "All teachers suck," to, "All supervisors ought to be competent." I realize that's a big ask, but doing absolutely nothing about it hasn't precisely worked to our advantage either.

Of course Michelle can speak for herself.