An ATR's letter to Amy Arundell on representation

One ATR's email letter to Amy Arundell, of October 3. As of posting time, she has not responded substantively to his requests. This letter follows on a signed group letter on representation and displaced staff's concerns that was sent by certified mail to Arundell and Michael Mulgrew at the end of June. Neither Arundell nor Mulgrew had responded to that earlier letter.

Dear Amy,

I heard the darndest thing about you at the Manhattan ATR meeting.

Is it true that you said that ATRs don't need representatives because we had you?

That sounds like something LeRoy would say.

Answer this question, please: In theory, and specifically in unions, isn't more democracy better than less? To wit, if rubber roomers, surely the least of our brethren, were granted elected liaisons and monthlies with Mendel/LeRoy et al. at 52, how can the hundreds/thousands of good-standing ATRs (aka "displaced teachers")  be denied equal rights, that is, representation equal to that of suspended teachers of yesteryear? 

Please don't repeat LeRoy's tired, old rationales. Instead, be honest and direct, tell us why you, if you were an ATR like us, would really hate to elect a handful of peers, brothers and sisters who rotate schools like gerbils on a pinwheel, to fight for your rights and your future, at the very top?  

Until this term, you and LeRoy even refused to disclose who was on the joint UFT/DOE committee overseeing the ATR agreement.  Again, if you were an ATR, wouldn't you demand to know what goes on behind closed doors, if anything, when your career is on the table? The UFT's secrecy regarding ATR affairs is atrocious and must end.

Finally, the UFT forefeited its good faith with us when Howie tried to destroy my ATR contact list at last October's meeting in Brooklyn and lied about it later. LeRoy subsequently whitewashed the sleaze by calling Howie's conduct "a miscommunication." No explanation, no apology.

Summing up, I demand:

1  elected representatives with monthly meetings at 52

2  a full accounting of past joint committee meetings

3  minutes of all future meetings

4  UFT plans for ending ATR pool in future contract negotiations

5  a public admission and apology re Howie Schoor's loutish breach of solidarity from Howie himself.

I am sending this e-mail to other interested parties. Let a hundred flowers bloom in our direction.

Philip