Mulgrew Primed to Step In for UFT's Weingarten

MICHAEL MULGRW: Ready to assume UFT helm.

The ascension of United Federation of Teachers Vice President Michael Mulgrew to the presidency of the union seemed assured July 9 after his was the only name submitted to the executive board to replace outgoing leader Randi Weingarten.

Ms. Weingarten, who announced her resignation effective July 31 three weeks ago, submitted Mr. Mulgrew's name to the board, with no other board members submitting candidates. A second meeting on July 29 will officially confirm Mr. Mulgrew's selection.

Hand-Picked Successor

The vice president for career and technical high schools has been groomed as Ms. Weingarten's successor since she was elected leader of the American Federation of Teachers last July, the position she is now taking on full-time.

Mr. Mulgrew was named chief executive officer of the UFT and has become its public face at rallies, City Council hearings and press conferences, even making the rounds with Mayor Bloomberg in Washington D.C. to advocate for education stimulus money to prevent the layoff of 14,000 Teachers.

A native of Staten Island, he would be the first Vocational Teacher elected president of the UFT. He was first elected a chapter leader from the William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn in 1999 and became vice president in 2005.

But Mr. Mulgrew's appointment by the executive board would only last him until the end of Ms. Weingarten's term next April. Before then, he will likely have negotiated a contract with the city, as the UFT's current deal expires in October.

Challenger Emerges

His challenger next year has already been named—James Eterno, the candidate of dissident group Independent Community of Educators/ Teachers for a Just Contract. In a phone interview given after Ms. Weingarten stepped down, he said that Mr. Mulgrew was being given an unfair advantage by the executive board.

"This is how they do it every time. When [former UFT President Sandra] Feldman moved up to the AFT, it was a year before an election, and they just had Randi run around," he said. "Now they're giving Mulgrew the year to go around and be the incumbent too. They never want a fair challenge."

Mr. Eterno also decried the one-party rule of the UFT's Unity caucus, which has elected every president the union has ever had. "It's been one-party rule for 60 years, just about, and it's got to go," he said. "In the delegates' meetings, everybody just votes caucus. . . I'm for a much more democratic and open union. Their caucus is invitation-only, where someone has to ask you to join, like some club."

If elected, Mr. Eterno said he would "change the union to be bottom-up as opposed to top-down; it's got to come more from the membership." He pointed to Mr. Mulgrew's current title as one example of what was wrong with the union.

"Chief operating officer, it makes it sound like a corporation, as opposed to someone as part of a labor movement," he said. "I see the union structure as needing radical overhaul."

Mr. Mulgrew declined requests for an interview.