Challenger Emerges to Contest NYC Teachers Union Leader

A challenger has emerged to take on the powerful leader of New York City’s teachers union, fueled by growing dissent among retired and rank-and-file educators.

The Alliance of Retired and In-Service Educators — a coalition of three opposition caucuses that formed late last year — is set to announce Olivia Swisher, a teacher and chapter leader at M.S. 821 in Brooklyn, as their candidate to run against United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew in the union’s spring elections.

Opposition Gains Momentum

Michael Shulman, co-chair of the New Action Caucus and vice chair of the Retired Teachers chapter, will run for secretary. Aixa Rodriguez, an educator at Motion Picture Technical High School in Queens, is running for assistant secretary.

This marks the latest attempt by rank-and-file members — who have long accused the head of the nearly 200,000-member union of stifling opposing voices and making backroom deals — to thwart Mulgrew’s reelection efforts.

There are signs Mulgrew’s influence is waning. With the backing of the Unity Caucus, he won reelection in May 2022 by his smallest margin yet, and a group of dissident retired instructors ousted his caucus in a recent election.

But it will be an uphill battle for the coalition to unseat the longtime union leader. Swisher is counting on waning support among retirees and rank-and-filers to make it happen.

“It’s definitely a David and Goliath situation, with the Unity Caucus, who’ve been in power since the founding of the union, they really control that space,” she said in an interview. “But it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t run in the elections.”

Strategy for Change

Swisher, a member of the Movement of Rank and File Educators, or MORE-UFT — one of the coalition’s caucuses — sat on the negotiating team for the union’s most recent contract. She also led actions in schools and citywide to push for better pay and working conditions for teachers.

The joint slate also includes the New Action and Retiree Advocate caucuses.

Their strategy is centered around mobilizing new voters disillusioned with deteriorating working conditions in schools, including the city stripping educators of their autonomy by imposing new reading and math curricula, said Peter Allen-Lamphere, a math teacher and member of MORE-UFT.

Building a Movement

Allen-Lamphere noted they plan to engage retirees upset over the controversial Medicare Advantage plan and paraprofessionals who want higher pay, as well as advocate for improving pension benefits for newer teachers.

“Our slate represents the combination of new blood and organizing experience that our union needs to build a powerful organizing movement of members for a better contract in 2027,” he said.

Petitions to get on the ballot are due March 17. Every three years, the union holds an election for president, other officers, members of the executive board and delegates to state and national union conventions.

LeRoy Barr, UFT’s secretary and chair of Mulgrew’s Unity Caucus, defended his leadership.

“The UFT is a democratic organization that thrives on a vigorous exchange of ideas,” Barr said in a statement. “Unity has a track record of improving the lives of UFT members and so we look forward to the campaign.”

A Better Contract, an independent group of teachers unaffiliated with the caucuses, is running its own slate of candidates.

In recent months, Mulgrew has become more vocal on hot-button issues that educators have raised concerns about.

In June, he abruptly withdrew his support for Medicare Advantage, pointing to frustration among retirees. The state’s highest court recently ruled that the city has to continue to pay for their supplemental Medicare coverage.

He also raised concerns about staffing shortages that left thousands of special needs students without critical services. And he claimed the city made changes to a reading curriculum mandate due to “intense negotiations” over his union’s issues with it — despite being a stalwart supporter of the initiative.

The threats to Mulgrew’s leadership coincide with a critical election year.

While unions usually back incumbent mayors, it remains to be seen whether Mulgrew will get behind Mayor Eric Adams, with whom he has had a complex relationship.

Adams is grappling with federal corruption charges, a loss of public matching funds and the departure of top aides mired in scandal. He is scheduled to go on trial in April.

UFT’s track record in mayoral races isn’t exactly impressive — it has not endorsed a successful candidate since 1989.

The union in 2013 endorsed former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who lost to Bill de Blasio. In 2021, Mulgrew backed then-City Comptroller Scott Stringer. Adams — who Mulgrew urged his members not to rank on their ballots — won that primary.

But UFT’s endorsement remains a coveted prize, especially in the primary for the Democratic nomination. The union has a massive war chest.