UFT backing Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor has members crying foul

New York Post

13 hours ago

Furious city teachers are threatening to pull their cash from the United Federation of Teachers' political activities fund after union leaders blindsided them and endorsed socialist Zohran Mamdani, The Post has learned.
UFT President Mike Mulgrew and his top allies infuriated rank-and-file members Tuesday by pushing through a resolution to back Mamdani for mayor — approved by 63% of more than 1,000 delegates — with the vast majority of teachers on summer recess and caught off guard.
A day after the endorsement, 90 educators vented their anger during a Zoom meeting held by the United Jewish Teachers and NYC Public Schools Alliance, groups battling antisemitism in city schools.
3 Mulgrew dismissed other candidates for mayor during a delegate meeting Tuesday at which the UFT endorsed Zohran Mamdani.
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'Mamdani's record includes deeply troubling associations with antisemitic and anti-American views,' said Karen Feldman, a middle-school teacher and co-founder of NYCPS Alliance. 'This goes beyond politics — it's about the safety of Jewish staff, the increasing ideological tensions in schools, and the breakdown of faith in a union meant to support, not divide.'
Ramming through the Mamdani endorsement, Mulgrew never gave other candidates a real chance, sources at the meeting said.
He dismissed incumbent Mayor Adams and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats running as independents, as 'beholden to very rich powerful people,' and ripped Republican Curtis Sliwa for proposing to extend the school year.
UFT members can donate as much as they want to union's political action arm, the Committee on Political Education or COPE, but the more than 100,000 who contribute typically give $5 per biweekly paycheck.
Some union delegates and school chapter leaders told The Post they're getting peppered with questions from co-workers on how to drop payments to the COPE, and whether it's worth pulling $1,700 a year in union dues, too.
'Why should I pay dues to a union endorsing a guy who is a socialist and whose beliefs I vehemently oppose?' said a Bronx-based school chapter leader and delegate.
3 Teacher Karen Feldman said Mamdani's views have 'deeply troubling associations with antisemitic and anti-American views.'
Gregory P. Mango
The Jewish teacher group's Power Point presentation at the Zoom meeting cited Mamdani's 'anti-Zionist stance' and criticisms of Israel, which they said could influence curriculum choices and classroom discussions, 'potentially leading to a one-sided or politicized view of complex global conflicts.'
The slides also warned of Mamdani's interest in making ex-'Squad' Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a fellow socialist and former Bronx middle school principal, the city's next schools chancellor.
'Stop all COPE payments today!' the group urged, spelling out how to do so.
'We urge all members to pull out of COPE to send a clear message to UFT leadership that our hard-earned money will not be used to support divisive candidates,' said Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, a group of more than 250 educators.
The group leaders said they didn't recommend members leave the union 'right now,' but Spern predicted an exodus in coming weeks.
'I get why so many are pulling their COPE contributions,' said teacher Daniel Alicea, a member of a rival UFT caucus that tried to boot Mulgrew from his $321,482-a-year post in the union's May election.
3 At a meeting, teachers angry at the UFT's endorsement of Mamdani were urged to stope their donations to the union's political arm.
Obtained by the New York Post
'Political contributions are protected free speech, so you are free to express it with your wallet. So many see that their union is acting as an entrenched political patronage partisan machine that doesn't bother to give members a voice in the process.'
The UFT — with nearly 200,000 members, including retirees — reports collecting 'dues and agency fees' totaling nearly $174.5 million for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2023, according to its most recent federal financial filings. It spent $4.5 million on 'political activities and lobbying' and another $4.3 million on 'contributions, gifts and grants.'
The union's decision to back Mamdani comes after it declined to endorse a mayoral candidate in the June 24 Democratic primary, saying members were torn among Mamdani, Cuomo and former Comptroller Scott Stringer.
The UFT would not address the potential loss of COPE payments or member dues, and brushed off criticism that Mulgrew had orchestrated and railroaded the vote for Mamdani.
'Endorsements are the result of a lengthy union review process with the final decision being made by the union's Delegate Assembly, which is made up of UFT members elected from every New York City public school,' spokesperson Alison Gendar said.