I appreciated the Solidarity News #12 editorial from an OEA member and have this to say as a United Teachers of Richmond (UTR) member. Yes, it’s depressing to have Zoom meetings when few people have cameras on. Yes, it’s pleasant to talk with people in person. However, the UTR example of going back to in- person Rep Council is more a cautionary tale than a success story to be emulated. 

At the executive board retreat in summer ‘22, I suggested we let the reps decide on whether Rep Council would be on Zoom or in-person, which is what we did. Rep Council is our union’s policy-making body, and we voted to stay on Zoom for the entire school year, with a few in-person social events. UTR’s ruling elite weren’t happy. The decision to go to 100% in-person Rep Council this year was made unilaterally by the president without any input/vote from Rep Council. I’ve seen a long list of reasons why it’s so important to have Rep Council in-person, including so we can organize properly for our Year 3 reopener negotiations on salary/benefits. However, last year our president said our contract was “historic” and that “we do believe it achieved our priorities” of “a permanent, certificated educator in every classroom”. All this was allegedly achieved with 100% of Rep Council meetings on Zoom. So, either the contract wasn’t utopian as claimed, or we can still achieve plenty with Rep Council on Zoom and in-person rallies. Union leaderships can act like undemocratic bullies in-person or online. What matters more than the format of the meeting is the quality of the leadership and rank and file struggle for union democracy. Many reps raised concerns after the first in-person Rep Council meeting this year— that if we remained in-person that it would leave behind those who are immunocompromised, who have children, who are pregnant, who don’t live close to the meetings, who are financially more precarious, sensitive to the high heat meeting environment, without reliable transportation and who have family obligations which make attending an in-person meeting difficult or impossible. Some people will simply not attend if meetings are in-person, while being on Zoom opens things up for everyone. Despite many people raising these concerns, only one person made any effort to prep a resolution for Rep Council Zoom, but they quickly dropped it. We have a culture of compliance at least partially caused by a ruling elite who considers political disagreements to be personal betrayals. In an attempt to co-opt critics, the president engineered the executive board allocating $5k for child care at Rep Council. He previously said the cost of several thousand $ for doing hybrid meetings was prohibitive. He now refuses to disclose what the quoted cost was. Providing child care for in person Rep Council is fake equity, because meetings remain inaccessible to many.

After our first Rep Council this year, the president heralded the alleged incredible achievement of being back in person. Hardly a mask in sight in the sea of reps, packed into a small, crowded, hot room in the midst of a huge COVID surge. Even if RSV, COVID, flu and other viruses are not life-threatening for all of us, they still disproportionately impact communities of color and low income families. Not everyone has plentiful sick days to use if they get sick/disabled. Being sick is a burden on our families and while we are inevitably exposed at work, it’s something we should try to avoid as much as possible. UTR Rep Council has no mask requirement and it’s hard to imagine any union member pushing for that not getting crushed by their Democrat Party aligned union leadership. What happened to equity? Having a mask requirement for in-person meetings is an anti- racist act and so is wearing one, whether they’re required or not.

In-person Rep Council is largely about CTA and the state Democrat Party’s demands to “move on from covid”. We must “get back to normal”. People are still being hospitalized, dying and becoming disabled from long COVID. COVID is the biggest single deadly event in American history. More than any war or 9-11. Society should’ve grown out of the idea that something goes away if you pretend it’s not there. Alas, here we are…

Joseph Glatzer       

Middle School Teacher,  UTR