IT’S payback time for the powerful UFT.
The United Federation of Teachers blocked City Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) from receiving an “early endorsement” from the 1.3 million-member Central Labor Council to get even with him for exposing the union’s arm-twisting during a City Hall hearing on charter schools, sources said.
Felder disclosed that union reps brazenly distributed cue cards with prepared questions that legislators were supposed to ask at the April hearing. Union witnesses got the softball questions. The tough queries went to administration officials.
So when the labor council last week released a list of 33 council members it was endorsing without screenings, Felder’s name wasn’t on it.
“It was because of the cheat sheets,” said one source
Ten other incumbents were also blackballed. In some cases, the only apparent offense of the blackballed pols was not toeing the union line.
“To me, it’s a badge of honor,” Felder said. “I think a lot of the leadership in the unions are ripping off members for their own benefit, and I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”
Outgoing UFT president Randi Weingarten said the labor council process allows any individual union to request that a legislator be invited in for an interview before an endorsement.
“Different unions asked about different folks,” she said. “The UFT never told the [labor council] anything about endorsing or not endorsing Simcha Felder.”