The United Federation of Teachers has no class, Assemblyman Matt Titone said Sunday, blasting the union for co-sponsoring the Rev. Al Sharpton’s upcoming anti-police rally in his borough.
Titone’s comments came a day after Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association head Pat Lynch wrote a furious open letter to The Post decrying the UFT’s declaration of war on members of another municipal union.
The liberal Democrat, who represents the Staten Island area where Eric Garner died after a cop put him in a chokehold, said he’s “shocked at how many people — smart, intelligent people — are jumping to conclusions. We still don’t know all the facts.’’
He added, “No one wants to be called racist, especially people who aren’t racist.’’
Garner was black and the cop who used the illegal hold is white.
Titone stressed that the dispute is creating antagonism between teachers and cops. “We’re pitting two noble labor organizations . . . against one another,’’ he said.
Simcha Felder, the Brooklyn Democrat who heads the state Senate’s panel on New York City education, said, “What the UFT is doing has nothing to do with promoting good education for children in the city and state. One of the fundamentals of education is to teach children respect for law and order.’’
Conservative Party chairman Mike Long, who has family members who are teachers and cops, blasted UFT head Mike Mulgrew.
“It’s absolutely outrageous that Mulgrew would be using union dues to help Al Sharpton, who is not only a racial hustler but a tax evader. Teachers, who are law-abiding citizens. won’t want to see their dues go to a racial hustler and a tax evader. Mulgrew has crossed the line here. I hope rank-and-file teachers re-evaulate who leads the teachers union.”
Mulgrew’s own members were hardly shy about expressing their disgust with the leader’s decision on the union’s Facebook page.
Poster Lisa Tambini Zito wrote, “It’s a sad day to be a member of the UFT.’’
She added: “As a member of the UFT and an officer’s wife, I am embarrassed to say that I am a member of a union that would support an ‘issue’ like this.
UFT member Valerie Wabst Everts posted, “As a union you are supposed to speak for your members. Clearly YOU ARE NOT doing so now. I am disgusted.’’
Several teachers said they’ll stop contributing to the UFT’s political action committee.
Mulgrew tried to justify his decision on Facebook, saying the union has “a long history of activism.’’
Lynch’s letter said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous that Mike Mulgrew . . . would waste his members’ dues to get involved with a march that has nothing to do with teachers or his union.”
“How would [Mulgrew] like it if police officers lined up with the activists who oppose his efforts to shield bad teachers and undermine effective charter schools?’’