The teachers union left behind mounds of expensive office equipment and furniture when it moved to pricey new headquarters – and yesterday, the stash was being trashed or peddled on the street by garbage men.
Demolition crews at the former United Federation of Teachers headquarters at 21st Street and Park Avenue South have spent nearly a month carting the valuable goods from the old union offices to the curb, as the city’s cash-strapped schools struggle to buy needed supplies.
The stuff is being scooped up by garbage-truck crushers – or by delighted, bargain-hungry New Yorkers.
“I asked the garbage men what they were doing with all this stuff, and they said they were throwing it all away, so I bought a bookshelf [from them] for $15 – the guy said he would deliver it for me,” said Faith Kinslow, a public-relations exec who watched in horror as other items were being trashed in the back of a truck.
“It would have been so much better had they donated the stuff to charity,” she said with a sigh. “There are so many people that are homeless or in need of furniture for their apartments that can’t afford things.”
The UFT, headed by Randi Weingarten, sold the building and moved out in May, heading into new, multimillion-dollar headquarters it bought at 50 Broadway.
UFT spokesman Dick Riley yesterday admitted the union left some “old furniture” in the building when it moved.
“We did leave some of the older furniture for the new tenants,” he said.
But he insisted that the UFT donated all its good stuff – 1,000 pieces of furniture, including chairs and bookcases – to more than 25 schools in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as the Jewish Labor Committee, the Council for Unity, Early Theater of Manhattan, Brooklyn Outreach and Amnesty House.
Riley added that the union sold all of its computers to National Computer Liquidators of Long Island, and none was left at 260 Park Ave. South.
“If there are personal computers out there, they’re not ours,” Riley said.
Union officials speculated that other former tenants in the building – including a publishing house and law firm – may have left behind newer furniture.
But a source connected to Max Capital, the building’s new owner, scoffed at the idea that any of the furniture belonged to anyone but the union.
“This is all UFT furniture that they should have taken – they were supposed to have cleared out the building,” the well-placed source said.
“[The UFT] was supposed to deliver the building broom-cleaned with no furniture in there,” he complained.
“Nobody’s been in there” since the union left, the source added. Max Capital “was informed before starting demolition that they had taken it all.”
But among the items that had to be carted out and were left on the 21st Street sidewalk waiting to be crushed were metal and wooden file cabinets, coffee tables, swivel chairs – including some with their arms wrapped in plastic – Compaq computer monitors and printers, a red leather couch in very good condition, wooden bookshelves, and wood and metal computer and office desks.
Some of the goods quickly found homes – for a price.
Robert Johnson Sr. of Brooklyn figured he got a steal after paying garbage men $15 for three office chairs.
“I can use them. Makes no difference to me [where they came from], they’re so cheap,” he said.
One passerby called some of the furniture “fabulous.”
“Some school should have it,” she said. “I’m surprised that the UFT would do something like this – what a shame.”
A worker with PENCIL – an educational group that runs such programs as “Principal for a Day” – said that the items “are things that we definitely look for.”
“I’m hoping that they don’t [throw them out], because there are a lot of inner-city public schools who would love to have that furniture,” the program assistant said.
Raul Hernandez, who works at Goodwill Industries helping to train the disabled for jobs, said his program could use them too.
“There always a need – especially now with the economy,” he said.
“Somebody’s junk is somebody else’s dream,” he said. “A lot of people don’t think. They want the easy way out, they just throw it out.”
Former Deputy Mayor Tony Coles got a chuckle over the furniture fiasco.
“The only thing in the UFT offices that ought to be thrown in the Dumpster is their union contract because it impedes education,” Coles said.
“All this furniture should have been donated to somebody. The best thing would have been to donate it to schools.”
BY THE NUMBERS
United Federation of Teachers
* Represents 120,000 teachers and other educators.
* Boasts a $31 million operating budget.
* Has 693 paid employees.
* Teachers and other members pay $400 to $800 a year in union dues.
* Spent $2.8 million on lobbying in Albany, more than any other group. Separate dues collected from members for lobbying.
* President Randi Weingarten receives $200,000 compenation.
33 Staff employees are making over $100,000
$50 million Paid for new 38-story headquarters at 50 Broadway
* Teachers paid between $39,000 and $80,0000 after getting 16 percent to 22 percent pay hikes last year.
* At War with City Hall – sued Bloomberg administration for alleged racial discrimination for laying off 846 mostly minority teaching assistants.
* Withdrew support for school reforms, and spent $750,000 on TV ads protesting budget cuts.