Union Man Fired For Trying to Organize Union's Own Workers

Jim Callaghan, a veteran writer for the United Federation of Teachers, just got canned for ... trying to unionize the powerful organization's own workers!

Jim Callaghan, a veteran writer for the teachers union, told The Post he was booted from his $100,000-a-year job just two months after he informed UFT President Michael Mulgrew that he was trying to unionize some of his co-workers.
"I was fired for trying to start a union at the UFT," said a dumbfounded Callaghan, who worked for the union's newsletter and as a speechwriter for union leaders for the past 13 years.

Callaghan said he personally told Mulgrew on June 9 about his intention to try to organize nonunionized workers at UFT headquarters.
"I told him I want to have the same rights that teachers have," said Callaghan, 63, of Staten Island. "He told me he didn't want that, that he wanted to be able to fire whoever he wanted to."

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Can't speak for the UFT, but the NEA's employees are actually unionized at each level, and negotiate accordingly, exactly because we do want to model this. The NEA is the largest teachers' union in the nation.
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The main purpose of any organization is the same as any animal, survival. It is not in the interest of the organization to support activities which weaken its power or compete on its mission. Even when an organization builds a lifespan into its mission statement, the people that make up that organization often fail to adhere to that ideal. Why purposefully make your job irrelevant? Better to invent new reasons for continued existence.

I worked for an organization that was created in the 1950s that initially had a 3-year study mission.
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Alex,

I have never commented on this sight. I come here for fun, but I do notice that you only and often post anti-union pieces. I checked the link you have to the New York Post, a Rupert Murdoch owned publication which states that what you have posted is only an accusation. Nothing has been proven.

Unions, like any organization do make mistakes, but it would be nice if you posted stories about unions fighting when people have been unfairly fired, working for decent wages, and generally improving people's lives.

But perhaps this is a politically conservative web site and I didn't know it. Do other people know your hatred of unions and working people? Do others know that you pass off Newscorp and Fox biased Murdoch news? Do your advertisers know it? I will not look at this site any more and I plan to tell others of your bias.
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@Jason

To me, the Neatorama post seems to be a very fair piece on unions. It is an article defending a groups right to unionize. The guy wanted to form a union, was fired for his idea, and the article is making it known to all.
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@Jason

Not all of us carry the same politics and will find some articles neat. Others won't. Big deal. There's no need to sling accusations of hatred or thinly veiled attacks through advertisers. Unless, of course, you wanted to shut Alex up, which seems to be your intent.
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I love when people stomp their feet. I imagine their teeny tiny minds rattling around their big empty skulls.

CYA Jason, no one cares if you stay or leave. The interwebby is a very big place, and your presence or absence is not even a rounding error on the webstats.
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Another person screaming persecution and blaming Alex... how quaint. Take the information anyway you want with whatever source it's from, and understand that chances are there is going to be a bias somewhere. Don’t shoot the messenger if you have a gripe, but instead yell at the guy that wrote the original article if you don’t agree with it.
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Sounds iffy, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Is it ironic that a "veteran writer for the United Federation of Teachers" who's paid $100K/yr uses "whoever" and not "whomever" as the direct object?
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I believe that Jason's response to all such criticism would be well-considered and deeply thought out. He would analyze the arguments made for and against his position and reply to his opponents, "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
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