Tough Time for Teachers and Their Union's President

Almost 10 years ago, Michael Mulgrew was a teacher at William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn when he became alarmed by a piece of education-overhaul legislation called the No Child Left Behind bill.

"One of the things I kept saying was, ‘If this thing’s ever fully implemented, then every school in the United States is going to be considered bad,' " he recalled, about meetings he attended as his school's union representative.

Today, No Child Left Behind is under scrutiny. And Mr. Mulgrew, 46, has gone from a high school chapter leader to president of one of the city’s most powerful labor unions. But as the nation goes through another wave of education change, Mr. Mulgrew said one thing has not changed in the debate.

"People talk about it from outside, when they should be talking about how you’re going to change things from inside the classroom," he said.

Between the economy and the national political environment, these are hard times to be a labor leader. As Mr. Mulgrew enters his third year as president of the United Federation of Teachers, his 74,000 active members have been without a contract since fall 2009. And teachers are in the spotlight as never before.

Studies show the single biggest factor affecting student achievement, within a school, is the teacher. Reports persist about how American students are lagging behind those in other countries. And the Obama administration wants states to weed out bad teachers by evaluating them, in part, by the progress their students make on test scores. At the same time, as budgets tighten, teacher benefits like tenure and pensions are being criticized as too generous.

Randi Weingarten, former president of the city teachers' union and current president of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, said teachers were rightfully feeling defensive.

"It’s a really, really tough time," she said. "It’s a time when the scapegoating of teachers and public institutions is at an all-time high."

The national battle over the role of teachers was fought in New York this year when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg tried to end seniority protections in the event of layoffs. With the prospect of 5,000 teaching positions on the line because of budget cuts, Mr. Bloomberg said, "We need a merit-based system for determining layoffs this spring, and anything short of that is just not a solution to the problem we face."

But Democratic lawmakers in Albany, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, ultimately sided with the teachers' union by declining to change seniority protections. The layoffs were also avoided in a last minute budget-deal Mr. Mulgrew negotiated with the mayor and the City Council.

Observers questioned whether the mayor was ever truly serious about the layoffs. But any win the union enjoyed was soon offset when it lost a couple of high-profile court battles. The union had joined the N.A.A.C.P. in suing to stop privately managed charter schools from taking more space inside regular school buildings. That outraged parents like Lakisha Adams of Brooklyn, who attended several rallies in the spring to support charter schools.

"Instead of fighting for our civil rights, for all of us, they are trampling the civil rights of my little girl who deserves a great public education," she said at one event outside the state courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

If the lawsuits fueled the perception among some parents that teachers cared more about their jobs than their students, Mr. Mulgrew staunchly denied that that was the case.

"You’re a teacher because you want to help kids," he said in a recent interview about his stewardship of the union.

In filing the lawsuit against charter schools, and another one against closing some failing schools, Mr. Mulgrew said he wanted to force the city to provide equal opportunities to all students. He said that was especially important in this weak economy.

"I never thought I’d be in this position two years ago that now we’re fighting social issues," he said. "It was supposed to be about fighting for education, but now it’s turning into a fight about two different things. One, about education. We’re going to educate children, and we see those opportunities just diminishing."

At the same time, he said most people do not understand why experience matters in teaching, and why the craft is so difficult. He recalled being frustrated when he started off in 1992 teaching English to special education students at Grady High School. He was frustrated that he had to teach the teenagers basic literacy, when a colleague offered to help.

"He just saw me sitting at my desk after school correcting papers, and I guess he knew I had a bad day," Mr. Mulgrew said. "And he says, 'Are you going to ask for help yet?'

"He says, 'You're kind of stubborn, but if you ask for help I'll help you.' I said, 'Thank you very much.' And about a month and a half after that, I finally asked him for help. And I don't think I would have stayed in teaching if I didn't have his help."

On the surface, Mr. Mulgrew’s style is a little rougher than that of his predecessor, Ms. Weingarten. She started off as a lawyer for the teachers' union. By contrast, Mr. Mulgrew, who is about six feet tall, has a blunt, tough-guy demeanor. He grew up on Staten Island and was briefly a carpenter before he started teaching.

Those who know him describe him as a softy who cares deeply about students. But he also seems to enjoy conflict, and he has even heckled public officials. When the Panel for Educational Policy backed the mayor in voting to close failing schools last February, Mr. Mulgrew sat in the audience chanting "puppets, puppets" with a group of school advocates.

Of course, the teachers' union is used to making waves. In 1968, its members went on strike for more than two months because of a dispute in Brooklyn over community control of the schools. Those who follow labor issues in New York say Mr. Mulgrew fits into the union’s history of taking a stand. But his real success will be measured by what kind of contract he delivers. At the end of October, it will be two years since the old one expired.

"He’s had a tough hand to play so far," said Richard Steier, editor of The Chief, the newspaper for city union workers. Teachers won a larger increase than other unions in their previous contracts. But times have changed, Mr. Steier said.

"I don’t think right now in this climate where you’ve got state unions getting ready to vote on three years of wage freeze, plus some other givebacks, that there are high expectations that he’s going to be able to knock one out of the ballpark," he said.

There are those who argue that the teachers' union still has too much power. It is a big contributor to Democratic politicians, and they usually take its side. There is also a perception among other city labor unions that the U.F.T, which calls itself the "union of professionals," didn't rally the troops enough to help hundreds of other low-level school employees from being laid off this year.

With more budget cuts on the horizon, the union is facing plenty of other fights. Teachers have yet to negotiate a new evaluation system that includes student test scores. Class sizes are growing. And teachers are nervous about their future.

At William E. Grady Career and Technical Education High School in Brighton Beach, where he used to work, Mr. Mulgrew was applauded at a back-to-school meeting with teachers earlier this month.

A guidance counselor, Louisa Avanzino, and a physical education teacher, Andrew Jashyn, said it was important to have a union president who was recently in the trenches. They said they were both willing to be patient about a contract.

"In all the years we’ve been teaching, we’ve never had a contract on time," said Mr. Jashyn, who used to share an office with Mr. Mulgrew when the union leader taught at the school.

"I don’t think we’re going to have a contract, because I think the mayor is in a position where he feels that he can push for some of the things that he wants," Ms. Avanzino added. "And Mike," referring to Mr. Mulgrew, "just isn’t giving into those things because it’s not in the best interest of the students."

Mr. Mulgrew acknowledges that he has a long road ahead before getting a contract. But he says he has a good relationship with the current chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott. And while some say his members will be lucky to hang on to what they have, Mr. Mulgrew does not buy it. He speaks like a union leader.

"You’re seeing people get angrier and angrier, and the issue really is the unfairness," he said. "And this is not teaching. There is a distinct unfairness that is now prevailing in this country."

Whatever he does next in New York, he said, is all tied to that bigger battle.