Ex-UFT borough official challenging union chief Michael Mulgrew for top spot

Yahoo

10-02-2025

A former teachers union borough official is charting a path back to the upper ranks — challenging United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew for the top spot.
Amy Arundell was removed on October 2023 from her position as the representative for Queens after trying to soften a union resolution supporting Israel, as first reported by the Daily News.
On Monday, Arundell will announce her bid for teachers union president in this spring's elections with A Better Contract — one of two slates mounting a challenge to Mulgrew's Unity caucus.
A Better Contract is running on a platform including premium-free healthcare, raises that keep pace with the cost of living, pension reform, and being responsive to members. In a press release, the slate insisted Arundell's campaign be seen as an indictment of the union's current leadership.
'I have been an employee of the UFT for 21 years, and this wouldn't have been something I would've thought of doing,' Arundell said in an exclusive interview with The News. 'The culture of the UFT is you get picked by leadership, leadership decides who they think would be the next appropriate president — and I played by those rules.'
'But members are increasingly dissatisfied with a lot of the decisions that have been made by the UFT,' she added. 'And it became harder and harder to look people in the face and tell them, 'This was a good thing.''
Mulgrew, the UFT president since 2009, has won five consecutive elections — most recently in 2022. But after a lower-than-expected margin of victory last referendum, his challengers say he could be vulnerable in this year's contest.
Arundell herself worked on Mulgrew's campaign.
'The UFT is a democratic organization that thrives on a vigorous exchange of ideas,' read a statement from LeRoy Barr, chair of the Unity caucus, on the upcoming elections. 'Unity has a track record of improving the lives of UFT members and so we look forward to the campaign.'
Unity has been in power for more than 60 years.
Arundell oversaw all UFT business in Queens from 2017 until her sudden removal. Just days after Oct. 7, 2023, she privately proposed changes to a UFT resolution supporting Israel, including a suggestion to drop the word 'terrorist' to describe the Hamas attack.
Arundell explained she did not want to debate if Hamas was a terrorist organization, but to recognize that not all of the members she represented agreed with that statement — and avoid a public argument that she said ensued during the resolution vote.
'When I was reassigned, I did not know why. I was never told. And to this day, they have never actually told me,' Arundell said. 'I don't pretend I believe things I don't believe, but I also don't use my position as a representative for the UFT to push a personal agenda.'
Arundell did not challenge the UFT's decision to remove her, but told The News she thinks it was unfair, arguing it's one of a series of 'bad decisions' that did not consider the membership's point of view. Thousands of members came to Arundell's defense in a petition after her removal.
The union president hopeful raised concerns about an effort to switch retired teachers onto private healthcare, mayoral control of public schools, and 'everybody deciding how people should teach except teachers.'
'I held a meeting with 600 people to answer questions about healthcare,' Arundell said of the Medicare Advantage plan. 'I answered questions based on what I was told by leadership. And I will say now, I do not believe as a staff person at the UFT, I was told the truth about all the implications of this decision. And that's embarrassing to me.'
Mulgrew has since dropped his support for Medicare Advantage.
Most recently, Arundell questioned Mulgrew's attempt to secure raises for underpaid paraprofessionals through legislation, outside of the typical contract negotiation process.
While she agreed the special education staffers are overdue for a raise, she said she worried what precedent it would set to sidestep the city's longstanding practice of reaching a deal with one union, setting a pattern for all other contracts during a round of bargaining.
'Making 'pattern bargaining' the enemy is unbelievable to me, because its history is rooted in the idea that unions will not compete with one another, that we are one labor movement, and that we are stronger when we are together,' Arundell said.
The nomination process closes next month. The UFT will mail ballots to members and count votes on May 29. Members elected president and other officers will serve three-year terms, effective this summer.