(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Phil Rumore, who was first elected President of the Buffalo Teachers Federation (BTF) back in 1981, has won re-election to yet another two-year term.

The 74-year-old head of the 3,600-Member Union - which is affiliated with the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), ran opposed, as did BTF Vice President Rebecca Pordum.  BTF Secretary Melinda MacPherson-Sullivan was also re-elected.  She too ran unopposed.

“Much to my ‘surprise,’” Rumore jokingly answered when initially asked about this re-election win by WNYLaborToday.com. 

This year’s BTF Elections were run “electronically for the first time” in the Union’s history, he told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper.  “And it ‘worked very well,’ despite less than eight-hundred Members casting votes,” he said.

The low turnout was attributed to the president, vice president and secretary-treasurer running unopposed, Rumore said.  “There were only a couple of races (that had multiple candidates), but the feedback from Membership is that they loved voting via computer,” he said.

When it comes to the BTF’s future agenda under the leadership of Rumore, the Buffalo Teachers Union President tells WNYLaborToday.com he is already focusing on “getting a new contract in place for 2019, so it doesn’t take another (12) years” to reach an agreement with the Buffalo School District.

In October (2016) - and after 12 years of fighting for a new contract - ending what NYSUT described as the longest contract stalemate in the history of Public-Sector Collective Bargaining in New York State, the BTF negotiated a new three-year agreement with the Buffalo School District that called for its 3,600-plus Membership to receive a 10% raise in 2016, as well as a one-time, back pay bonus of between $2,000 and $9,000 each.

(For More On This Labor News Story, Read WNYLaborToday.com’s April 4th Report, Headlined: Buffalo Teachers Federation President ‘Blasts’ State Senator Jacobs’ “Attack On The School District And The Teachers’ Contract”)

On another front, Rumore told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper that will also focus on pinpointing potential and future BTF Representatives who can be groomed by the Teachers Federation to “take over when I decide to retire.”