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A dark time
Perhaps Hobart's drive was fueled in part by one of the union's earliest failures. While merger was successful in New York, it did not catch on nationwide. A mainstay during this time was one of Shanker's lessons to never give up.
"We've had setbacks, but we've also had a lot of victories," Hobart said. "The only way you get the victories is if you learn from your failures.
"A very important thing Al taught me is to listen to the objections to your argument," Hobart said. "There were many times Al would push for something, and it was clear we had enough votes to do it, but he'd back off."
In 1975, officers learned some locals in New York were moving to disaffiliate from NYSUT to join another state organization set up by the National Education Association. NEA fell far short of its prediction that it would win 50,000 members away from NYSUT. Still, Hobart would describe that period as a dark time as NYSUT was forced to temporarily lay off 12 employees because of uncertain membership: "Laying off staff was one of the worst things I had to do in this job," he said. However, the layoffs were short-lived. NYSUT emerged from that period as the pre-eminent education union in New York state. Ironically, more than three decades later, as Hobart announced his plans to step down, he would again be leading a team in unification talks with NEA/New York.
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