Assistant Secretary

ROBERT ASTROWSKY, is assistant secretary of the UFT. He was born and raised in Brooklyn where he attended public schools including Brooklyn Technical HS. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Long Island University and his master’s from Hunter College.

Bob began his career in the New York City school system more than 40 years ago as a teacher and subsequently as a guidance counselor. Soon after entering the system he became a union activist for the UFT and was elected chapter leader of PS 148 in Manhattan. He later served for 24 years as UFT District 3 Representative and from 1993 to 2006 as UFT Brooklyn Borough Representative. In July 2006, he became an assistant to the UFT president and was elected assistant secretary of the union.

Bob has served the teachers union, local, state and national, in many capacities, as a UFT Executive Board member and member of the Negotiating Committee, as a member of the New York State United Teachers Executive Committee and Board of Directors and as a delegate to the American Federation of Teachers and NYSUT Conventions. He is also a delegate to New York State AFL-CIO conventions.

Bob’s dedication to unionism spread beyond New York when he served as a union organizer in Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona.

In spite of his busy schedule, Bob served as a member and chair of the Teacher and Certification Practices Board, member of the New York Board of Regents Advisory Council to the Regents New York City Project, member of the board of directors of the Brooklyn Sports Foundation, member of the executive board of the Jewish Labor Heritage Committee, delegate to the Jewish Labor Committee, and delegate to the Central Labor Council.

And, he has worked as an instructor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Bob has received the Smallheiser Award and the David Wittes Award for Service from the UFT.