A history lesson
Feb 2, 2005 4:34 PM
The UFT turns 36 this year [1996]. As unions go, that makes us a fairly new kid on the block. But the reality is that our labor roots stretch back to 1916 and that most of our founding mothers and fathers have either retired or passed on. Even those who came after and survived the bruising battles of the ’60s and ’70s are themselves nearing the end of their careers.
I, for one, have no doubt our newer people are up to the job of taking this union forward in the years to come. Still, through no fault of their own, they know very little of how far we as a union have come. As we all know, history — textbooks, newspapers, movies, even music — gives short shrift to the long and often bitter struggles of common people for justice and dignity. Yesteryear’s educators, as this series will show, had no easy time of it. Their stories show that most of the day-to-day rights and dignities we take for granted had to be wrested from a system that would never have changed on its own.
Thirty-six years later, we’re still fighting. Today our union is fighting for a contract that acknowledges our true worth to this city and its future, our students, and for a school budget that provides the means for us and our students to teach and learn. Nothing will change unless we make it change.
I urge you to read this series. While history is no blueprint for the future, it can be a compass keeping us pointed in the right direction.
—Sandra Feldman,
former UFT and AFT president
