UFT Organizing Committee

The Organizing Committee, a bipartisan initiative created in 2004, pairs retirees who work in teams to help build strong, active chapters to make the union stronger. The organizing teams work alongside UFT district representatives and special representatives to assist in all phases of chapter building in schools across the city.

The organizing teams are retirees who were former chapter leaders, delegates, and union activists with many years of experience servicing members. They are referred to the committee by borough and district representatives, other members of the committee as well as the co-chairs.

Teams work with new chapter leaders to help with the nuts and bolts of chapter building: establishing a chapter committee, conducting monthly consultation with principals, publishing minutes of the consultation and chapter meetings, and publishing online or print chapter newsletters. They also provide new chapter leaders with resources and information necessary to fulfill their responsibilities.

Teams assist district representatives with implementing or explaining union policies and getting members involved in rallies, phone banking, lobbying, VOTE COPE and other union-led initiatives.

Teams have also recruited chapter leaders to fill vacancies, helped build chapter committees, modeled monthly consultations, spoken at chapter meetings, conducted workshops, assisted in school-based campaigns against abusive administrators, and supervised and/or observed chapter and SBO elections.

Organizing Committee members have also traveled to Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states to participate in AFT-initiated campaigns to defend collective bargaining rights.

To find out more about the UFT Organizing Committee, speak with your district representative or contact committee co-chairs Leroy Barr at lbarr@uft.org or Michael Shulman at mshulman@uft.org.

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