Know Your Rights

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From the UFT President

Knowledge is power. As educators we know that, and try to teach it. All too often though, we don’t even know the rights we have on the job — rights to professional and fair treatment and to working conditions that help make a tough job more doable. The totality of these rights have been negotiated in a give-and-take process with management (the Department of Education and the City of New York) over half a century. Some chancellors have wanted to work with us, and with them we’ve been able to forge greater professionalism for our members (see for example Articles 7 and 8 of our contract) and others have wanted to strip us of the wherewithal to do our job (remember when Chancellor Klein proposed an 8-page contract eliminating virtually all of our contractual rights and protections?).

But the contract is no more than words on paper if it is not used. I often say it doesn’t walk and talk by itself. Unless members exercise their rights and raise their voices, unless we demand fairness, oppose arbitrariness and speak out when we believe it is in the best interests of our students, our voice will fade to a whisper. So I urge you to become familiar with your rights and benefits, and use them. When teachers are respected, students benefit.

We have written this handbook in an easy-to-read style, listing rights alphabetically. It is by no means exhaustive and can’t substitute for reading your contract (and the many arbitrations that have interpreted it), as well as some hard-fought laws, such as on tenure. If you have a question or need help, do not hesitate to ask your UFT chapter leader or to call your UFT borough office where there are experts on different topics to advise you.

Know Your Rights

From the UFT President

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