Section Contents

• HELP AT EVERY LEVEL
• At Your School: Your Chapter Leader
• At UFT Borough Offices
• At UFT Headquarters
• Where Do My UFT Dues Go?
• GETTING INFORMATION
• The New York Teacher
• UFT Online
  
• SPECIAL RESOURCES
• Members with Disabilities
• Health Helplines
• Lesbian and Gay Issues
• 
  NEW TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE
• POLITICAL ACTION AND COPE

Help at every level

As a UFT member, you become part of an organization that’s dedicated to:

• Helping you succeed in your career.
• Securing you a good salary and benefits.
• Improving the education of New York City’s schoolchildren.

Founded in 1960 but with a heritage going back to the early 20th century, the United Federation of Teachers is a dynamic force, fighting in City Hall and in Albany for whatever it takes to further those goals.

With 200,000 members representing not just non supervisory city school employees but also home childcare providers, hospital nurses and other healthcare providers and private school educators, the UFT is part of a national network of locals of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers.

This booklet is proof of the UFT’s commitment, as well as of the enormous resources that your union puts at your command.

Here’s a brief look at ways you can tap into the union’s capacity:

At Your School: Your Chapter Leader

The basic unit of the UFT is the chapter — that is, the union members in your school. Every three years your chapter elects a chapter leader to be your union representative. This person should be your first source of information and help on everything from salary to benefits. He or she:

• Knows what is happening in your school and in your union and whom to see or call about every situation.
• Can clear up misunderstandings and help you get support and supplies.
• Meets regularly with the principal on matters of importance to chapter members.
• Represents you in dealings with the school administration.
• Tries to resolve any situation that may violate your contractual protections. If that fails, your chapter leader can help you file a grievance or, in some cases, file the grievance in your behalf.
• Represents your school at the union’s highest decision-making body, the Delegate Assembly (DA), which meets monthly to consider issues facing members and to shape union positions and policies. Delegates vote on the UFT political endorsements, set the union’s legislative agenda and adopt resolutions supporting education, labor and human rights policies.

If he or she has not already found you, ask a colleague to introduce you or ask who the chapter leader is and introduce yourself.

What did the UFT win in the current contract for newer teachers?
As part of its campaign to gain greater respect for teachers, the union has negotiated a 43 percent increase in salaries since 2002. It wasn’t easy, particularly with a mayor who demanded more productivity and believes that all city workers should be treated the same. About 10 percent of that raise pays for 30 more working minutes per day for small group instruction.

During the most recent negotiations, the union put a high priority on newer teachers. Here are some examples of that. The union:

• Refused to cut pay and benefits for incoming teachers to fund a raise for others.

• Added a $1,000/year longevity payment for teachers with 5 to 10 years of service.

• Increased starting salaries significantly.

• Won job security, even for the newest teachers, who were usually the most at risk of layoff or displacement because of enrollment declines or budget cuts. In addition, newer teachers have the same rights to their specific positions as senior teachers.

• Launched a new transfer system that vastly increases newer teachers’ opportunities to change schools.

At UFT Borough Offices

The UFT has offices in every borough where you can find experts – all fellow UFT members – to answer questions about salary, certification, educational issues, health and other benefits, safety, pension and more. The offices are open until 6 p.m. most days, until 7 p.m. one day a week.

Throughout the school year, each borough office hosts many meetings and workshops that help new teachers.

Here are some of the borough office staffers whom you can turn to:

• Your district representative (DR) is a union official who tries to resolve issues, usually raised by chapter leaders, that cannot be settled at the school level. You may meet your DR at your borough office, or perhaps your chapter leader will invite her or him into your school.
• Salary representatives can help you with payroll problems or delays, and check that you are getting the right salary.
• Pension consultants can explain the investment choices in your pension system.
• Education specialists can advise you about certification requirements as well as classroom issues.
• Safety representatives are specially trained to respond to incidents of violence and environmental health and safety concerns.
• And other special representives provide assistance.

At UFT Headquarters

At union headquarters, located at 52 Broadway, New York, NY 10004, you’ll find:

• UFT Certification Services.
• The Teacher Center headquarters and conference center, where there are many graduate-level classes, educational workshops and professional conferences.
• The UFT Welfare Fund.
• Union departments (including Political Action, Grievance, Safety and Just for Fun.
  
• UFT officers whom members elect every three years. They:

The UFT Constitution specifies that five of the six vice presidents come from:

• Elementary schools.
• Middle schools.
• Academic high schools.
• Career/technical high schools.
• Special education.

The sixth VP champions education issues.

Where Do My UFT Dues Go?

Members’ dues pay for the full array of services that your union provides to support you and your career — everything from creating educational support services to negotiating and enforcing the contract; to working on regulations at the city, state and federal levels; to providing you with professional, social and entertainment activities; to producing this New Teacher Handbook.

Membership in the UFT is voluntary, but about 95 percent of employees eligible to join the UFT do so because they understand that standing together with their colleagues brings them strength.

Under state law, those who choose not to join are nevertheless covered by all of the contract’s provisions, including the salary schedule, and the UFT must represent them in every instance in which we would represent a member. All this costs money, so the law requires that nonmembers pay an “agency fee” that is akin to dues.

Only UFT members can vote on proposed contracts and in UFT elections at the school and citywide levels. If you are not yet a member, see your school chapter leader.

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