Your Union
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.
- 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 on 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 on education, labor and human rights policies.
- The union is run as a representative democracy. Each school has
at least one person, elected by the union members in your school, who joins
your chapter leader in representing you at the monthly meetings of the
UFT Delegate Assembly. The number of delegates in a school varies with
the size of the union membership.
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.
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:
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 is your first source of information and help on everything from salary to benefits. He or she:
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. (See Help-at-Hand for addresses.) 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 borough representative is a union leader who coordinates all UFT activities in that borough.
- Your district representative (DR) is a union leader who works 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 respond to your questions about the pension system.
- Educational liaisons can advise you about certification requirements as well as classroom issues.
- Safety representatives are specially trained to respond to incidents as well as environmental health and safety 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.
Functional Chapters
Although we call the union the United Federation of Teachers, over the years it has grown to include many other educators and professionals. Although working at different tasks, they share common interests and concerns. So that they can clearly articulate their concerns, these groups have formed chapters of their own, commonly known as functional chapters.
Functional chapters have their own elected leadership. The interests of functional chapters are represented on union decision-making bodies such as the Executive Board and the DA. They hold regular meetings to map out strategy and identify members’ concerns. Some functional chapters, such as guidance counselors and secretaries, have their own contracts.
Here’s some of the UFT’s functional chapters that may have members in your school: attendance teachers; guidance counselors; hearing educational services; laboratory specialists and technicians; nurses and therapists; paraprofessionals; school secretaries; social workers and psychologists; speech teachers.
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:
– Shape policy.
– Negotiate and enforce our contract.
– Deal with the school system, and city and state agencies.
– Assure that the UFT efficiently delivers services to you.
– Work to create public and political support to improve teaching and learning conditions in public schools.
– Fight to ensure that educators have a decent income, long-term economic security, and professional autonomy and fairness on the job.
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.
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.
New Teacher Advisory Committee
The UFT New Teacher Advisory Committee is comprised of teachers who are committed to helping new teachers become experienced teachers in New York City public schools.
Committee members from every borough work with UFT leaders to ensure that the union is in touch with the needs of new teachers.
The committee focuses on ways to communicate more effectively with new teachers.
Some of the activities include:
- Updating this New Teacher Handbook.
- Launching exciting and interesting programs so new teachers have more opportunities to interact with fellow union members, both socially and in seminars and workshops designed especially for them.
- Advocating for new teachers both within the union and in the community.
- Hosting a vibrant series of events where new teachers can socialize with one another and meet UFT leaders who can respond to their questions and concerns. (see www.uft.org/new_teacher). Recent events have included not only gatherings in restaurants, but also a rendezvous in the New York Botanical Garden and more serious
- Hosting a summer information series for teachers who will begin
teaching in the fall.
If you want to make a difference in new teachers’ lives, join the New Teacher Advisory Committee by e-mailing: Co-chair Jeannette Downes and Co-chair Analia Gerard. Contact your borough office for the name of your New Teacher Advisory Committee leader.
What has the UFT won for newer teachers?
As part of its campaign to gain greater respect for teachers, the union has negotiated a 44 percent increase in salaries since 2002.
During negotiations, the union puts a high priority on new 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 positions as
more senior teachers.
• Launched a new transfer system that vastly increases newer teachers’ opportunities
to change schools.
Next page: Certification Primer for New Teachers