Letters to the Editor

A thrilling scene

Dec 6, 2007 5:21 PM

To the Editor:

On the evening of Oct. 29, the Executive Board of UFT formally accepted child care providers into the UFT. The providers had voted overwhelmingly to have the UFT represent them. There are 28,000 child care providers. They are proud of their UFT affiliation and the UFT is proud that they are our new members.

I was at the Executive Board meeting that night. It was a thrilling scene to see the 50 providers who attended the meeting and to sense the pride they had in being affiliated with the UFT.

 In a speech that Al Shanker gave in 1992, he said that a successful union figures out what its members’ hopes and dreams are.  It gets its members, Al said, to believe that their hopes and dreams are capable of being achieved as long as they work together. 

The UFT is a successful union because we have done just that over these many years. I can’t help but think that the 28,000 child care providers understood this when they voted by a large margin for the UFT to represent them.

We sang “Solidarity Forever” on the night of Oct. 29. These were not empty words but words that came from the heart. UFT is now 28,000 stronger. Let’s continue the march — all our members together — to achieve all our hopes and dreams.  

Abe Levine, retired