Mar 22, 2007 3:15 PM
On March 16, 1960, the dream of many thousands came true. It was the day New York City teachers came together into a single organization called the United Federation of Teachers.
For decades before that, teachers were divided into more than 100 organizations.
For years nothing could bring them together so little could be done to improve salaries and working conditions. During the years that teachers were fighting each other, it was very easy for the Board of Education, the city and the state to pit teacher against teacher.
The birth of the UFT 47 years ago was the result of a merger of the Teachers Guild, headed by Charles Cogen, and the Committee for Action Through Unity, headed by Roger Parente and Sam Hochberg, but it came about only after intensive negotiations. Although both sides wanted to form a single organization to bring the city’s 50,000 teachers into one union, various issues divided them, especially some high school teachers’ belief that they should receive higher salaries because they taught at the high school level.
Finally a compromise was reached — the promotional differential enabled all teachers to qualify for a special differential based on a master’s degree in any subject area including education. Dave Selden, a Guild staffer, Al Shanker and George Altomare, Guild leaders, Cogen and other leaders helped convince our members to go along with the compromise and support merger. The time had come, they argued, for teachers to stop fighting among themselves and start building a single organization that would fight for all teachers.
I was privileged to be one of the speakers, speaking on behalf of elementary school teachers, at the historic meeting at the Hotel Astor on March 16, 1960. I urged support of the merger pointing out that we had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I reminded elementary school teachers that we were as underpaid as all teachers and furthermore did not even have a 50-minute duty-free lunch period or preparation periods.
When the vote was finally taken the merger agreement had won and a union — the United Federation of Teachers — was formed.
The rest is history.
This single organization has brought great benefits to its members and has been a tremendously positive force improving not only the New York City public schools but schools across America and, indeed, overseas, motivating teachers everywhere to fight for their rights. Millions of teachers have followed our lead fighting for and winning collective-bargaining rights, written contracts, pension improvements and educational reform.
Looking back over the 47 years, I realize how much we owe those early leaders. We could not have become the vibrant UFT we are today without their vision.
We must also remember the courage of the teachers who took a revolutionary step on the morning of Nov. 7, 1960 when we walked out of our classrooms in our first strike in the face of a threat by the superintendent of schools that he would fire all of us. We knew what we were risking and what we were fighting for.
Across the city, thousands of teachers joined the picket lines. By the end of the day their bravery had won the very real possibility of collective bargaining, the victory that eventually gave the UFT the clout it needed for all future fights.
As a united and militant union we were able to secure change and improvement for our own generation, for this generation and for generations to come.
Happy 47th anniversary, UFT!