Cara Matthews

The RTC's Labor Solidarity Project offers retirees an outlet to practice their union activism, proudly standing with striking nurses and with other causes.

UFT retirees who are members of the Retired Teachers Chapter can join the Supplemental Health Insurance Program (SHIP) during their first year of retirement and recoup hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars for out-of-pocket medical expenses, including ambulance rides, dental work, hearing aids and private-duty nursing.

Elizabeth Tremberger, a retired Bronx science teacher, was looking for a way to serve her community after retirement. She found it in a local food pantry, where she orders and hands out food to those in need.

The UFT told state lawmakers during budget hearing in Albany that it wants them to deliver on a number of priorities key to best serving New York City educators and the students they serve, including fixing Tier 6, revising the state education funding formula, increasing family child care providers’ compensation and expanding the community schools network.

After the UFT Delegate Assembly passed an emergency resolution in support, hundreds of UFT members joined thousands of demonstrators in Manhattan on Jan. 23 to show solidarity with Minneapolis-St. Paul, where ICE fatally shot a Minnesota substitute teacher amid a brutal crackdown on students, educators and immigrant communities.

The UFT in December launched its “6” Days campaign to “Fix Tier 6 in ’26.” Members across the city are making the issue visible, making it human and making it loud, with educators set to head to Albany on March 8 to rally and lobby state lawmakers to fix the inequities in the Tier 6 state pension tier.

Queens 8th graders explore themes of cultural identity, community and adaptation through the stories of families who lived in New York City tenements during a class trip to the Tenement Museum.

Caring for people in need and promoting equity were top of mind in the five resolutions UFT delegates approved at the Delegate Assembly on Nov. 19, including support for disaster relief in Jamaica and LGBTQIA+ rights.

The UFT Welfare Fund Retiree Social Services' Nationwide Telephone Reassurance Program offers support for retirees that is just a phone call away. Retirees can chat for as long as they need about whatever issue they may wish to discuss or may be going through.

The UFT posthumously honored two accomplished members who died this year and presented their families with memorial plaques: Ron Jones, a former vice president for elementary schools, and Richard Miller, a former vice president of middle schools.