Cara Matthews

After three years without their annual luncheon, UFT Retired Teachers Chapter members reunited to celebrate their service to the union and the integral role retirees play in strengthening the power of the UFT. More than 400 retirees attended the event on May 30 at the New York Hilton Midtown.

More than 50 UFT family childcare providers received awards for chapter leadership, outstanding professional services, excellent regulatory compliance and other achievements at four ceremonies in different boroughs this spring. 

The Nurse Recognition Day awards dinner on May 4 celebrated everything that defines Federation of Nurses/UFT nurses — compassion, humanity, leadership and a passion for care, as well as putting patients first and contributing to a unified voice through union service.

Successfully fighting off a charter school co-location. Reviving a program that teaches high school students how to swim. Creating a WhatsApp chat to connect librarians around the city. These are just a few of the achievements of the exemplary educators, union activists and unified school communities recognized at the awards ceremony.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to lift the regional cap on charter schools and put the licenses for defunct charters back into circulation resurfaced in the final weeks of state budget negotiations after former Mayor Bloomberg and other Wall Street billionaires put their money behind it.

Retiree Peggy Keyes establised a model train museum to raise money for pancreatic cancer research in honor of her husband, who died of the disease.

As the pandemic subsides, the Retired Teachers Chapter’s Brooklyn section, like other sections, is welcoming retired members back for line dancing, crocheting, seed beading and other in-person classes while it continues to offer remote classes, too.

Persuading lawmakers to oppose the governor’s proposal to substantially increase the number of charter schools operating in New York City topped the agenda for the nearly 900 UFT members and public school parents who traveled to Albany on March 13 to meet face to face with their state representatives on the union’s annual Lobby Day.

Community School 55 in the Morrisania section of the Bronx has a Success Academy charter school co-located in its building, but the disparity in their resources and the student populations they serve make them anything but co-equal.

At their 41st annual Paraprofessionals Festival & Awards Luncheon on March 25, members celebrated the many rights they have gained since their chapter's founding and the trailblazers who led the way while acknowledging there is much more to do.