Hundreds of UFT members marched up Fifth Avenue for the 132nd Labor Day Parade on Sept. 6. UFT President Michael Mulgrew and Vice Presidents Anne Goldman and Janella Hinds led the contingent, many of whom toted white UFT umbrellas as a shield from the blazing sun. As in years past, retirees joined in-service UFT members as they marched alongside other union members as well as workers trying to organize into unions. Among the veteran marchers were newcomers including Maria Maravegias, an English teacher at Transit Tech HS in Brooklyn. She’s been a teacher for five years, but this was her first time at the event. As Maravegias tells it, she was standing around the edges of the UFT contingent as the line of march took shape. Someone asked if she could hold one end of the large UFT banner — and she happily agreed. “It’s important for us newer members to be involved,” she said. Maravegias said if she weren’t a teacher, she’d be a labor lawyer. Her inspiration: a mother who once worked at a supermarket and benefited from membership in the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union. “She didn’t work crazy 14-hour days because of her union,” Maravegias said. “And the union protected her when she was harassed on the job, and she could grieve it.” Maravegias said she’d like to see more new members like herself involved in UFT activities. “I see the full breadth of what the union does,” she said. “I just enrolled in COPE.”

[More photos >>]