For Diana Lennon, a teacher at Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering in Harlem, joining with fellow UFT members to march in the annual Labor Day Parade on Sept. 7 was an expression of pride and gratitude.

“We’re a union family,” said Lennon, who attended with her husband and young daughter. “We wouldn’t have a daughter without the health insurance coverage we have with the union.” Lennon was among the more than 1,000 UFT members who marched up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

“It was a great turnout representing union pride and strength,” said UFT Vice President Janella Hinds, who serves as secretary-treasurer of the New York City Central Labor Council.

Dina Barghouti, the chapter leader at PS 503 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, also participated. “It’s important to support our union, school and public education,” she said. After the parade, UFT members and their families gathered in the schoolyard at Robert F. Wagner MS on the Upper East Side for a barbecue lunch and children’s activities including carnival games and bouncy castles.