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I had a trial by fire as a new chapter leader, and the union was with me every step of the way.

Last school year, our principal at the time was requiring every teacher to give a “Do Now” assignment in each class, then to collect, grade and upload those assignments to an online records system every day. Entering grades for 170 students every day was a painful and absolutely excessive paperwork burden.

After months of in-house negotiations between the UFT chapter committee and the principal, we got nowhere. So eight tenured teachers and I filed a grievance. After getting no redress at each step of the process, the UFT Grievance Department helped us bring this case to arbitration, where the arbitrator agreed with us that the grading and uploading of every day’s “Do Now” was in violation of the new paperwork standards in the 2014 contract.

Teachers at John Dewey HS were very pleased with the arbitrator’s decision, especially the newer, untenured teachers who, at the time, were the most targeted teachers at Dewey. — Michael Solo, chapter leader at John Dewey HS, Brooklyn

You have a contract that defines and defends your rights. Workers without a union have no such protections.

Our contract is the reason we have many important rights, including:

Preparation periods and a duty-free lunch: Teachers generally have five unassigned periods per week to be used for professional work. These prep periods are self-directed: You determine what to do during this time. Educators are also entitled to a duty-free lunch period — a right won during a strike in the 1960s.

Restrictions on how many periods educators must teach in a row: Middle and high school teachers should have no more than three consecutive teaching assignments and no more than three or four consecutive working assignments (professional activities) per day.

Child care leave: You are entitled to a paid maternity leave beginning during pregnancy if medically necessary and for up to six to eight weeks after the birth or adoption of a child. You are also entitled to an unpaid child care leave of up to four years after the birth of a child.

A grievance process: You have the right to file a grievance to resolve contractual issues with representation by your chapter leader or union representative. The union has the right to take a grievance to the final step of the grievance process, which results in a binding decision by a neutral arbitrator.

Class-size limits: Our contract has strict class-size limits and an expedited process to enforce those limits.

Thanks to our union contract, we fought for and won these things:

No time clock: We eliminated the time clock for paraprofessionals when the DOE tried to treat them differently from other titles.

Less paperwork: We reduced excessive paperwork, with an enforceable procedure won in the 2014 contract to make sure members are not stuck with duplicative and arbitrary paperwork.

SESIS pay: We won $38 million in back pay for members who did after-hours SESIS work. Lesson plans: Administrators may review lesson plans, but they cannot mandate specific elements for inclusion in lesson plans.

SBOs: School-based options give each school community the flexibility to modify scheduling and other contract provisions — if a majority of UFT members agree — to fit its own needs.