Feature Stories
You can click on the headlines in the tree below to learn more about each right that you have as a UFT member.
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The UFT-Department of Education contract empowers us and helps ensure we have the resources, support and structures in place we need to provide a quality education to New York City public school students. These are just a few of the many rights you have because you have a strong union that can bargain and work on your behalf.
More money
- Negotiated pay increases
- Lump-sum payments in 2015–20 for money owed
- Salary differentials for credits earned beyond a bachelor’s degree
- Salary steps based on time on the job for most titles
- A guaranteed rate of pay for work beyond regular school hours
- Extra pay for teachers when they are asked to cover a class more than once per term or teach an extra class
- School secretaries can receive per-session pay during peak load times
A Defined Work Day
- A 6-hour, 20-minute work day for teachers in single-session schools
- A duty-free lunch for all members
- Daily unassigned prep period for teachers to do professional work
- A daily 15-minute break for school secretaries
Opportunities for Professional Growth
- Several new positions for teachers, including master teacher, model teacher and peer collaborative teacher, to allow highly skilled educators to take on an instructional leadership role in schools
- A career ladder for paraprofessionals, including the new lead teacher assistant position
- Study sabbaticals for teachers to enhance their skills or achieve state certification in a shortage area
Job Protections
- No layoffs when a school closes or downsizes
- Teacher tenure and due-process rights for paras, therapists and school nurses facing termination
- Regular pay during recuperation following an injury in the line of duty approved by the DOE
- The right to union representation at any meeting that might lead to disciplinary action
- Vital whistle-blower protections in relation to special education referrals
- Protection against harassment on the job, whether discrimination, sexual harassment or an abusive supervisor
A Grievance Process to Protect your Rights
- What should you do if you feel your contractual rights have been violated?
Speak with your chapter leader about possibly filing a grievance. Filing a grievance is the way UFT members object to the DOE’s violation of the contract or of established DOE policy and practice as embodied in bylaws, circulars, personnel memoranda or Chancellor’s Regulations.
Don’t delay. Grievances have time frames. Most grievances must be filed within 30 days of an incident. Two notable exceptions, reorganization and per-session grievances, must be filed within two days of knowledge. If you are uncertain of the timeframe, check with your chapter leader.
A Say in School Decisions
- School-based options allow UFT members to modify the contract to fit school needs
- Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools of Excellence (PROSE) schools give educators the flexibility to rethink contractual rules and try out new ideas
- School-based Measures of Student Learning (MOSL) committees allow teachers to help determine the assessments used in their ratings to measure student progress
- School-based professional development committees help shape professional learning opportunities at each school
- Monthly consultations between the principal and a UFT consultation committee at each school
- The integrity of the grading system is protected; a principal can’t change the grades a teacher has given without written notification
Support for Instruction
- Maximum teaching loads
- Teacher’s Choice funds to assist with out-of-pocket expenses
- Time in the regular workday for professional development, other professional work and parent engagement
- Class-size limits based on grade level and kind of class
- Lesson plans by and for the use of the teacher; supervisors may not mandate specific elements
- A standard one-page unit plan
- Basic instructional supplies and textbooks must be provided
- The DOE must supply curriculum that includes lists of content and topics, scope and sequence and what students are expected to learn from each unit
- A paperwork reduction process designed to resolve paperwork issues (both paper and electronic) quickly