Members ‘Make It Visible’
This picture of members at PS 28 in Manhattan donning toy plastic hardhats and tools on Jan. 6 for the “Make It Visible” Day of Action appeared on a local news broadcast, boosting the chapter’s motivation to help fix Tier 6.
Talia Angelina DiMartino, a new teacher at Hudson HS of Learning Technologies in Chelsea, signs a pledge on Jan. 6 to join the Fix Tier 6 campaign.
Chapter Leader Cathy Sarlo (right) of IS 10 in Queens, a Tier 4 member with 24 years of service, and teacher Lauren Sordellini, a Tier 6 member with nine years of service, wear T-shirts on Jan. 6 demonstrating their support for fixing Tier 6.
Members returned from winter break eager to get to work on fixing Tier 6, which stripped important benefits for new hires when the pension tier was forced into state legislation by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in April 2012.
The UFT in December launched its “6” Days campaign to “Fix Tier 6 in ’26.” And on Jan. 6, to “Make It Visible,” members at more than 600 schools across the city wore blue, created Fix Tier 6 rally walls, signed up for further campaigns and shared their efforts on social media.
On Feb. 6, they continued to “Make It Human,” sharing personal stories about what fixing Tier 6 would mean for their lives (see facing page).
The campaign will rev up on March 6, when UFT members and public sector union workers across New York “Make It Loud,” before members head to Albany on March 8 to rally and lobby state lawmakers.
‘Action everywhere’
At PS 214 in Brooklyn on Jan. 6, members sampled cupcakes with blue icing that were displayed to spell “Fix 6.” At PS 993 in Queens, educators took photos of themselves holding up mini chalkboards with words that read, “It’s time to fix Tier 6.” At PS 115 in Manhattan, educators rallied with blue pom-poms and wore shirts that read, “We won’t quit until we fix Tier 6.”
At PS 28 in Manhattan, members donned toy plastic hard hats and held tools to symbolize the need to repair Tier 6. A group photo made it into local TV news coverage. “Everybody got very excited and we have a lot of momentum going on in the building,” said Chapter Leader Elkis Felice, a Tier 4 member with more than 15 members signed up to travel with the UFT to Albany for the big March 8 rally.
The “Fix Tier 6 in ’26” campaign began on Dec. 6 with members taking action to “Make it Known.”
Felice said many of her affected members were unaware that as Tier 6 members, they would have to work until 63 — as opposed to 55 like their Tier 4 colleagues — to retire with unreduced benefits. “A lot of people didn’t even know they were in Tier 6,” Felice said. “I was very surprised.”
Chapter leaders like Felice made the facts “known” to members in December, and did a “phenomenal” job making the issue “visible” on the 6th of January, UFT President Michael Mulgrew told delegates gathered for the Delegate Assembly on Jan. 14.
“There was action everywhere, social media everywhere,” he said. “We’re building the momentum. We won’t stop until we get to where we need to go — fixing the age of retirement on Tier 6,” he said.
UFT political action has successfully led to Tier 4 being strengthened, with more than 90 reforms over the past 20 years. And just as members in earlier tiers lobbied state legislators to enhance Tier 4, current Tier 4 members are participating in the campaign to “Fix Tier 6.”
Felix Leclerc, an occupational therapist at PS 30 in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, started with the DOE about 18 months into Tier 6 . He was surprised at the “stark contrast” between Tiers 4 and 6. “It was really striking that it wasn’t a gradual move in terms of the age requirement,” he said.
Leclerc was 28 when he started, so he’ll reach 30 years of service by the time he’s 58 and be eligible to retire. Under the current Tier 6 criteria, he would have to wait another five years for an unreduced pension. “Time is pretty precious, especially when you’re getting older,” he said.
Educators at PS 214 in Brooklyn, gather around the Fix Tier 6 campaign pledge they all signed and later hung in the teachers’ lounge.
Avi Norensberg, a Tier 6 member at P256Q @ Gateway Academy in Rockaway Park, Queens, said 30 years should be a career. He is in his seventh year of teaching and will have 22 years when he is 63. “Anyone who works 30 years should be able to retire without any pension reduction,” he said. “You have a right to retire.”
Fraeli Morfe, an academic intervention services teacher at PS 115 in Washington Heights, said it’s unjust that Tier 6 members have to pay more and work longer to get the same benefits as their Tier 4 colleagues. The situation poses a deterrent to recruiting new teachers, she said.
“It’s unfair that we cannot retire until we are 63,” said Morfe, who started in 2016 and will be 63 in 31 years. “This is a very emotionally and mentally demanding profession. We give so much to our students and so much to our schools.”
