UFT members get on board
UFT members on an early morning bus en route to Philadelphia.
Energized UFT members paired up with their fellow union members from the Philadelphia Teachers Union and AFT Pennsylvania on Sept. 21 to get out the vote for Kamala Harris in the battleground state.
Fifty members took an early morning bus from lower Manhattan or drove to Philadelphia for the first of three labor walks in Pennsylvania on Saturdays this fall. They received a hearty welcome from their Pennsylvania counterparts when they arrived at the Seafarers Union Hall in South Philadelphia, along with a brief training on door-knocking from the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, which organized the event.
Then, they set out in groups to knock on the doors of union households to encourage them to vote for Harris and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat running for re-election.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew stressed how much is at stake in the election when he addressed the volunteers before everyone hit the streets.
“You don’t break up our unions. You don’t tell us what we need to do in the classroom. You don’t try to destroy our profession,” he said.
“We’re not going to let that happen, are we?” he asked, receiving a loud chorus of “No!” in response.
Some union voters were not at home or did not want to talk about the election, but UFT members had many positive exchanges, received “thank-yous” for visiting and gave away their Harris/Walz signs, T-shirts and buttons to enthusiastic supporters.
One man who was on his way to the bank stopped and asked for a sign and then returned home to place it in his window before going on his errand. A Harris voter held a whispered conversation with canvassers so her Donald Trump-supporting husband would not hear.
The labor walk energized Tonia Calvo, a paraprofessional at PS 79 in Queens and a district coordinator for the UFT Paraprofessionals Chapter. “I’m up for anything and everything to get this done,” she said.
Yevette Frazier, a recently retired special education teacher in Queens, said being a UFT member motivated her to spend her Saturday campaigning. “I just want to get these people in office that are pro-union and for the values that we believe in,” she said.
On the way back to New York City, the UFT bus stopped at a well-known South Street restaurant so members could sample the quintessential local sandwich — the Philadelphia cheesesteak.
The UFT’s timing for the first bus trip was ideal since Pennsylvania allows voting by mail starting in September.
“It was such a positive experience,” said Renee Freeman, a District 75 advocate, of the day. “It made you want to keep going.”
