Susan Kramer has always been the type of person that people gravitate toward when they are struggling with a life dilemma or need advice and support. After retiring at the end of the 2020-21 school year, she saw an ad for a course with the United...

UFT Vice President of Elementary Education Karen Alford urges members to welcome and offer their support to the 6,600 new educators hired this fall to bring more classes under the new class size limits that the union fought so hard to secure.

A total of 67 UFT members have their work on display at the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition, titled “The Art of the Educator,” is the result of a partnership between the museum and the New York City Art Teachers Association/UFT.

The UFT’s New Member Initiative and Member Assistance Program welcomed new educators this school year with activity-based events in all five boroughs to foster fun, community and learning. 


The UFT provided City Council members with education about the value of key union initiatives, including the paraprofessional RESPECT check bill, United Community Schools and the NYC Childcare Navigator during its annual legislative breakfast.

The following notification was emailed to all members as part of the UFT Update on Oct. 17, 2024.

Chicago Public Schools has contracted with a Canadian company to monitor students’ public social media posts for signs they might engage in violence on campus or potentially harm themselves and require staff – or police – intervention.

The city’s roughly 250,000 Medicare-eligible retirees will remain in their current health plans with the same benefits this fall after a trial court judge this summer blocked the city from moving ahead with the Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO Plan. The...

The attempt by the United Auto Workers union to gain a stronger foothold in the politically conservative South faltered in mid-May when workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, voted against joining the union.

Starbucks is slated to begin bargaining in late April with delegates from its 400 unionized stores after agreeing to end its two-year campaign against union organizing.


The Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence (PROSE) program, which affords schools the freedom to experiment and innovate, is marking its 10th anniversary this school year. Nearly 300 teachers, chapter leaders and principals from the...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew submitted testimony before the New York City Council Education Committee’s oversight hearing on remote learning failures in New York City public schools.

Five states with Republican governors that banned school districts from requiring masks are facing civil rights investigations opened Aug. 30 by the federal Education Department.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation to repeal the state’s right-to-work law, making it the first state in nearly 60 years to roll back a law that allows workers to not pay union dues or fees.

UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese writes that we have seen how so many of our students with disabilities have lost ground since the pandemic hit. This fall, we have been confronted with the rocky rollout of the DOE’s Special...

The UFT fought alongside our state affiliate, NYSUT, for amendments to some of the state regulations that govern certification so that educators are not penalized by the interruptions caused by the pandemic.

New York State United Teachers’ Representative Assembly in Albany on April 1-2 was a celebration in more ways than one. The delegates commemorated 50 years of working together to elevate educators and healthcare professionals, and they reveled in...

The city’s superintendents gathered at UFT headquarters in early October. UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese said the union made it clear to them at this introductory meeting that when special education compliance issues are...

All UFT pedagogues, including teachers, clinicians, school counselors and school secretaries, as well as paraprofessionals, have the opportunity to transfer to a different school under the Open Market Transfer Plan.

Three streets on Staten Island have been renamed to remember educators who died during the Covid pandemic. Two of those streets are near IS 24 in Great Kills and honor Sharon Nearby and Melissa Kruppa, early victims of the virus. The third street, in...

UFT Vice President for Elementary Schools Karen Alford writes that our schools are more than academic institutions. They are caring institutions and, as educators, we understand that caring for the communities we work in is part of teaching and...

At the Delegate Assembly on Jan. 14, UFT President Michael Mulgrew updated delegates on the union’s work to expand access to affordable child care and addressed a range of national, state and city issues affecting educators.


Membership in the UFT means never having to figure it out all alone, with union support and resources across the spectrum of financial, physical and mental wellness. Here is a list of resources available to UFT members.

In her role as a diabetes nurse educator, school nurse Lorraine Dolengo-Santiago teaches fellow school nurses, students, parents and educators in the Bronx how to manage diabetes in school.

UFT in-service and retiree members comment on everything from the need for the DOE to promptly reimburse occupational and physical therapists to the benefit of school cellphone bans.

Thousands of UFT members and parents came together this fall to press the City Council to pass groundbreaking legislation that would reduce class sizes in city public schools by a quarter to a third. The union gathered nearly 40,000 signatures in...

The Municipal Labor Committee and the city reached a tentative agreement with EmblemHealth and UnitedHealthcare on Aug. 28 on a new health care plan for in‑service city workers, pre-Medicare city retirees and their families.

Each year, thousands of retirees take advantage of Si Beagle Learning Center in-person and online courses, seminars, trips, and dining and theater experiences. The program is named for the late Si Beagle, who pushed the union to offer continuing...

UFT retirees will support our school-related professionals now more than ever. How can we do that? By keeping our union strong.

Nine educators at MS 137 in Ozone Park, Queens, graduated from the same school where they were middle schoolers. The teachers and paraprofessionals credit their own teachers' mentorship and cultural connectedness as the inspiration for their deciding...

The UFT's effort to get back funding for the city's 3-K and pre-K programs begins to pay dividends with the restoration of some of the cuts made by Mayor Eric Adams in time for the start of the 2024-2025 school year.

Sharon Brown, a member of the UFT’s Administrative Education Officers and Analysts Chapter, supports the principals of 32 Bronx high schools with budget compliance.

Every year, we ask you to nominate a colleague who does outstanding work. We heard about some truly remarkable therapists, including Victor Barangan, who works in PS 229 in Queens.

The UFT has joined with other unions and health care advocates in the Coalition for Affordable Hospitals. The coalition’s first action was to launch a petition calling on the heads of the five major hospital systems in New York City to agree to fair...

The United Federation of Teachers will support legislative efforts to restore employee protection for the workforce transporting New York City's students on school buses and will continue introducing students to unionized careers.