In addition to the regular pay increases negotiated in each contract, UFT-represented teachers and other pedagogues receive differentials, step payments and longevity increases based on their level of education and years of service.

UFT Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese writes that our special education teachers, paraprofessionals and related service providers do incredible work supporting children with IEPs, but the DOE too often has not fulfilled its part.


UFT President Michael Mulgrew submitted testimony before the New York City Council Education Committee’s oversight hearing on the DOE's provision of special education services.

Amanda Dutton, the chapter leader at PS 134 in Manhattan, has stood up again and again for students with disabilities and the UFT members who work with those students at her school.

The new contract establishes school-based Special Education Committees and annual training of all staff on special education rules and regulations. Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese writes that these new rights will empower members...

Teacher’s Choice, initiated by the UFT over 30 years ago, allows school staff members to exercise their professional judgment to purchase supplementary supplies and materials to improve the educational experience for their students. Here are answers...

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler joined the UFT’s HERstory event, an annual celebration of Women’s History Month, to discuss the history and future of women in the labor movement, telling about 100 UFT members at the March 4 online event that "women kept...

As part of its contract negotiations with the UFT, the DOE revised the 2023-24 school year calendar in late June to add four more days off for students and educators and issued calendars for the following two school years at the same time.

Information about the tentative contract agreement, excessing, school-based options, performance reviews and the 20th annual UFT School Counselors Conference.

One of an employer’s most basic obligations is to pay its employees in a timely fashion. Yet over and over again, the city Department of Education falls short in this regard.

Find out about excused absences — occasions aside from personal illness — when UFT members (teachers, appointed pedagogues and other titles, such as paraprofessionals) are entitled to be absent from work but still get paid without using their CAR, or...

The New York State Board of Regents requires certain teachers and paraprofessionals to collect and track professional learning credits called CTLE hours to maintain their state certifications. The following Q&A will help you learn more about these...

About 250 UFT members from the city's academic high schools gathered on April 25 at union headquarters to honor outstanding educators and schools and to celebrate 10 years since the UFT's first Academic High Schools awards.

Michael Mulgrew, the UFT president since July 2009, was reelected to the position for the sixth time in May, receiving 54% of the votes. The independent Global Election Services, which conducted the election for the first time, announced the...

Pedagogical DOE employees who are injured or made sick on the job are covered by the Line of Duty Injury provision of the DOE-UFT contract — not workers’ compensation. The following Q&A answers some of the most frequently asked questions about Line...

About 1,700 UFT members and guests marked the union’s 65th anniversary at this year’s observance of Teacher Union Day on Nov. 2 by honoring union members past and present for their efforts to improve working conditions and strengthen members’ rights...

In the four years since the introduction of A+ credits as part of the 2018 DOE-UFT contract, the course offerings have expanded for teachers working toward their MA+30 salary differential.

Students in Integrated Co-Teaching classes are intentionally grouped together based on similarity of need to receive specially designed instruction. Specific protocols have been established to ensure this model is successful for all participants...

UFT Vice President MaryJo Ginese writes that a half-century after the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which required an "appropriate education" for students with disabilities, the city DOE still has work to do.

The UFT in 2018 was the first municipal union in New York City to secure paid parental leave for its members. Parents of any gender may be eligible to take UFT parental leave following the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child under the...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew joined City Council Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph and other Council members outside City Hall on Jan. 30 to announce proposed legislation that would provide a recurring annual payment of $10,000 to full-time...

An administrative law judge has ruled that Bronx teacher Brenda Cartagena had been the victim of retaliation by her school’s principal for standing up for her members’ rights as school chapter leader.

New York City schools, particularly in District 75, are in dire need of paraprofessionals, who provide essential support services for children with disabilities. The shortage won’t get resolved until the city Department of Education streamlines its...

The UFT has turned up the pressure on City Council leaders to bring the "RESPECT check" bill for paraprofessionals to a committee hearing and a vote. Forty-seven of 51 City Council members have co-sponsored the bill and more than 104,000 people have...

"If you're a paraprofessional, please stand up," UFT President Michael Mulgrew said to the crowd at Teacher Union Day on Nov. 6. As scores of paraprofessionals stood to thunderous applause, he turned to Shelvy Young-Abrams, their just-retired chapter...

Decades of UFT advocacy bore fruit for the union’s paraprofessionals on Oct. 29 as a newly enacted state law guaranteed all UFT-represented full-time paraprofessionals — on the job now and in the future — will automatically become members of the...

Michelle Lowe-Calixte has been an exemplary chapter leader the last three years — all while also serving as the District 23 paraprofessional coordinator.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams blocked the “RESPECT check” bill from coming to a vote before the full City Council this year.
But the UFT plans to redouble its efforts to get the bill across the finish line in the new year.

Priscilla Castro was elected on May 25 as chapter chair of the Paraprofessionals Chapter for the term ending June 30, 2024. Castro had been serving as interim chapter chair since Shelvy Young-Abrams retired in October 2022.

Our paraprofessionals have waited long enough. It’s time for the New York City Council to pass the bill providing a $10,000 annual “RESPECT check” for all New York City public school paraprofessionals.

In the few weeks since the new City Council members were sworn in, we’ve hit the ground running. Our paraprofessionals have met with at least 45 members of the City Council so far, and more appointments have been scheduled.

Thousands of paraprofessionals mobilized throughout 2025 to fight for the $10,000 annual "RESPECT check," only to have City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams block it. The UFT will redouble its efforts in the new year.

As a paraprofessional interested in an education career, the UFT’s Career Training Program helped me obtain a DOE voucher to earn my bachelor’s in early childhood education and psychology

United Federation of Teachers staff and officers delivered testimony before the City Council Committee on Finance on New York City's executive budget for fiscal year 2027.

The UFT has initiated an outreach program to determine how the union can best support retired paraprofessionals. The Retired Teachers Chapter includes approximately 7,600 paraprofessionals.

"You have all gone above and beyond the call of duty," UFT President Michael Mulgrew said at the UFT's annual Teacher Union Day on Nov. 7 that honored the courage and hard work of members during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.