Nearly 300 UFT members and friends gathered on Feb. to celebrate the Year of the Snake at the UFT Lunar New Year Banquet, sponsored by the UFT Asian American Heritage Committee.

The September 2025 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which retired members will see in their September pension checks, is 1.2%. Eligible retirees will receive up to $216 -- or $18 per month -- before taxes from the COLA.

Retirees at the Staten Island Borough Office knit and crochet stuffed animals, blankets and other goods to support the UFT's Making Strides against breast cancer efforts, while other retirees joined members in various walks throughout the city and...

The United Federation of Teachers will support our national affiliates, the NEA and AFT, in their lawsuits against the illegal actions taken by the administration and mobilize its members to lobby the governor, state legislators and city...

More than half — about 75,000 — of the approximately 140,000 English language learners in New York City public schools have lived in the United States for fewer than three years. They need the support of culturally attuned and linguistically diverse...

Everything you need to know about the UFT's Student Debt Relief Program and the status of federal student-debt forgiveness.

Harlem 4th-grade teachers Melody Naccarato and Pura Luna let their students get their hands dirty as they learned about plants and biodiversity during a class trip to the historic Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum in the Bronx.

The hydroponics lab at P141K at IS 71, a District 75 site that serves students with profound learning challenges, allows students to participate in gardening activities year-round. The students have the opportunity to witness the plant life cycle...

With spring’s arrival, we enter field trip season in schools. But planning a field trip in New York City is no easy feat.

STEM has a long history of being exclusionary, and some students have a hard time imagining themselves in such roles. Bringing real scientists into the classroom, especially ones who share students’ backgrounds, helps expand that vision, middle...

The following information was sent in an email from Chapter Leader Rosemarie Thompson on Sept. 28, 2022.

It was a night of food, festivity and recognition as members of the UFT African Heritage Committee gathered in Queens for the group’s 19th annual Awards Dinner Dance on Feb. 4, honoring the UFT’s Sterling Roberson with the Trailblazer Award, Queens...

This spring Mayor Eric Adams launched an ambitious $7.4 million literacy initiative targeting children with dyslexia. While it’s an admirable idea, there are still many more questions than answers.

More than 32,000 UFT members responded to an online survey commissioned by the UFT to gauge their primary bargaining goals as the union prepares to negotiate with Mayor Eric Adams and the DOE on a contract to replace the one set to expire in...

The UFT made an impassioned case for a city budget that fully meets the needs of New York City’s students at the union’s annual legislative breakfast with City Council members on April 25 at UFT headquarters.

UFT-represented employees covered by the DOE-UFT contract will see a pay raise of 3.5 percent on Sept. 15.

The UFT will work with local and international partners to support humanitarian relief efforts in Jamaica, including through donations to reputable relief organizations and the UFT Disaster Relief Fund.

The United Federation of Teachers will roll-out a “Fix Tier 6 in ‘26” campaign with action in January, February and March, both in schools and through social media, and build to a massive rally in Albany, NY, on March 8, 2026.

Beginning in March, UFT retirees can expect a partial reimbursement from the UFT Welfare Fund -- for as much as $900 for some retirees -- for the cost of an optional prescription drug rider.

The state and the city have the time in the coming months to create a thoughtful, comprehensive plan to safely reopen school buildings and bring teachers and children back together.

As a school secretary at PS 154 in Harlem, Shanick Williams provides support — and smiles — to administrators, staff and families.

Cogen Award winner Ellie Engler made a habit of keeping UFT members safe, from her work with the union’s Safety and Health Department, where she created the Health and Cancer Helpline and the Member Assistance Program, to her early warning about the...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew reminded the Delegate Assembly on May 17 that the new state class-size law will begin to be implemented in September, and that there is no excuse for schools to fail to fulfill the mandate.


After a rough start to a teaching career during the pandemic, a thrid-year educator is happy to have stuck it out and stayed in the profession.

My students can express their voices through journal writing, poetry and narrative story writing. I want my students to know their stories don’t have to be confined to their hearts.

As Gov. Kathy Hochul considers signing state legislation to reduce class sizes in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams is threatening cuts to next year’s school budgets even as he sits on billions of dollars of federal education aid.

Canva is a popular online graphic design platform that has made premium features available to K-12 teachers for free. Canva for Education offers sophisticated designs that are easily customizable with templates created expressly for educators.

The UFT, along with seven New York City public school teachers and the Staten Island borough president, filed a federal lawsuit on Jan. 4 seeking to halt the implementation of congestion pricing in Manhattan. The suit charges that the plan’s...

Senior citizens need to be wary of emails, phone calls and text messages designed to get them to hand over money or share personal information, an elder fraud expert told UFT retirees at the Retired Teachers Chapter membership meeting in May. Fraud...

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.

We are facing a crisis in our school system that we are handling largely on our own: Over the past 18 months, more than 20,000 children from asylum-seeking families have arrived in our schools. Yet no one in leadership seems to be talking about or...

UFT Vice President for Elementary Schools Karen Alford writes that it’s been a stressful year, and the pandemic is still affecting all our lives. Some UFT members have gotten a jump-start on their own social-emotional wellness, with training in...

At the March Delegate Assembly. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said significant progress had been made toward passage of the RESPECT check bill during a report where he also provided updates on the impact of the state's increased funding for 3K and 2K...

Hispanic Heritage Month ends on Oct. 15. To mark the occasion, I've enjoyed reflecting on the incredible contributions Latino activists have made to our UFT parent and caregiver family. I want to share with you a little information about two such...

The roughly 5,500 UFT members who belong to the smaller New York City Board of Education Retirement System want the opportunity to switch to the TRS — and there is a bill in Albany that would give them that choice.


UFT retirees who are enrolled in the union’s Supplemental Health Insurance Program (SHIP) will now enjoy improved dental benefits and some much-needed relief from health insurance plan copays.