Were you a New York City or New York State employee or did you work as a substitute teacher or serve in the military before joining the Teachers’ Retirement System? If so, you may have the option to buy service credit.


Never in living memory has a new president unilaterally attacked public services, public education and worker rights like is happening now. But no one should underestimate the strength and grit that it takes to be a public school educator in New York...

More than 1,600 paraprofessionals and fellow UFT members came together from across the city on April 2 to call on the New York City Council to pass legislation to give paraprofessionals an annual “RESPECT check” of $10,000.

Small union contingents led by paraprofessionals met with New York City Council members throughout March to lobby them to support the RESPECT check legislation.

Weeks after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a law prohibiting public employee unions from collective bargaining, a new labor-backed group called Protect Utah Workers is collecting signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to repeal it.

The National Treasury Employees Union has filed a lawsuit that seeks to block President Donald Trump’s March 27 executive order revoking the collective bargaining rights of hundreds of thousands of unionized government employees.

The AFT and the NEA filed separate lawsuits aimed at stopping the Trump administration from dismantling the U.S. Department of Education on the grounds that his executive order to close the agency exceeded his authority.


Fixing Tier 6, providing adequate funding for public schools, banning cell phones in school and supporting union programs such as the UFT Teacher Center were the focus as about 1,000 educators and parents traveled to Albany for UFT Lobby Day on March...

Federation of Nurses/UFT members at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn on Feb. 26 overwhelmingly ratified a contract that provides a 15.8% raise compounded over two years and includes new commitments from the hospital to address the chronic shortage of...

Educators know that speech is integral to fluency so it's no wonder many classroom assignments and projects revolve around public speaking. Here are some tech tools to help practice and perfect speeches.


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

The union has negotiated and advocated strongly for many years to maintain the integrity of lesson plans as a tool created by and for teachers. Here are the rights and responsibilities that teachers have vis-a-vis lesson plans.

All eligible in-service UFT members and their dependents have prescription drug coverage through the UFT Welfare Fund. The Welfare Fund has a three-tier copay structure for generic, preferred-brand and nonpreferred-brand medications. You can save...

The educational team who make up the World Cultures and Languages Academy small learning community at John Adams HS in Queens labor daily to support the often delicate and specialized needs of their predominantly immigrant and English language...

This April, close to 90% of the more than 750 schools that applied for money to lower class sizes found out that they would receive some or all the funding they sought. It was a milestone in our years-long fight to make smaller class sizes a reality...

The new administration has taken a hammer to the U.S. Department of Education, wreaking destruction that is sure to hurt the nation’s public schools and students.


Steven Leaderman, a teacher at P370, a District 75 program in Coney Island, has created an innovative vocational program that has his students sort and deliver school supplies. The program helps the students develop key vocational and life skills...

At the Delegate Assembly on March 19, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said lawsuits filed by unions and a team of 20 attorneys general had fended off the worst cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security — but he warned that the fight was far from...

Thousands of UFT members wore blue to work in solidarity with their paraprofessional colleagues on April 2, which was national Paraprofessionals Appreciation Day and the union’s citywide Day of Action.

Ninth-graders at NEST+m, a gifted and talented K-12 school on Manhattan's Lower East Side, took their science lessons to new heights during a class trip to the Intrepid Museum.

Karina Budhu, an aspiring teacher and SVA apprentice, is a rare woman in tech and the winner of this year's Edwin Espaillat Award at the 2025 CTE Awards Recognition Ceremony.

Mohammed Hossain, a UFT CTE Award winner and engineering teacher at the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Queens, found his way to a career in education after realizing he found joy in helping people have their own...

IS 383 Chapter Leader Syreeta Dixon refused to back down when her principal violated the DOE-UFT contract in multiple ways in her Bushwick school’s teacher schedule and then threatened to lay off staff when Dixon called her on it.


More than 200 religious and community leaders packed Shanker Hall for the union’s faith-based and community breakfast on March 20 to discuss how to rise to the challenges of the current political moment.

The union's third annual UFT Family Day served up a lot of "UFT love" in the form of carnival games, bounce houses, food galore and more to members and their families at a sports complex on Long Island.

School counselors focused on the work of helping children, even in challenging times, during the union's 21st annual School Counselors Conference on March 22. “Our students need us,” said School Counselors Chapter Leader Rosemarie Thompson.

Nearly 1,100 paraprofessionals and other members gathered at the New York Hilton Midtown on March 22 to celebrate the outstanding work of their colleagues, attend professional learning sessions and have fun at a carnival. City Council Education...

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.

About 175 members and guests attended this year's HERstory brunch in celebration of women’s role in the UFT and the broader labor movement.

The UFT Muslim Educators Committee celebrated its second annual Iftar dinner at UFT headquarters on March 7 to break the fast during Ramadan.

More than 500 members and their guests turned out to celebrate educational excellence in the Bronx at the seventh annual District 11 Scholarship Dinner.

About 1,000 UFT members and guests attended this year's CTE Awards Recognition Ceremony where the union celebrated the 40th anniversary of Success Via Apprenticeship, a program that trains the career and technical education teachers of tomorrow.

The Labor Solidarity Project connects RTC members with opportunities to support the labor movement as a whole. Members boost unionized workers' spirits, showing up on the picket lines in support of unionized workers as varied as those for theater...

What to do after a UFT retiree dies? Here is a checklist of the steps a surviving spouse or beneficiary should take to receive all the benefits they are due.


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.

Retired teacher David Ginsberg brings "hope to anyone and everyone" in his Asheville, North Carolina, community with the help of Chula, the 2-1/2-year-old dog he has trained since she was a puppy to be a therapy dog. The trainer and his dog are...