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UAW mounts new organizing drive
The United Auto Workers is targeting nearly 150,000 workers at U.S. factories owned by 13 automakers, including large foreign-owned companies and electric vehicle manufacturers, in one of its largest organizing drives in history.
Bargaining boost affects joint employers
A federal rule that takes effect on Dec. 26 creates new standards for determining when two companies should be considered “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act, which could make it easier for millions of franchise employees and...
‘Not the time for budget cuts’
In a terrible blow to New York City public schools still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Eric Adams plans to make three successive 5% cuts to education funding between December and June.
Data literacy essential
Understanding and interpreting data is a fundamental skill of modern life. Learn how to teach data skills using engaging, student-centered strategies and resources.
The hard facts about soft skills
Skills such as communication, collaboration, problem-solving and emotional intelligence are crucial and in-demand and helping students acquire them is much needed, but where should teachers begin?
Resolving workplace issues
The DOE-UFT contract gives educators an expedited process for addressing many workplace problems: the operational issues resolution process. In the 2023 contract, the paperwork and operational issues process was expanded to address even more...
Victim Support Program
Did you know there’s a place to turn for support — both at and away from your work site — when tragedy strikes? It’s the Victim Support Program, co-sponsored by the UFT’s Safety and Health Department and the city Department of Education.
A place to heal
There is a room at IS 391 in the Bronx with color-changing lights, soft bean-bag chairs, a gurgling fountain, books and fidget toys.
“We needed a calming place where students could come for counseling, and students and staff could just sit and self...
Managing the newcomer crisis
Some 30 educators, academics, activists and representatives from community-based organizations gathered together on Nov. 29 for a Summit to Support Newcomers to discuss how to best assist educators confronted with the thousands of asylum-seeking...
It’s time to ‘Fix Tier Six’
The UFT is launching a Fix Tier Six campaign in an effort to improve the pension benefits of its more than 50,000 members who have joined the New York City pension system since April 2012.
Unfair evictions
As we enter the coldest months of the year, many asylum-seeking families who endured great hardship to reach New York City are facing additional trauma as Mayor Eric Adams’ administration prepares to evict them from emergency shelters.
Mayoral control
It is simply not acceptable that one person has blanket authority over the country’s largest school system.
Union: No excuses on class size
The UFT and other education advocates are applying pressure on the Adams administration to have a viable plan for implementing the state’s class-size reduction law. The mayor’s midyear budget cuts and his comments about how he doesn’t believe the...
Kudos to Sonja Hill at PS 41, Brooklyn
The UFT’s COPE — Committee on Public Education — program is one of the benchmarks of Sonja Hill’s chapter leadership.
Hill, a 5th-grade teacher in her 31st year at PS 41 in Brownsville, Brooklyn — and the school’s chapter leader for more than half of...
Money-saving tips for classroom supplies
It is possible to finance classroom projects with grants, donations and other money-saving strategies. Here are some avenues.
Queens teacher keeps his students wired
Louis Pichardo brings his twin passions for teaching and electrical work to his job teaching electrical installation to career and technical education students at Queens Technical HS in Sunnyside. Pichardo, a third-year teacher, asks his students to...
Books in English and Spanish
ENL/ELA teacher Eva Dejesus divides her library, which has books in both English and Spanish, by genre. "Students start in their native language, because we know that development of the first language supports development of the second," she says.
How educators are helping
School communities have pulled together to care for and educate tens of thousands of newcomer students, many of whom have arrived in New York City with little more than the clothes on their backs. The UFT hosted a listening session on Oct. 25 to...
He ‘showed them the way’
Ninety-nine-year-old Thomas Naegele retired from teaching industrial art at the HS of Art & Design in Manhattan 32 years ago, but his legacy lives on in two generations of art teachers that he inspired in his wake.
Veterans Committee meet and greet
Members of the UFT Veterans Committee appreciated the opportunity to reconnnect at a meet and greet at union headquarters on Nov. 8 — the committee’s first in-person event since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fireside chat with Norman and Velma Murphy Hill
UFT members had the rare opportunity to hear a first-hand account of the creation of the Paraprofessionals Chapter more than 50 years ago from Velma Murphy Hill, the chapter’s founder and first chair, and her husband Norman Hill.
UFT college fair
For Cedric Hawkins, a school counselor at Wings Academy HS in the Bronx, the UFT’s college fair at Borough of Manhattan Community College on Nov. 3 was an opportunity for his students not only to meet recruiters from more than 80 colleges and other...
UFT treasurer earns day’s highest honor
In presenting the Cogen Award to UFT Treasurer Debra Penny, UFT President Michael Mulgrew spoke of her compassion. “It’s the humanity she brings to her job at all times,” he said. “She’s just a person who never stops caring.”
Teacher Union Day 2023
UFT members celebrated past, present and future union leaders on Teacher Union Day by mourning founder George Altomare on the anniversary of the union’s first strike and honoring the new school-based Contract Action Teams and others who carry on his...
Thanksgiving Luncheon and Winter Coat Drive
Some 160 students living in temporary housing attended the UFT Middle Schools Division’s Thanksgiving Luncheon on Nov. 18 at UFT headquarters. At the end of the event, the children left with brand-new winter coats and accessories donated by UFT...
Psychologists Appreciation Day PD
More than four hundred UFT members attended the annual Psychologists Appreciation Day professional development on Nov. 10 at union headquarters. “The sense of unity and community that the union brings is really valuable," said one school psychologist...
Parent conferences
The three UFT parent conferences offered in the fall shared an organizing aim: to make sure parents are aware of the state law to lower class size and the importance of getting the Department of Education to comply with it.
Federation of Nurses/UFT Professional Issues Conference
As they learned about the latest treatment protocols and other workplace issues at their annual union conference, Federation of Nurses/UFT members vowed they would continue fighting to make the state enforce the landmark 2022 safe staffing law and...
Jewish Heritage Committee awards dinner
AFT President Randi Weingarten and Manhattan City Council Member Julie Menin were honored at the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee's inaugural awards dinner.
Italian-American Heritage Committee dinner
UFT founder George Altomare and longtime Bronx district representative Patricia Filomena -- both former chairs of the UFT Italian-American Heritage Committee -- were honored at the committee's first in-person event since before the pandemic.
Are you a 50-, 60- or 70-year member?
If you have been a UFT union member for 50, 60 or 70 years including child care leave, you might be eligible for the UFT 50-, 60- or 70-Year Membership and Service Award.
New Retiree Luncheon
More than 500 newly minted retirees gathered to celebrate at the union's New Retiree Luncheon at the New York Hilton Midtown on Nov. 21.
Teachers sue to halt Adams budget cuts to education
The United Federation of Teachers, joined by individual teachers, filed suit in Manhattan State Supreme Court to stop the Adams administration from cutting as much as $2 billion from city schools.
Christmas morning after Mayor Adams' budget cuts
Just coal this year?
Testimony on the health care workforce
Anne Goldman, UFT Vice President for Non-DOE Members, delivered testimony before the Assembly Committees on Health, Mental Health, People with Disabilities, Higher Education & Labor on the health care workforce
Short-staffing to cost NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn
An independent arbitrator has held NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn financially responsible when the hospital short-staffed one of its units. Arbitrator Howard Edelman ruled that for each missing nurse, the hospital must split the average nurse’s shift...