Let's lower the Tier 6 retirement age before we're 6 feet under!

An elementary school teacher shares what a math lesson taught him about a new way to measure success in this latest installment of New Teacher Diaries.

A colorful multi-sensory space in a Queens special education teacher's classroom offers her kindergarten and 1st-grade students a range of engagement to calm themselves and self-regulate.

Malala Yousafzai, one of Brooklyn Landmark Elementary School's "core value mentors," surprised students this fall by serving as the school's "celebrity substitute" on the YouTube show of the same name.

At food pantries and distribution efforts run by UFT-supported United Community Schools, monthly or weekly programs help meet the nutritional needs of struggling families across the city. The pantries are a safe haven for many immigrant families...

The UFT is seeking retiree instructors to teach Si Beagle continuing education classes.

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...

Paycheck deductions made for NYSUT-endorsed insurance premiums began again in November and will continue through the last paycheck in June.

More than 300 parents turned out on Nov. 5 at the UFT borogh offices in Queens and on Staten Island for a day of workshops, food and fun at the union’s parent conferences, the first in-person parent conferences in those boroughs since the COVID-19...

Around 500 members networked and gathered resources at the union’s ninth annual Psychologists Appreciation Day on Nov. 7.

History teacher Sari Beth Rosenberg of the HS for Environmental Studies in Manhattan was named Teacher of the Year at the UFT Jewish Heritage Committee’s annual Tikkun Olam Awards Night on Dec. 2

About 100 attendees turned out for a round of golf to raise money for the UFT Disaster Relief Fund on Oct. 26 for the union's annual Invitational Golf Outing.

More than 150 members, family and friends gathered at the Queens borough office on Oct. 25 in a celebration of togetherness and gratitude at the UFT Asian American Heritage Committee’s first Moon Festival.

The UFT Welfare Fund Retiree Social Services' Nationwide Telephone Reassurance Program offers support for retirees that is just a phone call away. Retirees can chat for as long as they need about whatever issue they may wish to discuss or may be...

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.


More than 500 parents, caregivers and community members poured into UFT borough offices this fall for the UFT's annual parent conferences in each borough.

Educators from schools across the city exposed their students to a variety of career and college pathways at three fairs hosted this fall by the UFT's Academic High School Division. The Future in Focus event highlighted careers in which the workers...

Some 150 students living in temporary housing received coats and other winter gear at the UFT's annual Thanksgiving luncheon and coat drive, organized by the UFT Middle Schools Division.


UFT President Michael Mulgrew writes that we will see meaningful improvements in our working conditions — and our students’ learning conditions — this school year as a result of fights we undertook as a union for the changes we need. 


We can all agree that our health benefits need a reset. For the past two years, the city and the MLC have been involved in a negotiated acquisition process for a new in-service and pre-Medicare retiree health care plan, which we hope will be the...

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...

The fact is our paraprofessionals cannot survive in this city on a starting salary of just under $32,000. Without offering more money, the DOE cannot hope to retain and recruit enough paraprofessionals. 


Every election is important, but one could argue that the general election on Nov. 5 is the single most important election in our lifetime. As union members and public school educators, we have a clear choice: Kamala Harris.
We are also supporting...

A chapter leader on their own can only do so much. The power of our union is in all of its members. That has been provided by the work of our Chapter Action Teams.

The state's class size law is our collective opportunity to significantly enhance the quality of education for every child in our city. Yet this historic moment is at risk due to the reluctance of Mayor Eric Adams and the city Department of Education...

One of the greatest benefits of UFT membership is having a guaranteed retirement allowance when you retire. But for members who joined the retirement system after April 12, 2012, their defined-benefit pension is not equal to what more veteran members...

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...

Zohran Mamdani's election is great news for union members and for the UFT. Never before have we had a mayor who is a stronger champion of workers, labor unions and ordinary New Yorkers.


With the latest legal hurdles cleared, all city employees and pre-Medicare retirees in the GHI CBP plan and their dependents will be automatically enrolled in the new NYC Employees PPO plan on Jan. 1, 2026.

About 25 school staff gathered on Dec. 3 for a "Demystifying Dsability" workshop led by special education teacher David Friedman from PS 69 in Jackson Heights.

Contract enforcement all starts with understanding what the new agreement entails. Everyone should read the new contract — it’s the most important living document we as UFT members have.

We are at a stronger place as a union than we were a year ago. We are using the muscle of activism. We have engaged our communities in a conversation about what is important to us as a profession. We have used our superpower — the power to educate —...

On May 24, thousands of UFT members showed up at our simultaneous contract rallies in all five boroughs to make their voices heard. We joined together in a sea of blue with handmade signs, rallying cries and a determination to fight for more respect...

Schools across the city led by Contract Action Team (CAT) members joined together during the week of Jan. 30 to hold contract teach-ins that both informed and activated our membership on a whole new level.

Make no mistake, the escalating cost of health care is a national issue that requires federal intervention. But in the meantime, we must figure out a way to stabilize the cost of our own health benefits so we can avoid premiums for at least the next...

This is our first contract negotiation since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first with this mayor and his schools chancellor. We have been preparing for this round of bargaining for eight months.