The UFT resolves to call upon the AFT, the NEA and the AFL-CIO to tell President Obama to fight to protect the social safety net, to not allow any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, and to now allow any change in these programs to...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew had a wide-ranging discussion with high school educators from Brooklyn and BASIS (the Brooklyn and Staten Island HS district) at a gathering at Brooklyn Tech HS on April 16. Among the topics discussed were the upcoming mayoral election, what the future of education should look like in New York City, contract negotiations and school budgets.

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A full house of animated UFT members eager to be brought up-to-date on a range of issues greeted UFT President Michael Mulgrew at a District 15 Meet the President gathering on April 15 at Pacificana Restaurant in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He spoke of the problems stemming from the fact that teachers do not have curriculum guides aligned with the Common Core standards that tests this month will be based on and the plummeting scores expected as a result. He also discussed the upcoming mayoral election, making no bones about his eagerness for Bloomberg’s term to end and the chance to restore support for schools and respect for teachers.

Guidance counselors gathered for the Ninth Annual Guidance Counselors Conference — School Counselors: Preparing Today’s Students to be Tomorrow’s Learners — at UFT headquarters on April 14. On the agenda were an array of workshops and a keynote address by City Comptroller John Liu.

The UFT Players performed staged readings of their new play, “The 2½ Penny ‘Occupy’ Opera,” adapted from Bertolt Brecht’s “The Three Penny Opera” by retiree Lee Schwartz, before an audience of roughly 200 at UFT headquarters on March 14 and 15.

Retirees packed Shanker Hall for the RTC general membership meeting on April 9, where the focus of discussion was the union's strategy for the upcoming mayoral race.

An enthusiastic turnout was in store for UFT President Michael Mulgrew on an April 9 visit to District 75 school P186 in the Bronx, and a wealth of information was in store for staff members, who had pressing concerns about SESIS, contract negotiations, where the UFT stands on pedagogical and political issues and the implications of upcoming teacher evaluations.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew met with the staff of the A-rated Bayside HS, one of the city’s few remaining comprehensive high schools, in Bayside on April 9 to speak with members and field questions on issues including teacher evaluations and the role that standardized tests will play in them. Mulgrew discussed the upcoming mayor’s race, the union’s recent SESIS arbitration victory, the status of contract negotiations, and the expected drop in state test scores this year.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s afternoon visit with the staff of Grover Cleveland HS in Ridgewood included a spirited Q and A following his update on contract negotiations, teacher evaluation and the upcoming mayoral race.