FAQ on the spring break 2020 arbitration ruling regarding member vacation days.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued a statement in response to Gov. Hochul's State of the State address.

As New York City confronts the Omicron variant, we are counting on school chapter leaders again to relay issues to the UFT by calling the union's new safety hotline when you need support.

Last week we told the city to fix its safety system for schools that was undeniably broken before the break. Mayor de Blasio and Mayor-elect Adams held a press conference today announcing their new slogan for our schools — stay open, stay safe. That...

UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued a statement in response to Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement regarding new COVID testing protocols in schools that will take effect in 2022.

It's important to set and maintain personal boundaries, or the limits and rules we set for ourselves in our relationships with others or with work, in order to keep relationships healthy. Here are some strategies to help you.

Madeline Velez-Vazquez, a bilingual school counselor at PS 58 in the Bronx, says school counselors are needed “now more than ever to help students succeed.” She says, "I’m seeing both extremes: children who are more hypervigilant about the pandemic...

The courage and hard work of members during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was recognized on Nov. 7 at the UFT's annual Teacher Union Day celebration, held in Shanker Hall at UFT headquarters in Manhattan and online via Zoom.

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 Vice President for Special Education MaryJo Ginese writes that we have seen how so many of our students with disabilities have lost ground since the pandemic hit. This fall, we have been confronted with the rocky rollout of the DOE’s Special...

Two UFT members will sit on the New York City Council in January 2022: Rita Joseph and Eric Dinowitz.

Teaching elementary school students while they are up on their feet gives them the opportunity to allow their bodies and minds to work together.

The UFT’s borough office on Staten Island is moving, with the new location at 1200 South Ave. in the Bloomfield section expected to open in February.

We’ve known for decades that smaller classes enhance teaching and learning. But the pandemic drove home that class size is also a public health issue. We are pushing for legislation that would change the health section of the city’s administrative...

Leo Gordon, a New York City public school teacher for more than 26 years, has been elected the UFT’s vice president for career and technical education by the union’s Executive Board.

David C. Banks, the founder of the Eagle Academy boys’ public schools, was named by Mayor-elect Eric Adams on Dec. 9 to be the next schools chancellor of New York City.

Bringing visitors into your classroom to speak to students can be a powerful vehicle for learning. And though New York may have the highest number of experts per capita, a remote visit allows you to hear from people around the country and the world.

After a year in which instruction was disrupted by the pandemic, that back-to-basics approach of phonics-based reading instruction may be especially important to help struggling readers take concrete steps toward progress.

Sixth-grade special education teacher Julianne Salinger performed the Heimlich maneuver for the first time, saving a choking 7th-grader at IS 61 on Staten Island during the student's lunch period on Oct. 21.

In an effort to support and boost attendance, a new six-month pilot program and partnership between the UFT's United Community Schools and Clean Rite laundromats will give students and their families at five schools in four boroughs easy access to...

With the number of COVID-19 cases across the city on the rise, the increase in breakthrough infections and the threat of the new Omicron variant, in-school testing of unvaccinated students only was clearly no longer not enough. That’s why the UFT...

If you rely on open windows for good ventilation in your classroom, you will still need to keep a few windows cracked open a few inches even though it’s getting colder.

When the remnants of Hurricane Ida came barreling through the city on Sept. 1, the UFT launched a campaign for members to donate to their colleagues coping with storm damage. More than $40,000 was raised.

High-stakes teacher evaluations, which leaned heavily on student test scores, had no discernible impact on improving student achievement or student test scores, according to a report by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University...

Teacher Tisha Gomez and the students in the vision technology program at the School for Cooperative Technical Education in Manhattan give the gift of sight, free of charge, to students and community members every day, producing eyeglasses in their...

For the last 22 months, the medical personnel and first responders of our city have answered the call to help people in need.

The news that some schools are banning the novels of Toni Morrison is cause for alarm. The notion of protecting impressionable students from the uncertainties of the world and the potential for dark human impulses must be dispelled.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of plastic-wrapped breakfasts are given out to New York City schoolchildren, many of whom eat breakfast at home. Teachers say, “You don’t have to eat it but take it anyway.” At the end of breakfast time, teachers tie...

Thank you to Tom Murphy for the very necessary, very illuminating “From the Chapter Leader” column in the Oct. 28 issue about the new NYC Medicare Advantage Plus plan

Thinking back to the early days of the union, all I have to say is God bless Al Shanker. He is responsible for getting us all the things that we have!

Decades of UFT advocacy bore fruit for the union’s paraprofessionals on Oct. 29 as a newly enacted state law guaranteed all UFT-represented full-time paraprofessionals — on the job now and in the future — will automatically become members of the...

A Herculean effort by the UFT helped turn the largest-ever shortage of New York City public school paraprofessionals into a record number of new paras joining the ranks.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew told delegates at the Delegate Assembly on Nov. 17 that the union plans to seek extensive member input to help shape priorities for upcoming negotiations on the next contract and health care.

Thousands of UFT members and parents came together this fall to press the City Council to pass groundbreaking legislation that would reduce class sizes in city public schools by a quarter to a third. The union gathered nearly 40,000 signatures in...

Three current UFT chapter leaders in District 22 in Brooklyn follow in the footsteps of family members whose dedication and hard work as chapter leaders inspired the next generation.

Alaa Yousef was elected chapter leader at Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn this October, and in her first action in that role, she used the operational issues complaint process to get her members paid for instructional lunch periods. When those...