WHEREAS, former Governor Cuomo and the Republican-led State Senate pushed through a new pension tier (Tier 6) in 2012, raised the retirement age, increased contribution rates and weakened pension benefits for public sector employees across New York; and

WHEREAS, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) has worked in collaboration with other unions across the state to achieve improvements to Tier 6, the tier that the majority of our members now belong to; and

WHEREAS, while our advocacy has resulted in significant improvements, there is still work to be done to change the Tier 6 retirement age to 55 and make other improvements; and

WHEREAS, our through union advocacy in years past, we’ve successfully fought for over 90 reforms to make Tier 4 into what it is today; and

WHEREAS, making improvements to Tier 6 will help to improve recruitment and retention, which will be especially important given the new class size law implementation that will require even more educators to be hired; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the United Federation of Teachers will roll-out a “Fix Tier 6 in ‘26” Campaign, building on the citywide meeting of December 6, 2025 where the UFT’s Treasurer Victoria Lee and Assistant Treasurer Tom Brown outlined the improvements we are fighting for; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will assist the chapters at schools and worksites to engage in action in January, February and March, both in schools and through social media, that will help to raise awareness among the membership, the school community and our elected officials of the importance of this fight; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the campaign will build to a massive rally in Albany, NY, on March 8, 2026 where union members from unions across the state will converge, supported by all members in our campaign to demand that state lawmakers pass legislation to significantly improve Tier 6.