Union leaders and representatives from the union’s private, nonprofit and Department of Education functional chapters gathered at union headquarters on Jan. 16 to kick off a new union initiative intended to showcase and amplify the work of members in the diverse titles and collective bargaining units in the UFT.

More than 5,500 UFT members are employed by organizations other than the Department of Education. They are members of the union’s private and nonprofit chapters. Meet the leaders of those chapters.

Federation of Nurses/UFT members who are licensed practical nurses with VNS Health overwhelmingly ratified a contract on Jan. 27 that provides a 7.5% increase in base pay over two years while establishing the employer’s contractual obligation to consider factors like parking availability, travel time and level of patient need when scheduling daily caseloads.

Nurses take an oath to act in the best interest of their patients, but the corporatization of health care and the focus on profits have made it increasingly challenging to keep that vow. Nurses grappled with that challenge and took workshops to enhance their skills and knowledge at the Federation of Nurses/UFT's Professional Issues Conference.

In 2021, nurses and patients secured a hard-won victory with the passage of the state Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. The law, among other provisions, set up safe and reasonable staffing ratios. But New York City hospitals routinely flout the law, and the state Department of Health has failed to enforce it.