In this final issue of the Chapter Leader Update, I offer a heartfelt thank you to each of you for your steadfast efforts on behalf of our members. You have kept members informed and supported, and you have mobilized them in the fight for smaller class sizes and for a fair contract. This school year, we have shown what we can accomplish when we stand united. This is what it means to be part of a union. I wish you all a restful summer break. You've earned it.

- Michael Mulgrew, UFT President

The tentative contract is a product of a full year's work

The tentative contract agreement now before members is the product of months of hard work by the membership and our 500-member UFT Negotiating Committee. Members have been mobilizing in our fight for a fair contract since October. Those countless school-based actions and our five big contract rallies on May 24 gave strength and leverage to the UFT Negotiating Committee at the bargaining table. The proposed contract reflects what we were fighting for: greater economic security as well as improvement in our working conditions and more autonomy and time within our workday. The UFT Executive Board and then the Delegate Assembly voted on Tuesday to bring the tentative agreement to the membership for a ratification vote. By completing the vote by the end of the school year, the contract's new provisions, including the 55 minutes of remote parent engagement time and the first pay increase, can take effect in September.

Read the Memorandum of Agreement

Key working condition wins for our members

Here are some of the many working-condition improvements we achieved in the new tentative contract agreement:

• More flexible bereavement leave.
• Remote parent engagement time on your schedule.
• No more four work assignments in a row for elementary school teachers.
• A fully remote Chancellor's Conference Day in early June.
• More leave time when both parents are UFT members.
• One professional activity period per week converted to self-directed Other Professional Work for teachers in multi-session high schools.
• An expanded definition of basic instructional supplies that includes access to electronic devices, printers, copiers, ink and toner to the extent necessary based on your assignment.
• Up to $500 in reimbursement in any school year for loss or damage or destruction of personal property not covered by insurance, while you are on duty.

Please take some time to read through our Contract at a Glance as well as the Memorandum of Agreement, which are both available on the UFT website. Encourage your chapter to do the same. An informed membership is a powerful membership.

Read Contract at a Glance

Hold your ratification vote by June 27

The ballots and a kit of materials should arrive at your school by early next week for you to hold a ratification vote. You'll receive color-coded ballots for members who are teachers, school counselors, secretaries, paraprofessionals and lab specialists. District 75 members in those titles in your building should vote with you. All other UFT members will receive their ballots by mail at home. You should conduct this vote by next Friday, June 23, if possible, and no later than Tuesday, June 27. The balloting should take place at a specific time and place, with adequate notice to your members. Members must write their name and identifying information on the ballot return envelope. Without this information, their ballot will not be counted. Your members need to sign your printout twice: once when you give them their ballot and envelopes and again when they return to you the sealed ballot return envelope. You must mail back the members' ballots in the postage-paid Express Mail envelope addressed to the American Arbitration Association no later than June 27.

Only UFT members may vote on the proposed contract. Nonmembers are ineligible to vote. Retired members are ineligible to vote even if they are working F-status. If staff members at your school claim they are eligible to vote and request a ballot, give them one. Add their names to your printout and ask them to sign their names. The American Arbitration Association will determine the eligibility of these employees when it verifies the ballots.

Read the complete instructions

SBO voting can begin next week

Thank you all for your patience. School chapters can finally move ahead with voting on school-based options (SBOs) for next school year. All pre-approved SBOs are contingent on the ratification of the tentative contract agreement, which contains the new pilot workday agreement and the new pre-approved SBOs. The UFT has asked the DOE to extend the deadline for SBO voting, but certain SBO votes must take place by Tuesday, June 27, if they are to take effect on the first day of school. You should conduct an SBO vote only if the SBO has the overwhelming support of your chapter’s members. Only the chapter leader — not your principal — can determine whether to conduct an SBO vote. All voting will take place on Election Buddy, the union’s online voting platform. Before scheduling the vote, ask your UFT district representative to approve the ballot. Remember that an SBO can be adopted only if 55 percent of the voting UFT members — not 55 percent of all members at the school — vote to support it. Make sure to keep your district representative informed at every stage of the process.

See the new pre-approved SBO options in the MOA
See other pre-approved SBO options

Divisional town halls on tentative contract next Tuesday

The UFT vice presidents of the elementary, middle and high school divisions, together with a negotiator from the UFT Grievance Department, will be holding virtual town halls for members in their respective divisions to learn more about the working-condition changes pertinent to their divisions and other key improvements for all. Members will have a chance to submit their questions in advance as well as during the town hall. The contract town hall for elementary school members will start at 4 p.m. The contract town halls for middle and high school members will begin at 4:30 p.m. Look out for the email invitation on Friday.

UFT offices are open this summer

The UFT's office hours are modified for the summer. UFT headquarters will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., Mondays to Thursdays, from Monday, July 3, through Labor Day. The Grievance Department at UFT headquarters will be open on Fridays in July and August with a reduced staff. UFT borough offices will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays, from Monday, July 3, through Thursday, Aug. 10. The borough offices are closed from Aug. 14 to 25 and will reopen on Monday, Aug. 28, on the modified summer schedule through Labor Day. Mental health support is also available to members throughout the summer. Members can call MAP at 212-701-9620 or email the support team at mapinfo [at] uft [dot] org (mapinfo[at]uft[dot]org). All UFT offices are closed on Tuesday, July 4, in observance of Independence Day; and on Monday, Sept. 4, in observance of Labor Day. Regular office hours, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 5. UFT members can call the union at 212-331-6311 from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., Mondays through Fridays, during the summer.