Contract’s next pay increase comes on Jan. 18

The next 3% pay increase from our 2023 contract is scheduled to take effect on Thursday, Jan. 18. Members will see the raise in their paychecks as follows:

• Q-bank members (pedagogues, paraprofessionals and sub paras): Starting with their Feb. 15 paycheck.
• H/Z bank members (including OT/PTs and school nurses): Starting with their Feb. 2 paycheck.
• Per diem/per session pedagogues: Starting with their Feb. 16 paycheck.

UFT-represented employees who receive a uniform allowance also saw an increase on Dec. 22, 2023. The arrears will be paid on Feb. 2, 2024.

See our Contract 2023 FAQs on pay increases for answers to common questions about eligibility, pensionability and taxes related to this money.

UFT files lawsuit to halt congestion pricing

The UFT, along with individual teachers and the Staten Island borough president, filed a federal lawsuit on Jan. 4 asking the court to halt the implementation of congestion pricing in Manhattan. In our lawsuit, we assert that congestion pricing cannot be implemented without the completion of a thorough environmental impact statement that includes the potential effects of the plan on the city’s air quality. The current congestion pricing plan would not eliminate air pollution or traffic but would simply shift that pollution and traffic to the surrounding areas, particularly Staten Island, the Bronx, upper Manhattan and northern New Jersey. Thousands of UFT members, along with many other workers, live in places with little or no access to mass transit. They are facing dramatically rising commuting costs, and all for a traffic reduction plan whose potential effects on air quality and other issues were never seriously examined. Federal, state and city transportation authorities conducted a rushed and hurried approval process for the plan. Congestion pricing is scheduled to take effect in late spring. UFT members driving to work would be charged $15 if they enter the area from 60th Street to the southern tip of Manhattan.

Read the press release

Register for Jan. 9 CAT meeting on fighting budget cuts

Chapter leaders and other Chapter Action Team members will next meet online on Tuesday, Jan. 9, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. to discuss next steps in our budget campaign. We sent you an email invitation on Wednesday. Learn what your school can do to let the mayor know we won't stand for his unnecessary school budget cuts. At this meeting, we will take a deep look at how his plan will adversely affect our students, and we will discuss how we can mobilize people in our schools and our communities to fight back. The fliers and other resources for the budget campaign, as well as for our campaign to defend children’s right to shelter, can be found in the Chapter Action Team resources folder.

Last chance to make Teacher’s Choice purchases

Remind your members that the Teacher’s Choice purchasing window, which began on Aug. 1, 2023, closes on Friday, Jan. 12. The receipts for those purchases must be submitted with the DOE accountability form to your school's payroll secretary by Friday, Jan. 19. This is the first year that paraprofessionals are part of the program, so please guide them through the process.

Members who received Teacher's Choice funds in their November 2023 paycheck but fail to file an accountability form with required receipts by the deadline must return the money to the DOE. For more information, go to the Teacher’s Choice section of the UFT website. Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) members who are assigned to your school the week of Jan. 16 must submit proof of eligible purchases on the DOE’s accountability form to your principal by Friday, Jan. 19.