Melissa Alvarez, the chapter leader at John Bowne HS in Flushing, Queens, used the new dispute resolution process in the DOE-UFT contract to get a speedy response to a safety violation: no teacher assigned to the high school’s SAVE room.

The union spirit reigns in the shop classes at Aviation HS in Long Island City, where the class is run as a simulated unionized workplace. Teachers José Vaz and Antonio Pepenella instituted the practice five years ago to give the students a taste of the kinds of unionized jobs they’re likely to find in the aviation industry.

At Forest Hills HS in Queens, Chapter Leader Adam Bergstein and his members have passed a vote of no confidence against their principal.

Chapter Leader Lucas Rule knows he is fortunate to have a collaborative working relationship with his principal at Pathways College Preparatory School, a grades 6–12 school in St. Albans, Queens. But when one of his members struggled to resolve a workload issue with an assistant principal, Rule didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the new provision in the DOE-UFT contract that helps chapter leaders address violations of systemwide standards governing workplace issues.

When teacher Jeanette Acevedo arrived at Automotive HS in Brooklyn in September 2015, she was amazed to discover there was no chapter leader and “everyone was afraid.” “I wasn’t afraid,” she declared, “so I ran for chapter leader and won unanimously. What a year that was.” 

Chapter Leader Deborah Navarro has built a “union proud, union strong” chapter at PS 226 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, based on what she calls “true collaboration.”