Although the new UFT contract doesn’t officially take effect until Feb. 14, UFT President Michael Mulgrew urged those attending the Delegate Assembly on Dec. 12 to start the utilizing the part of the agreement that gives new authority to chapter leaders to prod principals to address operational issues at their schools.


Chapter Leader Rose-Marie Hannon is working hard to get a new roof over the heads of staff and students at PS/MS 47 to end the chronic leaks, mold and odors that plague the school in Broad Channel, Queens, and create a safe and healthy work environment.

UFT members overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the city Department of Education that gives members a compounded 7.7 percent pay raise over 43 months, UFT President Michael Mulgrew announced at Teacher Union Day on Nov. 4.

When her former principal at PS/MS 108 in East Harlem declared, “The UFT is bad for teachers, bad for students and bad for schools,” Chapter Leader Amanda Walsh accepted the challenge and stood up to him.

The overriding theme of the proposed DOE-UFT contract agreement is empowering educators to fight for the working conditions they need to do their jobs.

The UFT reported a modest decrease in the total number of oversize classes in New York City public schools this fall for the second year in a row. By the tenth day of school, 401 schools citywide were out of compliance with 2,056 oversize classes, compared with 437 schools with 2,181 classes the previous year.