Cara Matthews

Brooklyn native Vanecia Wilson, a UFT special representative and 31-year veteran educator, continues her advocacy on behalf of teachers, students and school communities as the union’s new political director.

Following passage of a state budget that allows 14 new charter schools to open in New York City, the UFT and other public education advocates are demanding more transparency and accountability from the charter sector.

Senior citizens need to be wary of emails, phone calls and text messages designed to get them to hand over money or share personal information, an elder fraud expert told UFT retirees at the Retired Teachers Chapter membership meeting in May. Fraud is a booming business, said Anna Diao, chief of the Elder Fraud Unit in the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

Retired educator Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa has sought refuge in libraries and books her whole life, and now she is contributing her own works to libraries — historical novels that reflect the richness, complexity, beauty and brutality of her Afro-Puerto Rican heritage.


The Retired Teachers Chapter's Queens section continues to develop the rich selection of remote classes it created during the pandemic — from baking and line dancing to guitar — and is taking its use of technology to a new level in the process.

Former Brooklyn elementary school teacher Andy Pallotta, who led the New York State United Teachers for six years, stepped down as union president at the annual Representative Assembly in Albany in April, while the convention honored UFT members with five of its 10 NYSUT awards of excellence.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s core message to the 1,300 UFT members at the union’s Spring Education Conference on May 20 was “Kill hate with love." He told educators at the New York Hilton Midtown, “What we do is powerful. It’s our voice that must prevail" over public school haters.

After three years without their annual luncheon, UFT Retired Teachers Chapter members reunited to celebrate their service to the union and the integral role retirees play in strengthening the power of the UFT. More than 400 retirees attended the event on May 30 at the New York Hilton Midtown.

More than 50 UFT family childcare providers received awards for chapter leadership, outstanding professional services, excellent regulatory compliance and other achievements at four ceremonies in different boroughs this spring. 

The Nurse Recognition Day awards dinner on May 4 celebrated everything that defines Federation of Nurses/UFT nurses — compassion, humanity, leadership and a passion for care, as well as putting patients first and contributing to a unified voice through union service.