When Roy Fialkow retired in 2019 after a 29-year career as an adaptive physical education teacher, his life came full circle: He returned to Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, where he had been a dancer in his 20s, as the nonprofit’s education manager.

While the national union may seem distant from our activist local in New York City, we are, in fact, an integral part of the AFT. The AFT’s bird’s eye view keeps us involved in national issues and policies that affect the wider labor movement and working families.

Miriam Krinick, who turned 100 in November, was honored on Nov. 1 at Brooklyn’s PS 108, where she taught for 18 years, at the unveiling of a Little Yellow Library, a charitable donation to the school from the Kendra Scott Foundation.

Ninety-nine-year-old Thomas Naegele retired from teaching industrial art at the HS of Art & Design in Manhattan 32 years ago, but his legacy lives on in two generations of art teachers that he inspired in his wake.

If you have been a UFT union member for 50, 60 or 70 years including child care leave, you might be eligible for the UFT 50-, 60- or 70-Year Membership and Service Award.

More than 500 newly minted retirees gathered to celebrate at the union's New Retiree Luncheon at the New York Hilton Midtown on Nov. 21.