Members make calls as part of a phone bank event organized by the UFT Asian American Heritage Committee in support of state Sen. Iwen Chu’s re-election efforts.
UFT members hit the phone lines and fanned out from New York City to Philadelphia and Scranton, Pennsylvania, this fall to campaign for Kamala Harris for president, as well as other pro-union, pro-education candidates down the ballot on Nov. 5.
They volunteered during a pivotal election cycle whose outcome will have a profound impact on public education, labor unions, the economy, reproductive rights and other vital issues facing the country.
“This is the best energy we’ve had in a long time over a presidential race and it really comes down to we see what’s at stake,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told members who attended the union’s vice presidential debate watch party on Oct. 1.
Earlier that day, at a rally for vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who is a former social studies teacher, outside CBS studios in Manhattan, Mulgrew said another Donald Trump presidency would endanger public education.
“The majority of our members clearly understand what this is about. They understand what the other side really wants to do is to get rid of public education,” he told a local TV station. “It’s pretty black and white at this point.”
UFT Political Director Vanecia Wilson said UFT members, both in-service and retired, were eager to get involved this election season, particularly with Kamala Harris on the ticket. “Everybody wants to get on a bus or they want to make phone calls,” she said.
Throughout the fall, UFT members have reached fellow union members by making phone calls, sending emails to friends and family, and registering voters. Working in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers, the UFT sent busloads of UFT members to Pennsylvania on three Saturdays in September and October. Members joined the UFT’s presidential and vice-presidential debate parties at union headquarters, where they got political buttons, signs and T-shirts and signed up to volunteer.
In addition to the presidential race, the UFT, NYSUT and the AFT are focused on helping Democrats take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives. They are supporting Laura Gillen, who is the Democratic candidate for the 4th Congressional District in Nassau County, and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is fighting to hold his seat in the 3rd Congressional District in Queens and Nassau County. In addition to UFT phone banking in support of Gillen and Suozzi, dozens of UFT members joined their NYSUT counterparts for a labor walk on Oct. 5 in support of Suozzi and state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky in eastern Queens.
The UFT and NYSUT are also asking New York voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would guarantee women’s reproductive health care access and close loopholes around discrimination.
Wilson said she’s deeply concerned about the fractured state of politics and the nation.
People are being stripped of their basic rights, and “I feel like I’m reliving history that I learned as a student,” she said. “Democracy is on the line. I do believe that.”
