Assistant Secretary

Mike Sill is the UFT’s assistant secretary and also serves as the director of personnel, payroll and special projects. Elected to office in 2019, he is serving his second term. Mike received his bachelor’s degree in English from Northeastern University and his master’s in teaching from Pace University.

With in-depth knowledge of the Department of Education-UFT contract and with a command over the member-related issues concerning working conditions, pay and the implementation of various union and management agreements, Mike serves as the primary the point of contact with the DOE and is a chief negotiator. Crucially, during the pandemic, Mike was part of the senior team that negotiated working conditions and special payments in the new virtual and hybrid context.

As director, Mike has the pleasure of leading a team of hardworking full-time and part-time UFT staff who serve as fixers when members experience problems with leaves, tenure, licensing/certification, salary and the like. Mike’s portfolio includes the implementation of UFT initiatives such as paid parental leave, new school hiring committees, Teacher’s Choice and the Absent Teacher Reserve. At the bargaining table, he has represented members on issues ranging from paid parental leave to the Bronx Plan to the career ladder. In addition, at arbitration hearings, Mike often appears as an expert witness on behalf of members.

Prior to becoming director, Mike taught English language arts at Automotive HS in Brooklyn, where he spent most of his teaching career. While an elected UFT delegate at Automotive, Mike fought against a succession of DOE initiatives that worked against the interests of our members — including Restart, Transformation and Turnaround — and effectively kept the staff together through three principals and more than a dozen assistant principals in a four-year period. With the help of the UFT and the community, Automotive stayed open despite the Bloomberg-era DOE’s constant course changing and mismanagement. Mike later transferred to Spring Creek Community School in East New York, where he was a founding staff member and chapter leader. In 2013, following a brief stint as a UFT PM staffer, he secured a full-time union position specializing in personnel issues.

Mike and his wife, Karina, are the proud parents of four children: Valeria, Michael Jr., Mia and Matthew.