WHEREAS, the United Federation of Teachers was founded on March 16, 1960 as a result of a merger between two organizations of teachers − the Teachers Guild and the Committee for Action through Unity; and

WHEREAS, the UFT will celebrate its 55th anniversary on March 16, 2015; and

WHEREAS, the success of the fledgling UFT led to a wave of teacher unionism across the country, leading to national recognition of the importance of public education to our country's future, increased funding for schools and higher professional standards for educators along with fairer compensation; and

WHEREAS, the UFT has since grown to represent 200,000 members in diverse professions and has won recognition for our achievements in collective bargaining, new contracts and in our work towards economic justice for our members as well as the broader society; and

WHEREAS, the UFT is also a national leader in standing up against the growing forces seeking to privatize public education and in fighting for equitable and adequate education funding so that all schools have the resources necessary for children to reach their potential and achieve success; and

WHEREAS, the UFT is additionally at the forefront of the battle to protect hard-fought and critical protections for public school educators, including due process rights; the establishment of the principle of seniority to guard against cronyism; defined-benefit pensions as a form of deferred compensation for years of hard work and dedication; and dignity and respect on the job; and

WHEREAS, the union’s increasingly diverse membership includes retired members as well as in-service members in a broad array of job titles that include: teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, family child care providers, speech teachers, guidance counselors, school social workers and psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, school nurses, nurse and therapist supervisors, school secretaries, speech teachers, hearing education services providers, vision education services providers, lab specialists, adult education teachers, attendance teachers, education officers, education analysts, teachers assigned, nonpublic school teachers, school medical inspectors, LYFE teachers, school security supervisors, administrative law judges, sign language interpreters and alcohol, substance abuse program directors and direct-care workers; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT hereby honors this 55th anniversary of our union's founding and recognizes the members, officers and staff whose sacrifices over the years have made the union strong in the face of adversity and made it a model of effective and progressive unionism for all those we serve.