WHEREAS, March 16, 2016 marks the 56th anniversary of the UFT’s founding; and
WHEREAS, our earliest members, under the leadership of Presidents Charlie Cogen and Al Shanker, took massive personal and occupational risks to establish the UFT so that educators, parents and children would have one common voice to advocate for quality public education; and
WHEREAS, between 1986 and 2009, Presidents Sandra Feldman and Randi Weingarten led UFT members in fighting for a professional voice by establishing more professional development opportunities and contractual assurance of educators’ power in education policy decision-making; and
WHEREAS, under the leadership of President Michael Mulgrew, we held fast against Mayor Bloomberg’s attempts to privatize public education and are now working collaboratively with Mayor de Blasio to rebuild our city’s education infrastructure in a way that better supports the neediest students; and
WHEREAS, throughout its history the UFT has grown to represent even more educators and caretakers of our city’s most vulnerable citizens: We now represent a diverse membership including the full spectrum of public school educators, charter school educators, nurses, school nurses, child care providers, nurse and therapist supervisors, education officers and analysts, nonpublic school teachers, school medical inspectors, school security supervisors, administrative law judges, sign language interpreters, alcohol and substance abuse program directors, direct-care workers and 60,000 retired members; and
WHEREAS, the UFT and the institutions it represents — public education, private sector and municipal unions — are now under attack from right-wing, union-busting billionaires and the interest groups they fund; and
WHEREAS, these interest groups are behind efforts such as Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, which seek to destroy public, private and municipal unions and to privatize education; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that in keeping with the UFT’s 56-year tradition, we re-commit ourselves to advocating for our members and the children and vulnerable populations whom we serve.