WHEREAS, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised paid parental leave for city employees in 2015 but has failed for three years to extend the benefit to public school educators; and

WHEREAS, all workers deserve time after having children to care for their families and health; and

WHEREAS, public school educators, who devote their lives to our city’s children, deserve to devote the same loving care to their own children; and

WHEREAS, the current policy of six to eight weeks of unpaid leave, with compensation only available to new parents who manage to save and trade in sick days, causes undeserved hardship to members who have recently given birth, including life-threatening medical crises and being forced by financial limitations to return to work just days or weeks after giving birth; and

WHEREAS, the choice between losing sick days and going back to work right after giving birth is fundamentally unfair for a workforce that is nearly 80 percent female; and

WHEREAS, the current policy excludes parents who do not give birth, such as adoptive parents, foster parents and fathers, from taking more than three days of paid leave to be with their family; and

WHEREAS, UFT members have demonstrated passionate support for paid parental leave, as evidenced by more than 7,000 joining the fight since the union launched its campaign in November, 2017, and a petition calling on UFT members to fight for paid parental leave which garnered 80,000 signatures in just a few months; and

WHEREAS, the UFT negotiated a deal with the DOE and NYC so that all NYC employed members will have six weeks of paid parental leave, and

WHEREAS, this new parental leave policy comes at no cost of vacation time, raises or other compensation or benefits; and

WHEREAS, UFT members need only agree to a one-time, 73-day extension of our current contract after it expires on Nov. 30, 2018, to keep this new paid parental leave policy forever; and

WHEREAS, paid leave will be available to all UFT members – those who give birth, partners of birth parents, adoptive parents and foster parents; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT fully supports the terms of its newly won paid parental leave benefit.