The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the labor union which represents most teachers in New York City, have begun their annual negotiations to secure the union’s contract with the city for the upcoming year.
The UFT began its contract negotiations with the NYC Department of Education (DOE) on Oct. 13, following the expiration of their previous contract on Sept. 13.
“Our members helped our public schools through the worst of the pandemic,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew on Thursday. “Now we’re fighting to help our students recover from its effects. Educators need a fair contract that will help them, and our schools improve the lives of our city’s children.”
A group of 500 union members formed a negotiating committee in March of this year to advocate and represent workers across the city. This committee held a meeting on Thursday morning to start the negotiation process.
According to New York State law governing public employees, while the UFT contract expired in September, members were still protected with previous negotiation agreements because the terms of the expired contract are still in effect until new agreements are reached.
To learn more about the UFT visit their website at uft.org.
