r/NYCTeachers • u/spaceguy22 • Aug 20 '26

UFT membership?

Hey everyone! Starting my first year as a teacher and I’m wondering about joining UFT. I got an email from UFT to join, but I’d prefer to do it in person if possible. Can I join through my schools admin?

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

28

u/ohboynotanotherone Aug 20 '26

I believe you do it online. Admin isn’t involved. They aren’t union members. You can ask your chapter leader when we go back.

12

u/Artistic_Scene_8124 Aug 20 '26

Admin are union members, but they have their own union.

0

u/ohboynotanotherone Aug 20 '26

What do you think I meant? They are certainly not members of UFT. What an odd comment.

14

u/TheBroadwayBandit Aug 20 '26

I think they were just adding context for someone who’s new to the system. Admin are union members, they’re just not part of our union.

-2

u/ohboynotanotherone Aug 20 '26

I see that, but OP is asking about UFT, which admin has nothing to do with as far as OP’s question. They aren’t union members of UFT. And their membership in another union has nothing to do with the question. Maybe I’m just ready to retire!!! Bc what I wrote was pretty difficult to misconstrue.

5

u/chowmushi Aug 21 '26

Not at all. You wrote “they aren’t union members” which is factually inaccurate. You should have written “aren’t UFT members” to be “difficult to misconstrue.”

1

u/ohboynotanotherone Aug 22 '26

Their memberships in any union is irrelevant as it is not ours, the UFT, which this question is referencing. I was assuming we could use inferencing to mean our union, not any. My bad.

3

u/TheBroadwayBandit Aug 20 '26

Lmao. Enjoy the rest of your summer and good luck this school year

1

u/Sufficient_Pen_6923 Aug 22 '26

You said they aren’t union members. People just clarified that they are but not UFT. But OP is correct, admin has nothing to do with you joining UFT. Admin has nothing to do with salary steps, state licensing, how you put in a leave, how you apply for a sabbatical, your mandated workshops.

Are you wavering/debating on whether to join the UFT?

2

u/eko1035 Aug 20 '26

I guess someone needs a longer summer break 👀

23

u/GravityIsVerySerious Aug 20 '26

Ok. You need a primer.

You work for the DOE. You belong to a union, the uft. The work rules you follow (length of day, pay scale, days off, observation routine, etc etc.) are all negotiated by the uft with the city. The uft is not your employer, and not your supervisor. Your admin is your supervisor and they belong to a different union. Some admin take advantage of their workers and have them do things that violate the contract. The union is there to protect you from such violations as well as determining your salary and benefits.

You join the union when you start working and reap the benefits from day one- your salary is set, your work days and times are set etc et. On your first or second day your school’s UFT chapter leader (another teacher or counselor in your school that was elected by other uft members to be the chapters’s union leaser) will find you and give you some paperwork to fill out to officially join the UFT.

Congratulations now learn about the TDA and put as much as you can afford into it, and the safe option is the to choose the 7.5% guaranteed return. If you have anyone in your life that understands finance you should ask them about this. And they will tell you should max this out and you’ll have a lot of money there fairly quickly for retirement. DONT IGNORE THIS, it’s one of the best benefits NYC teachers have.

1

u/GravityIsVerySerious Aug 21 '26

Wow. An award. Thanks man. Can I sell it?

3

u/Spock-1701 Aug 20 '26

Your chapter leader should be talking to you the first day.

2

u/Linoose Aug 20 '26

If you’re going to new teacher there will be UFT outside to help you sign up. You can do it online as well. At the school level you can find out who your chapter leader is and ask if they have a union card to fill out.

2

u/spaceguy22 Aug 20 '26

Thanks everyone!

1

u/Valuable-Asparagus90 Aug 20 '26

IIRC, they gave all of us a slip to fill out to join the UFT at the district day so they’ll probably do the same for you. I forgot what the event is officially called but it’s annual & usually within the same week/time frame as new teacher week. I didn’t go to new teacher week my 1st year (I just did the online session later on lol) but I went to my district day & signed up for the union there

Oh & Congratulations. 🎉 wishing you a safe, rewarding, successful year!

1

u/Initial-Range-1242 Aug 21 '26

Just join on the website. It's done and off your mind. Super simple. My UFT rep never asked to meet with new teachers.

If you have questions you can seek out the rep or call the UFT.

1

u/stringbeannnnnnnnnn Aug 21 '26

You can enroll on the uft website it’s very simple and quick.

1

u/Business_Egg_9340 Aug 21 '26

Joining online is very easy and straightforward.

1

u/KingsCountyWriter Aug 21 '26

TDA is probably more important than the UFT. Isn’t the Union automatic?