UFT Members Update: Two Petitions Call For Increased Member and Teacher Voice

A UFT members grassroots movement takes hold as hundreds of rank and file educators join in calls for a better, stronger UFT that includes all of our voices. Here is their latest email blast.

Dear UFT Members,

Thank you for participating in the launch of our grassroots movement! To date, 1,200 of us have completed our member survey, over 1,000 of us signed our petition to expand UFT member voting, and 150 of us joined our first Member Assembly held at the end of last month. What a start!

Here are some next steps for November:

1. Share the Petition for UFT Member Voting

Please share with at least 1-2 UFT Members you know. In less than a week, our petition to expand member voting to electronic and/or in-person voting for our UFT citywide elections has collected over 1,000+ signatures! 

If each of us share this petition with just 1 or 2 (or more!) UFT members, we know (both in-service and retirees), then we will double or triple the number of signatures. Please share the petition far and wide, or simply ask 1 or 2 UFT members to sign. Each and every signature goes a long way toward making change happen!

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2.  Share the Petition to End Mayor Adams' Scripted Curriculum Mandates

Educators and school communities must have an active voice in creating, choosing, adopting & implementing curricula that best serves our students - not politicians, bureaucrats or corporations.  Yet, we are forced to teach using Mayor Adams' latest reading and math scripted curriculum mandates that treat classrooms like assembly lines.

UFT members are dealing with a lot of unnecessary and frustrating managerial oversight. We're being pushed by school admins and superintendents to use certain scripted curricula that just don't cut it. 

There's not enough support, and many don't seem to get the wide-ranging needs of students in the biggest, most diverse school system around --- or they also feel pressured to implement.

Sign our new petition calling on the Mayor and Chancellor to halt these scripted curricula until educators, school communities and families can have authentic input.  Bring back teacher voice and autonomy.  End this micro-management, now.

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3. Sign up to join one or more (or all!) of our Campaign Working Groups

We said from the beginning that we will do this work together, and we mean it! We’re going to begin with the following working groups to start building out our UFT Election campaign.  Sign up, now. We will connect with you to see where you best fit:

1. Get Out the Vote: - think of ways to increase awareness in and the desire to vote in this year's election;
2. Organizing/Member Mobilization: - develop and implement plans to increase participation in the movement;
3. Media: - help with the movement website, outreach, literature to be disseminated;
4. Divisional work groups: - join with others in the same divisions (i.e. elementary, middle school, high school) to think about what needs to be done to improve working conditions in your division and engage others in the movement;
5. D75: - work on messages and mobilization that address the uniqueness of D75;
6. Paraprofessionals: - focused on mobilizing paraprofessionals;
7. Retirees: - focused on mobilizing retired educators

The working groups listed above will meet remotely via Zoom. Please fill out the survey linked below to indicate what working group(s) you’re interested in joining. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work! 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR ELECTION CAMPAIGN WORKING GROUPS

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Lastly, download, print and share our November flyer and share at your school.

Thanks for reading, we’re looking forward to meeting with you very soon.

In solidarity,

Your fellow UFT members 

Our Voice, Our Union
join.uftmembers.org

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