UFT Silent on COVID 19

Yesterday, New Action chapter leaders and delegates (along with our other friends from United for Change) showed up at the DA ready to ask questions about COVID-safety and motivate a resolution about healthcare (among other things). We weren’t given the chance to speak there, so see our literature below. (Don’t worry, we’ll be back next month).

New Action/UFT

…a caucus of the United Federation of Teachers

615 77th Street, Brooklyn, New York 11209

September 2021

UFT Silent on COVID 19

This year the UFT membership already faces another difficult year with the spread of COVID in the schools. The response to the COVID 19 virus showed the lack of leadership in our Union. At the beginning of the pandemic our in-service members were forced to go into unsafe schools for 3 days putting themselves and their families at risk. Today our union is going along with Mayor de Blasio’s claim that our schools are safe. The DOE’s own statistics give the lie to this claim. On the first day of school, 83 positive cases of COVID were reported (33 students and 50 staff members). By September 19 there were 976 cases with over 440 classroom closures. One public school has already gone back to remote learning. All of this with only 10% in the schools being tested. This is not meant to panic the public or UFT staff. But our union president should not be sitting silently. Schools that are unsafe should demand that the union step in and safeguard the safety of students and staff. And only then consider staying out of unsafe schools.

The Health Care of In-Service Members Is at Risk

The attack on our health care is yet another example of the lack of leadership that currently exists because of one party (Unity Caucus) control of our Union. NYC retirees on Medicare only discovered in mid-May that the administration of their Medicare benefits was being privatized and would be changed to Medicare Advantage. At no time during the past year of negotiations between the City (Office of Labor Relations) and Municipal Labor Committee, were the 250,000 NYC retirees ever informed about impending changes. At a recent town hall meeting to discuss the changes for retirees, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, announced that in 2022 the health care plans of all in-service members will be renegotiated. These negotiations have still not been publicized. New Action/UFT adamantly insists that our UFT notify and inform all in-service members of just what changes are being negotiated. Unlike the recent experience of NYC retirees, no plan should be implemented without at least 6 months of public debate among our in-service members. We need your help! If you are an in-service member we need you to distribute New Action literature in your school. You have the right to do so. Please contact either:

Michael Shulman, Chair New Action/UFT 718 238-8030 [email protected] or

Greg Di Stefano, Head of Organizing 718 757-4552 [email protected]

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