New Action – UFT

The Delegate Assembly (DA) holds monthly meetings (October-June) in which elected chapter leaders and delegates throughout the city discuss union issues. The DA is often referred to as the highest decision-making body in the UFT. At the end of each meeting, the DA votes on resolutions that usually directly impact our union. These resolutions are proposals that often center around topics such as our working conditions, political endorsements, legislative priorities, supporting social issues and other unions, and healthcare, just to name a few. The resolution period is, for all intents and purposes, when the work of the DA is supposed to get done. If the DA votes to support a resolution, that resolution is supposed to become the official stance and policy of the UFT.

The DA hit the ground running this year, voting on eight resolutions in October (one of which was deemed moot) and an additional five in November. Over the next seven months, we voted on a total of ten resolutions, only voting on one most of the time. The number of resolutions voted on by month this school year is as follows:

October – 8 (1 moot)

November – 5

December – 2

January – 2

February – 1

March – 1

April – 1

May – 1

June – 2

The massive dip since November is problematic. Many vital resolutions have been left to languish since the DA only voted on ten since December. One proposed resolution that we were unable to vote on calls for the DOE to respond to low survey scores, implement improvement plans, and enforce ethical administration of our annual school surveys. Year after year, school staff fill out these surveys, yet nothing happens to help struggling schools and chapters with subpar leadership. Imagine if our union was able to successfully convince the DOE to get involved and mediate or otherwise try to mend problems within our schools based on the annual school survey results. Members would not only feel more empowered since their voices would be heard, but perhaps some of those seemingly impossible-to-solve issues would be remedied, or at least negotiated to the point where they become tolerable.

A different resolution sought to urge the DOE and school construction to prioritize and allocate resources to schools in need of adequate Wi-Fi bandwidth, an issue many of us grapple with on a regular basis.

Another resolution proposed an adjustment to staffing in 3K and Pre-K classrooms, advocating for there to be at least two adults in every 3K and Pre-K classroom, which would greatly benefit early childhood educators and students.

There’s a resolution currently sitting ninth in the queue (not kidding) demanding a more legitimate role for educators and families who serve on C-30 committees. As we all know, the C-30 process is a complete farce and waste of time. The principal (or superintendent) hires whoever they want, regardless of the input given by the rest of the committee. The C-30 process badly needs a remodel. At this pace, we’ll never have the opportunity to push this proposal forward.

A resolution seeking human oversight and accountability regarding AI in schools – an issue that becomes more important by the second – is currently last in a long line of its lingering siblings. Alas, we wait.

There’s more, but you get the point. Thirteen resolutions untouched and ignored. Many have been sitting there for months. It’s not just about the resolutions that have been left hanging, either. Think about the ones that are never even brought up during the motion period because people are dissuaded from proposing a resolution to the following month’s agenda when they see there are a dozen others ahead of theirs.

We need to vote on more resolutions moving forward. Allotting a specific amount of time to tackle resolutions every month might help. Occasionally holding a bonus DA meeting when resolutions get badly backlogged may be another possible solution. Someone once suggested decoupling the resolution period from the President’s Report and holding multiple meetings each month, allowing us more time to vote. Whatever the solution(s) may be, we need to prioritize voting on as many resolutions as possible in the future.