By Katie Donnelly, a Shaker High School student interning at NYSUT this semester I didn’t know much about Gloria Steinem until I saw the NYSUT Women’s History poster and did some research on her. I thought she had been involved in one thing, but there’s a piece of her in a whole bunch of things. [...]

NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira is one of 25 women being honored by City and State magazine tonight in Manhattan. Here’s a link to City and State‘s announcement about its “Above and Beyond” awards event. Neira is being recognized for her work as a labor leader. Neira is one of 25 women being honored in [...]

Today marked the beginning of testimony on the proposed executive budget. First to testify on the impact on cities, towns, villages and localities was New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He continues his stance, which the public and, more importantly, parents are not buying, according to polls; that is, that the teachers union is solely to [...]

Tomorrow, the statewide AFL-CIO is sponsoring a call-in to Congress. Please call your representatives at 888-659-9401 to let them know that you support a fair approach to deficit reduction. Tell your representative: Let the Bush tax cuts expire for those making more than $250,000; Ensure that Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits are not cut [...]

Not that you haven’t been busy. More than one-third of NYSUT members have suffered through a superstorm. There was a major election and, thanks to your efforts, most of NYSUT’s endorsed candidates won. Right before Superstorm Sandy barreled up the East Coast,  NYSUT launched Tell It Like It Is. Members are being asked to share [...]

Congratulations to Martin Messner, president of the Schoharie Teachers Association, and Joe Satriano, a retiree of the Roslyn Teachers Association, for being recognized as 2012 Everyday Heroes by the American Federation of Teachers. Heroes is such an iconic word that brings to mind those who save lives. Joe Satriano used his sadness to signal others [...]

This post was written by Viri Pettersen, president of the Rockville Centre Teachers Association: The First Amendment to the US Constitution addresses our right to freedom of speech. As such, I was happy last summer to see a letter generated by a colleague, South Side High School Principal Carol Burris, on the topic of Principal [...]

Laurence P. Custodero, president of the Utica Teachers Association, wrote this commentary published May 10 in the Utica Observer-Dispatch School districts across New York state are focusing on closing the achievement gap between different socioeconomic and ethnic groups, and the Utica City School District is no different. As we cope with an ever increasing wealth [...]

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the state AFL-CIO television ad pointing out how Gov. Cuomo wants to cut benefits to government workers by 40% while his 401(k) option gives another windfall to Wall Street. Mario Cilento, president of the state AFL-CIO, is also at a press conference today calling for reforms to state laws [...]