United Federation of Teachers Oral History Collection

In 1985, George Altomare, a founder and Vice-President of the United Federation of Teachers and history teacher, initiated an extensive oral history project to document the history of teacher collective bargaining in New York City. The union hired free-lance oral historian Renee Epstein to conduct the interviews.

New York City teachers first organized in 1912 with the publication of The American Teacher. The editor, Henry Linville, founded the Teachers' Union, which in September 1916 affiliated with the recently-founded American Federation of Teachers. The TU undertook the struggle to gain recognition and decent working conditions for teachers. It campaigned for fair appointment procedures, an annual salary paid monthly, minimum wages with gradual increases above the cost of living, and a sabbatical leave. In 1935, the Teachers' Union splintered over accusations of Communist Party domination. Rival factions disrupted meetings over political disputes and undermined the TU's unionist activities. That year, Linville and a majority of the Executive Board resigned and organized the Teachers' Guild. As one of its first acts the Guild created an unemployment committee to evaluate the Depression's impact on teachers. The committee found that only one in nine teachers was employed. Reduced class size would also remain a prominent issue for which the Guild advocated.

Additionally, the Guild worked to achieve recognition as negotiators for teachers who had grievances against the Board of Education. Frustrated by the confusion of having at least 12 different teacher associations during negotiations with the Board of Education, the Guild, along with the militant Committee for Action through Unity (including members of the Guild and the High School Teachers Association) and 1500 unaffiliated teachers, agreed to the terms of a merger. The new organization, the United Federation of Teachers, became Local 2 of the AFT. In 1961, the UFT won an election to become the sole collective bargaining representative for teachers, winning the endorsement of 77% of the city's teachers who were eligible to vote. In the winter of 1961, the UFT began negotiations on a wage and benefit package that had been submitted to the NYC Board of Education. Continued procrastination by the Board of Education precipitated a one-day teacher's strike on April 11, 1962, which resulted in a contract which became a model and spur to teachers throughout the country. After the Union's first contract, the ranks of the UFT grew to over 100,000 to become the largest union local in the U.S.