Future forward

In early 2023, Andy Pallotta announced he was stepping down after six years as NYSUT president. NYSUT Executive Director Melinda Person is poised to become the next president at the 2023 Representative Assembly, running unopposed on her 25-year record of leadership in union and public education advocacy.

This change in NYSUT’s leadership comes at a high point in the union’s evolution. By 2023, it was clear that NYSUT’s non-stop organizing had effectively buttressed it against anti-union attacks ushered in by the Supreme Court’s Janus decision. Pressures imposed on members by the COVID-19 pandemic were largely receding. Relentless union advocacy was pushing many of the state’s test-and-punish policies toward extinction. And decades of effort by NYSUT and its allies had finally secured New York’s commitment to fully fund the state’s school aid formula, a long-sought redress of inequities.

Still, the union’s work is never done. A time capsule dedicated to NYSUT’s vision for the future might contain these priorities:

• Ensure all members are supported in their workplaces with the resources and respect they deserve;
• Combat workplace violence and ensure safety for our members and those in their care;
• Guarantee retirement security by fixing pension tier inequities that unfairly penalize newer members;
• End once and for all the policies of test-and-punish, so there is more teaching and less testing;
• Continue to achieve strong contracts with good pay, benefits and retirement security — the best remedy for staff shortages;
• Advocate for the union’s New Deal for Higher Education, improving student access and boosting funding for SUNY, CUNY and community colleges;
• Secure support for community schools, class size limitations and other proven strategies to benefit our students because Public Schools Unite Us;
• Organize continually so the value of union membership remains indisputable;
• Boost voluntary contributions to the union’s political action fund, VOTE-COPE; and
• Grow NYSUT’s power, because the more powerful we are, the more we can win together.

This list, while comprehensive, is far from complete. That’s because new generations of union members will expand and shape it.

The opportunity for activism through the union carries unlimited potential. New generations of members will define for themselves what the future will look like. They will expand and re-envision union priorities.

“As we look ahead to the next 50 years, the future is bright for our mighty, mighty union,” said NYSUT President Andy Pallotta. “The union makes the world a better place. That is NYSUT’s legacy — and its future.”