Teacher Appreciation Day? Let’s Talk About What That Really Means.
May 8 is Teacher Appreciation Day.
Yes — another carveout, inside a week of carveouts, inside a system that would rather celebrate teachers symbolically than support us materially.
Sure, they’ll hand out free coffee. Maybe a muffin. A card with apples on it.
But where’s the appreciation in being micromanaged, overworked, gaslit, and blamed? Where’s the gratitude in being paid less than the cost of living while doing more than humanly possible?
There’s no evidence that the current UFT leadership appreciates its teachers.
No evidence it believes in our power.
No forward-thinking vision.
No urgency.
Just photo ops and press releases while the walls of the profession crumble around us.
A Better Contract is here to change that — not with tokens, but with transformation.
This campaign exists because we appreciate teachers in the deepest, most serious way:
By organizing to build power.
By refusing to settle.
By planning to win.
We know that the only real appreciation is respect.
And the only real respect is power.
We appreciate you by putting together a diverse, fearless slate.
We appreciate you by telling the truth about how bad things have gotten.
We appreciate you by making the biggest change in the history of this union our mission — because we know our schools and our students can’t afford another decade of Unity and Mulgrew sleepwalking us into decline.
What should appreciation look like?
✅ Contractual class sizes you can actually teach in.
✅ A salary that respects your expertise and pays your bills.
✅ A union that fights like your job is worth something — because it is.
✅ A contract that lifts not just your working conditions, but your entire profession.
Ultimately, this isn’t just about teachers — it’s about the future of our schools.
It’s about restoring dignity to public education. And it starts with a union that believes in teachers enough to organize like hell for them.
So on this Teacher Appreciation Day, we invite you to show appreciation the way we are:
✨ By believing in each other.
✨ By demanding more.
✨ By voting for a union that’s finally worthy of its members.
Vote A Better Contract.
Not for a muffin.
Not for a card.
For possibility.
For hope.
 | A guest post by
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