Unity UFT Leadership Threatens to Sue ABC-UFT
And they're using your UFT dues to do it.
Michael Mulgrew and Unity UFT leadership, a political group that has controlled our union for more than sixty years and who continue to preside over diminishing returns for educators across the city, have hired the corporate law firm Norton Rose Fulbright to threaten legal action against A Better Contract (ABC-UFT). Their claim is that we, the committed educators and proud UFT members of ABC, do not have the right to refer to ourselves as UFT members.
This is not the first time Mulgrew and Unity UFT have used our dues money to threaten UFT members. In June 2025, Unity UFT hired the same law firm to file a complaint accusing A Better Contract of infringement for referring to themselves as UFT members. That complaint was rejected by an independent arbitrator, who determined that ABC-UFT’s statement of being UFT members, which we are, is legitimate and protected.
Members can read more about that decision here: ABC Wins Arbitration
This latest legal action is being undertaken by Michael Mulgrew and Unity UFT leadership in the name of all UFT members, even though rank and file UFT members were not consulted and did not agree to it. This action is funded by the union dues of every hard working UFT member working in classrooms, school buildings and institutions across New York City. Rather than using dues to improve working conditions or strengthen our union, Mulgrew and Unity UFT leadership have chosen to use those dues to attack UFT members who are advocating for a more democratic and responsive union.
This is an autocratic attack on the rights of all UFT members. It is an attack on educators’ rights to free speech, free assembly, and internal union advocacy. It is an attempt to silence members who want a better union, not an attempt to protect the UFT name.
We will have more to say about this soon. In the meantime, you can read the attorney’s letter in full below.
Threatening ABC wasn't the first time they did this. In 2023, they threatened me with civil and criminal penalties for the egregious offense of parodying Michael Mulgrew. Parody is protected by the First Amendment, but UFT lawyers must've been absent the day they taught that. Very shortly after I ran a column on it, my blog's domain address was blocked. That's why I'm now on Substack with thousands more readers. So I thank Unity for that, at least. I'm leaving a link to my story. https://nyceducator.blogspot.com/2023/04/my-union-dues-pay-lawyers-to-threaten-me.html
What really gets me is the attorney’s letter states they will sue each UFT member individually, for having publicly stated we are UFT members. Michael Mulgrew and Unity UFT leadership intend to personally bankrupt me, a special education teacher and proud UFT member teaching in NYC public schools for 20 years, and leave my family and me literally out of our home and out in the cold. These are the sick people running our union. They will do this to any UFT member who dares to advocate for a better union and better public schools.