NYSUT Boards of Directors Meetings

New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) was created in 1972 by the merger of the New York State Teachers Association (NYSTA) and the United Teachers of New York (UTNY). NYSTA had been affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA), and UTNY with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). UTNY was the statewide organization whose United Federation of Teachers (UFT), led by Albert Shanker, was the predominant teachers' union in New York City. In joining with United Teachers and affiliating with the AFT, NYSUT also became a member union of the AFL-CIO.

In 1976, NYSUT voted to disaffiliate with the NEA. Some locals left NYSUT and created the NYEA (New York Educators Association), which became the state affiliate for the NEA. In the early 1980s, NYEA changed its name to NEA-NY.

NYEA/NEA- NY viewed association with the AFL-CIO's industrial unions as undermining the professional image and independence of teachers. The two organizations also differed strongly on aspects of the governance structure, particularly with respect to ethnic minority representation, with NYSUT opposed to mandatory minimums. The rivalry between NYSUT and NYEA/NEA-NY in organizing new locals expended a great deal of resources for both labor organizations.

While competition with NYEA/NEA-NY was a constant focus of NYSUT's organizing efforts for teachers, NYSUT was also organizing college faculty members, nurses, and other non-teaching personnel. Once members were organized, NYSUT continued to advocate for teachers' and other workers' rights through contract support and legal services at the local level and political involvement at the state and federal levels, supporting candidates and legislation that protected funding, due process, and working conditions.

NEA-N Y merged with NYSUT in 2006, by which time NYSUT had grown to more than half a million members, becoming the largest union in New York State.

The series spans the late 1960s to 1981, with a few documents dating from the 1950s and as early as 1938, but focuses mainly on the early 1970s, the formative years of NYSUT as it emerged from NYSTA (New York State Teachers Association) and struggled with the question of unity with the National Education Association (NEA) versus affiliation with the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers. Issues of professionalism -- respect, recognition, and individual autonomy -- clashed with the practical desire for higher wages and benefits that was seen to be achievable only through following the industrial model of traditional labor organization. That tension was perfectly articulated in a speech by NYSTA's executive secretary Francis White to the House of Delegates shortly before his resignation, when he warned that the union could not achieve the militancy and effectiveness of the Teamsters without the unity and discipline of the Teamsters. In the end, the Board of Directors chose the industrial path, rejecting the elitist pretentions of the NEA, whose sense of exclusivity extended even to barring full membership by non-teaching school employees. For years to come, NYSUT and the NEA would exist as competing organizations in New York State, but the political acumen developed out of the conflict by the NYSUT elected officers would serve the union well in its dealings with the State Education Department, legislature, and local school boards.