After working in corporate offices for more than 15 years, I thank God every day that I’m now part of a union.
Before I became a teacher 11 years ago, I mostly did junior accounting work. It was such a stressful job. No matter how hard you worked, nobody ever really had your back. When I started, the business was very small and then grew massively. Instead of hiring more people to help, they just kept piling on work. If you didn’t like the work that kept getting piled on you, you could be replaced the next day. They would get very hostile with you and basically tell you, “If you don’t like it, there’s the door. Find yourself another job.” There was no protection no matter what you did.
In teaching, you have a union to help you. They can’t pile 40 kids in my class and expect me to do the same work. That’s because the union understands that large class sizes are detrimental. There are a lot of places that look at education as a business, but it’s not a business. Our future sits in front of us every day, and it’s our job as educators to reach all our children. The union understands the value of education, and it protects us as educators. So it’s very empowering being a teacher.
I love, love, love the benefits I have that the UFT fights so hard for. Before, I was paying 50 to 60 percent of my family’s health plan. With the UFT, I pay zero. In my old job, I got no dental insurance, no glasses.
After my second year of teaching, I was one of many teachers excessed from my school. But I was able to make a smooth transition to my current school, where I’ve been for nine years.
It was very important for me to know that as long as I come to work and do my job to the best of my ability, I will continue to have a job. It was very comforting having that job security, especially having children to feed and a mortgage to pay.
Laurie Foglia is a 3rd-grade teacher at PS 62 in the Bronx.
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