Ronnie is a biology teacher in Manhattan.

I believe my experience in building workplace power, and leveraging it to confront a range of issues from admin abuse to school segregation, has prepared me well to help lead and rebuild our union. I am a science teacher and have been active in my union since I started teaching eight years ago.

I was inspired to become an education unionist in 2012 when I lived in Chicago and did strike solidarity work for the Chicago Teachers Union. In my organizing, my starting point is that we have the most power in the workplace, and thus the most leverage as a union when we have organized chapters.

In the five schools I’ve worked in, I have organized my chapter in various ways. This is my third time campaigning among my co-workers against the incumbent UFT leadership, and my second time running for Executive Board. In addition to elections, I have also participated in campaigns against racist school screening criteria.

In 2019, by organizing my co-workers and students, my chapter was able to help force our reluctant admin to end district priority admissions. Later that year I transferred to Edward R. Murrow High School and was elected delegate; I got to work right away by leading a campaign against an abusive AP. In 2020 I helped organize the MORE-led sick out of March 2020 that played a crucial role in shutting down the NYC public school buildings early in the pandemic. Throughout the spring and summer I helped organize against an unsafe reopening of schools, ranging from protesting in front of UFT Headquarters and Tweed to supporting my coworkers in filing for medical accommodations. This year at my fifth school, I currently serve on the Consultation Committee and I plan to run for Chapter Leader in the next elections.

If elected to the UFT Executive Board, I will continue to work tirelessly to transform our union from one where out-of-touch bureaucrats collaborate with our employer to make water-downed deals on our behalf, to one where rank-and-file members collectively confront anyone who gets in our way of improving our working conditions substantially.