Last night, the United Federation of Teachers---the largest union local in the world, representing over 140,000 teachers, non-teacher public school employees, and nurses in New York City---voted to support Democratic Party runoff candidate Fernando Ferrer for New York City Mayor. With the endorsement by the UFT, Ferrer now has the stamp of approval of the three most politically powerful unions in New York City: the teachers' unio, the health care workers' union, and the public employees' union---as well as the NYC electrical workers' union and the NYC carpenters' union. Randy Weingarten, president of the UFT and an ILR alumnus, said that Ferrer's opponent in the runoffs for the Democratic Primary is not committed enough to giving New York City school teachers a decent salary.
See "Teachers Back Ferrer, Giving Him Labor Triumvirate", DEXTER FILKINS and MICHAEL COOPER, The New York Times, October 4, 2001