More than 30 members of the United Federation of Teachers — including retired staff — have been reported by family members to have died from coronavirus, a union source said.
Shellshocked kin have been contacting the organization to alert officials to the cases in increasing numbers, the source said.
While he did not specify that they died from COVID-19, UFT president Michael Mulgrew read out the names of 26 recently deceased members at a somber meeting of the union’s executive board Monday.
At least five additional coronavirus-linked deaths have been added to the UFT’s grim tally in just two days since that meeting, the union source said. The union’s membership includes both teachers and other staff.
Teachers have ripped the Department of Education for not providing a public inventory of their fallen colleagues.
The FDNY, NYPD and other major city agencies have given regular updates on members with both suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases.
The UFT is relying on self-reporting from relatives and the growing tally does not always reflect new deaths.
The organization’s ranks include teachers, guidance counselors and paraprofessionals.
A small number of UFT members who have died from coronavirus were retired but most were still on the job, the source said.
The UFT’s COVID-related death count does not include school administrators who have also fallen from the disease, including city principals and assistant principals.
The union will soon launch a memorial website named “UFT Honors” to “celebrate the lives of UFT members, in-service or retired, who have lost their lives to the coronavirus crisis.”
