He was appointed to the presidency in 2009 by the union's executive board. He was the only candidate offered in the vote. He was elected by 91 percent of the union members in April 2010. In an article in City Hall News in July 2009, Mulgrew talked about his strong belief in collaboration with parents, saying, ”I always like to keep up community involvement, working with parents and advocating for students. We do a lot of that now and that’s what we need to do more of, to help the schools that are struggling and to figure out ways the UFT can support and help them.”
Medicare Advantage plan Mulgrew, the Executive Vice Chair of the Municipal Labor Committee, a consortium of all New York City public employee labor unions, advanced a plan that would move UFT retirees and other retired New York City workers from Medicare into a new, privately run
Medicare Advantage plan and removing retirees access to Traditional Medicare and implemented copays on all their tests and visits to the doctor or lab. Large numbers of UFT retirees have complained about the proposed plan and joined with tens of thousands of other City Retirees to halt the move in court. Retired New York City teachers and other New York City retirees have protested that the new plan falls short and organized opposition to the new plan and a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice agreed. The Mayor has appealed every loss in court and so far has not had the decisions overturned.
Lawsuit against congestion pricing in New York City In 2024, the UFT joined Staten Island in a lawsuit to block
congestion pricing in lower Manhattan. The union argued that
congestion pricing would worsen pollution and harm children. Mulgrew also said that the congestion pricing plan would harm teachers who "are facing dramatically rising commuting costs, and all for a traffic reduction plan whose potential effects on air quality and other issues were never seriously examined." ==Notes==