AFT Vice President
Shelvy Young Abrams is paraprofessional chapter leader of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City. She also serves on the executive committee of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) board of directors and is co-chair of the AFT women's rights committee.

Abrams began her career as a classroom paraprofessional in 1968, working in a Title I reading program. She quickly became active in the union at her school and was elected as the UFT paraprofessional representative in 1970. A few years later she was elected as the Manhattan borough coordinator and also worked as a part-time staffer at UFT.

Abrams started full-time work at the UFT in 1998, focusing on paraprofessional issues, and that same year she was elected as the first vice chairperson of the UFT paraprofessional chapter.

Abrams is president of the New York City chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and also serves on the UFT women's rights committee. She is a member of the New York chapter of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance; the AFT Black Caucus and its New York state chapter; the AFT PSRP program and policy council; and the New York City Central Labor Council. She also served on various NYSUT committees and task forces prior to her election to the executive committee of the NYSUT board of directors in 2006.

Abrams has worked throughout her career to represent the interests of paraprofessionals, especially in the areas of workplace safety. Her work helped launch the UFT Workers' Compensation Project, which assists members who have been injured on the job, and she has been a major force in the UFT's Safe Secure Schools campaign, which includes training on preventing workplace violence injuries, school safety plans, student discipline codes and procedures for reporting incidents.

(August 22, 2008)