About 15 years ago, I had an oral cancer. It was about the least fun I ever had. I had to explain to my then 11-year-old daughter that she would see me sick. However, it wouldn’t be from the cancer—it would be from the treatment. It was excruciating, but of course I’m very grateful to still be here.

One of many things radiation is not very good for is your teeth. It inhibits production of saliva, and without it, your teeth just don’t want to hang around. However, if you pull them, your jawbone can become necrotic. An oral surgeon and I made a very bad decision and that happened to me.

I went to a bunch of specialists. They decided to pull a bone out of my leg and use it to replace the jawbone. It worked, but the recovery was brutal. I’ll spare you. Anyway, I can no longer go to regular oral surgeons. I have to go to this guy who is a combination dentist/ MD and pay through the nose to get a tooth removed. (Fortunately, however much I pay through it, my nose is still fine.)

And hey, everyone knows you gotta suffer if you wanna sing the blues. Why am I sharing this with you?

It’s because, while you might pay a small co-pay, I have to pay 650-700 bucks out of pocket to get a tooth removed. So I’m happy to have SHIP. Admittedly I’ve had some harsh words for their co-pay reimbursement process. (I’ll have even more in a few.)

Here’s the thing—I got a receipt from the super dentist. I waited a week, and got a hundred dollar check from CIGNA. I filled out a SHIP form, scanned the CIGNA papers (three pages, with a copy of the check), and emailed it to SHIP. This process took me five to ten minutes, tops.

I did this once before, two years ago. I expect to get a check from SHIP for five hundred dollars. This tooth removal will end up costing me 50 bucks, probably not more than the co-pay I’d give a regular oral surgeon. This is a reasonable process. Of course I’ve now met the annual cap. If I’m careful not to lose more than one tooth per calendar year, I’ll be okay.

The process to get 105 dollars back took my late friend Daniel Harkavy two hours. Daniel was making many doctor visits, to the same doctors, and he was able to use the MyChart for a single company to pull that off. If you, like me, see doctors from various health orgs, it won’t be so simple.

Reps from SHIP will tell you that the co-pay refund follows the same process as others. RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer repeated that to me, and I believe it was as a comment here on something I wrote about SHIP. Bennett said he knew the folks who worked there, and they were good people.

I don’t dispute that. Also, I don’t blame them for the co-pay process. It’s not their fault they work for parasitical opportunists.

The first and only time I submitted a request to get my co-pays back, I sent bills from my doctors along with paid receipts. This was not sufficient. They needed this paper, and that paper, they needed papers from Medicare, they needed papers from GHI, and I needed to do this and that.

I’ve already invested a few hours into 2025. I gave up. It’s simply not worth my time to do this work for 105 bucks. I’m not alone in that. Unity tossed this out as a carrot to get retiree votes. They made it so convoluted and difficult that they had to hire more people at SHIP to do video conferences.

Should you need to do a video conference to do paperwork? UFT chapter leaders now have a special vehicle to speed along paperwork complaints. The fact that UFT bosses have dumped this on us is just another example of the ageism that pervades their patronage mill. We’ve, sadly, got less time than our in-service colleagues and Mulgrew wants us to spend it following his nitpicking regs.

We deserve better, and Fix Retiree Benefits, our group, will demand it. I’ll have more on that very soon.

In our union, the hypocrisy never ends.

Exhibit one—I was pretty shocked to hear Michael Mulgrew say, in reference to the chancellor, that he believes in due process. This is most certainly not what he practices. Last year, Mulgrew fired the supremely competent Amy Arundell, David Kazansky, and even the elected para leader Migda Rodriguez, among many others. There was no process whatsoever. He didn’t like them, so they had to go.

Mulgrew criticized a principal who put a chapter leader up on charges. Mulgrew, though, can’t be bothered with charges. If he doesn’t like you, you’re out.

Mulgrew continued, claiming he loved that retirees are interested in politics. However, he doesn’t seem to love it unless we blindly support him. 82% of us voted to support 1096, which would guarantee Medicare and eliminate co-pays for us. Not only does Mulgrew speak against it at every opportunity, but he also actively lobbies against us.

Mulgrew later claimed he figured things out in different ways, painting himself as a creative thinker. This particular creative thinker, rather than figure out a way to support 1096, claims it violates the Taylor Law, even though we don’t report to work. He also claims it violates collective bargaining, even though we don’t collectively bargain.

Mulgrew boasted of having the largest negotiating committee ever. This argument would have us believe that simply bigger is simply better. He neglects to point out that the committee will not be negotiating either money or health care, key elements every member is concerned with.

Mulgrew goes on to claim there has not been a single giveback. As a retiree who had to battle along with Marianne Pizzitola’s group to protect Medicare, I disagree. Mulgrew sold us out to procure a sub-inflationary raise for rank and file. Not only that, but the co-pays I now pay were a giveback. The 50% increase in pharmacy insurance, which retirees pay, is a giveback. I don’t know what drugs Mulgrew is taking, but I wish I could afford them.

Mulgrew goes on to claim he won’t have workers paying for other workers’ raises. Perhaps not, but he had no issue telling in-service members if they didn’t support changing the law to lessen what the city pays to cover retirees, they would be stuck with $1500 premiums. Guess what? The city did not change the law, and members do not pay $1500 premiums. Retirees pay that, though, and more.

Mulgrew claimed UFT retirees get more than any retirees in NY. However, I’m paying $360 a month for pharmacy insurance for my wife and myself. Were I FDNY, DC37, or NYPD, I’d pay nothing. It’s hard to see exactly how I’m getting more. I know I’m paying more. Why doesn’t our Welfare Fund cover us, as other Welfare Funds do for retirees?

Mulgrew then claims each group will come up with its own demands. He seems to have forgotten that the OT/PT chapter, last time, demanded closer parity to teachers. That’s why they voted down their contract. Michael Mulgrew broke them off from their bargaining unit, isolating them, told them they could take it or leave it, and forced them to vote on the Same Old Thing. So much for encouraging activism.

Mulgrew claimed to support members having their own opinions. However, he ridiculed a woman who wanted to be able to remotely watch the DA. Furthermore, at a meeting I attended, Mulgrew claimed retirees who wanted to retain Medicare spouted fairy tales, believed in conspiracy theories, and likened people who criticize him to enemies of the union.

There was a long and tedious debate over the co-pay resolution, the one RTC has been complaining for many months has not come up. I wrote the first draft of that resolution, and had intended it for RTC only. That said, I found the speaker very eloquent and persuasive.

There were a number of issues at play here. Since I’ve been in the RTC, we’ve managed to pass two resolutions at the DA. Now I am not one of the big shots in Retiree Advocate. They make all the final decisions about what to do with these resolutions.

They made an egregious error with this one. Instead of pushing forward a petition that had 12,000 signatures, demanding that members vote on health care, they watered it down. They presented it as the DA voting on health care. That was a mistake because the DA is dominated by Unity, as we saw today.

However, that was not the worst of it. The worst of it is this health care committee of which Mulgrew spoke. They appear to go along with whatever Mulgrew asks. Mulgrew falsely claimed the group was introduced by retirees, but I was at that meeting and it was not. It was introduced by then-Secretary LeRoy Barr. LeRoy amended it to add that committee.

My friend Norm Scott asked a great question, a question that Mulgrew did not answer. Who picks the health committee? Are they elected? They are not, in fact. People apply, and Unity decides who gets on.

No one from ABC is on the health committee. This health committee, including five RA members (four of whom actually showed up to vote) voted unanimously to pass a health plan they were not permitted to see. Regardless of its merits, that’s an outrage. We deserve to know what we’re voting on, not take the word of Michael Mulgrew. If you’ve read this far, you know his word is dubious at best.

While I support the hybrid DA, and have used it all year, I was struck by what Elementary VP Karen Allford said—that it promotes engagement and member voice. She’s absolutely right, However, Karen’s Unity caucus, along with ARISE, does not believe in extending electronics to UFT voting. Three out of four UFT members don’t vote, and they want to keep it that way.

Finally, I was struck by Mulgrew’s much-used defense of questionable UFT endorsements. The members met and chose, he said. They worked hard. Mulgrew fails to note that said members were only allowed to ask a group of pre-selected questions from which they may not vary. These members are not, for example, allowed to ask whether or not the candidates support 1096.

Mulgrew claimed he did not support everyone the UFT endorsed. I cannot actually read the guy’s mind. However, given the way he fires everyone he doesn’t like with no due process, given the way he shuts down resolutions based on rules his cult has made up, if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn with your name on it.

Notes (unedited)—(Bolded portions were for my reference.)

I call in at 4:16, having not received a call. I get to hear a groovy music clip, over and over, as someone thanks me for joining.

4:17—Mulgrew comes on, thanks us. Says 11 more days. Asks moment of silence for departed CL Joe Seidel.

Federal tax credit/ voucher program—coming to us very shortly. Details in next few days. Part of Big Beautiful Bill. Has been failure educationally, resegregating society, church and state. They say it’s a tax credit for everyone—no cap on it. Don’t know how they afford it. You can donate 1700 for a school. May let public schools be involved.

Way to pull people away from public schools. What happens is tax credit raised, becomes more of burden on state to fund public schools. Will be no federal money for state, only money for vouchers. Up to state governor to opt in. Hochul interested in middle class tax breaks. Gearing up for fight.

State federations in AFT will write to governors, say don’t do this. Package has many talking points. Majority of parents we serve not looking for tax credits. Trying to pay bills. Giveaway to more affluent families. Will start in summer. Will try to have it in place before midterms.

AI—Lots of opinions. AFL-CIO took a position saying we need guardrails. We agree. Data centers—don’t know how you stop them. Will move forward. Mulgrew discusses phones and bathrooms for no evident reason. AFL-CIO has construction unions for data centers, says they will be in impoverished communities.

We continue to say we need more guardrails for children’s and our privacy. We are training teachers to use AI to write IEPs and do things beyond lesson planning. If we can use a tool to actually help us is good strategy. Some want it banned—unrealistic. Many things on phone use AI. We’ll force ourselves to train working people to get what we need from platform.

AI companies go where money is. Who controls money in schools systems? Admin. Their priority is how to create an observation system, all across the country. Stopped it here. Thousands of teachers not observed every year. Won’t let them use AI for that. We want what helps us to help children, do what we want.

State budget done—Still don’t have school budgets. Thanks DA for advocacy. Made significant step forward in fixing Tier 6. Without our work, age would not be 58. When first phase ended, nothing happened, eight weeks later we insisted Tier 6 be included. Other unions went different way, that was their choice. Our need is age. We knew every year we knocked off saves 9K in contributions.

Also wanted to remove penalties. Before this, you’d have lost a quarter at 58. Taking away something you already paid for. Never had something so aggressively negative. We’re not done. Have to get to 55, get contributions. Appreciate great work, got it done, but must move forward.

Wanted to fix Foundation Aid formula. Include weights for ELLs, homelessness, have many included, significant increase for NYC schools.

Community Schools, got big number. Mulgrew lectures people, is DA, if you yell, I’ll ask you to leave. Over 20 million, teacher centers funded.

DOE had interesting day. Do we trust their training and support on new math? No. Won’t be helpful.

Class size—Had town hall. Yippee town hall. Have class size working group, meets weekly with CSA and DOE. Last year finally got to get schools to submit a plan. Highly successful. Made class size hires distinct line item, repeated every year, outside of budget. Was important. Got to 60%. Have proven we can do it, but requires DOE work.

DOE did not have space, construction plan. Estimates were astronomical but untrue. Still no plan. If you build more classrooms you need more teachers. Mulgrew makes repeated jokes about snacks.

After budget was done, DOE worked really hard, analyzed districts and schools as to what they needed. Small, large constructions, some additional schools. Just starting. DOE found out they could come into compliance if they learned how to program. DOE was told this years ago, ignored it.

NY Post says we shook them down for 20 million, didn’t shake them down, held them accountable. Said we don’t want bogus exemptions. Want it done correctly. Class size reorg will be part of our system for decades. Now holding them accountable. If schools did their capital plans in year one and two could be at 80% now.

Some schools have recruitment problems. If they have hard to staff differential, you may be eligible. Something about exemption classes and November 15, and next year we move forward.

School budgets—meeting tomorrow, chancellor, superintendents and principals, we believe. Once over, we expect everyone to get budgets. Unacceptable. Schools used to get preliminary budgets ahead of time. Too many decisions to be made, hires to do, and many won’t. In bad position starting this way.

Chancellor—we believe in due process. We know procurement process of DOE beyond broken, a disgrace. Chancellor was supportive, did work on class size. Political environments we’re now in, who knows. Very good working relationship, but have to move forward without distractions. One way or another, will resolve.

Have accomplished most things on our agenda, but not respect check. SBOs coming in, off the charts. Next year’s calendar is insane. Makes sense if you look at holidays. Have to continue pressure on respect check. Thanks Priscilla, chapter leader, testimony, everyone wants to do this, mayor, speaker, why isn’t it done?

Movement in process, pressure has to remain. All happy about Knicks, World Cup. Building bleachers on Governor’s Island. All happening, have to keep pressure on.

TRS and para elections done, thanks Tom Brown, paras. Get to work.

Early voting starts Saturday. Lots of contested elections, and everything turns to midterms. Many things will happen. We get a break. Appreciate our retirees always interested in politics, need them interested, great strength of our union.

Midterms important to us, much at stake for public education, have to begin negotiating a contract. Will have largest negotiating committee in history, over 700 people. First, about education. Will have people who don’t understand. Will sit across table from DOE.

We want our members doing the work, talking to them, shaming them. Every contract has had workplace changes not a single giveback. Have to come up with a plan, have to represent. We’ve said enough of having workers pay for other workers raises.

Each group will come up with its own demands. Guide for each committee comes from membership. No one can hijack a committee with an agenda. Will get surveys. We know number one issue first. WE like vacation days, city hates it, beauty of negotiation, they might be looking for something.

Certain titles have sound argument they might need more. Will we set the pattern? Probably not. Many unions don’t have contract from last round. Do we like that? No, we are control freaks we are teachers. Didn’t set pattern but got more than pattern. Some people don’t want to admit it but it’s a fact.

School’s opening very late, but end at same time, on a Monday. We have no choice. I’d say we’re really not doing PD last day, are we? Thanks everyone who put their name in to be part of a committee. Will break down by title. Keep everyone balanced. Ends 5:01.

Michael Sill—UFT 5K Saturday. RTC meeting Tuesday. Student debt relief Tuesday. Thursday June 18 new member celebration. 22 open mike. Last day 26th. NYSUT get out vote rally for Kate Conley in Peakskill. Asks who is going to retire, asks for applause.

Mulgrew says Sill Celtics, Red Sox fan. We support people having a right to opinions. Pride month, parade 28th. We are large group, big float for membership. Should be great day. Caribbean American month. Debates how it is pronounced. Says we have to come to consensus.

Questions—5:06

Amanda Walsh—Fair student funding—Can we get it funded per class instead of per student? Projections 17-20 kids in our grade next year. Can have classes too full. In suburbs done that way.

A—Issue with DOE. Anything designed by Klein and Bloomberg not good for schools. This is based on retail stores. Wanted 32 in every class. Would cost principals to lower class sizes. Right after Bloomberg mayor said he’d get rid of policies, didn’t. One constant is DOE. We don’t have right to negotiate how schools are funded. They tell us not covered. To get around it, was class size law. We didn’t have collective bargaining, but we figure it out in different ways.

Hundreds of people working in teaching and learning. Every time they try and do anything, they get an outside contract. Taxpayers paying for all of this. Insane, we’re trying to blow the lid off of this. Three mayors made commitment, de Blasio, Adams, didn’t work. Mamdani telling DOE to make cuts, but in things schools use, basic programs.

Tina Silverman—PD virtual, all day—Members asked to come in to sit in front of computer all day and then drive home. Can we push for teachers to engage in virtual PD remotely instead of coming in?

1. Yes. Thank you for common sense approach. Makes no sense to anyone but DOE.

Anthony Cabrero—Policy if you’re dual certified, can they give you split schedule every year? Never hire in additional license. Phys ed and health.

A—At least three periods a day in appointed license. Can say not meeting preference and have to teach in license. You can start saying you want full program in license and start grievance process. Save preference sheet. Happens in too much of the city. Glad you bring it up.

Dr. Shawanda Weems—Protecting CLs. Received 3020a charges, removed from classroom. Being retaliated against. Attorney says not alone, has five cases on trumped up charges. 27th year. Chose to stay. Membership living in fear. Begging for support. If you hold principal accountable, will be retaliated. Reassigned to home. What is union going to do. Help my staff and help me.

A—Very happy to see you and call on you. Won’t go into specifics, but have had many discussions. Have records from your school, expect to protect you as teacher and CL. We protect everyone, but we will be coordinating with you. Have a lot of info from your building. Sorry for what you’re going through. Many CLs go through this. Have had CLs come out on other side when we’ve had principals removed. CL deserves extra respect in building. If you choose to be CL, you’re putting your butt on the line. We need to say you’re going above and beyond. You won’t go through this alone.

5:24 Motion period. Mulgrew says two reso we must get to.

Margaret Choi—motivating reso to go after private school vouchers. Believe public education important in healthy democracy. School vouchers here to undermine our public institutions. President ruining this, with Knicks winning streak. Money diverted from public schools, which are still responsible.

If they take our students, they take our money, our democracy. Public money should come with public accountability. Private schools pick whoever they want, don’t take every child, like we do. This results in more segregations. Wrong choice for us, students, country.

online y—748 n 123 room y—250 n 19 88% passes

Martha Boardman—Continuing ed—Oppose copays and roll back existing copays for next month—October. Copays tax on being sick. Shift health care burden to our members. Income slashed. UFT commits premium free health care, but not premium free when you pay for routine visits, barrier to care. In service members imposed and increased, devastating for retirees. Went from zero to potentially thousands. Retirees can’t pick up extra work to cover extra costs. RTC already voted to oppose these fees. Stand in solidarity with in service. Asks union to back us up. Not radical. Asks MLC recognize copays as hidden premiums. Priority at bargaining table. Urges yes vote.

Point of order—Sean Ramos—we have health care committee to look at this. Why is it not moved toward health care committee looking a viability.

Mulgrew—Have met with retirees, told them I’d rule it out of order. They have a right. Let it go before. Please go out into hall. Needs to go through health care committee. Overwhelmingly supported by everyone. Everyone is against copays. Mulgrew calls people out of order. If committee can come up with something, will bring it to DA. City would take copay money out of raises. When I say UFT has to be smart, I’ve had this conversation with people who brought this forward. Not going to do something that will hurt us later on. If we can lessen copays, will do it. Healthcare committee directed us throughout.

For people online, want to be clear, we could say yes to this. City’s position will be you have to pay now. Arbitrator will rule for them. Health care costs are a constant problem. If you yell out I will ask you to leave. This union has dealt with many complicated issues. In the end, the priority is not to divide. I don’t want people to lose raises because of copays. We need to be smart about this.

Our retirees want all the benefits they get, more than any other retirees in state of NY. Don’t want things to divide us. We can now vote on whether chair is correct or not.

Mea Ambrosio—point of info—already voted any health care voted at DA.

Mulgrew—Anything on substance of health care has to go to health care committee. Committee comes back with recommendation and then DA votes on it. If it said we want it to go to health committee, would be in order.

5:40. Vote to overrule chair. Do you support ruling that this resolution is out of order, superseding what DA voted on? (Says was voted on this year. I believe it was last.)

Mulgrew says we will get through this.

Point of order—debatable motion. Check Robert’s Rules

Point of info—Norm Scott—Remember resolution about committee—elected or chosen by leadership?

A—Claims it was brought forth by retiree group, It was not.

online y—606 n 229 room y—189 n 79 72%.

Resolution declared out of order.

5:46—Karen Allford—wants to extend hybrid DA rules. Win-win as there is a choice. Overall effect is more engagement and voice.

Point of info—Is there somewhere online we can see text of hybrid rules?

A—Will be sent out.

Point of info—Mea Ambrosio—Spoke about this last year, usually at home. Suggest we could see video and see who’s talking. Boring at home, you have 700 people.

A—Very sorry for people online who have to listen to my boringness.

Janella Hinds speaks in favor.

?—enjoys coming, extra info, seeing people he doesn’t see online. Important to be side by side, in the mix. When teaching hybrid, wasn’t the same. Shame we don’t go back.

Greg Fuchs—Calls question.

online y—797 n 75 room y—233 n 24

Resolution—

online y—888 n 28 room y—218 n 35 passes 95%.

Elizabeth Perez Manhattan rep—5:54—Endorsement of City Council and contingency. Opportunities to endorse during summer. Don’t want hands tied. To best serve interests need exec board to do work. Asks we vote yes.

Debbie ?—Has two children in service in SI. Questions about endorsements without oversight of DA, will endorse candidates that don’t reflect our concerns. Gives example of reactionary Democrat….

Mulgrew—We always endorse candidates not everyone agrees upon. Came from volunteer teachers who did interview process. Was voted on. Asks them to support with lens of profession.

Debbie—We have supported immigrants, this woman united with reactionary elements for them being housed, still bragging about it. Where do you want these people housed, concentration camp, Delaney Hall…

Mulgrew—Not rescinding support. If you want to do the work, go do it. Have taken many positions in support of protecting our students from ICE, have trained over 5,000 members. Many endorsements I don’t agree with. But we rep our members. This provision does not mean Exec Board will endorse anyone for general. Only for unforeseen circumstances, like if someone we endorsed is arrested.

Darol Morris—Isn’t this perfect opportunity for hybrid DA? We can log on at the beach.

Mulgrew—They might be drunk. This is why we pass this, for unforeseen circumstances. Try not to call whole DA in if not necessary. Just small little things, Hard for us to get quorum.

Sheryl Benjamin—Supports resolution. Was parent and grandparent of students, was special election, UFT came in full force to support very supportive candidate.

Tracy ?—Supports. Had to get hundreds of signatures to be considered for exec board. We should trust them.

? exec board—Calls question

online y—700 n 80 room y—213 n 33 89%

Resolution

online y—558 n 143 room y—177 n 63 78% passes.

Mulgrew says he appreciates us.

I love that quote. That said, it’s apocryphal—no one seems to have evidence Mark Twain said it. Someone did, though. Also, I have no idea whether or not TRS employees could be rich, but one or more of them committed an egregious error 15 years ago, and the victim of said error is being asked to pay.

Marianne Pizzitola shared a social media post with me a few days back, from a paraprofessional who retired due to accident disability. The para was told she’d get two-thirds of her salary if she retired. Now, 15 frigging years later, TRS has decided she was only entitled to one-third—half of what she’s been receiving for well over a decade..

Not only that, TRS is asking for that money back. I don’t know how much paras made 15 years ago, but if it was $20,000, that means this retired para has had a pension of about $13,333. 15 times that is about $173,000.

A retired paraprofessional, perhaps living an 13K a year, perhaps supplementing it with Social Security, suddenly has to come up with over 86 thousand dollars.

That is one hell of a lot to ask of a retired paraprofessional.

Not only that, but going forward, this woman will have to live on half the pension she was promised. This, all of this, is unconscionable. You go to retirement consultations to find out the best time to retire. I don’t know about you, but for me, a significant consideration was how much my pension would be.

Of course, there are other things to consider. Until COVID, I was really enthralled with being chapter leader. It became a central part of my life. It was incredibly rewarding to me to help people, and it taught me a lot. It made me appreciate teaching in a way I never had before. Sitting in front of the computer during COVID, looking at all those cat pics that did not really represent my students, and talking into space made me reconsider how I wanted to spend my time.

I stepped down as CL, but held out teaching two more years before pulling the plug. People called me crazy, but that was nothing new to me. I have no doubt, if I were a paraprofessional, that money would be even a larger consideration. I’m honestly not sure how I’d make ends meet as a para, let alone be able to retire.

David Kazansky has a video about this, as well as practical advice for paraprofessionals who, perish forbid, find themselves in this situation. He rightly points out that paras have been getting the short end of the stick for many years. Year after year, paras have gotten the same percentage raise we did. However, if you are already not making ends meet, that 3% raise is simply not going to get you where you need to be.

Let’s not forget that, when Michael Mulgrew had $450 million with which he could have given paras a 10K raise, instead of a non-pensionable bonus, he could not be bothered. It was only when Fix Para Pay, a small but bold group of determined paras, beat Unity 3 to 1 that he took notice, thought about upcoming elections, and started talking about that ever-elusive “Respect Check.”

No one knows how many paras got this bad info and retired because of it. That said, it’s hard for me to conceive of a rationale for making a mistake, and self-righteously demanding someone else pay for it. Obviously, whoever at TRS made this determination is at fault. If a UFT rep informed this para, based on TRS info, it’s still the fault of TRS.

Hey, if I go to the Range Rover dealer and he chooses to sell me a new one for 200 dollars, I’ll buy it. It’s not my problem if he wakes up the next day and remembers it costs $60,000. I’ve got the receipt. I didn’t hold a gun to the guy’s head (as far as you know). Regardless, this para (and any other in this situation) is there because of TRS negligence.

Not only should she not have to return the alleged overpayment, but she should also receive her promised salary for the rest of her life, and that of whomever she may have passed it to. Who should pay for this, you may ask.

When people ask how the city can pay for teacher raises, I sometimes say, “Let them sell Manhattan Island.” Every year, when the subject of raises comes up, they cry the cupboard is bare. There’s money for this, there’s money for that, but we’re supposed to just live with inflation, work for less, and say, “Thank you sir, may I have another?”

Here’s the good news—I’m certain there’ll be no need to sell Manhattan Island for 10K a year. The question, though, is how many paras were misled about this? I can’t imagine there are many. Whether there are or not, though, they ought not to be paying so very dearly for the ineptitude of TRS.

I’ve been attending union meetings all year. It’s quite clear to me that Retiree Advocate (RA) has made fundamental errors, misjudged our mandate, and is not remotely on a path to win re-election. This leaves us in dire need of new leadership at multiple levels.

Members have priorities, and they’re not being addressed. Unity bosses, with the disappointing support of our friends in ARISE/RA, just made sure our archaic, failed practice of voting almost entirely by mail lives to see another election. Unity appears more concerned about having leaders select voters than having voters select leaders.

At the last of only three election committee meetings, they let us know that works for them.

How could Unity bear having reasonable voting practices? They can’t even abide criticism. When I parodied Michael Mulgrew, they had lawyers threaten me with civil and criminal penalties. My old blog’s custom domain was blocked shortly thereafter. Daniel Alicea has had to deal with much the same, more than once, for the offense of calling our group of UFT members, “UFT members.” And now, both the NY State Senate and Assembly have passed a Unity-approved “Sit down and shut up” bill.

That’s why I’ll ask you to sign this petition, demanding Unity bosses respect our right to free speech.

People who can’t handle criticism ought not to be in leadership. Every thinking leader learns it comes with the job. I don’t know how many AI-generated Unity columns I’ve read that personally ridicule me, claim to know what I think, make stuff up, or whatever.

I was chapter leader of 350 members for 12 years. I can take it.

Unity can’t. RA claims to have trust issues. They don’t like it when I say one of their leaders, Jonathan Halabi, said he opposes 1096, or said he voted against dropping the clause in the last UFT resolution suggesting we don’t have to worry about Medicare anymore simply because Mamdani was mayor. They don’t like it when I say that RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer wrote, essentially, the same thing.

They don’t like it when I write the RA-dominated RTC Exec. Board blocked my efforts to start an online petition supporting 1096. They don’t like it when I write that Halabi blocked my motion to submit an amicus brief in the Bentkowski lawsuit. They don’t like when I say he made the outlandish proposal we ask the UFT Executive Board to do so instead, and that he failed to do even that. They refer to statements like these as “personal attacks,” and therefore seem not to trust us. My response?

If you don’t want people to know about things you do publicly, don’t do them.

Some people hate Mayor Mamdani. I don’t. That said, he’s reversed himself on key issues that affect us, including mayoral control (not to mention the para bill, or the class size law). Having watched mayoral control destroy schools and careers, having seen many friends dumped into the ATR pool as a result, that reversal kind of broke my heart.

However you feel about him, to assert Mamdani won’t change his mind about Medicare Advantage is nothing short of ridiculous.

I reached out to two Retiree Advocate (RA) leaders the day after the last UFT officer election. I deemed it important we find a way to work together. One did not respond at all. The other one told me, when I suggested we needed to build bridges, that I was using a “trite expression”. That was as far as we got. It took another year before we actually started talking.

We at Fix Retiree Benefits/ ABC have met with them twice. Considering, in the last UFT election, that we garnered 9000 votes to their 3000, we made them a very generous offer. The details are in this post, but essentially, we offered to split the ticket 50/50.

At the first meeting, we presented this offer. RA had no proposal of their own, and no counter-offer. There were five RA reps and four of ours. We discussed it, and RA told us they had no power to come to any agreement. They had to bring it back to their steering committee of 15, who would have the final word.

We told them that we did not oppose anything they were doing, but that we would like to accentuate what got us elected—protecting and improving our health care. RA brought up the platform on which they ran, which contained various social justice issues. While we were not averse to them, we again stated our emphasis needs to be on health care.

We did look, though, at RA’s campaign leaflet, which did not match the platform. It accentuated everything we wanted accentuated. It won the election. A few months ago, one of their leaders has told me health care was no longer the issue—it was creeping fascism. At a later meeting, the same guy told me we needed to deal with racism.

Make no mistake—I support neither fascism nor racism. I don’t think Unity does either, authoritarian though they are. (I do, however, think they are ageist.) As they are our opponent, it’s important to stress our differences. Didn’t Unity try sell out retirees in order to gain a mediocre compensation increase, an increase that fails to meet cost of living, for in-service members? Aren’t they actively blocking 1096, which 82% of us voted to support?

My goal is to win the election and defeat Unity. That’s why I thought it a good idea to reach out to RA. It would be easier if we worked together. They didn’t seem concerned when I first reached out, and don’t appear to feel it now either.

After the meeting, one of them approached me and asked why I wrote lies. I said please tell me what I lied about, and I’ll be happy to correct it. One thing I learned as a teacher—when you make a mistake, own up to it. She replied that she couldn’t remember. Why bring it up, then, I wondered.

Of course I make mistakes. I made the mistake, for example, of thinking I was part of RA when I ran with them, tirelessly supported them, and won an office with them. Only after we won did I learn I was not a member. Oh well. Fool me once…

So what happened at the second meeting?

RA, once again, told us they were not empowered to make any decisions. They had to go back to their committee and talk it over. They agreed to meet us again, this time four weeks later. It seemed like a long time to me, but they had their process.

A few days ago I learned out that RA had canceled the meeting, and had not scheduled another. I’m told they were somehow unable to resolve anything with their committee over those four weeks. In a way, I was relieved. Interesting though it is to offer ideas to someone who has no proposals, and hear ours can’t be acted upon, I’d just as soon sit home and do battle with the NYT crossword.

If you’re a teacher, like me, you’ve been required to go to many, many meetings. You’ve perhaps learned to detest people who raise their hands at meetings, because that just makes them longer. I’d estimate that 98% of the meetings and PDs I attended as a teacher were of no value whatsoever.

When I was chapter leader, much to my dismay, I learned I’d have to attend many, many more meetings. Fortunately, almost none were PD. Often, though, they took me out of the building. If members had grievance hearings, I went with them. If they had disciplinary meetings, I went with them. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

I taught beginners how to speak English. When they asked why I wasn’t in class yesterday, I’d simplify, saying something like, “The principal made me go to a stupid meeting.” At that time, our principal was Ali Shama. He was unusual in that he, unlike other principals, would actually walk to the frigging trailers in the rain and see how things were going.

He walked into my trailer one day, dripping wet, looked around, and as he was leaving, a young woman from China said, “Mr. Shama?”

“Yes?” he answered.

“Why do you make Mr. Goldstein go to stupid meetings?”

“I thought they were important meetings,” he said, and quickly walked out.

Meetings are always important to someone. The meetings with RA were important to me. I’m disappointed they failed to bear fruit, but we did our best. Our offer is no longer on the table, but we’ll meet with them if they ever devise a reason. Anything can happen, I suppose.

Meanwhile, we are running. We will hold an open Zoom meeting late this month to discuss where we are, hear your ideas, and start to shape our program. Like our parent group, ABC, we will be member-driven.

I’m kind of happy where I am, doing what I do. Still, I won’t hesitate to run for chapter leader if that’s what it takes.

Welcome, activist friends. It’s been a busy week here in UFT retiree land. As you’ve likely heard, this week the supremely superficial UFT Election Committee voted for Same Old, Same Old. This means no electronic voting for you, UFT. Voting by snail mail has kept Unity a veritable monopoly for over half a century. They’re not changing it until we drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

They met only three times and closed the book on facing the issue. They didn’t bother to study the processes of other unions that used electronic voting successfully, let alone why so few of us vote. This looks like nothing more than a setup with a clear, predetermined outcome. Apathy is Unity’s best friend, and they won’t risk giving the 72% of members who don’t vote a voice.

Instead, Unity bosses will enable live voting only in Unity strongholds, where their paid patronage cult members can tacitly remind folks where and how to vote. Most disappointing is that the two ARISE members on the committee, MORE’s Olivia Swisher and Retiree Advocate’s Michael Shulman, voted with Unity. Shulman is also a leader of New Action, which has been pushing electronic voting for a decade or more. What happened? You’d have to ask him.

Only ABC members Chad Hamilton, Daniel Alicea and Katie Anskat voted no on Unity’s restrictive voting plan.

Yesterday, I met with the Retired Teacher Chapter (RTC) Executive Board. There were a number of surprises, and some of them were good. The first good news was that several members we proposed were elected to replace Delegate Assembly reps who had either passed away or stepped down. 11 of the 21 nominees were elected. I expected zero of our five nominees to make it, but two of them somehow squeaked through. They are:

Michael Brocoum—a retiree activist who I first met on Facebook. He’s a supporter of ABC and a proponent for union democracy. He speaks with forcefulness and eloquence. He belongs in the DA, and I’m happy to see him there.

And coming in at eleventh place, the cutoff, was my friend Amy Arundell. I’ve written a lot about her. No one on earth supported me more when I was chapter leader. We did weighted voting and I chose her first. I was likely not the only one, and that’s probably how she squeaked by. Doubtless Michael Mulgrew can’t wait to see her again.

This is not, though, a done deal yet. Unity contends, in clear violation of regs we’ve read, that we are not allowed to vote in replacement members. Unity may very well go to the mattresses for the handful of DA votes we replaced. Unity will go to the mat for co-pays, battle to force their opponents legally to sit down and shut up, but increased union participation? Democracy? Bosses following rules? Those things must be stopped, whatever the cost.

The other good news is that RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer moved my resolution, demanding the UFT pay for our prescription premiums, up to number one on our agenda. I was pretty happy about that, and I’ve posted it below. It’s a mixed victory though, as the RA folks all voted to drop the second resolved, decoupling it from our online petition that’s already garnered over six thousand signatures.

This is a botched opportunity to build on a solid foundation and reach further.

It’s outlandish to leave six thousand signatures on the table.

Retiree Advocate is repeating an error they made early on. When we were first elected, they willingly surrendered the official UFT Retiree page, which had 6,000 followers, to a Unity Patronage Cult Member. After two years, they haven’t managed to recruit half that number. In failing to link to our petition, they toss away 6,000 signatures we’ve collected.

ABC is all about organizing. In September, we will take that petition into school buildings and build on it. No one in service wants to pay these exorbitant premiums. Members will read it and say oh HELL no.

It will be good to pass the resolution, but the RTC action that comes along with it, I’m afraid, could be as lackluster as that for 1096.

There were several rationales offered. Bennett said when he first saw it he thought it may have been created by teenagers who wanted to make trouble. It wasn’t my turn to speak. I really wanted to say I’m not a teenager, but yes I want to make trouble. Making trouble, you know, is how you get stuff done.

If you don’t believe me, ask Marianne Pizzitola, without whom we’d all have an inferior Medicare “Advantage” plan right now.

Several people asked who wrote the petition. I kept raising my hand to show I did, and it took a while before people understood. That said, I had considerable support from ABC’s resident computer genius Daniel Alicea. He knew how to get it online and design a webpage. Daniel’s love for and facility with computers originated with a former chapter leader of mine at John Adams High School (where I toiled and sweated for seven years or thereabout).

The chapter leader’s name was Nelson Sonshine, and my hat’s off to both he and Daniel. Nelson gave me some of the best advice I ever got—put 5% in TDA right now and you won’t even feel it, then raise it little by little. I followed his advice, and I am very glad I did. If you know a young teacher, give them the same advice. As CL, I told many (though not all listened. I once had to chase a 21-year-old new teacher all over the building, insisting she sign up for health insurance. It took me half an hour to persuade her that she was not, in fact, Supergirl.)

Another objection was you can’t put a “hot link” on a resolution. Several people seemed to agree, but I was not among them. Better to start with 6,000 than zero. What could they be thinking?

RTC has not been great with petitions. When I tried to have them start a petition in support of 1096, the RTC Executive Board voted to “table” the suggestion. That’s a polite way of saying we are doing nothing, and indeed, aside from one strongly worded letter, mostly written by me, we have done nothing.

Retiree Advocate is very proud of their Labor Solidarity Committee. They go to various events, but have never shown at a demonstration for 1096.

In fact, I recall one last summer in which they told us they were having a Zoom meeting and therefore could not come. I was kind of gobstruck they didn’t get off their laptops and drag their asses to City Hall. That’s what I would’ve done. In fact, that’s exactly what I did.

Alas, they have their own priorities. Too bad they’re not aligned with the 82% of us who voted to support 1096. Hopefully they’ll come around. Regardless, I’ll keep you posted right here.

Be of good cheer. We shall work this out one way or another.

UFT Welfare Fund Should Pay for Retiree Prescription Premiums

Whereas, UFT retirees are on fixed incomes, and,

Whereas, $180 per month is a high premium, and,

Whereas, many UFT retirees pay for other family members as well, and

Whereas, this rate went up a whopping 50% over a two-year period, and,

Whereas, this is a hardship on many UFT retirees, and

Whereas, other union Welfare Funds, including those of FDNY, NYPD and DC37 cover prescription premium costs for members, and

Whereas, UFT officers frequently mention “premium-free health insurance,” and,

Whereas, UFT officers speak of our Welfare Fund as the best in the country, be it therefore,

Resolved, that our Welfare Fund must cover retirees just as other Welfare Funds do, and be it further,

Resolved, that we actively support and encourage signing of the petition at https://stopchargingretirees.org/ demanding UFT Welfare Fund cover the costs of pharmacy insurance premiums for retired members.

At the suggestion of RTC Exec. Board member Alan Stein, who pointed out members get $900 back, I proposed the following addition:

Whereas this costs members a net $2160 a year, or members with spouses 4320 a year,

Are these two guys bros? You wouldn’t think it offhand, but they don’t act very differently. Mulgrew loves to complain about Trump, but has more in common with him than you’d think. If I were Trump, in fact, I’d be jealous. Trump resists checks and balances, while Mulgrew doesn’t appear to have any.

I mean sure, there are elections. However, we have a union so cynical and apathetic that three of four members can’t be bothered voting. Why bother if Mulgrew’s just gonna win anyway?

And while Trump struggles to regulate how people vote, Mulgrew absolutely regulates how they vote. All by snail mail, though turnout has been abysmal for decades, and newly in-person voting is only allowed at Unity-dominated locales. Trump would love this level of control.

We’re divided both nationally and as a union. That’s potentially problematic for Trump, but not for Mulgrew. His Unity Caucus doesn’t practice proportional representation, so aside from thirty minutes a month at the DA when Mulgrew probably won’t call on you anyway, no one but Unity has any voice at all in union leadership.

Trump still has to face Congress, and that might become tough for him next year. Mulgrew will still face a group largely composed of people who have no future if they don’t support Whatever He Wants.

Since Mulgrew’s last purge, every union employee is a member of the Unity Caucus. You’d think a union leader would have to worry about due process when firing people. After all, due process is a cornerstone of unionism. I’ve spent many hours defending members, and made sure rules were followed for all. How I felt about these members was of no import whatsoever.

However, for hypocritical Michael Mulgrew, there are no rules about firing people. If he doesn’t like you, you’re out. Trump wishes he had it this good.

So what if Migda Rodriquez was elected by 75% of voting paras? Mulgrew doesn’t like her, so, to quote Donald Trump, “You’re fired.”

The other day I wrote about a new Senate Bill, designed to prevent “impersonation” of union officials. I wrote in the form of parody, but Daniel Alicea has written a more serious critique. Now it’s a fact that anti-union activists send out crap in which they pretend to be substitute unions. A regulation precluding this would be fine with me.

However, history suggests Mulgrew’s intentions are otherwise. I know of no time UFT lawyers went after these creeps. The only folks they’ve gone after, to my knowledge, are Daniel and me. This—targeting your political opponents—is very Trumplike. Trump’s pushed to silence Jimmy Kimmel, twice now. He seems to have pulled the plug on Steven Colbert, at least at what’s left of CBS.

Ever since 2005, when I started writing about education, I’ve been hearing variations on “Sit down and shut up,” from the Unity Caucus. It’s not surprising to see Michael Mulgrew coming after me, or Daniel, using whatever means at his disposal. Lots of Americans think Trump wants to be king (I do as well), but Mulgrew is way ahead of him there.

If you had a real argument, you wouldn’t need to silence your critics.

That’s not all, though. Look at Trump rallies. Trump speaks as long as he likes, and says whatever he wants. That’s precisely what Mulgrew does. To be fair, Trump’s actually supposed to be there speaking about himself. Mulgrew, ostensibly, is chairing a union meeting. He should be addressing our concerns impartially.

At the DA last week, Mulgrew had no issue departing from his prepared remarks and editorializing about 1096. In Robert’s Rules, the chair goes to the floor to testify, but rules don’t apply to Mulgrew. He mustered the audacity to maintain that UFT lawyers were somehow impartial, only acting in the union’s interest.

It’s obvious to those of us without geraniums in our craniums that a prime Unity interest is holding retiree health care as a bargaining chip.

Mulgrew also had no problem portraying his critics as contrary, simple-minded fools. I say left, they say right, he complained. I change to right, they say left. His opponents disagree with him, not because he’s wrong, but simply for the sake of doing so, he implied. Is this substantially different from Trump portraying his opponents as “low IQ individuals?” Is it substantially different from Trump saying he’s right about everything? If so, I don’t see it.

Let’s talk a little about double standards. Trump got quite upset when people said negative things about Charlie Kirk. He put the flags at half staff, and condemned anyone and everyone who had a disparaging word. On the other hand, he raised the flags from half-staff to full for Jimmy Carter, and when one of his enemies died, tweeted, “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I'm glad he's dead"

Mulgrew says his opponents spout “fairy tales,” make everything a conspiracy, and are veritable enemies of the union. He gets quite upset when anyone speaks ill of his people. They’re all doing a great job, he’ll say.

He was particularly upset that people various people at an RTC meeting failed to pay significant homage to UFT trustees. The trustees are, somehow, above reproach, superhuman. I find it hard to believe anyone who votes for a health contract sight unseen is any such thing.

I find it impossible to believe that trustees who sign a Unity loyalty oath, particularly when they know anyone who disappoints Mulgrew is summarily fired, will act in our interests rather than those of Mulgrew and his patronage cult. Nonetheless, until they’re fired, Mulgrew presents his Unity sycophants as above reproach.

And yet, someone, almost certainly a Unity Caucus member, placed an image of my friend Amy with the legend, “Piss on my face.” This plainly misogynistic and hateful act was followed by a cursory investigation that established nothing whatsoever. Did Mulgrew threaten, or even assign his cult to find out who the perp was? I very much doubt it. It’s just as likely he promoted the person, with a wink and a nod.

Tolerance for loyalty, while turning a blind eye to mediocre performance is another thing tolerated by both Mulgrew and Trump. Is there anyone on earth who deems RFK Jr. a health expert? Is there a scientist who agrees with his beliefs? Is there a parent who wants their child to emulate his bizarre behavior?

I’m not going to individually call out UFT staffers here. I will tell you, though, that a friend of mine had a pension consult via phone a few months back, and the staffer never called. I had her write the staffer, copy Mulgrew and Sill, and it was rescheduled for a month later. The same person failed to show again. I was able to find someone competent to help and get her an actual consultation.

How many of us have sat with unhelpful UFT reps? (I was chapter leader of a large school, so I’ve seen more than most.) How many of us have gotten bad info from one or another? How many of us have sat on endless hold since Mulgrew and Salesforce “improved” the phone system? As chapter leader, I had to tell members to call UFT, and if they got someone bad, to call me and I’d get them someone good.

The thing is, though, that some of the very best people have been fired for disloyalty. Donald Trump also fires people for disloyalty. Whatever you may think about Amy Arundell, she was the most helpful person to me, as chapter leader. She was far more helpful than my District Rep., whose actual job was to support me.

Trump’s just established a 1.8 billion dollar slush fund. It looks like a judge has blocked it for now, but we shall see. I don’t know how much is in the UFT Treasury, but I do know that, the first time I went to UFT as Vice-Chair of the Retired Teacher Chapter, we asked what funds we had.

We didn’t have any. Any and all expenses had to be approved by Mulgrew. Who knows what he spends money on? When’s the last time any of us saw what he puts on that UFT credit card? We’re always watching Donald Trump play golf on our dime. How many trips has Mulgrew taken with our dues? Who knows? Not us lowly duespayers.

Now they say that Trump has ties with a whole lot of bigots. As someone who grew up with bigotry, and deplores it, that upsets me. The American Psychological Association suggest ageism is one of the “last socially acceptable prejudices.” Michael Mulgrew, evidently, has not gotten the memo.

While I’ve mentioned this many times, one of Mulgrew’s hand-selected District Representatives circulated blatantly ageist memes at the Delegate Assembly. Not only did Mulgrew do nothing about it, but his Unity-dominated Executive Board actually applauded the guy.

Is Unity Caucus a bunch of ageist bigots? Not all, I’m sure. But not a single one of them has mustered the gumption to stand up and condemn the outrageously ageist behavior of one of their so-called leaders. That’s nothing short of disgraceful.

We really need leaders who represent us all. On multiple levels, we haven’t got them.

It’s me, your favorite Union President for Life, King Michael Mulgrew the First. I’m happy to inform you that we’re going to push a new law that will not allow filthy dirty bastards to parody me. Do you like filthy dirty bastards? I didn’t think so.

Sure, satire is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but the Constitution is so 250 years ago.

And it’s not only satire. Do you know that there is a group of UFT members calling themselves—get this—”UFT members?” Who the hell do they think they are? We’ve gone to hearings about it, and we’ve threatened them about it, and they still persist. This will not stand. Don’t they have any respect for royalty?

Anyway, screw the Constitution—rules are for the little people, and the Supreme Court can change anything at any time. As I sit on my ergonomic reclining throne, paid for with your dues, high atop 52 Broadway, I get more and more pissed about people taking my Name in vain. I mean, who the hell do these bastards think they are? As you know, I myself am far too important to engage in social media. I have members for that.

I prefer to lecture uninterrupted for 90 minutes straight at ostensible union meetings controlled only by Me. I decide who may speak and who may not. I say whatever I want, whenever I want, and tell people who don’t like it they don’t believe in democracy. I ridicule and belittle anyone who disagrees with me, and liken them to enemies of the union. That’s what I call union democracy.

Now I’ve tried before to have my lawyers threaten people for impersonating me. It didn’t work, of course, because we just assumed they’d fold. They didn’t, the bastards, and since we had no legal leg to stand on, we never pressed the criminal or civil charges with which we threatened the creep.

That does not mean, of course, that we’ve given up. Take a look at NY State Senate Bill S9577A:

Prohibits falsely impersonating an employee organization or an employee representative with the intent to deceive the recipient and thereby cause harm to such recipient or employee organization by the use of fraud, misrepresentation, material omission, or other deception in making and disseminating a verbal, written or electronic communication; provides that the attorney general may bring an action or proceeding to enjoin such unlawful acts or practices.

You will note that NYSUT supports this, and of course they do. The largest component of NYSUT is the UFT, and when that uppity bastard Richard Ianuzzi declined to stop sufficiently supporting then-governor Andrew Cuomo, who brought us Danielson, Tier 6, and all sorts of other goodies, we dumped Ianuzzi and elevated a UFT member to NYSUT President.

Now once they pass my frigging bill, I’m gonna bring charges against the lowlife who wrote this frigging column. Now sure, the writer will say oh, it’s parody, and oh, it protected by the frigging First Amendment, but there are things the writer has not considered.

For one thing, as I testified at the Delegate Assembly last Wednesday, UFT lawyers speak absolute truth. Unlike other lawyers, who simply rep clients and say whatever serves the client, UFT lawyers serve the union. Well, I am the union, I am the king, and what I say goes. Dissenters shall suffer my wrath.

Not only that, but when lowlife union members claim to be parodying me, they actually mean to fool people. Who are they fooling, in particular? Well, members of my caucus, for example. They’ve sworn an oath to support whatever the caucus does. They will, therefore, support whatever I say. After all, I’m King.

Let’s face it, though—Unity, selected for loyalty, is not always a brain trust. You think they can all differentiate between parody and reality? I don’t. How many of their Substacks are written by AI? You think it’s easy recruiting professional teachers who don’t know how to write? How many of them voted to approve a health benefits contract we didn’t even allow them to read? All of them. They do as they are told.

Anyway, how are Unity members supposed to differentiate between my Word and that of pretenders to the throne? After all, I often say things that fly in the face of common sense. For example, I pay lobbyists (you do, actually) to battle furiously for the right to dump retirees under the bus. How else am I supposed to obtain the next sub-standard contract? Do members really think that I can effectively lower their pay without giving stuff back?

You know those “very smart people” I always talk about when citing negotiations? My only criterion for “very smart” is “do as they’re told.”

Will I dump retirees into Medicare Advantage again? Well, sure, if I have to. Even if I don’t, now retirees have co-pays. Whenever the city needs more cash, we can raise them. Sure, retirees may suffer. But hey, it won’t bother me, with my half-million a year, or any of my Unity BFFs, with their cushy office gigs and double pensions.

Many may simple not get it, and I count on people not getting it. That why I cite the Taylor Law when I condemn those frigging retirees who want 1096. You see, the Taylor Law covers working people, but I don’t expect them to figure that out. Unity members don’t dare question me, and frankly, no members should question me. Hence the law.

So listen, duespayers. It’s time for you to sit down and shut up. We value you, and we value your apathy. Without it, we’d never be able to control you and this frigging union. Without it, we’d have to go back to working in frigging classrooms, with New York City kids.

That’s your work. Ours is making sure no voices but our own are heard, and we’re on it.

Yes folks, this is parody. You’ll recognize it immediately, of course, if you have half a brain. UFT lawyers, despite those expensive degrees, and all the money we pay them, seem not to. And here’s a quote for your consideration—”Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.” ~Will Rogers (1879-1935)

It’s clear to me (perhaps not to others) that our ostensible union leaders openly act against us. It’s not easy to conceive of our elected leaders, those people we pay with our dues, as our enemies. However, considering the facts, there’s no other conclusion to reach.

I cannot overstate how directly and shamelessly these bosses operate counter to our interests. Michael Mulgrew can stand on his pedestal and blabber about how well UFT treats retirees, but it’s important to watch what he does. And what he does, not to put too fine a point on it, is disrespect us, disparage us, act against our interests, and spin tales to rationalize Whatever.

The most obvious and egregious example of this is his crusade against Intro 1096, which would not only protect our Medicare (from him), but also eliminate the odious co-pays—the ones he imposed in order to make his inferior “Advantage” plan look better by comparison. Taking us for a bunch of rubes, Mulgrew placed a limit on the number of copays with Medicare Advantage, but none on real Medicare.

I go to meetings, speak to members, read messages public and private, and everywhere people ask why Mulgrew won’t call on anyone from RTC to bring up the co-pay resolution. (I was pretty surprised that Bennett Fischer, given a chance to speak, didn’t bring it up the other night at the Delegate Assembly.)

I wrote the first draft of that resolution, but did so with RTC in mind as an audience. Predictably, though it passed, Unity took no action on it. Sure, during their struggle to get re-elected, they introduced a process full of redundant, tedious paperwork to get 105 bucks back. That may have won them some votes from people who didn’t yet comprehend the process.

It was not hard to predict that Unity would not entertain this resolution at the DA. There are two issues here—one is that they don’t want rank and file getting all uppity, like us retirees. Rank and file is blanketed in apathy and that’s how Unity likes it. The other is that this resolution is not suited for rank and file. They pay a whole lot more in co-pays than we do and are likely to be unsympathetic to us.

As this struggle goes on, no one in RTC has bothered to rewrite the resolution. No one has bothered to add that we’re already paying premiums rank and file does not. No one’s bothered to point out that $360 a month per couple is a significant amount, or that it’s gone up 50% in two years. I haven’t rewritten because I know the petition, even if one of us were to be called on, would linger forever under Unity feel-good resolutions and never be passed anyway. I’ve seen it before.

That’s what happens to resolutions that disturb UFT bosses.

1096 is something quite different. It’s very simple. It says that we enshrine our care, as it existed a few years ago, into code. Mulgrew makes the absurd argument that this means City Council could overturn collective bargaining. He fails to note that retirees have neither voice nor vote in collective bargaining. He fails to note that we are not the recipient of compensation increases he negotiates.

Pointedly, he fails to note it’s not the City Council that acts to reduce our benefits. It is he, Michael Mulgrew, who does that. He was ready to dump us all into Medicare Advantage in order to procure a compensation increase that did not even meet cost of living. We don’t need protection from the City Council. We need their support, and we need protection from Michael Mulgrew, who will sell us out in a New York minute.

Mulgrew and Unity think we are a bunch of addle-brained old coots, unlikely to notice. They have their lawyers spin outlandish arguments about the Taylor Law, which says municipal employees face draconian penalties for striking. What does a retiree strike even look like? Does it entail us marching en masse back to public schools to work for free?

Sometimes I fantasize being able to afford the drugs Mulgrew appears to be taking.

But a whole lot of my brother and sister retirees have trouble affording their prescription drugs after paying co-pays, not to mention the sky-high pharmacy premiums Mulgrew imposes on us.

Do most retirees even know that NYPD doesn’t pay those premiums? Do they know FDNY and DC37 don’t pay them either? Michael Mulgrew musters the audacity to declare we have the best Welfare Fund in the Galaxy, but hopes we never find out most of the other city agencies cover pharmacy insurance for retirees.

Don’t even get me started on the District Rep. who circulated ageist memes to chapter leaders at the DA. Who knows how many times he did it before being called out? Who knows how many others were doing the same? What we do know, is rather than condemn this blatant bigotry, Unity got him to talk about his grandma, or some such nonsense, and applauded him at the Executive Board.

Imagine if the DR had been discussing a racial, national or religious group, a gender or sexual orientation. UFT bosses would have scrambled to find that unacceptable. Imagine someone announcing it’s fine because some of their best friends are Jewish, or whatever.

Ageism, though, is just fine with the Unity Caucus if you can claim to love your grandma.

It’s not just the juvenile stereotypes they spread around and chuckle over—it’s the fact that they work with impunity against our interests.

Though we voted overwhelmingly, twice, to support 1096, Unity openly lobbies against us, rationalizing their battle with nonsensical arguments.

Let’s not forget that Mulgrew kept the para bill under wraps for months, citing concerns about collective bargaining, Let’s not forget that paras are active workers who are indeed subject to collective bargaining, Let’s not forget they worked to accommodate that bill.

Well, if they are so frigging concerned about 1096, let them figure out how to make that work. They’ve not lifted a finger to do so. The only conclusion I can reach is that Mulgrew wants to continue to hold us as a bargaining chip. He’s ready to throw us under the bus at a moment’s notice, in order to procure the next contract that fails to keep up with cost of living.

I’ve just heard that Mulgrew has hired former City Council speaker Corey Johnson as a lobbyist, for 16K a month. Beats working, I guess. In fairness, I’ve never seen Johnson accused of ageism. I have, though, seen him accused of racism.

Will Johnson be going to City Council to make sure retirees can’t protect our health insurance or reverse the co-pays, the ones that could increase any time Unity needs cash to fund a crappy compensation increase? Almost certainly.

And if they don’t use him, they have others. We’ve organized Fix Retiree Benefits to get in their faces about this. You’ll be hearing how to join us and more right here.

Tonight, the nonsensical suggestion that we no longer have to worry about losing Medicare, real Medicare, under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, was rejected by the UFT Delegate Assembly. My friend, former non-Unity District Rep. Bruce Markens spoke eloquently as to why. He cited Mamdani’s reversal on the para bill. He cited his reversal on affordable housing.

What Bruce did not cite was one that hit me very hard—Mamdani’s reversal on mayoral control. A big reason I rooted for Mamdani was his willingness to dump the thing that allowed Mike Bloomberg to close almost every comprehensive high school in the city. At Francis Lewis High School, our test scores saved us. But we were all on the chopping block, and I’m not gonna sit here and maintain our teachers were better than those in closed schools. (I may argue we have the smartest and best looking ESL teachers.)

Bloomberg closed schools by zip code. Francis Lewis High School, despite massive overcrowding, has little animated Disney birds flying and Snow White walking around everywhere, if only they can find space. (It’s easier for the birds.) And frankly, from Francis Lewis High School, Mulgrew’s class size talk is for the birds as well. Even with an annex, which beats the hell out of the trailers, we are way, way oversized.

Mulgrew seems a sensitive sort. He will urge the Delegate Assembly to go on social media, but he’s too fraidy-scared to do it himself. As an illustration of his pettiness, tonight he claimed anytime he said left, people say right. If he said right, they changed their minds and said left.

Mulgrew thus portrayed his opponents as contrary, simple-minded galoots. (This is wildly inappropriate, and if the UFT DA follows Robert’s Rules, so did the most unruly class I “taught” as a first-year teacher.) I’ve spend a little time recently speaking with Bruce Markens, and I can tell you he is nothing of the sort. Nor are those of us battling to protect our health insurance from Mulgrew.

With short time, having blathered on for half the meeting, Mulgrew saw fit to instruct us that lawyers fight for whatever side they’re paid to fight on. He said UFT lawyers, though, fight for the union. All due respect, that’s utter bullshit.

UFT lawyers do as told. They’ve threatened me with civil and criminal penalties for the offense of parodying Michael Mulgrew. Whoever they claim to be fighting for, the fact is satire is my First Amendment right. If UFT lawyers don’t know even that, I’m not persuaded they earned their high school diplomas. They do what Mulgrew says, and just like UFT staff, once they stop, they’ll be fired.

The actual resolution contains much truth. However, I believe, particularly as it speaks of “educating” retirees, it’s designed to take our eye off the ball, the ball being 1096. It’s not gonna work, King Mulgrew. Go and sic ALL your royal lawyers, and ALL your “educators.” We remember what you spent three years trying to do to us, and we won’t forget. We will keep our eyes on Trump, but we’ll keep them on you as well.

Now I know Janella Hinds, and I’ve worked with her. She’s one of the smartest people I know, able to improve a piece of my writing tremendously in five minutes, which she did on a resolution we both supported. But tonight, she came without an argument. If you wanted to keep that whereas, you’d need to say that Mamdani’s word is his bond, and he’d never break it. However, I’ve given you multiple instances in which he did precisely that.

If Mamdani threw the paras under the bus, why wouldn’t he do the same for retirees?

It’s very clear that we’re not having a union meeting. We’re attending the Michael Mulgrew Show. We’ll probably get yet another email from Mike Sill saying Mulgrew said this and that. Note to Sill—this is supposed to be a union meeting, not a lecture.

Be of good cheer, and I’ll be back before you know it!

Notes—unedited.

4:15—My phone screens the call, and I have to call in. But they called me exactly on time today. I call back and hear Muzak. Not The Girl from Ipanema, unfortunately. Some sort of droning repeated notes.

4:18—Mulgrew comes on. Welcomes us. Decides it’s May.

Moments of silence, one for teacher in Inwood, unnamed, one for George Gresham.

Thanks CLs. Moved DA for trustee election. Not easy when DOE runs election. Thanks CLs who ran elections. Introduces new Asst. Secretary, to cheers, Kiera Pena. Worked in grievance and arbitration.

Printing bills in Albany, budget near end.

Big beautiful bill—Federal tax credits/ voucher program. Says regulations have to come out, calling it tax credit, we call it voucher. Can donate to educational institution, except public schools. You can donate to private educational institutions, private or religious schools. People we’ve been fighting for 30 years. Trying to erode funding and faith in public education.

Governor went to private fund raiser, said she would support it. One person, governor, in charge of whether state adopts it. Working with group, state union, people who’ve been through our side through many fights (union interference?).

Never seen someone dismiss a lawsuit create billion dollar fund for selves.

State—session ends June 4th. Over next few weeks everything they have to get done, big ugly, will get done. Things pushed out by policies like mayoral control get done. Primaries June 23rd, so must get done. State union said we won’t do endorsements until budget is done. Want to see how people handle issues.

First bill of our concern about school funding, NYC gets 863 million extra. 250 mill over what governor put in, and we were happy with just that. Significant win for us. Back in balance with rest of state with foundation formula. Homelessness, foster care, ELL give weight, as we have many. More services and money will be supplied.

Bill will sit three days and be voted on.

Did not agree with governor on four years mayoral control, two only.

Nothing yet on Tier 6. Heard about pensions and class size, nothing yet, coming soon. Tier 6 is about age. Always ugliness, have to have fights. Has been going on. Feel strongly we will make progress. Years most important thing. Members start before age of 25. In Tier 6, you pay contributions every year. Also massive penalties—retire at 55 and pension cut in half.

Whatever we get this year, we won’t be done. We reassess and go back at it. Everyone now knows it’s horrendous. Tier 6 members in legislature every year. Our superpower is we don’t stop, just keep grinding at them.

Class size, finally having meaningful conversations about capital plan, next big phase of class size. Construction never on time or on budget from SCA. Costs double before they start. Constant thing. DOE has visited every school, and we will too. This is big deal. Big difference between School Facilities and School Construction Authority. Facilities does fields and such, quickly. (not where I work).

We don’t take DOE’s word, will visit schools. Asked for joint committee to help schools program properly. Big problem. DOE has identified many schools that can comply via reprogramming. Said every supe has team of expert programmers. I think they just slap a title on anyone, dismissed APs. They couldn’t explain why, then, there were so many issues.

Hiring teachers, certain titles, will help class size, math, science, sp. ed., bilingual massive shortage.

Mulgrew sees someone throwing water and gets upset.

Hard to staff issue will come up. There are contract provisions. Some may work, but may need something else. Shouldn’t collectively bargain. Part of plan. Have to attract certain titles.

We know neighborhoods we need schools built in will be difficult. Competing with developers who just want lots. Not large number, but we need plan. When mayor says we’ll only hire a thousand teachers, he can’t. Law says you have to push toward compliance. City always broke when dealing with state budget, even with 7.5 billion in reserve.

Pension stuff has to go to trustee boards. They are there for a reason. 70s fiscal crisis, trustees said yes, one of our best investments, well over 15%. Any time an issue comes up, people automatically say you must say not. People love to just run political campaigns for the sake of running them. If I say right, they say left. If I say left they say right. (A little touchy, Mike.)

Rest of state voted on school budgets which they don’t have.

Spring Conference, phenomenal panel. Elected officials said they didn’t understand what it took to do class size. They illuminated challenges and why it’s working.

City—Hot. Not tomorrow. If we go back ten years, more than half schools would be sweltering mess. Over 1400 buildings. 40 heat complaints last two days. We have to stay on it. School Facilities handles this. Say let them know if you have rooms without cooling device. Some principals didn’t want to be responsible for window AC, to replace them. Mulgrew says let’s take it out of your office and talk about it.

When he says to non-contractual A, B, and C ask to put kids in principal’s office.

Sink holes in Bronx, LGA, all over. Good luck with that.

Now priority in city’s budget is para respect check at all times. Now it’s heating up. Press reported when Julie Menin spoke, was loud with fist in air. Passing it, period. We go from there.

Should not be spending billions because in lawsuits because we don’t have enough paras.

We have to do the work and fight. Made mistake increasing budget for lawsuits. Who would pay 2 billion for lawsuits instead of hiring personnel for 300 million?

SBOs—Debbie Poulos—Had hold on SBOs, had four pre-approved we renewed. Election Day swap not possible—for November PT conference, and on election day, just three hours remote instruction, everyone home. Day would be full day, and everyone gets two hours remote time. Were not able to get in person November and March done. So September and May only.

Mulgrew—Says it will be popular. You can’t remove any instructional time now because we are at 180, locked.

LIRR strike, if you had issues let us know. If principal didn’t approve lateness less than three hours, email msill@uft.org. Governor said work remotely. Thank you for emails asking why we don’t listen to her. Were in contact with DOE.

City budget July 1, June 23 primary day. Congressional and state elections. State, hopefully next weekend, NYSUT can endorse. Has done recommendations to AFT. Lander Goldman race, could not be agreement. Difference between PSC and us. So we have understanding that if you have incumbent with 100% record, you can endorse. Now PSC endorsing Lander and we are pushing Goldman.

Mulgrew tells someone to stop, not call out or hiss. We have a congressional person who voted 100% on every issue for AFT. Other candidate wants to run. But if we say we’re not going to support you if you stay with us, will be bad. AFT gave us very clearly, sitting candidate voted 100%. Goes forward.

Interesting races at state and congressional level This not race people are looking at, it’s Reynoso, upper west side looks like free for all. Thanks Political Action Dept. for doing all this work, Please support it, if you don’t, volunteer your time, be part of process.

June 5, elementary and middle schools remote, HS had one earlier this year.

Work in Albany, not acceptable, ridiculous. though we were past really late budgets. May 20th and schools haven’t got initial budgets. Will get very messy fast. Can’t answer plans to hire teachers for class size. Always staff they need to hire. Around us, districts are hiring. Not in the best interest of our class size.

Pointing fingers at each other, we’re used to that with children on playground. Everyone talks about how important it is, and if it is, you have to get work done. You’re CLs, not always 100% agreement. Work we have done, you have done, is amazing. Tier 6 was in no budget and you got it put in. We sold out, packed house in Albany. First two steps were great, now those aren’t enough anymore.

Will help us recruit and retain titles. Will help everyone. Thanks for all work done. Confident we will make significant progress. Also have to get done on April 1st. Thanks delegates. Says we won’t stop.

Ends 5:02.

Mike Sill—SI office tomorrow crafting, yoga, friday 52 AI showcase, Banquet at house of joy, June 2 A shanker scholarship awards, june 5 39 secretary soiree, June 6 UFT family day, June 13, UFT 5K, Have till next DA to contribute to AIDS walk, talk to Rashad Brown or Karen Miller, 24 days left in school year. Next month Pride Month.

Questions—5:06

Doreen K, retiree, exec board—Robert’s Rules. Always had speaker for, speaker against, before we end debate. If opportunity not offered, what becomes of resolution that’s not passed.

A—Someone could say we’re out of order as a body. Sometimes no one wants to debate. Can challenge chair. Don’t know what you were asking for. Then you got a mess.

Karen Miller—Mentioned clerical day. What guidance for elementary?

A—I don’t think you want answer. Getting pushback from principal. Make sure you know what can happen if you ask certain questions. Say hello to Brian. He’s doing great and Mulgrew is having a ball.

Q—For gym, does that count as room needing AC?

A—Yes. PE is a class. Law requires all instructional space must have AC.

Dina Hassan—At year end, preference sheets. Admin requests early retirement or leave. What tools can we take to enforce article 7 at school level?

A—They don;’t have right, Individual decision, Go to grievance, supe.

Q—Diana Judge, para exec board, Some admins want teachers to pass chronic absent students. Undermine teacher judgement.

A—Cannot set new policy. Handbook says nothing. Teacher can say my grade is my grade and union will support. There is process if they choose to change grade, but have to consult with teacher. May be reasons for absence. If they get all work done, pass Regents, there are different situations, but you have to take into account. If blanket passing, file grievance, get it out of building ASAP. They tell us to pass children who don’t know subject, and that’s a sham. State regs talk mastery of subject. Seat time requirement for credit recovery. Schools set them up for students who cut whole year, no seat time, we;’ve gotten schools in trouble for that.

Elenzet Santana—CL PS 310—Max number of ICE students in special ed class?

A—Always 40%. ICT subject to class size law.

Bennett Fischer—endorsement process—Said there was disagreement between UFT wanting to recommend Goldman—how was that process arrived at without coming to DA?

A—We do state and federal. City endorsements directly from this body. State level is NYSUT day to day. Same for AFT, does a lot. We don’t do endorsement, only recommendations. AFT all about voting record. If someone is 100% and incumbent, unless there’s something crazy, like having another family, that’s recommendation. We follow AFT’s guideline. Candidate followed AFT on all issues. Had no issues here with that person. We’re also short on time.

Bernadette Alexander—All remote days—what counts as attendance. Sometimes they’re not really there.

A—Did they log on? Participation? Principal rating counts on attendance. Should have this conversation at school and district level. If they’re there you mark them in.

Parents can’t email principal and have kids marked present?

A—That will have to leave your school if it’s the case

Motions 5:22

? Callagy—Next month—to ensure human oversight in AI based decision making in schools, being handed out. At crossroads, AI increasingly used. Not condemnation, nor embrace. Speaks to need for oversight and accountability. AI is tool. Must not replace pro judgement, experience, human understanding. Cannot govern itself. Shaped by data, can amplify biases. Bad for high stakes decisions, teacher evaluation. Our responsibility to provide guard rails.

Resolved, UFT calls for mandatory human oversight. No AI tool make final decisions, demand full transparency. urges DOE to have clear policy and protocol, AI shouldn’t do student placement, teacher or student evaluation. Should be body to review.

Also advocate for PD on AI, and how to advocate. Want values of equity, human dignity. Enhance, not replace human interaction.

Norm Scott—Wants classroom teachers involved, not principals and union officials. Not against.

Mulgrew—Now we move to the vote.

Mulgrew discusses colors.

online y 696 n 113 room y 213 n 14 88% passes

Karen ?— For next month—Maintaining focus on core union priorities—UFT created to fight for better pay, safer schools class size, public education. Not foreign policy. Should focus on systems, overcrowded classrooms, not half a world away. protect benefits, working condition, public education. Membership diverse. Taking positions on divisive issues outside direct scope can distract from workplace concerns. Global issues involvement can involve us in harm. Unless these directly affect member safety or working conditions. Members can engage in advocacy outside. Please vote yes.

Mulgrew—Only someone against. Only one speaker for whether or not on agenda

Michael Shulman—adamantly opposes. Violates free speech. Goes against past policy and practice. I go back to 1973, was never limit on our membership to bring questions, from Al Shanker on. Could give list of resolutions that have come before this body. First reso in 1985 was Adcom, condemned nations that supported terrorism. Won’t dwell on result of that vote. Had we had this resolution in front of us, would prohibit those of us with strong opinions form bringing forward. Agree priority has to be working conditions, but to exclude would be gross violation of established and long held policy.

Mulgrew—June 3 is RTC luncheon

online y 434 n 403 room y 84 n 140 Fails by one percentage point.

Resolutions—5:42.

Mulgrew must leave at 6.

Point of order—Jonathan Halabi—Body highest in union, understand about endorsement, Michael said we went ahead, we are DA…

Mulgrew—out of order.

Halabi asks body to overrule chair, mulgrew said not point of order

Sterling Roberson—Exec Board—Resolution about defending social security and social contract important to all. We fought and made ground on traditional Medicare, but biggest threat has shifted to DC. Targeting very programs our members pay into. For those of us retired, immediate and personal. SS foundational income. Medicare and Medicaid essential. Medicaid supports what’s not covered by Medicaid. (Yes he said that.)

Weakening of programs puts burden on your families. Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare today. Not voting on press release. About real organizing campaign. We do that extremely well. Asking for rapid education, coordination. Ask us to unanimously vote for resolution.

Bruce Markens, RTC—last elected Manhattan DR—Move to strike first whereas. About Mamdani having ended immediate danger we’d lose Medicare and get MA. Emphasize “definitively and unequivocally”—Pol has often changed views. As candidate said he’d support respect bill. has equivocated on that and rent subsidies. RTC passed similar without first whereas. Added because we passed resolution to support 1096, which would guarantee retirees traditional Medicare. For over three years we fought against union leadership who wanted to force us into medicare advantage. Through well organized campaign leaders retreated, This doesn’t solve problem. Administrative code, 12-126 passed in 60s allowing for base of coverage in retirees. Ask to codify fact it will not be taken away from us. Hoping that by putting this in law we can rest in peace, even before we die. Was not in original resolution.

Mulgrew—1096 issue is allowing precedent that elected body could overrule collective bargaining, Our lawyers say this will allow elected body to overrule collective bargaining, Union always very smart about what is going on, cannot allow misrepresentation, Your lawyers work for you, ours work for the union, You tell lawyer what you want and they advocate. Our lawyers say otherwise. You don’t know what elected body comes next, Talking about fact that he brought up, just clarified statement.

Point of order—thought we were discussing resolution, Gloria Brandman, not appropriate to debate this, don’t agree with everything you’ve said.

Janella Hinds—In favor of reso as written. Whether mayor abides by promises, important part is resolved. Ways we contribute to programs, we have contributed to Medicare and Medicaid. Requires all hands on deck.

James Vasquez—Calls question—

Mulgrew hums Jeopardy theme

y 550 n 140 room y 183 n 25 82% called

Elizabeth Perez—Next vote solely on amendment to strike first whereas.

y 408 n 253 room y passes—whereas is struck 55%?

online y 538 n 115 room 165 n 41 82% Resolution has passed 6:04.

Mulgrew wishes us good weekend, be safe.

I am really glad to have had to be here, at 52 Broadway, for an early meeting, and that I attended today’s RTC meeting in person. It was, frankly, hard to believe what I was watching, and for a good five minutes, I could barely stop laughing. I wish we had recorded it. It could go viral.

My friend Norm Scott added an amendment to a resolution about affordable housing, and every Unity member in the house was jumping up and down, seemingly on the verge of a collective coronary. While we of course need affordable housing, Norm added, “Resolved, to increase retiree ability to afford housing, eliminate burden of copays.”

This was several minutes before our scheduled end time. It seemed that every Unity member in the house had a point of information or point of order. They were all outraged that there was no time for them to stand up and defend co-pays. It was ironic seeing them get even a small taste of what many of us have experienced for years, decades even, at Delegate Assembly meetings.

It was as though they were mortally wounded by the notion of reversing Mulgrew’s beloved co-pays.

It seems beyond belief that anyone, especially an ostensible union rep, would battle for retirees to have less money, but Unity was very, very amped up about it.

Please pardon me for my short intro. I had a rather miserable morning, having to drive to Queens and take the subway in. I have to do the same in reverse now, since LIRR didn’t get running in time for me to use it. Should I walk to the E, or search for the R and take that to World Trade Center?

Decisions, decisions. In any case, though today’s commentary is short, my notes are pretty inclusive:

Notes—unedited

2:32—Bennett Fischer, chapter leader, calls us to order. City and state budgets—Mayor Mamdani does not have the power to take money out of city pension fund. As of now, neither state nor city budget passed. City waiting on State.

Have some idea where things stand. What’s not happening—Idea of using pension obligation bonds off the table. City will not be using any reserve funds to pass budget. Will believe it when budget is passed.

Q—Does that mean budget announcement he made will be affected by that?

A—No that’s part of it.

Mamdani believes state contributions and tax on second homes good enough for this year and maybe next. Hasn’t got long term fix. We have to keep eyes on proposal to spread out payment for unfunded liability. Like refinancing a mortgage. We opposed a different version last year, that stretched over additional ten years instead of five. Not vetted by TRS or any pension fund trustees. Will not affect our actual pension payments. Worst ideas off table, will have to keep close eye on reamortization proposal.

Talk that Mark Levine will invest pension resources into affordable housing. No idea what’s happening with that. If it does, trustees have responsibility. to ensure they are sound and offer high rate of return. If they can help housing crisis while earning us money, it’s a win-win. Already invested in NYC real estate.

TRS Trustee elections—Occur annually, one has just included. Three highly qualified candidates, no one knows results. We were ineligible to vote. Why don’t those of us whose pensions managed by TRS have no voice into what they are. It’s absurd. Decisions affect retirees as much as those in the classroom. We must right this wrong, Launch coordinated political campaign to be heard and counted. Will pass resolution here and at DA, we hope. Primary project moving forward. Will discuss with executive board.

I announced UFT phone bank for city council, UFT endorsed. I endorsed another candidate, but we are all grownups, free to endorse or not. Even when I disagree, will uphold promise to bring you info, guest speakers and support you need.

Last Friday Daily News reported UFT endorsed Dan Goldman for Congress. Came as shock because no formal endorsement process happened. UFT endorsements voted by DA. On occasion they follow AFT or NYSUT, but no such resolution passed by either, Sometimes special things happen, but not this time. This is not a UFT endorsement, I conclude. May be other organizations where that doesn’t matter, but that is not the UFT.

Brad Lander former council and controller, First to support retirees in fight against Medicare Advantage. As controller refused to certify Aetna contract. We have no better friend, and UFT should support Brad, not billionaire Goldman. Point is this endorsement made without input from any union body, fundamentally wrong.

Report on two events—UFT Spring Education Conference, had a great time. Love exhibits. Was impressive assortment of politicians. Christine Quinn got UFT Dewey Award. Also De Napoli, and Tom Levine. Said pensions were strong, would be Tier 6 reforms. Julie Menin spoke of para respect. Tish James admired for fiery spirit. Chancellor there.

Not present was mayor. Already transformative, but contract negotiations coming up, we have questions about health care. Hope he comes to speak to us.

Other event was Mayday rally and march. Absolutely electric. UFT staffers were at NYSUT Assembly, I was not invited. Labor Solidarity Project there. Met here at Shanker Hall afterward. My honor to mingle with FUN and introduce Chris Doles, director. Not enough inter-union solidarity.

Few days before that our crime boss in chief spoke with MAGA said they couldn’t fund safety net, social security, medicare and medicaid. Should focus solely on war machine. When neo fascists talk cuts, they also mean people. They ensure safety of food and water, work for us in social security offices and VA hospitals.

Chris Dole spoke about renewal in federal workers. People in that room had become jobless, were suffering, in this crazy back and forth. Have won things in courts, have long term strategy. As they move forward, served as reminder we are not in this desert alone. Unions make our whole society better. Encourages everyone to join Labor Solidarity Project, Signup forms in lobby.

Made election announcement for 11 vacancies in RTC delegation. Nomination process closed now. After meeting, tried to send out email to whole chapter, but I was not allowed to do that. Was told it wasn’t—wasn’t told anything. Some sort of pushback, different interpretation. Still moving forward, may put in protest. Will see what happens. Will take place June 2, Exec Board. Will see if they are seated or not.

This year experimented with different days and times. Felt it might keep people from attending. Goal to get more attendance. Before next year, will look at attendance numbers and see if it had positive affect. Whatever we do, some won’t be pleased.

Reports usually taken up with union politics, but more than that. Si Beagle Courses. Very successful. Never had any idea that a pleasure would be my responsibility to help plan and host retiree luncheon—June 3rd, Wednesday.

Questions—3:01

Fran Miller—Can we vote as a chapter on how we want meetings instead of you deciding?

A—No. Will look at data and make decision. Could do survey but should be only those who come. Will not have a vote. If numbers show that our chapter benefits from various times, we will continue to do so. If otherwise, will go back to one day at one time. Data goes back four years.

Dave Pecoraro—Not member of DA. If they aren’t following policy, past practice, wouldn’t it be in order for this body to raise point of order that process should have proper practice?

A—Next DA tomorrow. Good suggestion.

Mimi Bluestone—Endorsement process—I am a delegate and we’re never called on. I also object to candidate. Think world of Lander, and Goldman bought seat. Trying again. Frustrated by process. Looking for other ideas.

A—Lots of problems with DA structure, choreographing. Have seen it. When considering current delegation, many are new, seeing it first time, month after month, very frustration. Takes thick skin to sit through months after months. Do not have magic bullet. Have seen resos asking for restructuring, never seen them called on. Not sure what to do. Not listened to. Feel your frustration.

Glenn Tepper—Suggests we consider a resolution along lines of what parliamentarian said, objecting to process.

A—Anyone can bring a resolution. Hopefully we’ll have time today.

Mike Brocoum—question==

A—Please wait for open mike.

Online—Pension Gay Weisner—Won’t delayed funding affect what fund earns, will be delayed funding.

A—Don’t know answer but funded above 85% right now. Pensions still guaranteed.

Sean Ahern—Regarding fact we don’t get called on, could you inform President Mulgrew if he doesn’t call on us, we have standing resolution on copays. If he doesn’t call on us will stand in silent protest.

A—Can warn him.

Ellen Azowski—Can retirees start petition to be recognized.

A—I would sign it.

Ellen ?—Aren’t you aware that NYSUT is who we follow, and Dan Goldman has been my district and has been wonderfully responsive and NYSUT has endorsed him, Is this the forum for people to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction, are you aware?

A—I understand we follow endorsements, but my research says neither NYSUT or AFT has endorsed. If I’m mistaken, I’ll stand corrected.

Joan Martinez—If we aren’t recognized we need to picket. Why are we not doing that?

A—Thank you for your suggestion.

Marilyn ?—Wouldn’t it be a good idea for our chapter to vote on who we endorse. I’d present motion to support Brad Lander.

A—my understanding is chapters don’t endorse, DA does. We can make recommendations.

Gloria Greenhut—Working with union 55 years, only wanted to be delegate to help. First time I’m not a delegate. First of all, you don’t just show up. You have meetings to show how to prepare, not just throw things out. I know the answers to all the questions. Defended people for U ratings. Unity Caucus got you to where you are now. Would like to know, in a fair way, to have all these people apply to be a delegate, and if you don’t want to be active, then don’t run. How do we have a fair election? I never heard about it.

A—elections every three years. In union elections choose AFT and NYSUT delegates. In our delegation, we get 300 delegates to DA, done by slate, Last election were two slates, Unity, Retiree Advocate, and whoever gets most votes wins. People drop off sometimes. People pass away or lose interest. Confirmed departure of eleven. Read RTC constitution and looked at process. There is one. Exec Board fills vacancies. Trying to have election to seat those people.

Sarah Shapiro—Googled, said NYSUT endorsed Goldman. What takes precedence—delegate vote, or NYSUT endorsement? I believe delegates should determine with a vote.

A—I agree. That’s not the way it goes. I can find out.

Point of information—Leo Casey—Long standing practice that in order to maintain unity in endorsement, national UFT, state NYSUT. City UFT.

?—Want to know which candidate is better. Why don’t they speak here?

I correct Leo, say Goldman is running for national, not state, office. Point of order. Bennet thanks me for my question, but it wasn’t a question.

3:29—Alan Abrams—Speaks of RMD, required minimum distribution. TDA. If you’re 73, Uncle Sam wants taxes on RMD. Have to respond by September 26, TRS needs it by the 30th. Have to take action. If you want to change your date from October to December, you have to mail in your request.

Q—before you didn’t have to do anything.

A—if you do nothing you will get it in October. Tax will be 10%.

Q—Wouldn’t there be a difference because you get 7% interest for two months.

A—That’s why you have to be proactive. Select 12/26. 10% is automatic.

Online asking for powerpoint—will put it out.

If change in status address UFT membership. Portal on website.

Didn’t read that carefully, accountant noticed change from December to October. Would like to know how many TRS people who got RMD chose default. No one I know has ever filled in those forms. People will be surprised when TRS probably doesn’t pay millions for those two months.

UFT runs great workshop—Make sure beneficiary is right. 403B. You are allowed, if you have others, to take it from other places that pay lower interest rates.

Workshop in June. TRS and UFT. TRS website good too. Plan specific question, schedule a zoom with TRS. Will update based on your account.

What about BERS?

BERS will also notify you, and also does workshops.

Q—Can TRS send out a letter? I found out online about this on Facebook page. Wasn’t in a letter.

A—Will bring request forward.

Q—What if you didn’t get letter yet?

A—Look on TRS website, correspondence.

3:49—Bennet says be proactive. Moving on. Jonathan Halabi will give a report on school based immigration working groups.

Jonathan—Immigrant support work and schools. We know some students have been detained by ICE. Dylan Contreras returned. ICE has not invaded NYC like other places, but are here every day, and every day someone is detained. Yesterday judge ruled they can no longer kidnap people, but kidnapped someone this morning.

Doesn’t get attention of other cities. Haven’t come into schools. Have impinged on school grounds. Famiies and students are nervous. Some schools have formed committees, That work is preliminary. Many of us have found other ways to support—know your rights committees. Shows buttons and whistles.

Rapid response groups, I’m not part of any, do things. In courthouses, people are accompanying immigrants. People going to witness what happens. Not talking in detail but have been going in. They look scary, with face coverings. We bring little kids books with toys and stickers to keep them calm. Offer to walk people out.

One group of schools has pulled network together. Talking with immigrant committee about finding support from retirees. In coming weeks will likely need volunteers to work with schools and begin forming network. As soon as I get info will put it out.

Meanwhile, I have asked for those interested to come together. Have people coming to building Thursday to talk at one o clock.

Glenn Tepper—Which candidate has been bearing witness to this?

Halabi—Thank you for info.

Glenn—It’s Brad Lander.

Halabi—Goldman has helped.

?—Working in sunset Park, not necessarily students, but lot of parents. Will be rally June 4 at Tweed Courthouse 4 PM. Want to add a protocol if ICE is in neighborhood, e.g. shelter in place. Principals afraid, so we want a response protocol so we can protect our students.

Joe Sicilian—Thanks Jonathan. Our shelters, food banks, clothing banks empty. People are afraid to come. Petrified. We worked out way for person to take food to others. Please donate to local charities. Children need to be dressed well, feel good about themselves.

Lourdes ?—People have right to due process. Do we have lawyers who will work pro bono?

A—There are immigration lawyers who do that. Not nearly enough. Networks of people trying to fill gaps.

Gabe Weisner—Who can we contact at project hospitality about donations?

A—You have to be in your own community, churches, shelters. Some schools.

4:05—

Bennett—Good and Welfare period.

Gloria Brandman—RMD—As forty year teacher, be careful to take out enough taxes. If you don’t, you’ll pay a fine. Health care committee has working group dealing with 1096. Will have a meeting, Working on it in addition to all other amazing things we do. Next meeting June 16 1-3. Will have Tai Chi workshop.

Kieran Choudoury—Woman coalition and no more 24 fighting for bill. Tomorrow DC37 will picket union leadership. DC37 wants to tell city council to block no more 24 bill. Leadership selling out own members. Saying they will lose benefits if 24 hour shifts for 13 hour pay were not wage theft. Marte sponsors it, also sponsors 1096. Chief enemy is same as enemy of 1096 and NYHA, insurance companies. 11:30 tomorrow.

Annette Jaffe—Last UFT RTC passed resolution to support no more 24. Like to expand our support. Organizing members to have informational house meetings to learn. Hear from home health workers. All of this can happen with fellow retirees and refreshment, Can sign up.

?—Official ballot for People’s Money. In each borough. anyone from 11 and up can vote on what they want city to spend money in communities. NYC Civic Engagement Commission. Contact them.

Health Welfare Issue—Lander and Goldman litmus test of humanity. Lander divested pension from Israel, Goldman against. Vote the right way. Stand against genocide with your vote.

Fran Miller—Student at Si Beagle. Asked me to say forms are on table. Day at the university, always interesting, Friday June 26.

4:16—Bennett RMD workshop, sign up, UFT players putting show June 11-12, Summer Camp Scam here at 50 Broadway.

Motions—4:17

Mike Shulman—presents resolution about affordable housing. To retain diversity, we need affordable housing as essential component. People are suffering. This resolution says our chapter supports affordable housing for all New Yorkers. Will ask UFT to advocate for 30% of units being developed. Shulman reads from resolution.

Norm Scott—Amend—Add resolved, to increase retiree ability to afford housing, eliminate burden of copays.

Bobby Greenberg—Moves to vote on all matters before the house.

Point of order—Should be speaker for and against before you close debate.

Bennett—Going with strict rule of having a vote on all matters. That’s the motion.

Point of information—Wasn’t an affordable housing resolution presented to this body that has yet to be recognized. Wasn’t it forwarded to you?

Bennett—There are two resolutions. This one came from executive board, which reached out to ask for collaboration, but for whatever reason that didn’t happen.

Point of information—

Bennett—Points of information are doing nothing but delay. As chair, not recognizing. Please turn on clickers, voting on calling question. Please yell at me, not each other,

83% yes.

Amendment—on eliminating copays. 4:31

Amendment passes. I didn’t hear percentage.

Resolution, as amended.

85 y 22 n 622 y 83 n 87%. We are adjourned 4:35.

I’m pretty old to still be naive, but sometimes I am, regardless. I shouldn’t be shocked by the duplicity and self-serving nature of our thoroughly bent union leadership. But even as they lobby against health policy reforms the RTC has overwhelmingly voiced support for, I find myself marveling at just how much nonsense they get away with.

Our UFT endorsement process is questionable at best. Mulgrew loves to speak of these committees that endorse candidates. He praises them, and insults members who question them. The committees did the work. They asked the tough questions. They determined that this was the best candidate and how dare we second guess their sterling work.

Then, of course, some Unity rep or other gets up and says I was on the committee that questioned candidate Joe Blow. He is a strong supporter of public schools, motherhood, and apple pie. If he is elected, there’ll be apple pie everywhere, all teachers will get significant raises, and teenagers will be polite all the time, do all their homework, and stop acting like a bunch of frigging teenagers.

You may wonder how they come to such conclusions. Well, wonder no more. They go into a room with questions prepared by UFT Bosses (or possibly underbosses). They ask these questions, and these questions only. There are no follow-ups. Do they ask whether or not these candidates support 1096? Of course not. That’s absolutely off-limits.

As a longtime chapter leader, I often had to go to C30 meetings. These are the meetings where we, the school community, issue our recommendations on new hires. That’s not to say they’re necessarily taken, but still, we go, we sit, and we wait. We compose questions. UFT gets some, parents get some, and admin get some.

That seems fair, perhaps, but we get no follow-ups. However, we can also be fairly sure the candidates haven’t heard UFT questions before, because we write them ourselves, on the spot. Do UFT candidates have foreknowledge of the questions? Do favored UFT candidates have foreknowledge of the questions? Are the questions written to favor any one of the candidates?

I guess your opinion will be colored by just how much you trust Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Patronage Cult. Most of us who sit through C-30 meetings think they are not particularly great ways to screen candidates. I can think of at least one who got a job and proved to be a completely different person than the one I saw at the meeting.

But at least, unlike the folks at UFT who interview candidates, we got to write our own questions. I don’t trust Mulgrew or Unity as far as I can throw them. I believe absolutely that whatever the questions are, they’re written to produce a pre-ordained result.

Without our approval, without even any pretense of committee, UFT Unity endorsed sitting rep Dan Goldman over our friend Brad Lander. Goldman’s a gazillionaire, a Levi Strauss heir. I suppose Unity will say AFT does endorsements and we don’t. I don’t know a lot about Goldman, but I very much like Lander. I’d vote for him if I were in the district.

We all know the DA is a scripted event, and that generally nothing happens without Mulgrew’s explicit approval. After all, he runs the patronage cult, and anyone who wants to keep that cushy union gig needs to do what he says. Otherwise, horror of horrors, they’ll end up in a classroom somewhere dealing with NYC kids.

These folks didn’t sell our their ideals and colleagues just for that. Again, without consultation or approval, UFT backed Alex Bores to succeed Jerome Nadler in NY 12. This is a big primary race, with big names. Aside from Bores, anti-Trump former Republican George Conway is running.

Conway used to be married to Trump cheerleader Kellyanne Conway, the one who characterized lies with the creative term “alternative facts.” Conway is quick-witted and clever, qualities I admire. Don’t take that as an endorsement, though. Bob Dole had those same qualities. Aside from Dole’s general politics, he once said he supported teachers, but not teacher unions. Who exactly did Dole think was in teacher unions? Plumbers? Thankfully, I’ve heard no such talk from Conway.

Then there is Jack Schlossberg, President John F. Kennedy’s grandson. He’s had a early but small lead in the primaries. According to the NY Times (and no paywall for you today), he’s no Jack Kennedy, and rather than call supporters begging for money, he prefers to nap. I can’t blame him for that. But he seems to also blow off strategy meetings, placing him somewhere in Trump territory, remarkable for a 33-year-old.

The other major alternative is Micah Lasher. Lasher ran a pro-charter group, attacking public schools and public school teachers. He’s despicable. Lasher worked for Bloomberg. I’d never support him. It ought to disqualify him outright from a UFT endorsement. He was also Executive Director of Students First NY, a detail conveniently omitted from his Wikipedia page.

Students First was an org founded by Michelle Rhee, the first-class reformy who, as DC chancellor, closed schools and invited reporters to watch her fire people. Always an innovator, Rhee taped students’ mouths shut to control her classroom. You or I would be rightfully fired for such an offense.

Lasher, though, had no issue imposing her vision onto the Big Apple. After all, Lasher moonlights as a magician, and has no trouble reinventing himself. He was also a big supporter of Tier 6. Despite that, UFT Unity had no issue endorsing him for Assembly.

In this campaign, Bloomberg has endorsed him, and given him 5 million bucks to wriggle out of the slime in which he was wading. This bought him a bunch of slick TV ads that seem to help. I’m not sure about the other candidates, but Micah Lasher needs to lose.

Regardless, if the UFT is our union, it ought to be reflective of our voice. It’s disgraceful that they don’t even bother to elicit it. Meanwhile, next week they’re likely to make it UFT policy that we can’t worry about the city taking Medicare from us, but must worry about the nation doing the same. On this national issue, they’re rubber-stamping their view into union policy.

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

If you’ve spent your life working as a teacher, as I have, or even worse, as a musician (which I also have), you probably haven’t found yourself in many situations in which people forced you to take money. I mean, it’s not the worst thing in the world, but as every musician will tell you, it’s all about the timing.

For example, imagine you’ve spent your entire career saving money into a fixed account, and it’s sitting somewhere collecting 7% a year. Conversely, imagine you are not UFT, in which case it’s sitting somewhere collecting 8.25%.(!). That could be a good thing. For example, if you’ve managed to accumulate a million dollars, that would net you an additional $12,500 a year.

Of course, we fantasize sometimes, about not having union bosses who’d sell us out at the drop of the hat, but it’s just not so.

No 12.5K for you, UFT!

The fact is UFT Unity gave up that money to get back the two days in August they negotiated in the Amazing 2005 Givebackpalooza Contract. As Michael Mulgrew likes to boast, no one negotiates like him and his Very Smart People.

But I digress. I’ve been fortunate enough to have left my TDA alone since I retired, and it’s sitting somewhere collecting 7% a year. Again—I’ve spent my life as a teacher, and sometimes a musician, so I’m no financial expert. However, I happen to be a high school graduate, and my basic arithmetic skills are there (or somewhere).

If you go to UFT.org, as I frequently do, you’ll find a page on RMDs, or “required minimum distribution.” It’s dated February 13, 2026. It says this, exactly, and I’ve emphasized the last sentence:

If you are a retiree turning 73 in 2026 and have a tax-deferred annuity (TDA) account, you will have to begin making annual withdrawals from your TDA (called a required minimum distribution or RMD).

The Teachers’ Retirement System notifies members each spring by mail about the RMD amount they must receive that year. The RMD notification letter will also be available for viewing online in the secure section of the TRS website. Members can choose when to meet the requirement during the year. Those who do not make an election by Oct. 31 automatically receive the required minimum distribution from TRS at the end of December.

Okay, so let’s assume you are fortunate enough to have a million dollars in your account. Let’s say, for example, that you are required to take that year’s interest, $70,000, as your required minimum distribution. If you wanted to, you could imagine Santa will be bringing you a late holiday gift of 70K, before taxes.

Better than a tie, right?

On the other hand, what if you got it earlier? What if, for example, you took it on October 31st instead of December 31st? Would you have to replace Santa with a black cat? As much as that might grieve you, you’d be even more disappointed to learn you lost two months worth of interest.

So take a gander at this letter a friend of mine got from TRS:

As far as I can tell, UFT.org has it all wrong. That’s disappointing. I kind of rely on that site. For years, as chapter leader, I’d get questions, and often as not could find the answers there. Members thought I knew everything. Of course I did not. I simply learned to remember stuff after I looked it up.

Mulgrew equates the trustees with gods on Mt. Olympus, and says we are not allowed to criticize them. Despite that, they don’t seem to have informed us, at least if they’re cooperating with the website. Here’s what I would not know if I were relying on uft.org now.

You lose two months interest on this RMD if you listen to uft.org and do nothing. Now, if you have well over a million bucks, maybe you don’t care. Maybe you’re living on a private island somewhere, and Mike Bloomberg sends servants over to ask if he can borrow a cup of Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac Grande Champagne every now and again.

On the other hand, if you’re a retired teacher, like me, already deprived of the 8.25% most city workers are getting, you might want to squeeze every frigging penny you can out of available interest. I know I do.

I have no idea why UFT hasn’t bothered to update that info. It’s particularly egregious if, as I have on good authority, this change was made a few years back. We need to keep our eye out. Also, if we’re fortunate enough not to need them, we need to take these RMDs as late as we possibly can.

So if you did not get the letter, or if your faithful canine companion used it as post-homework dessert, let TRS know you want that money at the last possible moment on New Year’s Eve, even if you yourself are out on that public drunk at Times Square. Champagne doesn’t grow on trees.

If you aren’t In the Unity Patronage Cult, you have to buy your own. Two months interest on 70K could buy you some (and I’m not talking about that eight dollar bottle of Andre Sparkling Wine you tried to palm off on your guests last year).

December 31st ought to be the default. It’s common sense.

Of course, with Unity Caucus running the show, common sense tends to be the least common of all the senses.

If you listen carefully, you get to hear everything you didn't want to hear in the first place. ~Sholom Aleichem

Paying attention, ultimately, can be inconvenient. I’d rather not think of my union leadership as working against my interests. I’d rather not believe they take me for a fool. What I’d really like not to believe is that sitting RTC chapter leadership is playing right into their hands.

If you think Unity is around to empower us, you’re laboring under a fundamental misconception. Not only does Unity not wish to empower anyone but their loyal sycophants, but said sycophants are empowered only to carry out the will of the Dear Leader, King Michael Mulgrew the First.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the trustee election. Many, if not most working UFT members have heard nothing about it. There has been little to no push from UFT bosses to remedy that. Unity would just as soon push their candidate, have their paid supporters push their choices where they can, and leave everyone else in the dark.

Make no mistake—this is a pattern. Four years ago, there was a trustee election that pretty much never was. Unity feigned a protest, but didn’t bother redoing the election. (Had they lost, things would’ve been different indeed.) Two years ago, Unity disqualified their opponent on a technicality. And now, as David Kazansky mounts a campaign, there’s this.

If Unity treats working members like this, have we reason to think they treat retirees any better? Unity wants us to think we have power and then fool us into doing whatever they want. That’s not to say we always disagree with what they want—it means only that they want us to forget what we most need, and what we can most effectively do.

For example, we can join Unity to pass resolutions we believe in. If we think the Iran war does not merit our support, we’re entitled to say so. We can pass resolutions on anything we see fit. Unity loves it when we do that. That’s why they introduce Mom and Apple Pie resolutions at every opportunity. Who’s gonna vote against Mom and Apple Pie?

Unity can run on the premise they support both Mom and Apple Pie. We can try to out-Mom them, but we won’t succeed. It is they, in fact, who attend the lavish gala luncheons at which the Apple Pie is served. They are the experts.

Unity knows Apple Pie. Unity is Apple Pie. If we run on Apple Pie, we will lose for sure. That said, there are things we can do that they cannot.

For example, we can battle to retain and improve our health care. Unity cannot.

Every Unity member, in exchange for gala luncheons and cushy non-teaching gigs, has signed a loyalty oath. They are contractually obliged to support Whatever Michael Mulgrew wants.

For us, the most troubling cause precluded by the Unity loyalty oath is 1096. No Unity member is allowed to support the bill that will recognize Medicare as our insurance. No Unity member is allowed to support dropping the odious co-pays that Mulgrew and his BFFs in the Municipal Labor Committee imposed on us. They can paint themselves as activists, and be active as instructed, but we all know what they care about is their jobs, which they will lose if they vary from the party line.

We can do many things. For example, I too oppose the Iran war. That said, I don’t believe Donald Trump is sitting around with his advisors asking, “What does the UFT Retired Teacher Chapter think about this war?” We can, of course, unite with other groups and express ourselves.

Still, that’s not where our prime power lies. Marianne Pizzitola knows where our power lies. That’s why UFT bosses, under the guise of “union interference,” demand we not associate with her.

Michael Mulgrew knows where our power lies. He felt it in the last retiree election, like an earthquake.

He’s doing everything he can to make us forget it. There will be a resolution, perhaps at the next Delegate Assembly, that falsely asserts the battle to preserve our care is over.

There are things in that resolution with which I agree. But that’s not why Mulgrew is pushing it. He wants official UFT policy to be that we don’t have to worry about our health care. We cannot give up our power. Our power must drive us, just as it’s driven Mulgrew.

In fact, our power pushed Mulgrew to say he no longer supports Medicare Advantage for us. He did not, though, take back any of his remarks about those of us who opposed him. To him, we’re still enemies of the union who create conspiracy theories and spout fairy tales.

It’s hard to imagine those two thoughts as compatible. They are, though. It’s easy for Mulgrew to profess opposition to MA. As my friend Norm Scott says, “Watch what they do, not what they say.”

As Mulgrew pays lip service to real Medicare, his Unity ducklings lobby against both city and state bills that would protect it.

One of their rationales, aside from falsehoods about the Taylor Law and collective bargaining, is that Zohran Mamdani opposes Medicare Advantage. Included in a resolution facing the Delegate Assembly on May 20th is the following:

WHEREAS the election of UFT endorsed Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York City has definitively ended the immediate danger that UFT and other NYC municipal retirees would lose our traditional Medicare and be transferred into a Medicare Advantage plan against our will, as Mamdani has unequivocally committed himself to the UFT’s position in support of maintaining traditional Medicare…

This will be official UFT policy, specifically written to preclude our support of 1096.

We cannot allow that. While this resolution will likely pass, it by no means forces us to accept it. Despite what Mulgrew may say or think, this resolution is not the Ten Commandments.

We can continue our battle, and we can win. That is our power.

Zohran Mamdani may say what he likes. It’s nice that he spoke about Medicare Advantage. But he won’t be mayor forever, and just how is his brand of lip service any more valuable than Mulgrew’s? For example, we know he opposed mayoral control, and now he supports it. We know he promised rental assistance, and walked that back. In fact, we know he supported the para respect bill, and did an about face on that too.

We would be fools to depend on Mamdani to work for us. We must work for ourselves. That is where our power is. He’s fooled some. Retiree Advocate’s RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer echoes the Unity line in a NY Teacher piece:

And let’s not forget that Mamdani was the first Democratic primary candidate to go on the record against moving city retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan. “I am firmly opposed to privatization and Mayor Adams’ reckless attempts to strip municipal retirees from the traditional Medicare they were promised and earned,” he told Work-Bites magazine in 2024.

Hopefully, Mamdani’s various about-faces will show Bennett what they’ve shown me. Meanwhile, as per Norm’s advice, I’ll be watching what Mamdani does, not what he says.

ABC Retirees/ Fix Retiree Benefits will run a slate in the RTC election next year. We’re trying to negotiate a joint slate with Retiree Advocate. Whether or not we manage that, our slate will focus on empowering retirees to protect our interests.

It’s time to end both Unity’s hegemony and their make-believe democracy.

We can no longer afford to wait.

Unity Caucus, as far as I can tell, wants retirees to be seen but not heard. Ideally, we’d be good little automatons, sit down and shut up, take whatever health cuts and additional fees Unity sees fit, and say, “Thank you sir, may I have another.” After all, that was the way things were when they controlled the chapter. They can’t wait to take it back and ignore us once again.

Their big “union interference” resolution is a tell. They don’t think they can win. So they will cite “union interference” when we win next time, void the election, and call for a new one. These are the same people who actively work against our stated goals. To them, that’s fine. They really, really want to ignore us—how DARE we affiliate with people who work to HELP us when they’re working to HURT us?

That, of course, is not to say they aren’t ignoring us now. During the last election campaign, they made a big show of offering us 105 bucks back from the co-pays they themselves imposed on us. Then they made it so hard to get it back, it hardly seemed worth it.

To really make it not worth it, right after the election they doubled SHIP fees, more than wiping out the already dubious giveback. And while Unity will jump up and down boasting about the 105 bucks, they accuse us of “kvetching” when we complain they’ve taken back more than the 105 bucks of which they’re so proud.

At an RTC Executive Board meeting yesterday, we spent much of our time discussing departed delegates—people who’ve either passed away or stepped down. UFT bosses have agreed we have eleven vacancies, although we believe there are more.

UFT Unity contends that, to replace the delegates, we need to have a chapter election. That is a fascinating prospect. I wouldn’t oppose it. If UFT wished to print 70 thousand ballots (because heaven forfend we use electronic voting), to choose 11 candidates and mail them out, I’d be all for it. Our interpretation of the constitution is the the Executive Board fills vacancies, but we’re old, and not part of the cult, so Unity disregards us.

However, it’s doubtful Unity is up for all that mailing, inconvenience, and expense. For one thing, they’ve not allowed Bennett to make an announcement about the openings, so you probably haven’t even heard of them. It’s funny they’re so picky about this, because a dozen votes in the DA is unlikely to make any noticeable difference on any particular issue. According to the UFT website, the DA has 3.400 members. A little over a thousand seem to show up and vote.

I’m told by longtime retirees that Unity’s Tom Murphy simply replaced people when they left, though I can’t confirm that. I can confirm, though, that in Unity’s version of democracy, some people, Unity people, are more equal than others. Clearly the Delegate Assembly is a carefully orchestrated event, and that’s evident when Unity speakers are called upon, one after the other, to support Whatever Mulgrew Wants.

Their pettiness defies belief. Because we are not the Chosen People, we can all drop dead, literally perhaps, and no one can replace us. If Michael Mulgrew can’t get one more vote on whatever nonsense he wants to shove down our throats, then no one can. (I can only ponder whether he’s acting out some middle school trauma he’s yet to get over.)

I represent ABC retirees, or Fix Retiree Benefits, as we’ve been calling ourselves. Thinking there were 12 openings, I brought in six names. This would give Retiree Advocate a third chance to demonstrate they wish to include us (or not). Twice, we nominated a member to Executive Board, and they voted en masse against us.

We’ll see whether they wish to include us, even on such a small scale. One of our nominees is newly retired Amy Arundell, whom you may know. Several others were active with me at Francis Lewis High School in representing our chapter. During the last campaign, I was actively discouraged from nominating people with whom I’d worked. I did not, at the time, recognize what that particular RA member was doing.

Regardless, here’s something we know for sure—Unity Caucus not only practices ageism, but also applauds it. I can also confirm that, after an outrageous, distasteful, juvenile misogynistic stunt against my friend Amy, Unity chose to pay valuable lip service about being shocked, starting an investigation, checking the cameras, and doing Whatever It Is They Do When Something Important Happens.

Predictably, they ultimately failed to do anything whatsoever. It’s funny, because I vaguely recall them condemning us in ABC, during the last election cycle, for “union interference.” We affiliated with Marianne Pizzitola, the woman who managed to protect Medicare from Michael Mulgrew and his cronies. That, of course, is far worse than placing the photo of a woman in a urinal with the direction, “Piss in my face.”

We can make a stink about the delegates, or not. Regardless, it fits a pattern of behavior—Unity treats us like recalcitrant children, with utter contempt for our needs (not to mention our votes). During my first year of retirement, I sat through Tom Murphy’s “union meetings” every month. We’d listen to lectures on how good we had it, vote on nothing, and be chided whenever we complained about them selling out our health care.

Once, I recall Tom saying something like, “I’ll take one question on health care. One.” I suppose he deemed himself magnanimous. After all, who the hell did we think we were, a bunch of older people concerned about our health? Tom would call us, “Michael’s Army,” as though we were at Mulgrew’s beck and call. Mulgrew still seems to think we work for him, as opposed to his working for us.

Nowhere is that more evident than his sending lobbyists to oppose 1096 and its equivalent state bill. He plainly defies our democratic motion and thinks nothing of it. Unity has no regard for us. We need to defeat them.

To do that, we need a platform that prioritizes helping ourselves. We could wait for Unity to help us, but by the time that happens, we’ll likely have departed this mortal coil.

So let’s get our shit together and beat them now.

Dear President Mulgrew:

During the 2025 election, retirees enrolled in SHIP were offered a chance to recoup $105 in recently initiated co-pays. That certainly sounded attractive. After all, no retiree member unafilliated with your Unity Caucus wanted the co-pays in the first place.

When I had a tooth pulled by a non-participating dentist, I sent a copy of the bill and a copy of the paid receipt the doctor provided me. I was reimbursed. When I had a hospital visit, I sent a copy of the bill and a copy of the paid receipt the hospital emailed me. I was reimbursed. That seemed reasonable.

So when I applied for the co-pay refund, I sent copies of bills and emailed paid receipts to SHIP. They were not deemed sufficient. I was disappointed.

As a longtime chapter leader, I know UFT opposes excessive and redundant paperwork. We have special complaints to preclude it. That’s one reason I’m so surprised that UFT now demands it from tens of thousands of retirees.

A friend of mine was very sick. As a result, he had a bunch of charges, very early last year, from NYU/Langone. He was able to complete SHIP’s requirements via a single MyChart. It took him two hours. Another friend of mine, who used doctors with various affiliations, spent four hours doing it with various MyCharts. While she felt it wasn’t worth her time, she also felt she could not let it go, and had to do the work.

Without MyCharts, the paperwork would even be more daunting.

I’m good with sending bills from my doctors along with receipts. I think that’s reasonable. The chance of receiving a 15 dollar bill from my doctor, if I hadn’t met my Medicare or GHI deductible, hovers somewhere around zero. Perhaps leadership thinks we, or our doctors, would counterfeit these things to get 105 dollars back. Is that how you see us?

Instead of the two documents I’d sent previously, my co-pay refund required:

Page 1 from my primary insurance carrier, Medicare Part B, indicating deduction has been met for year in question,

The complete EOB for my secondary insurance carrier for all 7 days of service.

The copy of the patient statement from the provider indicating the dates of service and paid copay.

proof of out of pocket payment (cancelled check, credit card receipt and/ or paid itemized invoice) for service dates

I like computers. I use them all the time. When my doctor emails bills asking for payment, I use a credit card and pay. I learned the hard way that said bills and the paid receipts my doctor emails were not sufficient. Somehow neither qualifies as patient statement or receipt.

You may be surprised to learn some retirees do not love computers. Many don’t use them at all. This makes getting their paperwork even more difficult. In fact, my wife doesn’t use computers. I cannot imagine even trying to put together her papers.

For me, after hours trying to recover the documentation SHIP demanded, I gave up. It wasn’t worth my time. In fact, I would only attempt this again in order to write about it. If I were to bill for my time, I would ask well more than what SHIP would give me back. The DOE pays teachers well more than 25 dollars an hour for our time. We pay UFT officials multiple times what teachers earn.

I’m acutely aware, though, that many UFT retirees may need the 105 dollars. Should they be penalized for that?

Were a principal to demand this sort of paperwork, as chapter leader I’d argue it was redundant and excessive. I’d contact my DR, file an operational complaint and win. It’s sorely disappointing that our leadership places so little value on the time of UFT retirees.

I understand that there are periods when SHIP is so busy dealing with co-pay refunds that those and other applications are therefore delayed. Who does that help? I further understand that SHIP had to hire extra people simply to help retirees struggling to complete these steps. I understand they have to be paid. I also understand that this was a big reason why leadership found it necessary to double SHIP fees.

In fact, UFT Representative Robin DiPalma suggested just that during our April RTC meeting. What this means to us this—in order to procure a $105 refund with great difficulty, every SHIP member is required to pay $120. We don’t need math experts to demonstrate that’s a net loss for members (and a bigger one for those who can’t manage the paperwork).

I have a number of suggestions to remedy this situation. The best way, of course, would be to eliminate the co-pays altogether. They certainly appear to have been established to make your failed Medicare Advantage plan look more attractive, as it had a cap on co-pays but real Medicare does not. I’ve also heard you say that they were designed to be temporary.

These co-pays are very bad for members with low pensions and frequent medical visits. I know at least one who’s been driven to virtual penury as a result, and I’d be happy to discuss that case with you if you are interested.

Of course, if you’re unwilling to do that, there are other remedies. An easy one would be to simply drop the co-pay refund along with the SHIP increase. Let’s be frank—the refund was initiated during the UFT 2025 campaign. It certainly appears designed to draw retiree votes, and may well have done so. That said, for many, it’s proven more trouble than it’s worth.

The third possibility, albeit the least desirable, would be to simplify the requirements. Many or most of us would have no trouble sending bills and paid receipts. SHIP employees would find it easier as well. It boggles my mind to imagine anyone would bother to falsify documents to get 105 dollars back.

If you won’t do even that, I have to assume you see UFT retirees as a bunch of lowlifes—criminals so petty we’d commit forgery for 105 bucks. I know there are some in leadership with a dim view of retirees. For example, one of your district reps shared ageist memes with chapter leaders at the DA, and they all seemed very amused by them.

Not only that, but the Executive Board appears to have applauded this district rep when he professed respect for older people. I’m glad this DR was not a member of a school in which I were chapter leader. My principal would most certainly not have applauded his actions.

I wonder how this would have gone over if his target were a racial or religious group. As you have not uttered a word about this, I can only assume it doesn’t bother you. .

These SHIP “reforms” are ageist. We are not trusted, and are therefore forced to do excessive paperwork. These reforms demonstrate no respect for our time, and appear to have been created as a smokescreen designed to make us forget that you, as a big part of the Municipal Labor Committee, initiated co-pays we neither needed nor wanted.

However, if you’d like to prove me wrong, taking one of my suggestions would go a long way toward demonstrating your good will.

Very truly yours,

Arthur Goldstein

Vice Chair, UFT Retired Teacher Chapter

Michael Mulgrew and Unity, after fighting for years to take our Medicare away, now paint themselves as our champions. Even if they don’t come after Medicare again, who’s to say they, along with this mayor, or any mayor, won’t find some other way to achieve “savings,” for the city, on our backs?

Michael Mulgrew uses us as his personal piggy bank. If his schemes don’t benefit us, he couldn’t care less.

Mulgrew had no issue trying to make us pay up to retain the care we’d been promised, free, all our careers. The fact that many or most would be unable to afford it was of no consequence to the highly compensated, double-pensioned Unity members who told the City Council they needed real Medicare.

The rest of us, evidently, could go to hell. Or Medicare Advantage. Whatever. It’s no skin off Michael Mulgrew’s expense account. Nor did Unity bother to think about what co-pays would do to members on very low fixed incomes in need of frequent medical attention. It’s breaking them and not helping any of us.

Even though Retiree Advocate (RA) has pretty much dropped the ball in favor of their own pet causes, and even though our RA chapter leader writes NY Teacher columns that are indistinguishable from Unity, Mulgrew’s ducklings are determined to keep us off course. Case in point—I’m quoted in this Work-Bites article about a resolution that will rear its head shortly, and I’ll shortly come back to it.

We forced Michael Mulgrew to pay valuable lip service to opposing Medicare Advantage. Mulgrew, therefore, would have us believe this is a done deal. He’d have us believe we need not bother keeping up our fight.

I’d love to believe that, but even now Mulgrew is spending your COPE money (I’ve stopped contributing, and so can you.) lobbying against 1096, which would not only guarantee us Medicare, but further eliminate the odious co-pays he and his BFFs in the Municipal Labor Committee imposed on us.

Mulgrew fights tooth and nail for the right to sell us out.

Meanwhile, his caucus engages in dilatory tactics to make sure we accomplish little or nothing at our meetings. They send in speakers who blather on forever, and purposefully disregard requests to leave the stage. They introduce resolutions that, almost always, would be better directed to the full UFT Delegate Assembly (DA) or the AFT.

In December, for example, retired UFT VP/ AFT big shot Leo Casey came to our Retired Teacher Chapter (RTC) meeting with a long, long resolution. He presented it as something that could not wait, proposed that it be brought up that day, and that it also be placed first on the agenda. RTC chapter leader Bennett Fischer deemed the double motion improper. A parliamentary expert with whom I spoke recently agreed it should have been two separate motions, but RTC’s parliamentarian let it go.

I’ve been attending DAs for at least 15 years. I’ve never, ever seen a motion proposed and concurrently moved to the top of the agenda. Manipulating agendas is Unity’s bread and butter. It is inconceivable that, if this were proper, Unity would not have availed themselves of it regularly and repeatedly.

Regardless, Casey, at the December RTC meeting, presented this a dire emergency that could not wait one moment longer. Gloria Brandman had the presence of mind to amend the resolution to say we would get support from the UFT Executive Board. This necessitated bringing it to the UFT DA.

While it was on the agenda for last week’s DA meeting, it did not come up. That, my friends, means this four-month old resolution was not urgent to Michael Mulgrew and his Unity BFFs. Had that been the case, they’d have moved to place it on top of the agenda (in a separate resolution, as per Robert’s Rules), or found time to do it. It may come along next month, or the one after, and it will likely pass. Consider the following:

The resolution, entitled, “UFT ORGANIZING CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, AND MEDICAID RESOLUTION” is offensive on multiple levels. First, consider the following:

WHEREAS the election of UFT endorsed Zohran Mamdani as Mayor of New York City has definitively ended the immediate danger that UFT and other NYC municipal retirees would lose our traditional Medicare and be transferred into a Medicare Advantage plan against our will, as Mamdani has unequivocally committed himself to the UFT’s position in support of maintaining traditional Medicare…

This suggests that Mayor Mamdani is incapable of changing his mind. Recent history suggests otherwise. This mayor has flip-flopped on a number of issues, including mayoral control and rental assistance. In case that’s not enough, he also turned his back on a promise to support the UFT’s para respect bill. It is, frankly, nothing short of idiotic to assume this mayor cannot reverse a position.

Ageist Unity takes us for drooling, doddering, stereotypical geezers. They think we’ll buy anything.

Here’s another clause retirees may find offensive:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this campaign shall include the following components:

 The education of all UFT members, and especially UFT retirees, on the nature and extent of the attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid by President Trump and MAGA Republicans, and on actions they can take, individually and collectively, in response,

For some reason, they deem us “especially” in need of education. This is curious. Most cultures think the older you are, and the more experience you have, the more knowledge you’ll possess—but Unity has a culture all its own. Maybe Unity thinks we need protection. If so, why don’t we have the right to vote for trustees who oversee our pensions? (Actually we need protection from Unity, and that’s why I support 1096.)

The same people who demand we pass contracts and health plans we aren’t allowed to read want to “educate” us. Admittedly, many of us could use some education. For example, it’s a basic tenet of contracts that you read them before you sign them. Unity would have us believe otherwise. While I hope they’re right about the new health plan, only time will tell.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not on board with being educated by the self-serving, loyalty-oath signing, gala luncheon-attending, cult-like Unity Caucus.

Their notion of education is incompatible with mine. They “educated” us to blindly believe a mayor whose word has proven, shall we say, flexible. They further educated us that Medicare Advantage was as good or better than real Medicare. They told us all our doctors would take that plan, even as doctors told us otherwise. In other words, they’ve lied repeatedly.

They’re right, of course, about Trump’s threats to Medicare. I know that because I’ve seen it in Project 2025 and in Trump’s push to add pre-approvals to Medicare. They also want to make so-called Advantage the Medicare default. I don’t support any of these things, and I won’t vote for anyone who does.

That said, we make the most difference right here in New York City. Here is where our voices are the strongest, the least diluted, and where we maximize our power. Unity wants to “educate” us to stop standing up for ourselves.

Make no mistake—this resolution is not about activating us. It’s the exact opposite.

It’s about diverting our attention from protecting benefits we’ve earned through our decades of service. If Unity wanted to really help us, they would not be working directly against our interests. As Unity pretends to protect us, they actively lobby against 1096, which we’ve explicitly supported, twice now.

We are a miniscule portion of this country, but a huge part of this city. Even as retirees, we can and do make our voices heard. 1096 will be reintroduced soon, and we will battle to pass it. We will demonstrate at City Hall. We will demonstrate at 52 Broadway. We will demonstrate at the offices of City Council members who park themselves in Michael Mulgrew’s vest pocket.

We will stand up for ourselves and we will bring the press to follow us.

If you trust Unity to protect your health care, I have a bridge in Brooklyn with your name on it. Unity says we can work against Trump taking away our health care, but they’re concurrently battling for the city’s right to do the same.

I’ve frequently heard Mulgrew say state matters are issues for NYSUT, and that national matters are issues for AFT. That’s true, of course, but only when it’s convenient for Michael Mulgrew. What is inconvenient for Michael Mulgrew was us voting against him.

Since we did that, they’ve done everything in their power to impose Unity’s prime directive—Sit down and shut up—upon us. In fact, they had the DA pass a resolution against “union interference,” essentially forbidding us to associate with Marianne Pizzitola and the organization that saved Medicare for us.

News flash, Mulgrew—You’re paid to work for US. We don’t work for you.

As Unity fails to represent us, and acts against our twice-affirmed resolution, we will not sit down and shut up. We will prevail against Mulgrew, and his Unity patronage cult.

We may be old, but we’re not afraid. We’ve won before, and we’ll win again. Instead of donating to COPE, which works against our interests, consider donating to NYC Organization of Public Retirees. I’ve just sent them a hundred bucks in honor of Michael Mulgrew, but please donate as you are able.

Let’s support those who support us.

At the Retired Teacher Chapter (RTC) meeting the other day, chapter leader Bennett Fischer stopped retiree representative Michael Brocoum from speaking. Brocoum said some things with which I clearly agree, and others a tad less clearly. Regardless, his sentiment was altogether correct.

Brocoum said that Michael Mulgrew introduced the odious co-pays imposed on fixed income retirees. Said co-pays were established to save the city money, on our backs of course. In fairness, it wasn’t Mulgrew who directly proposed them, but rather the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC). Michael Mulgrew, though, has the largest single vote in MLC, and it’s highly doubtful anything there happens without his explicit blessing.

Brocoum also asked members to support Layla Law-Gisiko, running against UFT-endorsed Carl Wilson. He suggested UFT-endorsed candidates would be unlikely to support 1096, and that we therefore ought not to support them. That also makes sense to me. All other things being equal, as Law-Gisiko supports legislation that protects our health, I’d choose her over someone Mulgrew prefers.

It’s not enough to profess opposition to Medicare Advantage, as Mulgrew has. You need to put your money where your mouth is.

Bennett encouraged us to make calls for Carl Wilson. I don’t know Wilson’s position on 1096, but it’s fair to assume he wouldn’t get UFT endorsement without opposing it. Bennett would, therefore, have been asking us to work against our twice-voiced support for 1096. That, right there, is problematic.

Are we here to support UFT bosses or are UFT bosses here to support us?

Let’s be clear—Unity believes the former, and that’s why UFT lobbies against 1096. They have no issue whatsoever working against our twice-voiced resolution. Should our elected chapter leader be urging us to work for the election of politicians who oppose our core beliefs?

Bennett called Brocoum’s statement a “personal attack” and deemed it unacceptable. However, it wasn’t a personal attack. Stating that UFT bosses work against our interests is factual. They tried to dump us into an inferior Medicare Advantage plan. Mulgrew personally attacked those who disagreed with him. His unelected, hand-picked “leaders” ridicule us for being older, practicing explicit bigotry, and his caucus celebrates them for it.

Do those people merit our protection?

Contrast Bennett’s treatment of Michael Brocoum to that of retired UFT Vice President Leo Casey. Casey went on a long rant attacking Marianne Pizzitola. Casey’s commented here before letting me know what I think. Evidently, he fancies himself a mind-reader. He drew upon his psychic powers once again to proclaim 1096 is dead, and Marianne knows it. 1096, he announced, was dead because of Marianne Pizzitola. She killed it, he said.

Make no mistake—this was an unequivocal personal attack, and Bennett Fischer raised no objection whatsoever. Not only that, but it’s the sort of personal attack you often see leveled against women. Remember when Donald Trump called Hillary a “nasty woman?” I certainly do. That’s the level of discourse Casey brought to our meeting, and Bennett Fischer uttered not a peep in objection.

Indeed, some people still feel women should be quiet and nice, spoken when spoken to. They should bake cakes, perhaps. As it happens, Marianne Pizzitola knows how to bake cakes. She once had a bakery. Marianne used to custom bake for children with food allergies, Asperger’s, autism and major food sensitivities. She mostly served children—just like teachers.

While I’ve got nothing against baking, we need a strong spokesperson for our cause. We need someone who isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers. Sometimes, in fact, we need that proverbial “nasty woman” to speak up for us. I don’t know about you, but I’m grateful that, while Leo Casey sat around in DC writing for a think tank, or whatever it was he did for AFT, Marianne was loud, undeniable, on the street and in the press battling for real Medicare.

I have Medicare today because of Marianne Pizzitola.

So does Casey. Perhaps you do too. If we’d had to depend on Casey, or Mulgrew, we’d be dependent upon the whims of former slave-insurance purveyor Aetna, with some AI robot second-guessing our doctors.

Not only that, but Casey’s argument is quite hard to defend. If, as he claims, 1096 is dead, why do his Unity BFFs lobby against it? Why does Michael Mulgrew resort to using retiree COPE money to work against the stated interests of said retirees? Why did Michael Mulgrew show up with his lawyer and lecture us on how unacceptable protecting ourselves was? Why did he feel the need to bully his way into our meeting and contradict Christopher Marte’s support for it the previous month?

There are some things I share with Leo Casey. Unlike most Unity writers I have the misfortune to read, he doesn’t appear to rely on AI to write. It makes me sad, frankly, that our union is led by a bunch of teachers who don’t know how to write. I kind of like to write, and maybe Leo does too.

Here’s another thing I share with Casey—I’m not psychic. Sorry though I am to burst his bubble, he sorely overestimates his psychic powers. I’m in regular contact with Marianne Pizzitola, and if she thinks 1096 is dead, she’s doing an awful lot of work to dispel that notion. I’ve observed Marianne doing meticulous research, the likes of which would try my patience, and an amount of homework that would terrorize the most diligent of my students.

I’ve taught a lot of kids from China. One said to me, “In China, homework is a mountain,” stretching his arms wide. All the other Chinese students nodded in agreement. This, I suppose, is an idiom they all know. This kid told me he resolved the issue by not doing any of it, and he was very happy to be here. I feel like I’m that kid, and Marianne is attending to the mountain.

As far as I’m concerned, our mountain could not be in better hands.

It was pretty remarkable to hear Bennett Fischer stop a speaker from saying that Michael Mulgrew imposed copays on us, deeming it a “personal attack.” That, in fact, is not a personal attack. It’s a statement that, as far as I know, is true. The copays were put in place to make his crappy Medicare Advantage plan look better.

A personal attack would be saying your adversaries spout fairy tales. It would be saying some people can’t handle the facts. It would be saying your adversaries make everything a conspiracy, or that those who disagree with you are enemies of the union. Michael Mulgrew said all those things at a UFT Executive Board meeting I attended.

Mulgrew and Unity tolerate and promote ageism, and don’t merit any more respect from us than we get from him. Against our express resolution, they lobby against 1096. They claim to oppose Medicare Advantage, but do all they can to reserve the right to dump us into it anyway.

It’s indisputable that Michael Mulgrew attempted to dump us all into Medicare Advantage. It was only through the efforts of Marianne Pizzitola and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees that we defeated that. I talk to Marianne almost every day. As far as I can tell, despite all the work she did to get us elected, the folks running our chapter don’t speak with her at all.

While 1096 was given lip service for one moment by Gloria Brandman, I’m not at all persuaded we’re doing what we were elected to do. Make no mistake—we were elected to protect our health care. We are in a unique position to do that, yet we’re doing virtually nothing about it. Several times the RTC Executive Board declined to take action.

There was some interesting discussion about the New York Health Act. I’d like to see it tweaked to help out of state retirees, and I’d like to see it passed. This notwithstanding, it isn’t happening any time soon. The will, in Albany, hasn’t been there and isn’t there now.

What we can do is pressure UFT to work for us, instead of Michael Mulgrew. We are not doing that, and that’s a fundamental issue.

Bennett surprised me when asked why our meeting last month coincided with an Albany Lobby Day. He seemed to suggest that Marianne ought not to have scheduled her meeting on the same day as ours. I frankly doubt Marianne, a non RTC member, was sent a schedule of RTC meetings. I also know she had to reschedule so as not to go up on St. Patrick’s Day.

What I am sure of, though, is that I asked the RTC Executive Board to consider changing the date of our meeting to accommodate those of us who wished to go to Albany. Bennett refused to even try, and not one of today’s speakers raised a peep urging him to do so.

It’s interesting to hear about the Health Committee, and the Labor Solidarity Committee, and how we oppose the war in Iran. Frankly, though, I’m not persuaded that these things are the ones we’re best equipped to accomplish. Standing up for ourselves is how we got elected, and we are simply not doing that anymore.

In fact, last summer, while I was attending a demonstration demanding 1096, I was told the Labor Solidarity Committee was having a Zoom meeting. Why on earth did they not cancel the frigging Zoom meeting and show up to our demonstration? Isn’t that what we were elected to do?

What I saw was a whole bunch of people telling us what a great job they were doing. This, to say the least, is less than persuasive. In my career as chapter leader, two members told me they were “master teachers.” I won’t share details, but I can tell you both of their careers ended catastrophically. It’s an entirely different thing when your students say you’re a great teacher.

RTC leadership has entirely dropped the ball. While I happen to share their politics for the most part, that was not what we were elected to promote.

If we don’t take care of ourselves, we’re not equipped to take care of everyone else.

Robin DiPalma gave a very clear and useful presentation about IRMAA. That said, I was struck by her argument about SHIP. How can they charge us 120 a year when they’re giving us 105 back, she asked. The logical conclusion is they should never have offered the 105 back. If they hadn’t, we’d all have at least an additional 15 bucks in our pockets.

It was a cheap campaign ploy, and Robin’s argument is persuasive. They should never have done it.

To further buttress that argument, Bennett talked about how this particular refund slowed down SHIP. Great reason not to have enacted it Another is that the paperwork is excessive and redundant, and more trouble than many would go to for 105 bucks. In fact, if you need that 105 buck so desperately you jump through hoops for it, you’re being punished for your neediness. That seems pretty anti-union to me.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather keep my 120 bucks than jump through hoops for 105. If that’s not common sense, I don’t know what is.

Notes—unedited

Bennett welcomes us. 2:34. Says he’s been mixing up the times and will see how it goes.

UFT health care committee, into new plan and new drug plan. WF thinks things are going well. Says 2% disruption rate, sounds good but means nothing if you are the statistic. Says most headaches WF is equipped to handle. Are your best resource. Call or write them.

Concern about Emblem moving to use Amazon exclusively in 2027. Problematic for security, doesn’t access mailboxes. Amazon not unionized or labor friendly. Partnering with someone so anti labor doesn’t ring true who we are. Made frustrations clear to committee at meeting, Asked them to put thumb on scale and make sure we always have a choice to not use Amazon. Said nothing is in stone.

There is an anti-Amazon, anti-ICE event before Mayday event.

Drug up-tiering, when drug you’ve taken for years suddenly costs a lot more. Seen much of it happening with Prime Therapeutics. Will have to keep close eye on it. $2100 cap on prescriptions. If you hit cap it won’t make a difference. If not, will be really big jump. Don’t know what I can tell you, will keep asking union and WF to find alternatives. Ask you to keep your fingers on speed dial, often can help find lower cost. Cost plus drugs and RX help will help you comparison shop.

Senior care co-pay—pushing to get our resolution on DA agenda. Have sent to AdCom, asked them to move forward. President Mulgrew well aware and came to task force and suggested it be part of this discussion. It’s one of the things we can do. Want them to prioritize no co pays for all members. Don’t care how it’s done.

Budget and pension talk. Mamdani, city council and state budget all up in the air. We don’t want budget gaps filled on backs of retirees. Want legislators to protect our benefits and do what’s fair. Mamdani talked about taking 220 out of trust fund, billion from rainy day fund. Mamdani wanted to tax rich, needed state approval, but got pied a terre tax. Rest up in the air.

City council made proposals. Reappearance of the scheme that we successfully fought against and were opposed to last year—reamortization. City wants to pay less now and more later. Article in NYT today where Mamdani proposes similar thing.Now about all five pension funds. Expect resistance. Hasn’t gone to pension trustees.

Other horrible idea is pension obligation bonds, other cities have had that backfire. Even if that were to happen, and city had to pay more money, our pensions are guaranteed, When you pay for one thing, you lose another. Could affect health care, education. Other scheme is affordable housing.

Pension funds invested all over the place now.

Will vote to replace departed delegates in June. Asks that constitution be posted on UFT website. Phonebanking for Carl Wilson, UFT endorsed candidate today and tomorrow in Manhattan Borough Office,

RTC luncheon June 3rd. Invites go out soon. Next meeting Tuesday May 19.

Questions—

Naomi Cooper—Wasn’t able to attend yesterday. Can we watch meeting while listening?

A—Don’t know what capabilities are. Will ask.

Diane Gallagher—Why does copay resolution take so long?

A—Well….you bring it, you put it on the table and someone has to call on you. Randomness of nature has not yet found our raised hand.

Susan Metz—Having Brad Lander at my house May 20th, When are we going to be able to vote on endorsing Brad?

A—Question for DA. NYS seat endorsements done through NYSUT. Will fight for retiree representation not just on screening committees, but making sure we have representation on borough wide committees. Not RTC that makes endorsements for union.

Mary Hughes—Why long period for medical claims to be settled?

A—Don’t know how quickly with insurance, but with SHIP, sometimes many claims come in, and with co-pay reimbursements, no matter what you think of the process, those are now the largest single reimbursement retirees ask for. My office is on 17 and I’ve seen stacked boxes with those. SHIP has hired extra people to deal. Good people who work there would like process streamlined as much as you would. Most people say they’re incredibly quick.

Julia ?—On pension, said someone is holding our pension. Are they giving it to the mayor?

No, no one is taking our pensions

Q—Please don’t have meetings when we’re going to Albany. SHIP should come here. I have a problem. We should not have fees filed.

Our SHIP director has spoken here, will be back. Not the people who work there, but board of trustees who decide on rate. Four UFT officers and three retirees on board. Demonstration on Albany was mentioned last month. Some went up to lobby for HERA act. Wish people who scheduled that demo hadn’t done it on a day we scheduled RTC meeting.

Committee reports.

Health committee—Gloria Brandman—120 people on committee 50 attended. Vigilant about Senior Care, no changes being made this year. We have premium free insurance, won’t change unless they changed laws. Requested oversight, but haven’t got it.

Working groups, one for 1096. Updated version will be presented. Need to stay aware and do what we can.

Wellness group, small but productive. self-help groups. Had presentation by Alzheimer’s association.

In June will have a Tai Chi class.

Working group on NYHA met. I co chair with Michael Shulman. Lot of education is needed on it. Concern about out of staters who would not get it, but they should get what we have now. Concern for some people.

Michael Shulman—excellent workshop. Have questions about NYHA, will meet with Mulgrew, members, but are moving forward. Four or five more meetings during school year. Some pressure on those who initiated act have borne fruit. Posed issue of out of state. Major concern, Glad to report have been amendments made to strengthen provision. Not just promoting something without looking at all aspects. If interested please contact me or Gloria. Would love to hear from you.

Bobby Greenberg—Labor Solidarity Project—introduces members. Grandson stood up by himself. Saw it on FaceTime.

Regina Gorey—Unionnow.org—not for profit org. Focusing on decline of union density. 1950s 1 in 3 were union members. Now fewer than 1 in 10. Disturbing. 70% would like to see more union. Org looking for money to supply groups trying to unionize. Also looking for expertise, resources from orgs that have it. UFT can offer all that.

An event took place at Terminal 5, usually music venue, many young people. Mayor spoke. Bernie Sanders spoke. Go to YouTube, plug in Union now and you can watch it. Will give you idea of what’s happening.

In this period of time when unions are being attacked, was great thing to witness. Challenges of current political environment make this more difficult and important than ever. Go to site, read, and donate.

Bobby—Randi spoke at the meeting. Very dynamic speech. Also Queens para and teacher. Very promising.

Scott Henshaw—Started newsletter. Up to 20th. Focused on city labor movement. Last posting about no more 24. People on hunger strike, a week in. Working 24 hours, paid for 13. Mamdani and Hochul won’t support that because of 450 million budget gap. Economy should work for people, not vice versa. These people are underpaid, subsidizing home care system. Also what’s happening with our union.

Greenberg—If you aren’t a member yet you can sign up.

Fred Arcoleo—When we started it, went out to labor sites, but also had self education aspect. If you want to change the world you have to study it. We have 40 members of our book club. Finishing up 1990s labor union. Labor solidarity, health care, government all connected. Social and fund and intellectually stimulating. Brain health as valuable as retirees as it was when we were working. Leave your email. Finishing book called Uncivil Rights and looking for next book. Learned a lot from first book waiting on next one.

Greenberg—recommends Polly Crabapple book. Had powerful effect on trade union in Europe. Next Friday is Mayday, endorsed by us and UFT.

Herb Michael—Great that somebody asked that question. Have good news, exciting, that labor movement surging ahead, rise of Mayday demonstrations. Next Friday May 1, meeting at Garabaldi in Washington Square.

Began 1886 in Chicago. People worked 12 hours a day. 8 hour day took 60 years to win, because working people united. Could spend more time with families, more time reading books. How many think a better world is possible? If you don’t think that, think again. Remains symbol of collective action. We want to rebuild labor in NYC. 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Congress beholden to billionaires. See it in Govt policies, Trump’s war, price of gas and food. Push to transform our benefits.

Chapter radically transformed when they pushed us to Medicare Advantage. This is what democracy looks like, what goes on in these organization. Be proud of an organization that allows members to speak. Opposed war in Iran at last meeting, and will continue to oppose because it ain’t over, and of course the newsletter that Scott’s been printing. Will have banner at Mayday and will fight billionaire class. Signup sheet. Some of us going to Clinton Hall to have beer and talk about it. Let’s hear it for Bennett and others. Never got to speak when Tom Murphy was President.

Bennett—Great presentation for IIRMA.

Robin DiPalma—You are my people. Retired for 15 years. I have worked in pension dept for almost quarter century. Working with very fine people. Your trustees have a fiduciary duty to keep money growing. May have UFT jobs, but are not UFT employees.

SHIP is great, isn’t it. Been 18 years since there’s been an increase. SHIP self funded. Gets money only from premiums. You get money back from your copays, if you’re paying 120 dollars and you get back 100 how can they pay for other things? I know money is hard, but please understand they held it off for as long as they could. If you get back 105 and pay 120 not sustainable.

Medicare Standard and IRMAA. Both part b. 202.90 a month in 2026.

Higher income may have to pay IRMAA. Based on income from two years prior. 2026 based on 2024. All reimbursable. Forms are online. Sign up for My Medicare account at Medicare.gov.

Finishes speaking at 4:10

Takes questions

PowerPoint not available online. They don’t allow health PowerPoints to go out because things can change, and they may not remain accurate.

Q—Which year do we put in for 1099?

A—2025 and 2026 (I think)

Q—If you misplace Nov or Jan letter, can you get it?

A—Yes in My Medicare.

`rdipalma@uft.org

Good and Welfare

Michael Broucum—District 3. We have Medicare because of Marianne, supports Layla ?—Don’t vote for anyone Mulgrew supports. Copays were Michael’s invention.

Bennett says keep personal attacks out of this room.

Point of information—Can we get to one resolution today? On affordable housing?

Bennett—If we get through questions.

Woman being awarded Jake award in SI tonight.

Sonia ?—Flier for Claire, candidate for Congress. Wil have activities in Astoria. Union organizer. In part of Queens and part of Brooklyn,

Marie Polinsky passed away. Thank you for remembering her.

Susan ?—Invites us to meet Brad Lander. May 20th between 7 and 9 Prospect Heights.

New Motions—

Gloria Brandman—Home health care working 24 hours, paid for 13. Resolves to support elderly immigrant women who’ve started hunger strike. Broken health care system, workers forced to shoulder the burden. Encourages city council to pass intro 303.

Kiran Choudury—doing labor organizing. Supporting workers. Totally related to no more 24. I worked nights and early mornings as teacher, but wasn’t imprisoned.

Resolution vote—94% passes.

We are adjourned.

I’m gonna start with what struck me as a huge whopper from Elementary VP Karen Allford. She said the DOE was shocked to come to UFT and see a 500 member committee instead of just a few negotiators. Given that there was a 400 member committee the last round, I find it impossible to imagine that the DOE, inept though they may be, forgot that, or the 300 member committee (or whatever) that preceded it.

There was an amendment asking that we lowly members know the results of our survey asking what our priorities are. The first two people who spoke in opposition are full time Unity employees. The third is a part time Unity employee. I’m not sure about the fourth, but I’d bet dimes to dollars she's Unity too.

It’s incredible that we’re surveyed and kept in the dark as to what we want. That way, Mulgrew can declare victory no matter what happens. He followed, well, something, and the million member committee signs agreements not to tell anyone what the hell went on in their meetings.

This adds to the indifference and cynicism that leads to a huge majority of UFT members not even bothering to vote in union elections. Indifference and cynicism are Unity’s best friends. That’s why they insist we vote by snail mail.

Let’s add the fact that this much-vaunted, top-secret committee is forbidden to negotiate either salary or health care. What do you want to bet that salary is the top priority of members? I’d say health and/ or working conditions will run a close second.

We’ll never know because Unity chooses to keep us in the dark.

I was struck by how much Unity employee Stuart Kaplan sounded like Trump supporters do. Just this morning, I saw video of actor Dean Cain saying Trump was playing 5d chess, and Kaplan said we have to keep 5 steps ahead of the DOE. Given Unity’s abysmal record of selling out retirees, among other things, I’m not seeing five steps ahead.

In fact, if Kaplan is correct, Mulgrew should no longer bloviate for an hour at a time. He should hide in a bunker with whomever the other two men in a room happen to be. That might make it easier for him to keep on selling us contracts and health plans we aren’t allowed to read.

As they praise school activism, they practice the very things for which they condemn principals. Given Mulgrew’s recent purge, one for which he offered no justification whatsoever, one clearly based on loyalty rather than competence, I’d place him on par with the worst principal here in Fun City.

As I sit here writing, in a lounge of chronically overcrowded Francis Lewis High School, where even classes for English Language Learners can run to 34 or more students, I’m glad to hear Mulgrew, once again, pay valuable lip service to us and schools like us. What I did not hear is a solution, or even a hint of a solution to our issue. They built a frigging annex here already, and we’re still packed to the rafters.

Mulgrew speaks of the trustees as though they are deities. No, he claims, they make their own decisions, completely independently of what he may want. That’s very hard to believe. How can a trustee work as a UFT officer and be completely independent?

Worse, how can a trustee sign an actual loyalty oath to Unity and be trusted to work in our interest even if it isn’t shared by King Mulgrew? Won’t they be purged, just like former trustee David Kazansky was, if they fail to please the king?

Notes—unedited

4:18—UFT doesn’t call me, so I call UFT. Mulgrew screams for people to sit down.

He has microphone issues, evidently.

Welcomes us. Says best thing is it’s April. Calls for moment of silence for Roderick Daly, CL.

Says he won’t have much on feds today, we’re all following what’s going on, have to figure out end of school year. Haven’t got budget, but have calendar. Election day is instructional day. No Easter Monday, says it’s horrible, No first night of Passover, and school ends on a Monday. Answer is—do you want to extend the school year?

Combination of different things. Exactly 180 days. Labor Day is late. Many holidays fall on Saturdays or we’d be in difficult predicament. If not, we’d have a challenge. Will ask if we can go back to a three-year agreement. We and parents want it. We have models over next few years, all very tight.

Have calendar but no budget, can’t recruit, hire teachers. no

Can move SBOs. Majority will go for them, some in thousands of schools. Please follow proper voting procedures. We have members fighting over SBOs when things aren’t done right. Don’t need stress over this. Votes are simple.

Today special day, administrative professional day today—secretaries, assistants. Thank God for secretaries. They absolutely keep us moving, schools running. (Microphone issues again.)

National Autism acceptance month, national month of OT appreciation. I have one for my hand.

State budget—holds up our budget. Last year school runs sent out, this year no. Disagrees, because it’s tough time. Last years schools hired more new teachers, because recruited and had budgets. Class size should be 80% this year. What certificate titles are teachers holding, need special ed, math, science, librarians.

Odd progress, back and forth. New issue is immigration in Albany. Many protests. Have to get budget done. Tier 6 big piece. School aid important, other things. Have to set up for September.

There is more conversation, doing extenders, hoped for more progress, happening but not finalized. No discussion of Tier 6 yet. Governor said changes coming. Need to move toward that.

School aid—lobbied, said foundation aid formula needs reform, to include newcomers, unhoused. Members constantly looking after these children, should be included. Being discussed, making traction.

Class size—city wants a few more years, we said wait a minute. Major piece not enacted, for schools that don’t have the space. We don’t want them to have any relief without real plan and timeline. In mid 60s, will go over 70. Some schools need help on programming. DOE not ready to help.

There are schools that don’t need significant construction, can do through school facilities. More responsive since COVID.

Some schools will need significant projects. Need plans to deal. We know projects much smaller than projected. Need to discuss how we do that. Not moving without that data. Required by class size law. Know it’s new admin, but don’t care. Still NYC. Not going to start over. Won’t discuss more time until we get data and plan to get to end of project.

Class size is now permanent. Yearly process. Will be years when you might have four out of compliance and have until next year to fix. Doesn’t go away when we reach 100%.

Teacher certificates will change, become part of collective bargaining. Shortage means city is out of compliance.

Everyone agrees on Tier 6, bad sign they push it off. We get victory, loss, or something in between. Have to push. Want fix now. Recruitment and retention problem for all public sector agencies. Us vs. actuaries. Actuaries don’t look at what it costs, just have to say we have to calculate how much revenue it creates for pension funds. Don’t look at whether it’s needed.

Tier 6 went way overboard and we don’t need all this money. Now people pay for 30 years instead of 10, have to wait until 63 to retire. Debate on whether we need the money.

Anyone read about pension funds to create housing? Thought we dealt with this when a bunch of people got crazy over something else all over net. Why all the craziness, city can’t touch pension. Our trustees will look at it, analyze, and make a decision.

Three UFT trustees. We are not guaranteed three. Other unions would like their people to be trustees. We work with them, are nice to them, but we are largest bloc. TRS over 100 years old. Since 1960, three UFT trustees. We make decisions, trustees have to work together at all times. If other unions can peel one off they have chance of pushing their own agenda.

Single biggest responsibility is to protect maintain and allow system to flourish. They do it, but isn’t guaranteed, Must commit to working with each other. They take care of us.

Pension amortization—Again, we did this last year, called it smoothing. Have we done it in past? Yes. Have we done it every time? No. Trustee decision. If in best interest, they move in that direction. If not, we don’t. We have a rule that President will never be trustee. Love that rule because they do it in responsible way. Have never missed a payment.

Lots going on.

Thousand dollar retention check May 1. Never stops, here forever. Everyone except H bank, May 7. Grows according to collective bargaining. Will always grow up. We wouldn’t prorate it. All titles get it.

People supporting Mayday celebrations. We picked May 1 for check for same reason. Will participate. NYSUT delegates prepping tonight, have to get out in time. Will celebrate Mayday in Albany.

TRS elections moving, done by May 13th. Our candidate is Tom Brown. Hoping, praying, DOE will not screw up election.

Health care—Topic will be here until Feds intervene and stop silliness. Strategy of negotiating with hospitals is paying dividends. Resetting baseline. Ugly, nasty, hospitals say they budgeted, we say they did that to rip us off. Not funding expansion or bonuses.

We look at real costs. What does procedure cost, and how successful are you. Some hospitals have proven they’re into health care, won’t price gouge. Have come to agreements that reset baselines using buying power. They say look at unions, they run commercials against you.

Successful but long way to go. NY Presbyterian giving us trouble. This is round one. NYCE PPO, was lawsuit trying to stop it, and judge dismissed case yesterday. Odd part is it came to light that this group was funded by two different LLCs, and both had same address, with no phone, and no one every walked into office. That’s what’s known as dark money.

Could’ve been insurance company without access to us, or someone who doesn’t want city workers to have insurance. Address in mall in VA. Thanks Welfare Fund. Only union who set up a hotline, call center. Had issues with drugs, providers, doctors, took care of most of it. Will continue. Thanks health care committee.

Victory in Queens—lots of difficult administrators. Different from mean and malicious. If you know the difference, you know how bad it is to work under those circumstances. In other parts of country, they can’t push back. We can, but it’s not easy. People rightfully fear retaliation. Can’t win unless we fight. Constant, never stops.

Invites up PS 35 and union leaders to say well done.

John Lecada, CL PS 35—Had difficult principal for five years, filed union animus grievance three years ago. Got disciplinary notice 48 hours later, went after consultation committee, gave bad observations. Kept happening. Staff saw it, but were afraid to sign grievance. 24 of 68 signed.

Stood strong, pushed back. Consultation meetings were a bloodbath. Had UFT and district office reps in consultation. Took a while, and a year ago was notified about arbitration. Had great team. Got ruling Monday, won. Their case based on lies, ours on facts. Got cease and desist, hopefully will be on her way soon. Thanks everyone. Didn’t expect this. If you’re in a school like this, hope this inspires you to stick together.

Michael Heron—happened because they stuck together. Arbitrator called out rights we have. CL has right to form consultation committee, hold union meetings safely, cannot be retaliated against. Started by saying there’s a reason we spend time on this case, because if we don’t defend these rights, there is no union in a school.

If these things are done to punish union, that’s union animus. Principal tried to keep them out of building at 7:15 because they questioned budget. Not what they do but why they do it. Why did they do this when they never did before?

Doesn’t need to be adverse impact, union animus can be simple threat. Day after John filed grievance was called into disciplinary meeting. Were able to call it all out. Had great support and representation. Every one of you can cite this award when arguing your case. People will talk about this for 80 years because they stood up and fought back.

End of report 5:11.

Michael Sill—tomorrow fri, phone banking for Carl wilson, May 1 Mayday Washington Square. Meet and Greet Tom Brown May 6, May 7, mid school awards, day care providers May 8, HS awards May 17, aids walk 17th. 19 meet pres, Student videos for brave against bulling by May 18. 42 instructional days left.

Questions—5:14

Q—small class size—principals can’t envision how to make it work. Being weaponized. Chemistry teacher travels room to room, music teacher with drum set, art teacher with art supplies. What support for principals who can’t visualize better system?

A—Are some principals who have problems being told what to do. This is why we know programming to cause problems is separate issue. It is a skill to program school. Lack of people with that skill, and lack is growing. Asked chancellor how we could help people. Chancellor thinks they have people to help, but they don’t. Have to address this. We should know how to use time to work for staff and students. Instruction should not be diminished, but improved.

5:20—Q—Had student suspected of using AI. Where should line be between academic integrity and AI when suspected but not proven?

A—Real conversation, make sure AI detection software up to date. As student to put aside paper and explain it. That pulls away curtain. They will use it and we can’t stop it. People say ban it, but don’t set a rule you can’t enforce. Let them know you know. Maybe require presentations. That gets organic learning, will be constant battle. Back when I was teaching, if I read another paragraph I thought I saw in Cliff Notes…You know how students are. If they know you’re onto them they will knock it off. More nefarious version of Cliff Notes.

5:24 Q—Curriculum—negotiated for teachers to have them, now created by consultants and publishers, told we have to have integrity to it, lockstep to it, have many teachers who could create it. Someone wants us to teach Taming of the Shrew to freshmen. How can we use next contract negotiation to have teachers create effective curriculum?

A—Based on teaching for 21st century. Says clearly that it is responsibility of admin to provide curriculum. They never provided me one, made my own, had to get kids to pass English Regents. Next contract….all of a sudden, people who lost out on making decisions based on tests would rather sell curriculum. Up to negotiating committee, but should be series or menu of curriculum chosen. At higher grades should be about concepts, not foundation. Must be appropriate to grade level. Don’t want to get rid of teaching for 21st century. DOE doesn’t like it. Maybe each district could come up with menu. Committee will have to decide.

Don’t want the churn. Can’t have flavor of the month. They will want to turn it over every three years to sell something new. Don’t want consultants in schools. People who retire from NYC form companies, hire friends. Not helpful. Jersey City fed up with buying new programs, hiring former admin. Way past time 5:30.

Motion period—

Kate McCreary—Resolution for next month. Stop sale of bombs and bulldozers to Israel. Since 10/7 provided 27 billion, Israel killed more than 72K, bodies pulled out of rubble every day. UFT supports for dem Senators who disapproved. Endorses them blocking bombs and bulldozers that make Palestinian state impossible. Bombs have destroyed countless schools, prevented children from learning, destroyed all the universities, destroyed homes, ability to get food and health care. 60% of people in our country believe in this. Our support can make a difference.

Well done, says Mulgrew.

Sean Rockowitz—Similar resolutions have divided membership, urges no vote.

online yes—509 n—370 room y 175 n 122 58%, placed on next month agenda

Pat Crispino—Resolution honoring 45 years of education to end HIV epidemic. Lost many friends to this disease. When union was on Park Ave, I took calls from affected members. Disease still here, just treated. Need to educate people still in existence. Used to be all over media. People not dying, but it’s not gone. Please support, and vote for it. Come to AIDS walk to show it’s still around so our kids don’t have to take medication.

Have to do hard stop at 6. Will do this and go right into resolutions.

online yes—721 n 114 room 280 y 16 n 89% on agenda.

Resolutions 5:44

Karen Allford—Supports member engagement—contract negotiations negotiating were 500, 2022. Before that, had 400. Last round DOE, OLR, OMB, came because they thought they would negotiate with small group. Was powerful to see 500 people in union blue. Didn’t know what to do. Came to do business of negotiating. All of our voices matter. Want more than 500 next time.

Amendment—Gabriel Fontas—Resolved, at end. Since transparency helps to engage, UFT will release full results of contract survey to all membership.

Stuart Kaplan—In favor of resolution, against amendment. Learned that we never want to give away our playbook. DOE not our friends. Would love to get our playbook. There are things we can and can’t talk about. Have to be 5 steps ahead so we can get what we want. Have to make sure we are always winning. Never know who you’re handing survey to.

James Vasquez—Supports resolution, against amendment. Have been on committees, important to give tools to negotiation committee, want them to have power, vote no.

Linda Acevedo—against amendment. Believe in transparency, understand importance of (inaudible) don’t know where info goes once it gos to everyone.

Marilyn ?—Speaks in favor of amendment. Members most important force. Must know what other people’s problems and priorities are. Doesn’t help us to just let some people know. Salacious argument if you give too much info you help enemy.

Margaret Joyce—Rises in support of resolution but not amendment don’t see benefit to us.

Nancy Armando exec board, calls question.

Point of order—What are we doing?

Mulgrew says vote on calling question.

online yes—618 n 109 room y 243 n 44 question called.

Vote on amendment—

online yes—335 n 382 room y 91 n 200

Amendment fails

Resolution as presented—

online yes—595 n 116 room 253 81 passes

My friend who wrote the last column that appeared here has further ideas on what our chapter might look like. With or without our friends in Retiree Advocate (RA), we are running. I’m presenting this as a dialogue, with my comments in italics.

Stop Balancing the City Budget On the Backs of Retirees. Promises Made Should Be Promises Kept.

This has been a theme for the NYC Organization of Retirees, and it needs to be ours as well. We can no longer afford to simply go along with Unity, who’d have happily sold out Medicare for us and dumped us into an inferior plan. Not only that, but they had several of their Big Shots claim the MA plan was not good enough for them. They demanded the right to pay up, which many or most city retirees would not have been able to manage.

On Healthcare:

· Stop pitting retiree and in-service member benefits against one another.

This is an ongoing problem. I wrote about this in my old blog, the one whose domain was blocked just around the time Unity threatened me with civil and criminal penalties for the offense of parodying our Dear Leader, King Michael Mulgrew. At the time it was shocking that a union leader would pit one union group against another—not anymore.

· Demand that the union leadership stop negotiating away retiree health benefits in collective bargaining. Retirees are no longer employed, so our promised benefits should not be the subject of collective bargaining. We cannot vote on union contracts.

And we therefore ought not to be a bargaining chip, no matter how badly Unity wants us in their vest pocket.

· Fight for NYC and NYS legislation that would prohibit government and unions from reducing health care benefits after retirement – as is currently guaranteed for pension benefits in the NYS constitution. Support and work with the NYC Organization of Retirees on those campaigns.

A few months back, 82% of us voted to do just that. A year earlier, 77% of us did. Unity, though, decided to lobby against what we support. This is a slap in the face to all of us. Not only that, but Mulgrew is threatening to sue if our legislation sees the light of day. It’s pretty clear that Unity cares only for its own power, and could not care less about what we voted for. This is not anything remotely resembling respect.

· Stop negotiating higher deductible and copay costs on vulnerable retirees who have much lower incomes and much higher medical bills. Don’t use the planned cheaper replacement of the GHI Senior Care Medicare gap plan to further increase deductibles, copays, and administrative barriers.

That’s a concern I share. Our union now has a so-called Health Committee. This committee voted to pass a health plan they were not allowed to see. Furthermore, five members of Retiree Advocate are on the committee, and four voted yes. One did not show up, and didn’t vote at all. We cannot accept plans based on Unity’s word. They’ve lied to us with impunity for years.

· Stop forcing Medicare-eligible retirees and their dependents into the outrageously expensive City retiree drug plan. Include retirees and their dependents in welfare fund drug coverage as covered for in-service members – like most other municipal unions do. Support the “Stop Charging Retirees” campaign.

This is important. If other Welfare Funds, including NYPD, FDNY and DC37, can pay prescription premiums for retirees, so can UFT’s.

We need to think differently.

On Pensions

· Demand that the union leadership commit to negotiating a return to the 8.25% interest on the TRS TDA fixed return fund that other union members receive.

Perhaps, we can do this, but the city will undoubtedly demand something in return. This is something Randi Weingarten gave up in exchange for making educators work a few days in August. If you realistically wish to make it happen, you might want to consider what we buy it with.

· Demand a voice in any union deals that could adversely affect current or future retiree pension benefits – such as changes to the City’s contributions to TRS and BERS.

This is what’s going on right now. Last year we opposed the reamortization plan in the RTC, and passed a resolution. Bennett Fischer, and perhaps some of his fellow RA members, agreed to alter it so we opposed it “at this time.” Predictably, one year later, it’s back, and UFT bosses have offered not a whisper in opposition. I wonder whether this may have been a quid pro quo for reforming Tier 6.

Stop Disrespecting 70,000 UFT Retirees

The current union leadership has shown that it no longer respects its retired educators – teachers, paras, therapists, and school secretaries – who spent their careers serving the City, its children, and families -- and the union.

I couldn’t agree more. After we pass a resolution supporting 1096, Mulgrew sends Unity out to lobby against it. Furthermore, he’s now saying he’ll sue if it is passed. This is spitting in our faces. It’s remarkable that, after charging us premiums most retirees don’t pay, and after working actively against our interests, he musters the audacity to claim UFT treats us in some special fashion.

· Stop disparaging and making fun of retirees when they reasonably object to union leadership decisions that negatively affect us. Retirees were not “nervous” or “confused” when we objected to being forced into inferior privatized “Medicare Advantage.”

This is how Mulgrew rationalizes his so-called opposition to Medicare Advantage. He fails to acknowledge the fact, as demonstrated in NY State Supreme Court, that this is an inferior plan that’s cost people their lives. He fails to acknowledge the fact that many of our doctors will not even accept it.

· Stop making disrespectful ageist comments and encouraging Unity activists to even make fun of the retiree delegates to the Delegate Assembly.

This kind of blows my mind. One of Unity’s District Reps distributed plainly ageist memes to chapter leaders at a Delegate Assembly. Not only did Unity fail to take action against him, fail to apologize, and fail to make him apologize, they also applauded him when he claimed to love his grandma or some such nonsense. This represents a direct endorsement of stereotypes.

Unity is living in the past. Ageism is right up there with every other brand of bigotry.

· Demand that our chapter leadership be allowed to communicate with its own members and get their feedback directly -- without the heavy-handed censorship of the UFT censors who control chapter member contact data.

If we run and win, or even if we run a joint slate with RA, we will fix that. I will get the word out just as I do now, and we will make it available to all.