DC37 Retirees Robbed of Voice

Union bosses prevent them from fighting for Medicare.

DC37 has an interesting history. Those of us who were around in the 90s remember the double zero contract they passed. Evidently, the DC37 bosses stuffed the ballots. By the time this was proved in court, though, the contract had expired. Of course we didn’t get a do-over. (That only happens when things don’t go right for Mulgrew and his patronage cult.)

Something different is happening now. DC37 members don’t remain union members after retirement, but they have a Retiree Association, which they may join for 36 bucks a year.. Their Retiree Association has been taken over by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME. Evidently, they haven’t filed tax returns for six years. This, they say, is enough to revoke their tax-exempt status. (Maybe I’m crazy, but why do you need to file tax returns if you’re tax-exempt?)

A source who wished to remain anonymous believes that there was another reason for the administratorship — specifically, the Retirees Association’s $2,000 monthly payments to the NYC Organization of Retired Public Servants, which is fighting the city’s effort to switch retired municipal workers’ health-care coverage to a Medicare Advantage plan.

In a June email message obtained by The Chief, Widger (international retirees director for AFSCME) wrote Gervasi and cited a portion of the international union’s constitution that notes, “no property of any subordinate body … shall be given, contributed, assigned, donated or result to … any seceding, dual or antagonistic labor organization group … which is in violation of the International Constitution.” 

The email did not reference the association’s failure to file its taxes.

Color me suspicious. Widger actually refers to “any seceding, dual or antagonistic labor group,” and not the tax issue. It sounds like yet another union boss getting up on their high horse and declaring union retirees are just not smart enough to make their own decisions. Are they saying we are too old and feeble to make decisions for ourselves? They would if they thought that was how to best sell it.

Really, though, it’s pretty clear that union bosses have decided rank and file members are just as unreliable as retirees. That’s why no rank and file member had voice or vote on their health care either. Come summer, when Mulgrew and his MLC BFFs make yet another dumbass deal, rank and file may wake up and smell the UFT Unity (just in time to vote them out in 2025).

AFSCME’s Widger reminds me very much of Mulgrew. When people started complaining, at the DA, that he and his fellow geniuses had imposed co-pays on Medicare recipients, he claimed that was planned long in the past. When someone managed to get in a question about it at a recent Retiree Chapter meeting, Mulgrew made the preposterous claim that the co-pays were only supposed to be temporary.

Meanwhile, the city is going to court to impose these co-pays, and Mulgrew raises not a peep in protest. He’s all about saving money for Eric Adams. Saving money for actual union members is not, evidently, on Mulgrew’s radar. Go figure.

So after this Widger states that this takeover is all about antagonistic labor groups (Read NYC Retirees), she’s presented with the notion that this is all about Medicare. Here’s what she had to say:

“I realize that some will say this is about the current debate around retiree health care for New York City retirees. Make no mistake: It is not,” the message reads. “It is about serious violations of AFSCME’s Financial Standards Code and the International Constitution, which has resulted in the IRS revoking the Retirees Association of DC 37’s tax-exempt status.”

And this is what some union bosses seem reduced to. Say anything. If the situation changes, say something else. But honestly, I don’t trust union bosses at all. It wasn’t very long ago that Mulgrew and his thugs hired lawyers to threaten me with civil and criminal penalties for the offense of parodying him. Shortly thereafter, my domain was blocked on Blogger and I moved here.

Now there are a number of reasons these lawyers could have come after me. Perhaps they don’t know that parody is, in fact, protected by the First Amendment. Perhaps they are too stupid to differentiate parody from the things Michael Mulgrew, or whoever writes for him, puts out there in the world. More likely, they don’t give a crap, and want to quash opposition voices by whatever means necessary.

I’d have no issue whatsoever believing the same of Ms. Widger. In fact, I’d have no issue believing Mulgrew, or one of his goons, put her up to it. Regardless, NYC Retirees are out 2K a month. That’s why I just sent them a hundred dollars. If 19 of you will do the same, that will make up, this month, for what the union bosses have done.

Donate here, please, to protect your health care. If a hundred is too much, just give what you can. I’ve got another idea, and I’ll try to organize other donations privately, but meanwhile, let’s support the organization that’s protected us in the courts, 12 times to date.

And for goodness sake, don’t forget to vote in your chapter elections. We don’t need bosses. We already have them in our workplaces. Our union needs leaders who will find out what we need and fight for it. And all of us need better, not worse health care.

Update: The Chief has updated the article and Bob Gervasi, the President of the DC37 Retiree Association, appears to believe they were targeted for defending their health care:

He (Gerrvasi) believes that the association’s loss of its tax-exempt status was an excuse for the administratorship. “In my opinion, this is all about the resumption of the payments to [the retiree group],” he said. “Now AFSCME has control of the association’s money, and it all stops. That was the ultimate goal.”

Ray Markey, the former president of DC 37’s Local 1930, and a former DC 37 staffer, Gregory Heires, said in a statement on social media on behalf of Labor for Traditional Medicare, a group within the NYC Organization of Retired Public Servants, that “the true reason for the takeover” was because of Retirees Association’s support of the fight against the city’s Medicare Advantage effort.

“We condemn the [blatant] takeover of the retirees association by its national union, AFSCME. It’s an outrageous anti-democratic and anti-union power grab,” the statement said.