Forgotten

Unity leadership deems it their job not to hear us, but rather to suppress and neglect us.

Unity forgets. They forget that retirees need the health care we have. They forget to ask our positions before standing up and declaring what they are. They forget that we are not, in fact, a bunch of stereotypical old fogies, playing shuffleboard and shouting at children to get off our lawns.

Mostly, though, they forget that we won the RTC election, and that we are now the leaders of this chapter. Early on, I was asked to write for our new RTC. I immediately submitted a piece and watched it go nowhere, for months. I even updated it to reflect new events. It turned out to be a waste of time (but I’m still writing here).

Of course, it’s more about all of us. All of us elected Bennett Fischer chapter leader. He should be in charge of what messaging we receive from the UFT. Clearly he is not, and everything he does needs to be run past the party that overwhelmingly lost the election. What does this tell us?

Even when a group is democratically elected, Unity fails to respect democracy.

Down in Florida, Unity’s appointee, Lynne Winderbaum, sends whatever messages she likes, with no interference whatsoever. If that’s not a double standard, I don’t know what is. Q—Why don’t our elected officials have at least the same rights as Unity’s appointed ones? A—Because Unity doesn’t respect us.

Perhaps they don’t even know it. They may think it’s perfectly normal to build a literal frigging wall to isolate us from UFT staff. No matter how Very Smart they deem their People to be, there’s something fundamentally lacking. Q—What’s lacking? A—Basic consideration of those they’re paid to serve.

I’m bone weary of being forgotten. If you’re going to charge me union dues, or expect me to contribute my time, you had damn well better represent my interests. Unity saw fit to go years without allowing us to vote on anything whatsoever.

There were no motions. There were pronouncements from Unity, and snide comments about those who protested our lack of input. There was Tom Murphy’s column on the importance of civility. These days Tom’s Unity colleagues often shout at meetings. This notwithstanding, they’re welcome to come to the microphone and share their opinions. Under RTC Chapter Leader Bennett Fischer, meetings are democratic and meaningful—something new at 52 Broadway.

Let’s be frank here—civility entails respect. By quashing our collective voice, Unity is far from civil.

No matter how quietly they spoke as they denied us our voices, they disrespected us. They made it quite clear it was their way or the highway. That’s precisely why they’re now on said highway.

As retirees, we’ve been taken for granted by our nominal leaders for some time. The hubris of Unity remains on full display. They still take us for rubes, and even after having been defeated, overwhelmingly, in the RTC election, little has changed.

It’s nice that Unity says they will never force us into Medicare Advantage. It would be nicer if they filed amicus briefs in our favor on all cases brought by NYC Retirees. It would be nicer if COPE funds were used to, you know, protect us. It would be even nicer if we, the UFT, were not part of Municipal Labor Committee’s amicus briefs in favor of the city, which is literally trying to toss us all out of real Medicare!

Given that none of those nicer things are true, I trust Unity bosses as far as I can throw them. I continue to question their judgment. When one of their hand-selected District Representatives saw fit to distribute blatantly ageist memes during a Delegate Assembly meeting, there was a smart way to handle it.

The smart way was—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, and I will never do it again. That would, for starters, take the wind out of my sails. Instead, Unity decided to have the guy say he was nice to his grandma or something. This is akin to saying some of my best friends are (fill in the blank), as a rationale for stereotyping that group. All the Very Smart Unity People applauded that explanation.

Unity’s ageism is insulting, outrageous, and unacceptable.

Honestly, when you screw up, it’s best to admit it and move on. That’s what I do as a classroom teacher. Perhaps when you are pretending to be Very Smart People all the time, it’s not an option. But it’s not Very Smart either. As a retiree, I can’t abide leadership that applauds ridiculing us based on our age. We may be older, but we’re (thankfully) fully awake and paying attention.

We ran with Retiree Advocate last year, and 300 of us won seats and votes at the Delegate Assembly. I promoted RA repeatedly and relentlessly. I spent hours talking to people about why we needed to win. I faithfully wrote about RA in this space. I believed we would prevail, and in the end we did. 300 of us won votes at the Delegate Assembly. Unity could ridicule us all they liked, but we earned those votes.

Yet when it came time for RA to endorse a slate for May 2025, 288 of us did not get a vote. That is an outrage. It’s analogous to Unity deciding to dump us into Medicare Advantage with no input from us. I wrote to at least two of those chosen few who voted, and asked, “Why didn’t I get a __________ vote?” (I’ll spare you the adjective I provided.)

I’m an elected RTC officer with no vote. I thought I was an RA member, but what did I know? That’s not a great look for the handful of people who awarded themselves the right to vote. As an officer, I’m also on the RTC Executive Board.

Last week, we met. I was intent on taking action on the resolution we overwhelmingly passed, the resolution to support Intro 1096-2024, which is before the City Council. I had written a letter to urge City Council members to support it, and shared it with the committee. I suggested we put it out on the Action Network and drum up support. I suggested take a boots on the ground action and show ourselves. RTC Executive Board, against my wishes, decided to table the matter until our meeting next month.

In fairness, there are obstacles to putting an Action Network letter out. There are fees, and I’d happily have kicked in to support them. However, even if we were to pay said fees, we haven’t got access to the retiree mailing list. Our chapter leader is in the unenviable position of having to go to Mulgrew, hat in hand, and ask permission to send out such a letter. And regarding aforementioned fees, UFT should shoulder them.

If we’re required to pay dues, why isn’t our leadership required to support our positions?

Since we passed our resolution, Marianne Pizzitola and NYC Retirees have run a campaign that has, thus far, sent over 219,000 letters in support of 1096. Last Friday, there was a pro-1096 demonstration in Manhattan sponsored by various groups. (I had to teach Friday, so I sent a donation to NYC Retirees in lieu of attending. Please do the same, as you are able.) Bennett Fischer attended the demonstration, and carried a sign.

It would have been great if a message had gone out to RTC to attend the demonstration. It would have been great if RTC had signs declaring who we were and why we were there. But our Unity overlords made that pretty tough. I still remember the Labor Day Parade, when Unity made it impossible for us to carry signs we’d already had printed.

If Unity opposes Medicare Advantage, why did they block us from carrying signs like this one?

Of course, for us to inform RTC about a pro-1096 demonstration, Michael Mulgrew would need to give his explicit approval. Now you’d think, after the purposefully dramatic amendment from LeRoy Barr stating UFT would not force retirees into Medicare Advantage, they’d leap at the opportunity. Obviously they did not, and thus the retiree chapter was not alerted to this important event.

Again, why should such a decision be left in the hands of one man? Doesn’t that smack more of dictatorship than unionism? And again, if Unity doesn’t want us forced into MA, why aren’t they not only encouraging retiree attendance, but further getting off of their well-compensated keesters to accompany us?

Why isn’t LeRoy Barr going to those demonstrations, summoning his voice and passion to support us? Why isn’t Mulgrew himself making an appearance and speaking for us? Why isn’t Unity lobbying City Council members? If unions would stand up for their members, we could pass this thing.

Why isn’t UFT in direct alliance with NYC Retirees, the only organization that’s acted to protect us?

You don’t need to be a Very Smart Person to draw the obvious conclusion. Unity wants us to believe they’re on our side, but won’t lift a finger to help or support us. They actively hamper our efforts to organize. That’s why, at this juncture, I can only quote Norm Scott, who likes to say, “Watch what they do, not what they say.”

Here’s what Norm and I are doing—we’re working toward A Better Contract with both the city and our leadership. Join us tomorrow night as we discuss health care.