15 Comments

Thank you Arthur, you speak the truth with finesse. That copay case will be heard soon and I pray we win once more and that the judge understands how being harmed this way is equivalent to the harm caused by forcing us into an MA. The Union leaderships and Mayor are still corrupting and lying to Public Service Retirees and current employees by not dropping this vendetta they have against us for fighting their BETA plan which used us as their guinea pigs. My shock continues in believing a huge section of current employees and huge number of retirees shut their eyes to this major issue. I believe if they awaken from their leadership spell we might be able to relax a bit so we can heal from this harm they put upon us.

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It's not a spell as much as apathy. Most union members don't bother to vote. We need to fix that.

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Nov 2Liked by Arthur Goldstein

Keep telling them how it is, Arthur. They will be history in May.

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Thanks Larry.

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Nov 3Liked by Arthur Goldstein

Again, many thanks.

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Thanks for another great column.

We have to keep educating Unity Active workers about the abuses of this entrenched

Leadership. Your satirical presentation is

Quite effective!

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Thank you Francis. To me, it seems like the situation is satire before I even get to it.

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Nov 2Liked by Arthur Goldstein

I like this column very much and was moved by how it has us feel what effect Mulgrew's treachery has on lives of retiree.

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Thanks Alan. With his 350K salary, he doesn't relate much to what we do. He didn't consider us at all until he lost the election. At least now he has to pretend.

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Nov 3Liked by Arthur Goldstein

What is RA /we going to do about the co-pays and Mulgrew's and MLC 's opposition to the new proposal from Marianne ? Everything can't fall on Marianne's shoulders.

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RTC can take a position on this, and may shortly do so. However, we do not have any control over the UFT treasury, or official UFT positions. For positions, we need to pass resolutions at the Delegate Assembly, and we are working on that. As for directing the UFT treasury, we will need to defeat UFT Unity in May.

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What can a retiree do now- for example- writing Mulgrew- who else ? Should we contact MLC and how is that done ? Is anybody organizing around this issue now ? CROC PSC, other retiree organizations ?

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I can't speak for other organizations. I am part of the RTC Exec. Board. You can email Mulgrew at mmulgrew@uft.org. My experience suggests he does not respond to negative email. There is an election coming, and that can be pivotal. Meanwhile, I'll continue contributing to NYC Retirees, who are actually working for us. I'll do so right now, again.

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I am indebted to you for calling attention to the imposition of co-pays especially for our paraprofessionals and other lower salaried members. I am not sure about how co-pays returned. Terrible.

I must take exception with your categoring questions for Ms Pizzitola as an attempt to embarrass her. While Retiree Advocates know her well or so ir seems I and many others do not know her nor the organization she represents. I wonder why a fact sheet had not been prepared so our members knew who stood before us. A selfless, uncompensated person dedicated to preserving our health benefits coverage would be a wonderful gift to us but it does strain credibility. The new RTC leadership needs to clearly identify who it selects to come beforehand. It is not too late to do so.

Finally, Brother Arthur, you are in my prayers for a quick and thorough healing. We definitely need your voice.

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Thanks for your kind words Joe. Copays are negotiated by MLC, of which we are 40%, and nothing happens without the explicit approval of Unity leadership. I wrote about the Unity plan to embarrass Marianne in detail, and it was indeed Unity members who explicitly attempted to do so, with little or no success. Read about it at the link below.

https://arthurgoldstein.substack.com/p/a-unity-member-finds-a-conscience?r=2jbnk8

It may strain your credibility, but the fact is her efforts have saved every retiree thousands of dollars over the past few years. I am part of RTC leadership, and I was very enthusiastic about bringing Marianne to see us. So were the overwhelming majoirity of members at the meeting.

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