If You Support Real Unionism, Support NYC Retirees

They are fighting for our rights, AGAINST our corrupt union bosses.

Today I donated to NYC Retirees. I decided to do this, today, because they’re under attack. If you’ve been reading this Substack, you know that union bosses have cut their funding by $2000 a month, so I’m doing my part to compensate.

Yesterday I had some down time and I turned on Netflix, which suggested I try a show called The Resident. It’s a medical drama. I used to love ER, so I gave it a try. The show is okay, but there’s an undercurrent of hostility toward our pay-for-play medical care system. I was surprised but very glad to see it acknowledged. Basically, if you’re insured you get care, to one level or another. If not, the hospital tries to get rid of you ASAP, and by whatever means necessary.

This has been our way of granting health care for generations, and it’s simply unconscionable. As unionists, it’s kind of our job to make things better for ourselves. Selfish though that may sound, what we do is a model for others. If unionized workers have perks and privileges, non-union shops need to compete.

That, of course, is why some states do absolutely everything within their power to discourage and prevent unionism. They’ll say they’re protecting the “right to work” without paying union dues, but their real goal is keeping compensation and benefits to the absolute minimum level. That’s why there are still states where people work for the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Make no mistake, they’d pay less if given half a chance.

Most developed countries have some form of national health care. Though it’s huge in the United States, you won’t find Canadians filing for bankruptcy over catastrophic medical emergency. As a country, they find that unacceptable. As a unionist, and as  a human, I couldn’t agree more.

My viewpoint is formed largely from personal experience. When I was much younger, I had a friend whose mom got very ill. When she finally passed, my friend’s dad had to sell his house to cover the costs. He moved into his son’s basement, where he blew his brains out one Christmas eve.

I sometimes work as a musician. I play fiddle for bluegrass bands. It’s not particularly lucrative, but I love it. Once I was in a band that opened for a more well-known band. We played an old theater in PA. They sent us to lunch in a nearby restaurant.

I sat with the banjo player from the other band, and we both ordered Reuben sandwiches. He was very friendly, and told me stories about being a professional banjo player. Of course there are drawbacks to that profession, one being the total lack of health insurance. The following Tuesday, this banjo player had chest pains and considered going to the ER. What with the prohibitive cost, he opted not to. On Wednesday, he was dead.

I don’t know about you, but I find it unconscionable that we allow things like that to happen. I’m horrified when I see musicians, sometimes great musicians, running GoFundMe campaigns to cover medical expenses. This shouldn’t be happening. 

I’m an activist. I feel like it behooves me to do whatever I can to support causes I believe in. My focus is, and has been, working people in these United States. Our biggest concern has got to be health care, without which many of us would be, well, deceased. Our country has been notoriously deficient in providing this.

Unionism should be a force to counter this blatant inequity. Instead, we have bosses like UFT’s Michael Mulgrew, who fight tooth and nail to diminish our health care. We have a DC37 retiree association taken over by bosses because it supports the continuation of its current Medicare benefits. 

My priority is getting all Americans health care. Given the makeup of our Congress, that’s not happening any time soon. My next best bet would be the New York Health Act, but that’s in limbo. One reason is that Michael Mulgrew opposes it, despite the fact that UFT’s Delegate Assembly voted on two separate occasions to support it. 

You may or may not share my priorities, Regardless, your health care is under attack by the very people whose actual jobs entail supporting us.

So, where can we help? At the very least, we can fight to preserve our own benefits. That’s what NYC Retirees are doing. In fact, they’re doing the work our union bosses are paid to do, Mike Mulgrew collects triple teacher salary to work against our interests, and that’s before you consider his second pension, his AFT and NYSUT gigs, or the UFT credit care he runs around with, all paid for with our dues.

Please join me and contribute to NYC Retirees. Give whatever you can afford. If our union bosses will not stand up for us, the very least we can do is stand up for ourselves.