Lander Confirms Unity and MLC Frittered Away Stabilization Fund

Now as then, they demand we TRUST them

I honestly don’t know how Unity Big Shots manage to crawl out of their coffins in the evening. Sure, they go to Important Meetings and lecture us on what fools we are, and they may have a point. After all, we’ve elected them over and over. Why? Because no one knows how to do what they do. I certainly don’t, and I’m glad of that.

What have they done? They took a fund designed to keep member health costs down, made ridiculous deals with the city to fund raises with it, and watched it dwindle down to nothing. This has now been confirmed in an audit by city Comptroller Brad Lander. In 2014, MLC geniuses decided to fund raises by giving the city a billion dollars from the Stabilization Fund.

But according to the City article about the audit, that was just the tip of the iceberg:

The probe paints a picture of the city and the unions using the fund as a virtual piggy bank, authorizing $4.3 billion from 2001 to 2024 in lump sum payments to the city and to union-administered general welfare funds, including $1 billion to cover the costs of raises, deferred layoffs and other benefits.

I’m not sure where the inspiration came from to do that, but once you start down that path, it’s a slippery slope. Of course, I’m just a teacher, working in a crumbling building. I’m not remotely as sophisticated as Unity cult members who sit in cozy offices all day. As I’ve been actually working in classrooms, I’ve never had the time to sit and ponder the fine points of negotiation.

Therefore, I’d say the city should frigging fund raises for workers. Let them sell Manhattan Island if they have to. Unlike Unity Big Shots, I don’t even know anyone who can afford to live there. Unity, though, had a completely different notion as to how to resolve the issue:

The comptroller’s audit determined that the city and the MLC knew that the fund was near insolvency as far back as 2018 — and drew up a controversial plan to switch retirees to Medicare Advantage specifically to make up for the funding shortfall.

So remember all that talk about how this scheme was better than Medicare, which city employees had for years? Remember Mulgrew, lying that all the doctors who took Medicare would accept it? It’s now official—this whole dance was about covering their dumb asses for the stupid deals they made behind our backs.

Meanwhile, as the Stabilization Fund is broke, our Welfare Fund sits on a billion dollars. Mulgrew and his MLC cronies oppose 1096, claiming they need to negotiate our health care for us. After all, who else but they have had the vision to run it into the ground?

Meanwhile, as Mulgrew blathers on about our “premium-free” health care, the only UFT members paying premiums are the ones who are retired, the ones who no longer benefit from the raises Unity negotiated by pissing away our Stabilization Fund. As of Thursday, I’ll be paying 360 dollars a month to insure myself and my spouse. That’s a 50% increase over two years. Increases like that are no small thing to folks on fixed incomes.

Mulgrew thinks we are a piggy bank to be raided every time he has to compensate for another dumber than dirt agreement. He fears the wrath of rank and file, but has no issue playing us for rubes. That’s certainly what he did when he paid lip service to opposing Medicare Advantage, but actively lobbied to make sure we didn’t get it written up into law.

That’s why we’re paying co-pays for the first time ever. Unity likes to lecture us on the nature of premiums—once you establish them they go up and up. Well, retirees know firsthand. We watch how much Unity soaks us for pharmacy insurance, and it does indeed go up and up. As other city unions charge retirees nothing, Unity has no issue going to the well on an annual basis.

I worked full time for 39 years. Like everyone who’s done that, I know co-pays work the same way. I also know that pensions, unlike co-pays do not go up. Furthermore, I know many, many UFT members have lower pensions than I do. I see them subbing to make ends meet. Unity wants to be able to soak us for even more, and that’s why they oppose 1096.

Meanwhile, I see Unity big shots all over Facebook, ridiculing retirees who complain that SHIP fees have been raised 100% without consulting us at all. Oh, it’s only an extra 240 bucks a year, they say. And please, stop complaining about how hard it is to recoup the measly 105 bucks in co-pays. You’re retired, so who do you think you are complaining about excessive paperwork?

Do you value your time? Your union leaders certainly do not.

I see a former UFT VP making fun of concerned members over and over. I have no doubt he has a UFT pension in addition to his city pension. He also worked for AFT, so who knows how much he socked away there? He has some gall ridiculing retirees who complain about expenses.

In case you didn’t already know, it’s not the job of union big shots to ridicule us. They ought to be supporting us. They ought to be taking the billion dollars the Welfare Fund sits on and using it to wipe out our frigging premiums. They ought to be figuring out how to improve the decrepit, crumbling dental plan. Instead, they laugh over ageist memes, and expect us to take their word.

They muster the audacity to sell us a new health plan while telling us we aren’t allowed to see it. This is unacceptable. They are unacceptable. Anyone who can’t see the corruption here is either wearing blinders or terrified of being fired by Michael Mulgrew.

Retirees deserve to live in peace. It’s bad enough what’s going on in Washington. We ought not to have to also worry about battling union leaders who can’t wait to sell us down the river.

It’s not our fault if they can’t negotiate their way out of a paper bag, and we ought not to be paying the price for their blithering incompetence.