Mulgrew's Medicare Turnaround Means Absolutely Nothing

Eric Adams is headed to the NY State Court of Appeals to snatch real Medicare from retirees.

It’s nice that, after a crushing electoral defeat, and a vote of no confidence by paraprofessionals, Michael Mulgrew got up on his hind legs and declared that the UFT no longer supported Medicare Advantage for city retirees.

Of course, this reversal was a unilateral decision by Mulgrew. Mulgrew pretends to be led by the voice of the UFT Delegate Assembly, but really does whatever he feels like. He initiated the move to Medicare Advantage with no member participation whatsoever. And while he can get up and bloviate over the outrageousness of the city demanding a premium for in-service members, he explicity agreed to them.

“Nice” is not a particularly descriptive word. You’re nice. Your grandma is nice. My dog is nice. That cup is nice. It means a different thing each time. So while it’s nice that Mulgrew paid us valuable lip service, the fact is Eric Adams is taking us to court. Adams may win or lose, but Mulgrew’s change of position will have had no effect whatsoever.

And this, my friends, is why Norm Scott’s motto is, “Watch what they do, not what they say.”

There are things that Mulgrew can actually do, if he wants to walk the walk. I’d argue the best remedy would be for him to make sure NY State legislation to retain our Medicare is passed. Alternatively he could make sure the City Council passes legislation to protect Medicare.

Note that I did not say he should support these measures. While of course he should support these measures, and should have from the start, support translates to just more lip service. We’ve had enough of that. What we need now is action. What we need now is change. That is what Michael Mulgrew needs to provide right now.

Let’s not forget that all of this was initiated by Michael Mulgrew. He thought it was a good idea in 2014 to give away over half of our health stabilization fund. He handed them a billion dollars. I’m not a certified labor expert, but it seems to me the job of a union leader is to extract money from our employer and get it into the hands of the employees.

Mulgrew had a better idea, he figured. Let’s give away over half of the money we need to provide health care and impose a crap pattern that includes a year and a half of zero on the city. And also, instead of demanding the money the city has owed us for five years right now, let’s wait another five years to get it, at zero percent interest.

I distinctly recall having to buy a car that year. Hopeful though I was the dealer would let me put off payment for five years, and then have him wait another five years for payment with no interest, he was having none of it. Despite this, Mike Mulgrew thought that was a good enough deal for UFT members.

If we lose this case, it will be Michael Mulgrew’s fault. He’s the one who thought he could hoodwink retirees by cutting our health care and lying to our faces that he was improving it. If we win this case, it will be due to the tireless efforts of Marianne Pizzitola and the NYC Retirees.

Today would be a great day to donate to NYC Retirees. We’re facing a court case because Michael Mulgrew thought that retirees should pay for a contract despite the fact that they would not benefit from it at all. (In fact, Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus, and all the members, rather than ridicule Marianne as some kind of interloper exerting pernicious influence on UFT members, should make large donations personally, as well as one from UFT.)

Michael Mulgrew decided to pit in-service members against retirees, and now it appears we’re all liable to lose. Retirees could be dumped into an inferior Advantage plan, and in-service members could have both premiums and prohibitively expensive tiered care.

If, perish forbid, we lose at the Court of Appeals, it’s entirely likely we could have an restored option to pay for the real Medicare we’d been promised all our careers. Nonetheless, this option will be viable only for city employees who can afford it. If so, it will be an effective pension cut of 5K per couple, not something we want from ostensible union leadership. Worse than that, most city retirees won’t be able to swing it at all.

Mulgrew and his Unity patronage cult love to shed big old crocodile tears for paraprofessionals. This notwithstanding, Unity seems to find their demand for a living wage a laugh riot, openly ridiculing it on their Facebook page. They continue to blame Migda Rodriguez for her unforgivable decision to feed her family rather than sit in UFT meetings, deeming it a source of hilarity. (Let me just add that I’ve sat at many, many useless UFT meetings, and that sitting through them does not translate to activism.)

After years of experience, we know precisely the value of words and promises from Michael Mulgrew and UFT Unity. It’s time for Mulgrew to stop taking us for fools.

Show us something Michael, and do it RIGHT NOW.