The Great Wall of Mulgrew

Unity tries to block us, literally and figuratively

It doesn’t look like much, does it? It’s just a little wall with a door. But it didn’t use to be there. When Unity lost the election, they provided RTC two offices—one for Chapter Leader Bennett, and another for whomever else happened to be there.

Soon thereafter, Unity literally built this wall to isolate us from the rest of the staff on that floor. Do you see that little black rectangle on the wall? You need to pass your ID card over it to open the door. And guess what? Those of us who were elected by RTC cannot open the door with our IDs. Those on the other side can open it as they wish.

It’s as though we are a contagion, an infection to be quarantined. At Tuesday’s RTC meeting, LeRoy Barr said we “cannot fight one another.” Would it follow, therefore, that we ought not to isolate one another? Evidently not.

Putting all that aside, there’s that consistency issue. Isn’t LeRoy the same guy who said that anyone who questioned the Unity Patronage Cult should be shunned? So what is it LeRoy—are we sticking together, or shunning those who question the wisdom of Mulgrew’s wall? Would you be preaching togetherness if we hadn’t won the RTC election in a landslide? Or would you still be hoping we’d magically forget that Unity’s Very Smart People sold us out?

The Great Wall is a testament to shunning.

I hastily wrote an intro to Tuesday’s meeting notes, but I saw the Great Wall reflected frequently in comments, particularly those opposing our resolution to support Intro 1096.

Unity really wanted to block our health care resolution.

The first Unity objection was that this was a modification to 12-126. I’m not at all sure that’s the case. Regardless, it’s not relevant. The speaker suggested that when they wanted to change 12-126 we opposed it, and that they wanted to offer a choice.

The speaker conveniently omitted the fact that said choice was that of paying about $200 a month, per person, to start, in order to retain the health care we’d been promised for free all our careers. For me and my wife, that would be about a $4800 cut in my pension, or a de facto premium—a hefty one at that. It’s remarkable anyone could muster the audacity to omit something so significant, but that’s the Great Wall of Mulgrew at work.

Dan Harkavy stood up and said, correctly, that this would merely set a minimum for our health care. It certainly did not preclude future improvements. You’d think a union leader would, you know, seek them out.

Some Unity person said something about not understanding this. We needed more information. Actually, if you read the resolution, it says almost exactly what it said in the resolution. I lifted it word for word, in fact:

This bill would amend the Administrative Code to preserve health care choice for retirees from city service. The bill provides that the City must offer Medicare-eligible City retirees and their Medicare-eligible dependents at least one Medigap plan with benefits equivalent to or better than those available to City retirees and their dependents as of December 31, 2021.

And there is still choice—it simply includes the widely demanded choice for traditional Medicare and Medigap at no additional cost.

Regarding the need for information, a few weeks ago, the UFT Election Committee met. They were presented a proposal to replace AAA, the non-profit that’s run our elections forever. The committee voted it up. What they were not told was that there was a whole lot of sketchy history with this company and the guy who ran it.

The Great Wall of Mulgrew maintains Unity need provide no information whatsoever.

However, anyone challenging the Wall must provide absolutely everything, in the most minute details, as requested by anyone in the UFT 1%, the elite, privileged, invitation only Unity Caucus.

At our meeting, Barbara Waldman stood and said the 12-126 amendment Unity proposed would have offered choice. Again, the choice was pay up or be stuck in an Advantage scheme. Notable about this “choice” is that it would only be available to those who could afford to buy it. A lot of retirees, including UFT paraprofessionals and DC37 workers, get by on very small pensions, . The blatant inequity of freezing them out of real Medicare due to their income is outrageous.

Waldman and other Unity speakers had an issue with the word demand. I wrote the resolution, and that word was deliberate. We are addressing the people who tried to compel us to pay for their idiotic deals by dumping us into an inferior health plan. We are addressing a caucus that celebrates and applauds ageism, a caucus that takes us for fools.

The Great Wall says, “Thou Shalt Treat Mulgrew with Absolute Reverence.”

Asking nicely does not penetrate the Great Wall of Mulgrew.

Interestingly, Waldman was one of four or five Unity reps who testified at the City Council that we needed to revise 12-126 so as to give choice. I recall there were two retired UFT VPs and a cancer survivor there. The contention was that some people needed traditional Medicare because of their particular medical needs.

The fact is, if those folks had such medical needs, or if some of them did, any of us could, regardless of ability to pay. If the care from the MA program is not good enough for them, it’s not good enough for anyone.

At an RTC meeting last year, Waldman contended that there were no pre-approvals in the Medicare Advantage plan. Though there was a temporary moratorium negotiated for some, this was not true, and even Aetna admitted they would deny procedures in NY State Supreme Court.

Evidently the MA plan was unsatisfactory at City Council, but once Unity, or the mayor, or both determined to simply dump everyone into it, it was fine. Mulgrew hath spoken. There are no contradictions allowed on the Great Wall of Mulgrew. Perhaps it’s etched in stone on the other side of the door, the one we’re forbidden to behold.

Norm Scott was not received kindly by the Unity crowd. He failed to adopt the properly deferential tone. He had the temerity to say out loud how much Unity “choice” would cost members. The wounded Great Wall shed tears.

At the last moment, a Unity speaker claimed someone had proposed we table it, but Bennett ruled, correctly, no one had actually made a motion. Such a motion would have gone down in flames. One Unity speaker went on and on about how every retiree he could think of spent their time—long enough to knock off the Amazon resolution but not the one that passed.

The Great Wall encourages needlessly wasting time so as to preclude people inconveniently demanding things Unity doesn’t wish us to have—like the health care we’ve been promised for all of our careers. Nowhere is that more evident than in Michael Mulgrew’s rambling, endless monologues at the DA.

Whatever Mulgrew wants, Mulgrew gets.

It’s inscribed in bold somewhere on the Great Wall.

The last brick in the Wall was the Unity RTC handout. It was nice that they wished us a happy holiday, but they further suggested that they put “teeth” in a resolution originally brought by RTC. First, I’ll add that this resolution was somewhat declawed from the original petition—that it go to membership, rather than the highly scripted Delegate Assembly.

Regardless, here’s how they added the teeth:

They said, “Resolved, UFT will never agree to force any retired member into MA plan.”

That’s interesting, but not particularly clear. For example, UFT could offer us the opportunity to pay an extra 200 bucks a month to have traditional Medicare. Then, they’re not forcing us. They’re just charging us. And if we can’t afford it, tough noogies.

They also resolved to create some permanent task force. The thing is, even if they invite other caucus members, it will be dominated by Unity, who will do Whatever They Are Told, as per the Wall.

One Unity speaker, in fact, suggested we ought not to be making this resolution. Instead, we should defer to this health committee. (Never mind that it does not yet even exist.)

The fact is, we want to empower ourselves. We refuse to wait for permission, or seek the blessing of King Mulgrew, or his Wall. That’s why we demand the support of leadership. The UFT is our union.

If Mulgrew and Unity really want to help us, they will go all out to support 1096, as well as state legislation written to protect us.

If they won’t do that, they are lip service, no help at all. For all I know, they’re lobbying against us.

Waiting for Unity’s approval is a complete waste of time. It’s tantamount to banging our heads against The Wall. Even some Unity members are beginning to notice.

Building walls, in fact, is precisely the opposite of what Unity should be doing. That’s okay. Our voices are rising, our voices are powerful, and Unity’s walls can no longer hold us.

We demand A BETTER CONTRACT, not only with the city, but with union leadership as well.