Unity Declares Victory, Again

They are premature.

There’s a time when a struggle is won. For Unity, that time came (the first time) when retirees lost real Medicare. The Medicare Advantage (MA) plan was the bestest thing ever, and we were so lucky to be dumped into it, pontificated King Mulgrew. All of our doctors would take it.

Except, it turned out, they wouldn’t. And there were all kinds of pre-approvals that could, potentially, cost us our lives. This was demonstrated and proven in NY State Supreme Court.

The next time Unity won the struggle was when they renegotiated an MA plan with Aetna, the company that was demonstrated to cost someone a life in NY State Supreme Court. Aetna argued it was only one person mentioned, but the judge deemed it to be one person too many. Unity negotiated a temporary cap on some pre-approvals, and once again they won the struggle.

Then they lost the RTC election. Mulgrew gave valuable lip service to preserving real Medicare, and yet again they won the struggle. Unity commenters here told me to sit down and shut up because I was “beating a dead horse.” I pointed out Bentkowski was still pending. They had won the struggle, they contended, so they didn’t care.

Then we lost Bentkowski. Mulgrew sent an email saying he wouldn’t agree to MA, even though he already had. He said the Aetna agreement had expired, even though it had a five-year window, in expectation of objections. Unity, again, had won the struggle.

I count Unity winning the struggle five times already. Why, then, are we still struggling?

Yesterday was an important day. While I was taking a long, long drive from Tennessee to NY, Mayor Adams made a statement saying he would not dump us into Medicare Advantage at this time. I read somewhere that he declined to kick the can down the road, which is what he contended happened to him. Yet that is precisely what he did. In a statement, he had this to say:

I am grateful to the Court of Appeals for recognizing, earlier this week, that the city has a legal right to offer alternative health care coverage plans to retirees and for acknowledging that we must have flexibility to adapt our policies based on changing times. This is an important precedent that will allow the city to modify plans in response to evolving conditions.

Personally, I am as far from grateful to the Court of Appeals as anyone could be. I began teaching in 1984. My dad told me, “Well, you’ll never make much money, but you’ll have a great retirement.” This, of course, included Medicare and a Medicare supplement. The Court of Appeals specifically argued it does not.

Furthermore, Adams specifically said it would “allow the city to modify plans in response to evolving conditions.” In case that isn’t clear to you, it means that Michael Mulgrew, or whichever of his ducklings he hand-picks to succeed him, could have the ability to negotiate the same sort of dumber than dirt deals that got us here in the first place.

Mulgrew has repeatedly attacked the New York Health Act as something that would remove his ability to negotiate health care for us. While NYHA may need work, particularly in order to guarantee the same coverage for retirees out of state, the fact is that taking our health care out of the paws of Mulgrew and his Patronage Cult would be a great step forward for us.

Make no mistake—it was Michael Mulgrew and Unity who created this mess.

We are beyond fortunate that, somewhere in Georgia, NYC retiree Marianne Pizzitola woke up one morning and decided that demeaning our health care was unacceptable. She organized NYC Retirees out of thin air, and built it into a force that no one can ignore. If Mulgrew had his way, every retiree in the city would be in an inferior Medicare Advantage Plan right this moment, and would have been for the last four years.

That is the only reason that Unity ducklings attack her so relentlessly. She showed that King Mulgrew had no clothes. It was pretty goshdarn embarrassing for Unity. In fact, her inconvenient truth-telling led to Unity losing the Retired Teacher Chapter (RTC) for the first time ever.

Unity’s still trying to live that down. Unity treated Marianne like a pariah when she came to an RTC meeting. One of Unity’s tactical geniuses advised insulting her, and us, with “whatever drivel you can come up with.” Nothing has changed. Rather than defend their miserable, humiliating record of failure after failure, they attack her.

A somewhat more sophisticated Unity voice (who attacks Marianne nonetheless) has repeatedly taken the position that we ought to stop focusing on this and look at what Trump is doing in Washington. I’d argue he’s half right. We certainly can’t ignore national politics. I don’t. However, we are not going to achieve Medicare for All in the next three years. And I’m sorry, NYHA fans, but that’s not passing any time in the very near future either.

We are in a struggle to retain our health care at this moment, and we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. This is a struggle we can win.

A huge impediment to retaining our health care is the Unity Caucus.

Even though we pay them dues, and people like me pay double dues, the fact is that the Unity Caucus has been working, and continues to work, against our interests. What I would like to see, and what most city retirees would like to see, is a permanent solution to this issue.

What is the solution? One solution would be passing Intro 1096 in the City Council. Yet Unity is paying people to lobby against it. Mulgrew gets up, in front of God and everybody, and musters the outrageous and disingenuous claim that preserving our health care would violate the Taylor Law. First of all, it’s absurd to contend that the Taylor Law applies to retirees. When’s the last time you saw a retiree on strike?

The most retirees go on strike is never. Mulgrew’s other argument is that 1096 would interfere with collective bargaining. Here’s a thing to consider—as retirees, we have neither voice nor vote in collective bargaining. When UFT votes on contracts, we’re shut out. Yet Unity will hide little things into contracts (contracts we neither vote on nor benefit from) that result in our losing Medicare.

And make no mistake, they want to continue doing so. They blabber about premium-free health care, but want you to ignore the fact that you already pay $1800 a year, per person, in premiums for pharmaceuticals. In-service members pay nothing. They also demand the right, should you choose to work, to take extra dues from you, up to the level in-service members pay.

Do they offer you the premium-free plan in-service members get? They do not. Do they offer you the job protections in-service members get? They do not. Do they offer you the paid days off in-service members get? They do not. Unity wants you to have all the expenses of in-service members, but none of the benefits.

Now, they demand to retain the right to continue using us as bargaining chips. That’s unacceptable. Unity thinks we are feeble and stupid. They have no problem applauding their hand-picked, ageist representatives.

It is vital that we stand up and fight them, not only for us, but also for those who follow us. As chapter leader, I once had to chase a 21-year-old new teacher all over the building to push her into signing up for health insurance. Yes, I told her, you are young and you are healthy, but you are not Supergirl.

By defending ourselves, we defend our children, our younger union brothers and sisters, and all those who follow in our footsteps.

Unity, as always has a bridge to sell us. Let’s show them, in no uncertain terms, we aren’t buying.

Check this website to learn which city candidates support us in our battle to retain our health care!