Who's Afraid of the UFT Welfare Fund?

Michael Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus, of course. It's not just prescriptions and glasses anymore. Was it ever?

UFT Unity and their fellow geniuses at the Municipal Labor Committee have set us up to owe a ton of cash to Eric Adams. That’s because Unity’s Michael Mulgrew, in a flash of unbridled creativity, decided that it was no longer on the city to grant raises because of, you know, cost of living. Instead, we would fund them ourselves by tossing our health benefits straight into the incinerator.

Now I can imagine what you’re thinking. “That’s stupid beyond belief.” I can’t disagree with you. But power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and UFT Unity thinks they know better than us lowly members. After all, they are smart enough to get out of tedious tasks like teaching children, they make more money than those of us out here doing the real work, they go to gala luncheons on our dime, and they even grant themselves second pensions. So they must know more than we do.

That’s one reason why, when NYC Retirees suggested we save money by consolidating various welfare funds, UFT Unity said forget about that. No one touches our Welfare Fund. Better, evidently, to dump all city retirees into an inferior Medicare Advantage plan. Also, let’s take rank and file, cut their health care by 10%, and have them make up for it by paying more co-pays and premiums, seeing fewer doctors, or more likely, both.

Why on earth is UFT so reluctant to save money in a way that will not actually hurt members? Well, last I heard, the UFT Welfare Fund was sitting on almost a billion dollars. That’s quite a bit of cash to have around. What is it used for?

That’s tough to say. In meetings with UFT, I learned that the Si Beagle courses are paid for by the Welfare Fund. Now, don’t get me wrong—I support this program. And it could certainly continue under a centralized Welfare Fund. But UFT Unity might lose control. Perhaps fewer Si Beagle teachers would be Unity members. Perhaps members of other unions have things to teach. Fewer patronage gigs? Oh no!

One thing we know the Welfare Fund pays for is patronage gigs for Unity’s High and Mighty. ProPublica lists the compensation for “Key Employees and Officers” for the year ending September 2021. Of course, that falls well short of listing everyone and how much they make. Don’t we deserve to know every penny they spend (as well as whether or not it might be better spent on an improved dental plan)?

Do they get UFT pensions? Does our Welfare Fund pay for its own pensions? Who knows? Unlike UFT proper, I can’t find a complete record of Welfare Fund expenses anywhere. Are there 200 other Unity members making a mere 100K a year? Who knows?

We do know that Unity’s source of power is the patronage gigs, and we also know the Welfare Fund provides more of them. How many? Who knows? UFT Unity doesn’t see fit to share any such information with us lowly duespayers.

What else does the Welfare Fund pay for? Does it pay for all those money-losing extravaganzas at the Hilton? Fact-finding tours to Hawaii? Who knows?

When we complain that our dental plan sucks, and that other unions have better ones, UFT Unity counters by saying that these locals pay a percentage of their prescriptions. Well, if you’re a UFT retiree, not only do you have the crappy UFT dental plan, but you also pay a percentage of your prescriptions. The worst of both worlds. Thanks a lot, UFT Unity!

Unity’s Mulgrew loves to say our Welfare Fund is the best in the country, if not the universe. My experience suggests otherwise. Whenever I had a major problem with the Welfare Fund, they proved no help at all, even though they were sitting on all that cash.

And of course, if you’re a retiree, you’re stuck paying some pretty high co-pays. My wife was taking a drug that had a co-pay of $300 a month. We spent a whole lot of time working at trying to get the drug company to help us pay, only to find that I made too much money to get any help. (Retired teachers, evidently, are very wealthy. Who knew?) My wife swapped to a generic, and so far it’s working out okay.

I was taking a generic that would have cost me $300 a month. My doctor swapped it out for one that costs me $245.50 every three months. Express Scripts, for some reason I cannot understand, wants $583.09. This might sound good, if you compare it with the price at CVS, listed at $614.65. But that’s problematic as well.

Prices at Express Scripts are not accurate. According to Express Scripts, the price at my local CVS is $614.65. This notwithstanding, the actual price I paid at CVS was $245.50. I bought it for that price six months ago. When Express Scripts updated the price, it said I could still get it cheaper at another CVS, so I went there. Three months later, Express Scripts said their price too was now $614.45. However, when I revisited my local CVS, the first one I’d used, they looked up the price, which was still $245.50.

I had to call Express Scripts last week because they had some issue with another prescription. I asked why the prices were off and the woman with whom I was speaking acted as though I was insulting her. She said those prices are just an estimate. Why, then, do we need them? Why don’t you state that they’re just posted for fun and we ought not to depend on them? I asked to speak to a supervisor and was disconnected.

Mulgrew loves to say we’re a big group and that’s why we get such great deals. Given the Medicare debacle that cost him the retiree election, I’d have to conclude Mulgrew wouldn’t know a good deal if one were hitting him over the head. This notwithstanding, if we’re going to use Express Scripts as our go-to, it behooves them to give us accurate prices.

I suppose I could call the Welfare Fund and complain. On the other hand, experience suggests it’s more practical and productive to walk my dog. Plus, I like walking my dog. So that’s what I’m planning to do.

Thanks to Jonathan.