Over 400 people joined the rally..,many called for their unions to move away from privatized healthcare altogether and to support single-payer healthcare on both a national and state level. .. CURO press release
CURO Cross Union Retiree Organizing (Committee) - or CUROC - we made a new acronym for a just formed alliance. Retiree Advocate/UFT is the main organizing force in the UFT but we now have allies in other unions - due to the amazing work of our own Gloria Brandman, who in the decades I've known her has always pushed the idea of building cross union alliances, even at the expense of tooting our own horn and branding ourselves as the moving force. It's true coalition building towards a united front -- and a model for the factions in the UFT to do the same for elections and issues of agreement.
Update Sunday July 4 - slide show - https://youtu.be/EWdUUD_kw2I
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Friday, July 2, 2021 - Good afternoon everyone.
I'm finally back in Rockaway after Wednesday's rock'n and roll'n rally through lower Manhattan by mostly us old folk. Naturally a whole bunch of us ended up at the Dark Horse bar on Warren St. and then I walked halfway uptown to Houston St until my leg gave in and I took the subway to Grand Central.
There's a lot of coverage and photos and videos -- I'm processing mine today -- so I'm going to put up a number of posts with the coverage and follow those in a few days with my analysis of the significance of the event, the organizing behind it and what the coalitions being built might hold for the future.
FAKE NEWS -- Our current health care plan is privatized so with the new one nothing changes. Fudging -- only 20% of those who choose Medicare (Some choose MedAdv) is privatized - the Emblem health part. Under the proposal 100% would be under private management. Think charter schools liiving on tax payer money.
I'm getting a good response to my commentary and re-posting the Julia Rock/Daily Poster piece: Are Municipal Unions Selling Out Retirees? Hell YES -
Hottest day of the year and hundreds of municipal retirees (and some in-service) showed up: UFT, DC37, PSC, CSA, MEA, and more.
https://wbai.org/archive/
‘We Want Our Medicare!’ NYC Retirees Protest Possible Privatization
AMNY had a good report:
Hundreds of Retirees Protest Privatization of Medicare
One if the unions made a video: https://youtu.be/s2SaR0ikJTw
Here's the press release from CURO.
From: Cross Union Retirees Organizing Group
PRESS RELEASE: Rally and Tour to Save Medicare for NYC Municipal Workers
Press Contact:
Bennett Fischer tremblychap@gmail.com
Today,
Tuesday June 30th a coalition of retired and active NYC municipal
workers held a rally and "tour" in downtown Manhattan, from Bowling
Green to City Hall, and called for the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC)
to halt negotiations aimed at selling off the administration of the
City’s Medicare plan to a private insurance company. Over 400 people
joined the rally as it started in the plaza in front of the old
Beaux-Arts, U.S. Custom House, now the home of the Museum of the
American Indian, and proceeded up Broadway towards City Hall, stopping
at various union headquarters and the NYC Office of Labor Relations
(OLR) along the way. At the rally, and at each stop, municipal retirees
called for the MLC and OLR to institute a moratorium on their Medicare
privatization plans. More than that, many called for their unions to
move away from privatized healthcare altogether and to support
single-payer healthcare on both a national and state level.
The
MLC – which is the healthcare bargaining unit for the City's municipal
unions – plans to achieve $600M in agreed-to healthcare savings for the
City in fiscal year 2021 by putting its healthcare obligations on the
auction block to the highest bidder. This switch would replace the
City’s traditional, government administered Medicare plan with a
so-called Medicare Advantage plan, operated by a private insurer.
Medicare Advantage plans are known to make a profit by charging higher
administrative costs than government administered Medicare, by
negotiating lower payments for medical procedures, and by limiting
patient care to a restricted number of in-network healthcare providers
and hospitals. Retirees are concerned that the proposed new plan will
limit their choice of doctors, eliminate hospitals and networks from
their current coverage umbrella, require burdensome referrals and
pre-approvals for medical procedures, and increase out-of-pocket
expenses for services and prescription drugs. Many are concerned that
lifesaving care they now receive under the current structure will no
longer be available on a national scale or from their current doctors,
with whom they have established deep personal relationships. They worry
that privatization will put them on a slippery slope of ever-diminishing
healthcare returns.
Retirees
are also furious that the City's healthcare negotiations are occurring
behind closed doors and only came to light in March, when retirees in
the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) – CUNY’s educators union – got
wind of the backdoor dealings and spread the word. Soon, retirees in the
United Federation of Teachers (UFT) became involved and were joined by
retirees from other municipal unions. They began to question union
leadership and demanded to know details of the Medicare changes under
consideration.
In
April, retirees in the PSC passed a resolution calling for a moratorium
of the City's healthcare negotiations. Retiree Advocate/UFT - a caucus
of the UFT's Retired Teacher Chapter - placed a motion for a moratorium
on the agenda of the UFT’s Delegate Assembly. On May 24th, they held a
news conference near City Hall in which members of the UFT, PSC, CSA,
and DC37 spoke out against Medicare privatization. They were joined by
speakers from Physicians for a National Health Plan and researchers from
the CUNY School of Public Health. In response to the growing outcry,
UFT President Michael Mulgrew held a telephone town hall in which
thousands of retirees participated. President Mulgrew, a key player on
the MLC board, said that the UFT may still decide to opt out of a switch
to private Medicare, but despite assurances the closed-door
negotiations have continued, with a decision on a winning bidder due by a
July 1st deadline.
UFT
retiree Bennett Fischer said, “Working with my union, I spent many
years pushing back against the hedge-fund billionaires and the charter
school profiteers who wanted to destroy my profession, kill my union,
and privatize public education. Why would we ever acquiesce to letting
the same frenzy of sharks devour our public Medicare system?”
Stopping
in front of the Broadway offices of CUNY's teacher union, Nancy Romer,
retired Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College, and PSC Executive Council
member, said, “The Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, the AFT local
representing over 30,000 workers at CUNY, is asking for a moratorium on
the Medicare decision by the MLC until more input and investigation
occurs. We need to fully inform our members of the possible healthcare
packages and get their input on this most important decision affecting
almost 300,000 City retirees and partners and all present City workers
who expect to retire over the next few decades.”
"The
proposal to move City retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan is a
fundamental diminishment of their hard-won retirement benefits and will
disproportionately impact lower-income retirees. I am proud to stand
with retirees in calling for a democratic and transparent process
regarding the future of their healthcare coverage. It's unacceptable
that public servants are being asked to accept reduced benefits when the
most affluent New Yorkers have only become wealthier during the
pandemic," said Sarah Crean (member of the City Council staff union
organizing committee) when speaking near City Hall.
“The
City should not achieve its labor savings by taking critical health
care options away from current retirees, many of whom are on fixed
incomes and rely on their doctors and providers,” said Council Member
Brad Lander. “We do need to find savings, but we should do that through
attrition, efficiency, and smart choices for the future, not by reneging
on promises we made long ago to the teachers, nurses, secretaries and
so many more who showed up for us for decades.”
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