Thursday, March 31, 2022

Mulgrew Turns Tail and runs from confrontation with retirees over MulgrewCare

Retirees planning to show up at Mulgrew’s confab had some colorful protest methods in mind. “Bring rotten tomatoes! Lol,” Joseph Gloss, a retired NYPD sergeant, wrote in response to a Facebook post asking people to show up for the demonstration. Marianne Pizzitola, an ex-FDNY emergency medical specialist and president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, said she had dished out nearly $1,500 to rent a billboard truck for the Mulgrew protest. “We probably would have had a really good turnout,” she said.” I wanted Mr. Mulgrew to know how we all felt. I wanted him to hear how people feel about all this.”

I've been posting stories (Hiding Mulgrew in Plain Sight - Scripting, Rehearsals. Shutting down critics: Internal polling on Mulgrew not good) citing Jon Halabi, Campaign Strategy: hide Mulgrew. 

Even within Unity Caucus, Mulgrew is unpopular in many quarters but Unity is not a true democratic institution so no mechanism exists to replace him. Some Unity insiders have shared stories that they are worried about the coming election because of Mulgrew and feel if they had chosen a different candidate they would win hands down. Now many of them are just not motivated enough to beat the bushes for him. The most rabid are those worried about their jobs if Unity should lose.

When we heard Mulgrew was going to make an appearance in Bayside (safe territory he thought) on April 4, retiree groups working with active UFT members began to plan a rally to greet him.

Then this in today's Daily News:

NYC teachers union boss cancels event after protest threat from retirees angry over new Medicare plan



NYC teachers union boss cancels event after protest threat from retirees angry over new Medicare plan Chris Sommerfeldt New York Daily News Mar 31, 2022 at 5:26 PM The city’s teachers union boss has abruptly canceled a meet-and-greet with current and former members after a group of retirees threatened to turn the event into a protest over the Adams administration’s effort to shift them onto a controversial new Medicare plan, the Daily News has learned. 
 
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, was supposed to host the sit-down at the Towers At Water’s Edge in Bayside, Queens, this coming Monday, according to an online invitation that promised “light refreshments and conversation.” 
 
But on Wednesday, a UFT official sent out an email to members who signed up for the event saying the union would have to cancel and reschedule the confab at a different location due to “circumstances beyond our control.” 
 
 “The building is requiring formal security. This has not been a practice of the UFT at any of our meetings,” the official, Mary Vaccaro, wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The News. 
 
Retired New York City municipal workers are pictured on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall to call on New York City Mayor-Elect Eric Adams to preserve their Medicare coverage in December 2021. 
 
The cancellation notice was issued one day after the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees began spreading word on social media that it planned to stage a protest at Mulgrew’s event over Mayor Adams’ effort to switch retired municipal workers off traditional Medicare and onto Medicare Advantage Plan. 
 
Like many organized labor leaders, Mulgrew has been supportive of the Advantage plan, which Adams’ administration argues would provide municipal retirees with good health benefits while saving city taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year thanks to a larger chunk of federal funding. 
 
But more than 64,000 retirees have opted out of the new plan over concerns that it would downgrade their health coverage by requiring preauthorization clearance for certain medical procedures. 
 
They’ve also raised concern about the Advantage plan being administered by a private health insurance company, arguing that its profit motives could result in inferior benefits in the long run, among other issues. 
 
Retirees planning to show up at Mulgrew’s confab had some colorful protest methods in mind. “Bring rotten tomatoes! Lol,” Joseph Gloss, a retired NYPD sergeant, wrote in response to a Facebook post asking people to show up for the demonstration. Marianne Pizzitola, an ex-FDNY emergency medical specialist and president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, said she had dished out nearly $1,500 to rent a billboard truck for the Mulgrew protest. “We probably would have had a really good turnout,” she said.” I wanted Mr. Mulgrew to know how we all felt. I wanted him to hear how people feel about all this.” 
 
A UFT spokeswoman declined to specify Thursday why Mulgrew’s meet-and-greet was canceled, but promised it would be rescheduled. A rep for the Bayside event space did not return a request for comment. 
 
In addition to vocal opposition from Pizzitola’s group, the Adams administration has run into legal complications in rolling out the Advantage plan. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled earlier this month that the administration could not slap a $191 monthly penalty on retirees who want to keep their current coverage — a decision jeopardizing Adams’ promise that the plan would generate sizable taxpayer savings. The administration is appealing the ruling, but calls for Adams to scrap the Advantage plan altogether have mounted in the interim. Comptroller Brad Lander took the unusual step of refusing to register the contract for the Advantage plan. In a statement issued by Lander, he said, “our office cannot currently assess the total cost to the City and fulfill our mandate to confirm that the contract is fully funded” due to the ongoing litigation. 
 
In the meantime, six City Council members and eight members of the State Assembly have signed on to an open letter to Adams urging him to drop his appeal of the court ruling and allow retirees to keep their traditional Medicare without the $191 fee.
 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

UFT DA- The Numbers Don't Lie - Truth about our Delegate Assembly, Mulgrew Filibuster (and the mistruth UFC is “wasting time”)


With every blatant lie, the Unity Caucus machine wins votes for United For Change. They dare to try to blame the lack of business getting done at the DA on the few minutes taken up be points of order or parliamentary procedure which are attempts to open up the floor for debates, discussions and resolutions. So people have begun to track the actual time stamps for the DA to prove that Mulgrew and his Unity Caucus cohorts take up almost all the time -- even pre-planning questions and planted resolutions -- insiders tell us that Mulgrew actually holds practice sessions with people assigned seats and even a seating chart. 

Watch Unity attack UFC for speaking at all.

Here is a report from the UFC media team.

The numbers don’t lie. The Mulgrew filibuster is solely responsible for obstructing the deliberative and legislative business of the Delegate Assembly. 
 
The March DA is not exception. 
 
The numbers and data don’t lie. See the charts below. 
 
The time is being monopolized by the chair, Mulgrew and Unity - mostly for reports. In December, he took 80% of the DA time, while Unity consumed 95% of the total time with ZERO resolutions passed. 
 
Since December 2020, the DA has only averaged 1.5 resolutions passed, per month, almost all being political endorsements and symbolic resolutions. 


They claim to do the work … but the work seems to be the talking points 52 Broadway wants to deliver to us… not the rank and file organizing from the bottom up or bringing their ideas to the table and arena ideas. 
 
At the last DA, Mulgrew and Unity literally ran out the clock for an automatic 6 pm adjournment despite calls to extend the time so business and motions could be considered by the United For Change partner delegates. 
 
We must #FreeTheDelgateAssembly. Check out this spreadsheet for a minute by minute account of the March DA:
 

 



Monday, March 28, 2022

Nick's Comprehensive Executive Board Meeting Minutes, 3/28/2022 – Election Complaints

Christina Gavin: Our union has been in existence since 1960. The DOL has regulations, set in 1959, for election guidelines. Our union should be upholding federal labor laws. These labor laws underline the fiber of our union, but we see repeated violations. Mr. Barr and Ms. Norton take exemption and want to interpret regulations and Carl Cambria’s reminder to interpret guidelines in another way. It’s my right to appeal that. Unity Caucus has violated labor law as well as Carl Cambria’s email to them that explicitly reminded on much of what was discussed above. Cambria later said he was amending his original email. But, when you write a rule, that is what you need to be bound by. I look forward to seeing what AFT will say of this matter. -- comments at UFT Ex bd meeting

A bunch of us sat in to support Christina Gavin in her complaints over election conduct. We have even more dynamite not presented yet. It won't get us anywhere at this point but if UFC goes to Dept of Labor and gets certain rulings it may affect future behavior. One comment as the meeting ended at 6:30 - they do the work?

I'm not sure how to describe Christina, who I met only 6 weeks ago at the end of petitioning but has become a relentless activist in the election campaign. She certainly has become known to the UFT leadership in a very short time. She had focused on tracking election violations by union officials using DOL rules. She is a constant blur of motion and I often can't keep up, but all I can say is WOW!

Let me just say this before getting to Nick's report. Yesterday a 12 year teacher and UFC candidate for HS Ex Bd drove out to my house to pick up boxes of leaflets. We had a deligthful conversation for over an hour on a range of subjects. It was only the second time I met her and I feel so much on the same plane.

So when you see Nick leave Unity and Daniel who voted for Unity in 2019 become major cogs in the oppo and these ladies emerge, we see a new kind of oppo emerging. Win, lose or partial win, this should be fun to watch.


Executive Board Meeting Minutes, 3/28/2022 – Election Complaints

A. Routine Items

1. Approval of the Minutes (March 19) – All minutes (eboard and adcom) passed unanimously

Announcements: Negotiating committee will be starting at 4:30 on Wednesday, all in person, giving time for people to come from the outer boroughs. Next eboard is March, next DA is April 18th. The DA in May is now May 25th, which is not the original date.

1. Report from Districts

Rashad Brown, executive board at large, had legal plan meeting with great attendance.

Janella Hinds: Hosting 2 events next week, Tuesday April 5th, Academic High School meeting, 4:30-5:45, followed by the academic high schools award ceremony, including education, union, community, and solidarity awards. Last year’s winners will also be exited. That’s Friday, April 8th.

(Name Missed): First books event just occurred, where 12,000 books were given to many different schools in Chinatown. Lots of support.

2. President’s Report : Michael Mulgrew: Apologizes for being late, but says he’s been on meetings in Albany. Says budget, a lot of it was taken up by Buffalo Bills Stadium. Tier 6 reform discussions will be occurring all week. April 4th is now the final date of the budget, strange. Congratulate nurse chapter, settled with Northwell last Friday at 4:00 AM. Able to get contract settled and they did a great job. Thanks all involved. Now, all private sector nurse contracts are back in place. At least a year before we have to deal with another issue. On April 14th, prep is going on for Listen up – the number of teachers we have is so many that we are going to have to expand. The idea is for education leaders and policy experts to listen to teachers for what is going on and needed right now. We knew, we have a whole bunch of educators who want to do that kind of work.

Chapter leader hub goes live on Friday. Will continue to field test it to make sure all goes well, but it’s a big deal, and we’re hoping that everything goes well. It is that time of the year. We don’t have the calendar yet from the DOE, and I’m frustrated, because we need to start planning for next year now, and the DOE is taking quite a bit of time on the superintendent process, so we’ll see how that goes. Besides that, we have the NYSUT RA, and thanks all going for doing that work. It’s really tight and it’s nonstop for two days, sitting in chairs and making sure we’re representing our local in the state-wide piece. Apologizes, but has to leave.

Thanks everyone for a phenomenal chapter leader weekend. Talks about great energy and optimism, great to see how great it was. It was a well run weekend, so thanks everyone. Be well, bye.

Reports from Districts reconvenes:

Rich Mantell: April 9th is the Middle School conference in person, no remote option. Some of the classes are STEM classroom, Google Earth, CTE partnerships, loan forgiveness, morale, socio-emotional health (yoga). See you there.

Mary Vaccaro: CTLE workshops, everyone is calling. We’ve added a lot of them. Anyone on the waitlist, we’ll let you know, especially for our Apple workshops, cap being lifted to 450. In addition there are ELL credits associated if that applies to you. April 6th, Goldie Haun workshop will have workshop on SEL, free one year subscription. Many schools invited to attend. Anyone who wants to attend from eboard, we’ll get an invite out to your.

Karen Alford: Had elementary school workshops last week, was great to be back in person. Had an elementary school town hall with about 500 people online, who asked questions and heard the reports.

Tom Murphy: April 11th is next meeting for retired chapter. Will now be a regular mail letter for retirees, including for retirees who don’t have email.

C. Special Order of Business: Election Complaints

Background from LeRoy Barr: alleged misuse of union resources in election, Christina Gavin is a UFC member. We are going to review her complaint and take steps. In other instances, we have found that some Unity Caucus actions are fine, with response to use of personal accounts by UFT employee on social media. Every 3 years, we have elections. The 2022 election committee has reps from each slate, Unity and UFC (doesn’t mention how many in each). Email was sent by Christina with respect to use of media. UFT gathered more information, after which Christina amended her complaint and added additional evidence. With regard to official UFT accounts, no caucus business, email should be sent out…..with use of officer headshots from website, we say that Unity should pay a reasonable market rate for use of the photos. But recommend dismissal of the rest of the complaint.

Complaint that UFT employees use personal accounts for both UFT and caucus business, but some of these activities are not electioneering. Nothing wrong with sharing UFT information. Allegations of union employees using personal accounts to ‘electioneer’ on social media. Since personal, this is not illegal. There are also accounts that official UFT accounts should not be used for caucus purposes, and these accounts should cease being used ASAP. Some accounts are used for non-UFT purposes or caucus purposes, but this is fine. Uses of UFT and archival photos for caucus purposes, which showed caucus logos on republished UFT footage. Under LMRDA, the union is not required to stop communications to regular UFT. While it’s true that LMRDA is against using union funds for electioneering, this is not true when there is equal access. For instance, there can be a candidates forum or post in newspaper. Since anyone could have downloaded the video in Queens, anyone else could have done that, not just Unity Caucus. The same is true of the photo from the labor archives.

Use of headshots from the Unity website and campaign materials. Unity used headshots that were paid for by UFT funds. This has been ruled that one campaign’s use of photos from the website does not violate election law, because those photos are not UFT property but officer property. Still, Unity Caucus should pay a reasonable market rate for use of the headshots. President Mulgrew’s letter in support of Debra Penny for TRS Board. The allegation that Mulgrew’s praise of Debra Penny, incumbent candidate for Treasurer, and asking for signatures from all chapter leaders. The 3 teacher members serve 3 year terms, and it’s Debra Penny’s turn for an election. The DA voted overwhelmingly in support. Only after this resolution did Michael Mulgrew send the letter in support. The DOL has found this regular work of the union to be permissable during officer election season. The letter didn’t endorse Penny for UFT Treasurer, so the complaint is denied. The letter is fine.

Union representatives were found to enter different schools during UFT work hours and distributed flyers. Winnie Thompson sent caucus business from her UFT account. This matter has been addressed. And another DR allegedly dropped of caucus pamphlets to a CL in the parking lot. The other DRs deny the evidence, but they should be reminded not to do it.

Michael Sill: Only members of the eboard may debate, but Christina Gavin will be given an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes.

Christina Gavin: Our union has been in existence since 1960. The DOL has regulations, set in 1959, for election guidelines. Our union should be upholding federal labor laws. These labor laws underline the fiber of our union, but we see repeated violations. Mr. Barr and Ms. Norton take exemption and want to interpret regulations and Carl Cambria’s reminder to interpret guidelines in another way. It’s my right to appeal that. Unity Caucus has violated labor law as well as Carl Cambria’s email to them that explicitly reminded on much of what was discussed above. Cambria later said he was amending his original email. But, when you write a rule, that is what you need to be bound by. I look forward to seeing what AFT will say of this matter.

Michael Sill: Do we accept the report? No debate. Motion passes unanimously.

Barr: Ballots on April 8th. Reminds everyone to vote. Motion to adjourn.

 

Mulgrew Report Card -- Retireee ADvocate NEWSLETTER: Election is coming, VOTE UFC

 

RA NEWSLETTER: Election is coming. Vote for United for Change

 



Join Retiree Advocate/UFT - Become a member: $20.
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Come and work with us on this historic election campaign!

RA hosted a successful Zoom meeting of 240 participants on March 7  Here is a link to FAQs and Information about the upcoming election and health care Issues for UFT and other municipal union members.


Ballots for the upcoming UFT Election will be mailed out the first week of April. It is very important to update/confirm your UFT mailing address asap. Here is how you can do this:

Ballots must be received by Monday, May 9th at 5 pm to be counted on Tuesday, May 10th at UFT headquarters
    The Mulgrew Report Card 2019 - 2022
                                                                                                  from New Action
Leadership 2020
- Failed to close schools in a timely manner in March 2020, putting teachers and students at risk from COVID
Leadership 2021 -  Failed to report ongoing failrure of the DOE in testing and infection rates of both staff and students in unsafe schools
Support for Chapter Leaders - Failed to protect Chapter Leaders from abusive administrators, weakening the union
Program for addressing abusive administrators - Abandoned the Principals In Need of Improvement Campaign 2014, allowing over 200 principals citywide to harass members
Evaluations -  Allowed Danielson-based APPR to be weaponized to intidimate teachers.  Failure to restore the right of members to grieve unfair observations and letters in file
Probationary Teachers- Failed to gain due process for probationary and fails to protect them from abusive tenure extensions and to restore jobs after discontinuations
Health Care - Secretly negotiated to lower retiree health benefits in Winter 2021.  Currently developing a plan to lower benefits for in-service members.
Pensions -  Stood by letting politicians and a corrupt governor form Tier V and Tier VI pensions for our active members and failed to improve the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for retirees.
Class Size - Failed to improve on 1960s class size contractual limits and failed to implement the CFE lawsuit to bring class size limits
down to State averages. Only recently released TV ads during the election campaign but failed to deliver on legislation.
Democracy - Abandoned the bipartisan organizing committee helping chapter leaders. Does not support the election of District Reps by the members. Doesn't support proportional representation in all Union Elections. Favors one party (Unity) control.
United for Change Platform

Mayor Adams said he would appeal the Judge's decision even after he called the original MAPP a "bait and switch"  move.  Now the folks who sponsored the legal case have filed a counter appeal  To find out more, read the city's appeal, counter appeal and sign the petition.  click here.
from Len Rodberg,
Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies, Queens College, CUNY.

I don't know if substantive arguments are permitted in an appeal, but if they are, the ones the City is making on MAPP are simply false.

Not only is MAPP not better than Medicare + SeniorCare, it is an inferior cut-rate product that will harm anyone unfortunate enough to get sick while in it. The City is simply wrong in thinking (a) that the federal government will make up for the reduction in what the City is spending and (b) that the private sector is somehow more efficient than the public sector. Both assertions are demonstrably false.  Here's the link

Well over 45,000 NYC retirees have rejected the MAPP by opting out to stay in their traditional free Medicare Plan in spite of the fact that they will have to pay a $200 a month premium.  Opt Out 
GHI Senior Care Co-PaysSince the judge did not decide on the issue of the newly imposed Co-Pays, (once you meet your deductible, they will go into effect) please pay them and keep your receipts

Still wondering about MAPP? Read the PSC report on the first draft contract from last November
The draft contract between the Alliance and the City is deeply flawed. First, it provides for little accountability to retirees or the City of New York (identified as the plan sponsor with the Municipal Labor  Committee) as to medical care, health outcomes, or cost. Second, the contract gives the Alliance wide  latitude to make changes in benefits, pre-certification requirements, and premiums charged the City. This draft contract should not be approved. 

ie.  The Alliance asserts the right to “waive or modify any referral, authorization, or certification requirements, benefit limits, or other processes contained in the Evidence of Coverage [Plan] if such waiver is in the best interest of a Member or will facilitate effective and efficient administration of  claims.” (Section 13B, p. 7) Defining the "best interest of a Member" or what"facilitate[s] the  effective and efficient administration of claims" should be the subject of consultation and approval  between the insurer and the sponsor (NYC/MLC), not left to the Alliance alone. 


Want Answers?
Petition against Federal plan to privatize our healthcare automatically.
FAQs from the NYC Retirees Organization
Updated MLC FAQs
Evidence of Coverage
UFT Welfare Fund
Prior Authorizations
Court Documents 

Message from United for Change

We will fight to remove private greed from our profession, our livelihood, and our schools. 

  • Reverse privatization of Medicare for NYC municipal retirees. No in-service healthcare givebacks.
  • Support single payer public healthcare. 
  • Rescind mandatory HMO enrollment for new UFT members. Bring back choice.
  • End high-stakes testing. Replace with fairer forms of student assessment
  • Fight the privatization of public education. Reverse the spread of charter schools in public education.
               Retiree Advocate is a member of UNITED FOR CHANGE
Retiree Advocate Platform

SAVE RETIREE BENEFIT
  • Protect our Healthcare from being privatized
  • Expand our Social Security benefits and ensure that they are not diminished or removed
  • Win a (single payer) universal health program, support and organize for the NYHealth Care Act
  • Increase our COLA (cost of living adjustments)
PROTECT WORKING EDUCATORS and SAVE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH FULL FUNDING•UFT
  • Take immediate steps to support teachers working under abusive administrators
  • Fight for Pension Equity- tier 1 for all. Equal work deserves equal pensions
  • Restore the Retiree Organizing Committee.
  • Defend our public schools and take a more active role in preventing them from being privatized
  • Say No to Charters, vouchers and any system that creates unequal worker tiers
  • Reduce Class Size! Cut administrator costs
EXPAND UNION DEMOCRACY
  • Working members should have greater voting weight when electing union leadership
  • Change the current “winner take all” election system using proportional representation for union slate
  • Represent a variety of views and interests in our chapter. Diversity of ideas leads to better decision making (which results in a stronger union)
FIGHT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL
  • We support The Black Lives Matter movement. End systemic racism and oppression
  • We call for an end to police brutality, real police reform and the end of the militarization of police departments
  • We support raising the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour.
  • The federal government should institute a massive jobs program to address racial and economic disparity. Support economic and health victims of the pandemic
  • Work to cut the excesses in the military budget and redirect monies to expand social services and benefits in local communities.
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