Saturday Night Massacre - Behind Mulgrew's Letter to members on #Mulgrewcare - More Lies and Obfuscation

We're all in the same boat, we've painstakingly carved out a hole in it, and we're sinking fast. Leadership had better wake up some time before we hit bottom... Arthur Goldstein, NYC Educator

Just about everything the UFT sends to members on healthcare givebacks is easy to debunk. The only debate seems to be whether the UFT is sending out misinformation or disinformation (intentional bs). The UFT wants you to lobby the City Council to change Administrative Code 12-126 (City law). Let's try to get down to the basics of what that means.... James Eterno, ICE blog: DO YOU BELIEVE CITY EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES WILL GET BETTER HEALTHCARE IF THE CITY PAYS LESS FOR HEALTHCARE?

Video: Mulgrew is so desperate he sends out a threat: https://youtu.be/Jz2wbBi09gE

 

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022

Where do I begin? Today I am focusing on the threatening email Mulgrew sent out Saturday. I wrote about it:

Outrage Grows at Mulgrew Healthcare Blackmail pitting working members ($1500 a year) against retirees (forced MedAdv) - Beats Putin to Use of Nuclear Option -

Unity probably thinks Mulgrew hit a home run - an LOL moment

Some thinking inside the Unity machine is this was a brilliant move to get the rank and file involved in pushing their case by threatening working teachers with a $1500 healthcare payment each year and urging them to call their city council, a scheme cooked up by both Adams and Mulgrew and a few other union leaders to bully their way through. 

 

Originally, they thought they had an easy path in the city council to getting their way without scaring the membership. The internal lobbying was not effective, while those of us opposed to the reduction in healthcare were having an impact as our rally last Thursday showed.

So Saturday Mulgrew, seeing a loss coming at his attempt to get the council to change the Admin code in ways that would relieve the city obligation to pay up to a rate agreed to in the 60s, in desperation he tried a scare tactic with the working members, claiming Adams will force working UFT members to pay $1500 a year for healthcare. 

 

What his email accomplished was waking the membership up to the healthcare crisis the UFT is facing and created confusion and uncertaintly and opened the door to other voices. Sometimes we have been screaming into the wind. Already there are signs people are not just listening to the UFT line. 

 

James Eterno took this one on:

• MULGREW'S LATEST EMAIL ASKS IF WE WANT HEALTHCARE GIVEBACKS FOR RETIREES OR ACTIVE MEMBERS

What Mulgrew obfuscated about was trying to give the impression Adams can do this unilaterally when in fact Mulgrew must agree to any changes. Again Jame exposes the Mulgrew lie:

• MULGREW'S LATEST EMAIL ASKS IF WE WANT HEALTHCARE GIVEBACKS FOR RETIREES OR ACTIVE MEMBERS

James includes links to the MLC agreement with the city that requires both sides to agree and the video above of the increasingly famous Mulgrew critic Marianne Pizzitola.

I was on a zoom with people from MORE last night where Marianne filled in these younger working teachers on the real deal. There will be a town hall on Sunday Nov. 14 at 7PM to spread the word with Marianne answering questions.

Retiree Advocate is also working on a town hall with Marianne this Sunday at 7PM aimed at retirees.

There are so many great bloggers out there exposing the UFT/Unity Caucus/Mulgrew Shakespearean dramedy. Rather than repeat or echo these blogs here are some links.

 

Mulgrew's savings are our costs 

Everytime Mulgrew says "savings" think "out of your pocket"

Once more back to James' latest:  DO YOU BELIEVE CITY EMPLOYEES AND RETIREES WILL GET BETTER HEALTHCARE IF THE CITY PAYS LESS FOR HEALTHCARE?

 

Jonathan Halabi hits a few more home runs -  

• ABCs of Mulgrew vs. Retirees’ health care.  
• Quiz: Health care cuts? or Health care savings? : You are experiencing pain, and think about going to the emergency room, but think about the cost (copay jumped several years ago from $50 to $150) and decide that it’s probably not serious, and take tylenol instead. Cost or Savings? You are getting less health care than you would have. The cost scared you away. That is a cut, right? Less care? But you might have said that’s a savings: if you are Mulgrew, Nespoli, Adams, or an Insurance Executive. That’s an emergency room visit that you might have had to pay for, and now you didn’t. High fives for jacking up copays! (I was in this situation, but I went to the ER. That triple-digit copay was a cost to me, a savings to Mulgrew.)  

Jonathan also points out that more "savings" come out of the need for

Approval for a procedure that should not need approval

Because of a family history of cancer, you need a special diagnostic procedure every year. But this year a guy who works for an insurance company calls to say that your procedure has been approved. Cost or Savings? If you are a regular person, neither. You need the test, you will get it. But if you are Michael, Harry, Eric or a stockholder in Emblem or Aetna or Alliance of whatever monster insurance company is involved, that’s a savings.

When Jonathan blogs, UFT leadership listens - and looks to counter.

Arthur Goldstein, the dean of ed bloggers, comes back with another powerful hit on the UFT leadership: UFT Leadership's Contract Plan

Can you even believe we're battling to change a law so NYC can charge premiums? If Mulgrew and Adams succeed in making retired couples pay 5K a year for the health care they were promised for free their entire careers, who's to say it will stop there? If Adams doesn't get to charge in-service members $1500 a year for GHI now, who can say he won't charge them 2500 next year? After all, in service members might be able to afford it better than retired members. Can't you imagine Adams making that argument? Can you imagine us supporting it? This, of course, is all administered by the MLC. We're the largest union in the city, and the largest voice in the MLC. Meanwhile, the DOE sees us actively campaigning for worse conditions.

Arthur connects the Mulgrew/Adams partnership on health care to the upcoming contract. Why will we get a contract when Adams can just make outrageous demands and stall/Bloomberg us for years?

More "savings" - for the city - will be coming with further and higher co-pays and for those with chronic illness - a massive healthcare hit.

Oh, and if you are still working and looking at being in Medicare when you turn 65 - the Mulgrew plan will help kill Medicare as a public option - they brag about draining $600 million out of Medicare and into the hands of the private insurers.

What is the way out? There may be no way out especially with Mulgrew in charge. Call me a dreamer but if we had a medicare for all even at the NYS level, that would be a way out. But given the real probability (even I'm sick of Democrats) Hochul will lose, look for bad times ahead.