Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
The NYC Teachers
Retirement System (TRS) contacted over 180 retired paras and advised
them they “made a mistake” when their pension was calculated some more
that 15 years ago. Not only are they reducing their pension by half,
they are clawing back the alleged overpayment for the last three years. ...the UFT argue that active paraprofessionals are making an
unlivable wage and even declare war on the Mayor if he doesn’t sign into
law the bill in the City Council to give them a $10,000 ‘respect check’
of Non-Pensionable income. Well a pension that is 2/3 of that salary is
unlivable and now take more than half of that away from them when they
came to rely on that money is criminal. The UFT told these paras when
they called, that there was nothing they can do. The UFT has been
silent on this issue. TRS already cut these
retirees pensions in half beginning with the July pension check.
Well, look at this one. The UFT, with its 3 TRS pension reps sits silently by and not standing up for the affected disabled paras who are undergoing pension reductions due to a mistake made by TRS in overpaying them. A group of UFT paras and retirees have joined with the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees to stand up for them.
July 31, 2026
Good Morning,
Attached is a press statement from our three organizations. Fix Para Pay is a slate of active and retired UFT Paraprofessionals advocating for better wages to be negotiated by their union. Fix Retiree Benefits is a slate of active and retired UFT members advocating to protect an improve the conditions for UFT retirees. NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
is an organization of over 200,000 municipal NYC retirees founded to
protect retirees healthcare and other benefits from diminishment in
retirement.
Together,
we stand with our retired paraprofessionals today. The NYC Teachers
Retirement System (TRS) contacted over 180 retired paras and advised
them they “made a mistake” when their pension was calculated some more
that 15 years ago. Not only are they reducing their pension by half,
they are clawing back the alleged overpayment for the last three years.
You
have watched the UFT argue that active paraprofessionals are making an
unlivable wage and even declare war on the Mayor if he doesn’t sign into
law the bill in the City Council to give them a $10,000 ‘respect check’
of Non-Pensionable income. Well a pension that is 2/3 of that salary is
unlivable and now take more than half of that away from them when they
came to rely on that money is criminal. The UFT told these paras when
they called, that there was nothing they can do. The UFT has been
silent on this issue that needs to end today. TRS already cut these
retirees pensions in half beginning with the July pension check.
We
are collectively demanding that they amend the Retirement and Social
Security Law they amended in 2002 under then President Randi Weingarten
and correct this injustice and TRS must pass a resolution not to claw
back any alleged overpayment.
Unity response of "we heard you" after retiree and para loss? Attack, Attack, Attack, Lie, Lie, Lie
Is the Unity retreat a sign of panic or a regular event? Here I will do those Unityites who want to sleep late next Sunday instead of attending the retreat (I hope they serve better bagels than they at RTC meetings) by revealing Barr's message.
We know how Unity leadership operates - they give marching orders. But maybe this time they want to hear what people think from the Unity faithful. NOT. Inside word is that Barr is being blamed for defeats in chapter elections - a glaring error was mistakenly sending out the retiree flyer with the para ballots. Was that the reason for the 75% vote for Fix Para Pay? More dumb thinking at the top.
The special Unity meeting 8:30 AM with retirees is a new wrinkle in the regular Unity meetings and indicative of a strategy to win back control of the retiree chapter from Retiree Advocate and try to undermine RA. Unity lost all 300 delegates, many of whom were leadership at one point, and now are no longer in the DA. But they can show up at the retiree chapter meetings and at the first one on Oct. 22 we may see signs of their strategy.Will there be a Unity leaflet attacking us for lying, especially since we have an invitation to Marianne and a lawyer for the law suit to give retirees an update. How will that play out since RA received 17K or 63% of the vote. So let's see how
Unity plays this as they hope to recover part of that vote for the
upcoming UFT elections. If they've lost those voters for future
elections, their control of the union is in danger.That 8:30 AM retiree meeting will not be a fun event - and if friendly Unity people attend, please leak to. me.
Mulgrew has urged Bennett to not invite Marianne since he says he wants to focus on the election, which is funny since repeated requests by Bennett to get the retiree chapter involved in the election have gone unanswered. Unity organized a bus to go to Penn, for themselves and never notified the new leaders of RTC despite repeated requests. We also noted the new Unity Retiree tee-shirts at the Labor parade --- if I lost by such a wide margin would I advertise? Those expensive outside consultants Unity is probably hiring are loaded with good advice.
Does Mulgrew have an alt plan? He has a concept like Trump does on Obamacare.
Marianne takes down Mulgrew misinfo on Medicare Adv fake news.
Mulgrew and Gorido, leaders in the Municipal Labor Committee that still
thinks a Medicare advantage plan is better than traditional Medicare, because they would probably
be the only people on earth that would say that. Other than the insurance company. So why are we saying this?
Despite Mulgrew making a public
relations announcement soon after the RTC election that he was
withdrawing support for the city's Medicare Advantage plan, he in fact
has been unwilling to show support for the lawsuits that have kept us in
Medicare.
According to St. Michael,
the retirees who just defeated his Patronage Cult spread “harmful
misinformation.” Evidently, after our doctors told us they would not
accept Aetna, we told people doctors would not
accept Aetna. Furthermore, after Aetna admitted in NY State Supreme
Court that they would withhold care recommended by our doctors, we told people Aetna would withhold care recommended by out doctors.
How
dare people contradict Dear Leader? Unity has to get those District
Reps into schools clarifying that everything Michael Mulgrew claims is
absolutely true (which is especially important when he gets caught in
lies).
Reports are coming in that the message is to go into schools aggressively and there are signs of giving special attention to schools with activists who stand up to Unity. Show how tough you are. Maybe pick a fight with the principal. And for sure attack critics of leadership as being anti-union. And to recruit for Unity as early as they can to keep people out of the hands of opponents. So expect visits.
Also district meet and greet events.
In some districts they are attacking critics as being anti-union and charging them with being divisive. Why not just cancel UFT elections?
Here is their solution to dealing with schools with chapter leaders who may not be friendly to Unity reps. Arthur reports:
I’ve heard of incidents here and there where Unity big shots
called meetings in schools without the cooperation or knowledge of
chapter leaders. That was the exception rather than the rule. And from
what I hear, these unsolicited visits didn’t work so well. But Unity doesn’t learn from mistakes. Therefore, they’re working on a way for DRs to request emails be sent to individual schools to announce their visits. Unity, Groping for a Path Forward, Disempowers Chapter Leaders
They
plan to give hand-picked Unity District Representatives the power to
contact members at individual schools without CL cooperation.
So that's how they will try to go around critical internal voices in schools they don't control. No problem for the Unity and most non-affiliated schools where the CLs depend on the Dist reps.
So expect a visit from a district or special rep to call us liars. Marianne responded on her Friday night video:
There is a full court press by a UFT leadership that is sending the
troops into the schools to tell members they are here for them. In one
school a special rep said she is bringing the smoke -- probably to cover
up for the inability to really help.
A former chapter leader texted:
Is Unity crumbling? We see signs of that on the edges at the school level. A number of Chapter Leader defenders of the loyalty oath lost in their school elections. There are almost 400 new CL - a massive turnover in over a quarter of the schools. Those 400 are up for grabs and the usual Unity tactic of bringing them into Unity at the earliest stage by promising them free convention trips and after school jobs may not work on this new breed, many of whom may be open to entreaties from the other caucuses, which elected their own members.
LeRoy Barr, who has taken heat for the spring election failures, is trying everything to save the Unity brand by offering up strange words in their world - we want to hear from you.
You can't operate top-down for 60 years and suddenly switch tactics. One thing we saw in the UFT's 3 Consequential Spring Elections and the 2022 general UFT election: The Unity faithful did not have their hearts in it. LeRoy needs to find a way to pump up a demoralized caucus. Remember: Some key activists on the other side were recently in or allied to Unity. I name Nick Bacon and Daniel Alicea as two leading lights. There are more but I'm not going to name them at this time. I even told LeRoy their dumb policies of repression over bullshit cost them more than they gain.
Mulgrew is Unity's weakest link
The Mulgrew Town Hall last Tuesday and the Chapter Leader meeting on Wednesday were viewed as abject failures by Mulgrew's rambling and arrogance. He even insulted one of his loyal supporters who went storming out and took one of my leaflets after having refused one on the way in. Ka Ching. Mulgrew is the Unity version of Biden, except the Dems had the sense to switch before it was too late.
So can LeRoy resuscitate a dead horse - er - union leader?
-----
Marianne, NYC Organization of Public Service Retiree, takes down Mulgrew misinfo on Medicare Adv fake news.
Mulgrew and Gorido, leaders in the Municipal Labor Committee that still
thinks a Medicare advantage plan is better than traditional Medicare, because they would probably
be the only people on earth that would say that. Other than the insurance company. So why are we saying this?
The judge didn't stop you from offering choice-- you did. You had the MLC taking an amicus on the side of the city against the retirees -- the UFT lawyer consulting with city lawyers.
Thursday, May 2
Here is a follow-up to my recent post on the RTC April 16 meeting:
This is Marianne's 4th video exploding the distortions and lies he told at a Florida meeting. We need a constant repetition and exposure of the details of the misinformation.
We
thank Councilman Charles Barron and the brave co-sponsors of the City
Council for standing up to this thuggery by Mr. Garrido and introducing
Int. 1099, which will protect the earned Medicare benefits of their
constituents. ...NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
Monday, June 26
The rally last Thursday was packed with retirees and supporters. When I left to catch the 2:30 ferry back to Rockaway there were still hundreds of people still hanging out. I have pics below. How interesting that Charles Barron, an open socialist, who has often been shut out of the mainstream, has become a hero to the retirees which includes people on the right. It proves something many of us on the left learned in our own schools when we won elections: stand up for people and they will look past your politics they disagree with. Other left wingers in the Council back us.
The other point is that the right wing Republicans also support us - my own Joanne Areola - I never vote Republican but on this issue alone I may vote for her next time.
This morning there is a press conference to expose Henry Garrido from DC 37 for his attack on the bill Barron presented. I've got a zoom at 10 so I'm not going to be there. The assumption has been that Mulgrew is also threatening City Council members who support the bill with no endorsements. They should call his bluff as those people will get the votes of 250K retirees which is worth more than a UFT endorsement, which has often been a kiss of death.
On the other hand, there is a theory floating around that if Mulgrew was smart (certainly far from a given) he would support the Barron bill, which would maintain the Senior Care option and allow people to remain in traditional medicare as a way out of the mess he's gotten himself and us in. It is pretty funny to see people I meet in other unions say what a rat Mulgrew is.
Speaking of rats:
One more point -- Retiree Advocate Caucus UFT and CROC - Cross Union Organizing Committee which includes retirees from other municipal unions, were involved in the rally and bought out their people.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2023
New
York City Organization Of Public Service Retirees Responds to Union
Boss Henry Garrido’s Misrepresentations & Smears on NY1 with Errol
Louis
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH COUNCILMAN BARRON
MONDAY, JUNE 26TH
11 AM
CITY HALL
On Thursday, June 22nd,
District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido delivered a
two-page missive declaring legislation (Int. 1099) proposed by
Councilman Charles Barron of District 42 in Brooklyn, the most
irresponsible proposal in the history of the City Council. That same
day, the NY Daily News reported how Mr. Garrido was planning on
threatening council members who supported the legislation - not because
the bill to protect Medicare for retired public servants has merits -
instead, due to him making a deal with the devil to trade away those
benefits for his own enrichment.
Accordingly,
to try and clean up his bullying, he went on a P.R. sprint to justify
his actions by going on an unchallenged interview on NY1 with Errol
Louis to misrepresent and distort his actions without any fact-checking
or pushback.
Several
Unions - not all - within the Municipal Labor Committee bulldozed the
Municipal Retirees into an inferior Medicare Advantage Plan that will
cause some to lose access to their doctors, physicians, and treatment
facilities while undergoing severe ailments like cancer and dialysis run
by a company - CVS/Aetna - that's under investigation by the U.S.
Department of Justice for defrauding the Federal Government for Medicare
Fraud.
Moreover,
the NY Post Editorial published an OpEd laying out the true reasons for
this switch to a Medicare Advantage Plan by stating, "The projected
savings help fund the latest round of municipal labor contracts that
hike wages for cops, teachers, firefighters, sanitation and clerical
workers." ...
There we go.
“Mr.
Garrido admits his Stabilization Fund is empty, but he’s not telling
you they misused it and now are selling off retirees and the disabled
for a cash infusion. There are no $600 million savings to the NY
taxpayer as that money goes to the same unions stealing the benefits
earned and paid for by senior citizens and people with disabilities. He
should collectively bargain for benefits, something retirees can no
longer do. We live that adage, ‘If you don’t have a seat at the table,
you must be on the menu. Mr. Garrido picked the wrong main course!’”
said Marianne Pizzitola, President of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.
NYC
Municipal Retirees, all former Union workers, are being forced into a
privatized plan that will cause us harm in funding current workers'
raises. That is just wrong.
We
thank Councilman Charles Barron and the brave co-sponsors of the City
Council for standing up to this thuggery by Mr. Garrido and introducing
Int. 1099, which will protect the earned Medicare benefits of their
constituents.
###
Marianne Pizzitola
President
NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
And
FDNY EMS Retirees Association
A few pics from the rally with credit to me and Denise Rickles from retiree Advocate.
Today,
the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees won their case in the
First Department NY Appellate Court. The Court was very clear Code §
12-126 (b) (1) provides: “The city will pay the entire cost of health
insurance coverage for city employees, city retirees, and their
dependents, not to exceed one hundred percent of the full cost of
H.I.P.-H.M.O. on a category basis.”
The
court correctly determined that Administrative Code § 12-126 (b) (1)
requires respondents to pay the entire cost, up to the statutory cap, of
any health insurance plan a retiree selects.
The Retirees applaud the decision.
Marianne Pizzitola
President
NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
This is why the UFT leadership is so desperate to change the code and has had Dist Reps send out a plea to chapter leaders to call their city council to change the code -- so the city would not be required to pay the entire cost?
At last night's UFT Ex Bd meeting, United for Change reps made a plea to the UFT to reverse course and support current members and retirees. I will post their comments in a follow up.
I will also add the link here to the decision when I get it.
Nothing in the statutory text or history supports respondents’ interpretation that the provision is satisfied so long as they pay for the costs of one of the health insurance plans offered to retirees, which they have determined to be the Medicare Advantage Plus Plan.
This was a major talking point for needing to change the code.
Unanimously told its BULLSHIT
Not only did they lose but the court squashed their initial propaganda campaign
It’s no wonder they’ve pivoted to this ends our collective bargaining rights
Which is even more ABSURD
Daniel interviewed Marianne Saturday on WBAI -a Must listen.
click above link to listen - a most informative hour.
Ibeth Mejia at UFT Ex Bd Opposes changing Admin code, urges Blue Ribbon panel on healthcare changes
I support the UFT changing course to come out in
opposition to amending Administrative Code 12-126. Most retirees do not
want to be forced into a privatized Medicare Advantage plan where some
health insurance company can get even richer on our backs. Strong unions
like the UFT should be taking on these insurance giants. 12-126 gives
us a nice benchmark plan with the HIP-HMO rate. Leave it alone and find
savings elsewhere. The Taylor Law protects healthcare collective
bargaining rights. It is a mandatory subject of bargaining.The
moratorium clause is part of a state law that protects school district
retirees in NY. I am not a lawyer but I like our chances if the City or
Arbitrator Sheinman try to impose something unpopular on our retirees or
active people. Privatized Medicare is unpopular. This is from
Workbites.
Council Member
Joann Ariola (R-Queens) told Work-Bites she had fielded thousands of
queries from constituents on the Medicare Advantage controversy and that
it was running 10 to 1 against making the change in the Administrative
Code sought by Mayor Adams and the MLC leadership.
Brooklyn
Council Member Charles Barron, (D-Brooklyn) said he was “100 percent
with the retirees…because I think they have to keep the commitment they
have because it’s beneficial for those who paid their dues and I think
the Medicare Advantage approach is privatizing."
"Healthcare
costs are out of control,” said Council Member Gale Brewer
(D-Manhattan). "I have been lobbied by both sides but at this point, I
am supportive of the retirees.”
That is a Republican, a left wing Democrat and a more moderate Democrat I just cited.
Now
I would like to cite a past UFT President: the legendary AL Shanker. He
said the Union should avoid splitter issues. By seeing what the Council
Members are saying, this is clearly a splitter issue. It is the MLC
leaderships and their supporters against the rank and file retirees.
Change
course. Let's play this out. If the MLC leadership gets a bill in front
of the Council, there have to be public hearings. I can pretty much
guarantee the MLC leadership will be standing against 9-11 survivors and
heroes who will be at the Council en masse to oppose this change to
12-126 that will force them into privatized Medicare. Please don't do
it. There is no MLC consensus on revising 12-126 Most of the uniform
unions who are quite popular oppose changing 12-126 and they blame the
UFT for leading this battle. Don't split the labor movement and don't
try to balance the City books on the backs of retirees by privatizing
their healthcare. We need to buy time until we can work for a national
single payer system like every developed nation on earth has except for
the USA.
I suggest
putting together a blue ribbon panel as has been proposed. Find otherb
ways to save money with new audits and other savings but please leave
the 12-126 as it is and support this resolution.
