Saturday, October 10, 2026
The One-Slaters
Concerned that divisions between Retiree Advocate and Fix Retiree Benefits would widen to the point of no return, a group of retirees I've termed "One-Slaters" are begging everyone to come together in a united slate to keep Unity from winning back the RTC chapter.
There is a sense of desperation and panic that if the chapter is handed back to Unity, they will use their control to find new and creative ways to reduce our healthcare or raise our fees, but this time, having learned some lessons from losing so badly in 2024, will do so in a much smarter and slicker manner and make sure Unity will never lose control again.
One of Unity's first lessons from that loss was to degrade and disparage and make Marianne Pizzitola of NYCOPSR, who had so much to do with getting retirees to vote against Unity, toxic. (Analogy to Corp Dem obsession with Hassan Piker). Unfortunately, some of the very people she helped put in control of the RTC seem to buy the same anti-Marianne Unity line.
They had a different tune as per this June 16, 2024 NY Post report on the RTC election: UFT insurgents credited Marianne Pizzitola, a retired FDNY emergency medical specialist and current president of the Organization of Public Service Retirees, Inc., with rallying citywide worker opposition to the Medicare Advantage shift.
Boy, how things have changed since June, 2024 when members of Retiree Advocate (me included at the time) celebrated the massive win with Marianne Pizzitola the day we won. Once in power, RA began to back away from giving her credit and began to brag about how it was THEIR organizing that won the election with just a little bit of help from Marianne, fake news.
By the way, the role played by Arthur Goldstein in that campaign is also undervalued. Arthur now has almost 7,000 supporters on his substack. Some of his recent posts, critical of RA, have perturbed the one-slaters and I have links to them below.
The One-Slaters argue for a united slate by any means necessary, even to the extent of downplaying participation of Marianne and urging suppressing criticism of RA and RTC leaders. Another concern is a willingness to accept the same leadership personnel and structure, which many of them admit is a problem but they are willing to bite the bullet in the name of a united front.
The One-Slaters are unhappy when RA or RTC is criticized, feeling that would make RA less likely to want to work with critics. But is was clear to many that RA never had the intention of sharing power with FRB or anyone else not on their inside game. Yet, we have tried to stay in the one-slate lane despite the repeated "no interest" messaging from RA.
Election conversations have been accelerating, recently at the Sept. 29th RTC Ex Bd meeting and the RTC Health Committee NY Health Act meeting on Oct. 1.
This was the first time many of the key players on all sides in the RTC were meeting in person. There were no food fights but there were intense discussions over the one slate idea and the issues dividing us. What I found interesting was many of the one-slaters agree with FRB criticism but don''t want to talk about the issues, only wanting a united slate by any means necessary. They want a papering over of differences -- win first, fight later.
They are pushing to have an open meeting of all parties, including non-aligned.
I can see their point and remain open to further discussions, especially with independents and RA dissident dues-payers.
Dues-paying members of RA, unhappy with the leadership, are keeping hope alive that they can pressure the RA Org into some agreement. I will publish some of their comments next time, but with every passing day, the train is speeding up.
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Arthur and I are quoted in the NY Post article of June 16, 2024
“This is a tale of a massive shift in voting sentiment amongst retirees,” UFT activist Norm Scott said of the election results. “Can the same shift occur in the general election next year?”
Arthur Goldstein, vice-chair-elect of the retiree chapter, said, “We have taken our United Federation of Teachers from the clutches of those who thought Eric Adams’ budget and/or Aetna’s profits were more important than our health.
“We have broken the bonds placed upon us by ostensible leaders, union bosses to whom our health was not even an afterthought.”
Here are a few more blasts from the past:
This June 24, 2024 from The City Reporter is self-explanatory
“The courts have spoken. My members have spoken,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. Left unsaid is how else unions might find $600 million in annual cost savings.
This March 21, 2023 City Reporter article delves into the petition a bunch of us outside the normal caucus structure organized - this was shortly before James Eterno's stroke and he was actively involved in planning this. We ended up with 12k signatures and in some ways we dropped the ball. Ironically, when we won the election some of us proposed bringing the issue of a membership vote up at the first RTC meeting but the RTC Ex Bd changed it from a membership vote to a DA vote and of course the UFT leadership quashed it. I would say that was an early rift.
UFT president feels pressure from members who demand a union-wide vote on the retiree health care cost savings plan he’s championing.
