Retiree Advocate Newsletter: Good News on UFT Retiree Healthcare: Judge Frank Grants TRO for Switch to MAP

I was going to post on some of these issues, so this is welcome relief from doing the work. Thanks RA. I will be back later today with more on the healthcare issue and the mystery of the missing contract outcome, probably buried in the catacombs.

 

View this email in your browser

July, 2023 Join Retiree Advocate/UFT - Become a member: $20 annual fee Send check made out to Retiree Advocate/ UFT P.O. Box 22567, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2567 or click this link to pay with Paypal Retiree Advocate is a member of  UNITED FOR CHANGE https://retireeadvocate.org Good News on UFT Retiree Healthcare: Judge Frank Grants TRO for Switch to MAP Nick Bacon, New Action Caucus, July 7 Today, Judge Lyle Frank granted a TRO (temporary restraining Order) which will temporarily halt the City and the MLC from switching all retirees from GHI SeniorCare to a for-profit Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan. While the case is far from over, this is a very good omen. These excerpts in particular bode well:   “First, the Court finds that the petitioners have shown by clear and convincing evidence that there is a likelihood of success on the merits. The Court agrees that it is likely that this Court will ultimately find that the respondents are estopped from switching retirees into a Medicare Advantage Plan and that New York City Administrative Code section 12-126 does not permit the action that the City plans to take….The petitioners have shown that numerous promises were made by the City to then New York City employees and future retirees that they would receive a Medicare supplemental plan when they retired, and that their first level of coverage once that retired would by Medicare.” Make no mistake: the timing of this TRO decision alongside a new contract that is almost sure to be ratified within the next several days is meaningful. Mulgrew’s nightmare scenario of a ratified contract followed by the necessity of making major negative changes to in-service health care plans now seems more likely and more imminent than it did before. Mulgrew, after all, will still need to find savings to pay back the City for promised healthcare spending reductions. Now, however, he will have to pillage elsewhere than our retiree coverage. For those next steps, we must wait and see; against those next steps, we must be ready to fight. For more from the New Action / UFT Blog, check out the website here. More information From the PSC  The decision temporarily enjoins the City, until further order of the court, from requiring any City retirees and their dependents from being removed from their current health insurance plans and from being required to either enroll in an Aetna MA Plan or seek their own coverage.  The court said they plaintiffs met the standards for winning a preliminary injunction, as 1) they have a likelihood of succeeding on the merits of their first cause of action, which alleges the city made a  promise of future Medicare benefits that retirees relied on "to their detriment" (making a decision based on that promise that concretely affects them, such as not taking another job), 2) there would be "irreparable harm" if they have to wait to complete litigation before receiving a court decision, and 3) the "balance of equities" (is the harm greater from granting or not granting an injunction?) favor the plaintiffs.   It can be difficult to appeal from the issuance of an injunction, as normally appeals are heard only from final decisions. Nevertheless, it's fair to assume the City will appeal. Meanwhile, the judge will begin a process in which he requires the City to provide evidence that satisfies him that, for example, retirees won't be denied coverage/treatment they would have received under Medicare. More from the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees.  Please note that the good news is only temporary in that: There will be subsequent hearings in court to determine if the Temporary Restraining Order should become "permanent" or if it should be lifted, and if so, on what basis; The City still has pending before the state Court of Appeals the appeal it filed on last year's case (which had said that the City does have the right to offer the Medicare Advantage Plan (the one it had offered before) but that the City has no right to auto enroll us or to make us pay for our already-existing Medigap plan).  We do not yet know what the status of that Court of Appeals case is - whether the Court will allow it to continue, or dismiss it or what. The City still has an appeal pending on the 'co-pay' case. We still need the City Council to pass Int. 1099-2023 so that we can permanently secure our rights to our existing health insurance benefits without having to go back and forth to court - a very unaffordable and time/labor-intensive process. So the organization has asked that we continue to donate (details below) for the mounting legal expenses and try to get our friends and others impacted by the City retiree health insurance rules and policies to do the same. TO DONATE, HERE ARE SEVERAL SIMPLE WAYS! 1.  Make Your Check or Money Order payable to:        NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees       Mail to: NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees  c/o JSH Accounting Services, LLC         PO Box 143538        Fayetteville, GA 30214 For your convenience, you can set-up AutoPay with your banking institution so that you can determine an amount and date to have funds automatically transferred. 2.   PayPal (Click to link to their Secure Site, a PayPal Account is not required.  The organization is charged a fee)  3.   ZELLE: (Go to Your "On-Line" Banking Website) Locate the ZELLE service & use our email:       NYCOrgofpublicserviceretirees@gmail.com     Check with your Bank to understand how ZELLE works. It's usually a service on their website.  When you locate and fill out the form and you are asked for the email or phone number, use the email address, above. Make sure it's correct! No phone number is required. The next time you use Zelle, the email should pop into that field.  You can check your bank account to make  sure the transaction went through. It's Quick & Easy 4.   VENMO: We Now Accept Donations via VENMO (The Organization is charged a fee. VENMO is a Phone App or can be used on a PC or Tablet. You can download and install the Phone App from the Android Play Store or Apple App Store. Please follow the instructions to Sign Up. Please read and understand how VENMO works before you donate! There may be fees involved using this method. Our ID is: @NYCRetirees2 Here is a quick Venmo  Tutorial: Old News but Still Important News Why do we need a petition to request a member-wide referendum to vote on healthcare changes?   According to the UFT Constitution, members can demand a member-wide referendum vote on any issue other than a constitutional amendment or actions on the status of an individual member.  First, ten percent of the membership must petition the UFT executive board for a referendum, and then the executive board must bring the matter to the entire body for a member-wide vote.  Given the serious nature of the healthcare changes that have been made without member input or democratic decision-making, we must take this matter into our own hands. So sign this petition today. We deserve a say on healthcare. Quick Facts Mulgrew voted in the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) to force retired City workers off of traditional Medicare and onto an Aetna-managed Medicare Advantage Plan (MAP). Despite knowing full well that there was significant opposition, Mulgrew denied membership the right to vote directly.  Major changes to our healthcare were made as part of our citywide contracts in 2014, and again in 2018.  Mulgrew was instrumental in negotiating both. In the last healthcare agreement, in 2018, he agreed to $600 million dollars in healthcare savings for the City for every year, in perpetuity. These changes and agreements were negotiated behind closed doors without member input. UFT chapter leaders and delegates were not given Appendix A to read beforehand which delineated the healthcare concessions when they voted in support of our 2018 contract.   UFT Leadership is currently working on a mysterious new health plan for in-service members that would replace GHI with something cheaper. As of now, membership will not have a say in this decision either, or given meaningful details about our potential options. Even without switching us off of GHI, UFT leadership has greenlit various new, significant healthcare expenses for in-service members without a membership vote.  For instance: ER visits now cost us triple digit copays, which are waived only if a patient is admitted, even if they are deemed to need emergency care.  Copays for most urgent care centers (including CityMD) have also risen to triple digits, from $15 to $100, since 2016. Major providers, such as CityMD, Montefiore, and almost all radiology centers, are no longer ‘preferred,’ leading to higher copays. Despite many healthcare expenses more than doubling, UFT leadership has not fought for fair increases in pay. Because we did not even attempt to stop DC37 from accepting a sub-inflation wage increase, UFT members will not only be seeing higher health costs – they’ll be taking a pay cut.

Want More Answers? From the PSC.  A very thorough list of questions and answers Medicare Rights- Medicare Interactive Choosing a Medigap Policy - 2023 Medicare Consumer reports choosing a drug plan UFT Retiree Health Care Update May 16 Advocacy and phone counselors from Medicare Rights Retiree Advocate Links NYC Retirees Homework until new litigation check regularly with them PSC Plan to solve the problem https://nycretirees.org/  The group behind the legal challenges Wendell Potter - corporate health insurance whistle blower Evidence of Coverage UFT Welfare Fund Court Documents Petition to stop the new Federal Government plan, REACH, a direct contracting program that will automatically enroll new retirees into a privatized version of Medicare aka Medicare Advantage. What is REACH? What's happening on the Federal Level More from the federal level See also PSC retirees Len Rodberg on how Medicare Advantage shortchanges patients while lining its own pockets and Bonnie Nelson on what it will cost us to waive the Aetna plan and buy our own insurance

Follow Us On Social Media Copyright © 2023 Retiree Advocate/UFT, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

 

July 6 - UFT Contract Vote Count in the Catacombs and Retiree Court case rally at Thomas Paine Park

Join me at the UFT contract vote count Thursday - 

• Rushed UFT Contract Ratification Process Leads to Integrity Questions

 
Join www.nycretirees.org for help make a donation and subscribe to their newsletter

 

July 5

 

Tomorrow, July 6, two events are taking place related to the UFT.

 

Resisting Mulgrewcare: Party time outside the retiree law suit

The deadline for opting out of the Medicare Advantage Plan was extended to July 10 - let's see if the judge has anything to say about that, given that some doctors are not even aware of it and people don't have the info they need. My immediate sense is there are a hell of a lot of people willing to waive their benefits - in some cases ten grand - to stay in Medicare -- the city benefits by not havign to pay -- I'm not letting them get away with that so I will not be opting out.

Thomas Paine Park is an appropriate spot for meeting up in an era of UFT/Unity leadership of increasing suppression of democracy in the face of attacks on critical voices.

So 90 degrees won't stop us boomers - actually, I'm a pre-boomer, having breathed the same air as FDR for the first month of my life. I will also be going to.....

 

The UFT contract vote  is also tomorrow and members have a right to observe -- I'm intending to go if I can find out where it is - I have attended contract vote counts as an observer a number of times in the past.

Do I expect the increasingly oppressive UFT leadership to toss obstacles in the way? I do. They see information as an enemy, to be attacked and they engage in the Trump tactic of shouting "fake" news.

The likely suspected places to observe are either at the American Arbitration Association at 120 Broadway, the UFT at 52 or some arbitrary subway catacombs. 

We pretty much expect the contract to pass but by how much is the issue.

And what about the snafus pointed out here:

Rushed UFT Contract Ratification Process Leads to Integrity Questions

Mistakes were made, never by the UFT leadership but by some gremlin. Maybe Chat AI. Did some packages mailed by schools get to the AAA or get lost? I'd like to see a list of schools that were returned and those that were not? 

Here is the letter sent by the 7 UFC Ex Bd members on June 27 - with as far as I know, no reply:

 

June 27, 2023

From: Ronnie Almonte batresalmonte@gmail.com Nick Bacon, bacon.nick.a@gmail.com
Ed Calamia gonzojour2002@aol.com
Alex Jallot alexjallot@gmail.com

Ibeth Mejia i.rosiomejia@gmail.com
Ilona Clara Nanay icnanay@gmail.com
Luli Rodriguez rodriguez.luli1@gmail.com

High School Representatives to the United Federation of Teachers Executive Board To: Hiro Kawahara

AAA Director of Elections, 120 Broadway 21st Fl, New York, NY, 10271 AAAelectionsdirector@adr.org

Cc: Ken Egger, AAA National Vice President of Elections, eggerk@adr.org
Michael Mulgrew, President, United Federation of Teachers mmulgrew@uft.org
Melinda Person, New York State United Teachers President, melinda.person@nysut.org Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers President, rweingarten@aft.org

You are no doubt aware of the challenges in the UFT contract ratification process regarding delays in ballots arriving at schools and challenges with return mailing labels for ballot packets.

Many chapters did not receive ballots until Thursday or Friday June 22nd or 23rd, resulting in rushed balloting on the last two days of school on the 26th and 27th and potentially affecting turnout.

Even more worrisome, the mailing labels sent out for the return of ballots from schools had to be corrected and re-sent three times, in successive emails on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, June 21st-23rd. The last email informed chapter leaders that some post office personnel were not accepting the new return labels and they instead had to be sent via a self-service kiosk (which is not available at all post office locations). We have received reports that this has resulted in difficulty in chapter leaders returning their ballot packets, and may have resulted in some packets not being received at all by AAA.

The integrity of the contract ratification process is of utmost importance to our members as it will determine the working conditions in schools and learning conditions for a million New York City school children for the next four years.

We would like to request that the AAA record and publish the number of ballots returned from each school chapter in each category (teacher, paraprofessional, secretary, guidance counselor, lab specialist). This would allow chapter leaders who mailed their ballots with the faulty labels to determine if their ballots actually arrived at the count, allowing the union to understand the scope and scale of the lost vote.

We hope that the actual impact on the vote of these problems will be minimal, but transparent and public accountability will be key in retaining the trust and confidence of our members in this process.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. Please feel free to contact us at the email addresses listed above.

Sincerely
Ronnie Almonte, Nick Bacon, Ed Calamia, Alex Jallot, Ibeth Mejia, Ilona Nanay, Luli Rodriguez

 

Battle Hymn of the Republicans - Fred Smith

Fred Smith, the poet lauriate of good causes, is at it again. So nice seeing him at the Leonie Haimson abode last week for the Skinny Awards honoring Jamaal Bowman.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Battle Hymn of the Republicans

Their lies hath told the story,

Sowing distrust and discord;

They believe the greatest glory

Is to kneel before their Lord,

And to spread the hateful gospel

‘Til His kingdom is restored;

Mistruth is marching on.

Glory, glory rigged election!

Glory, glory misdirection!

Glory, glory resurrection!

Mistruth is marching on.

We have seen his eyes a-squinting

‘Neath an empty gilded poof;

This fountainhead of falsity,

Duping followers, forsooth,

Who echo all his sick beliefs

Without need for any proof;

Big lies keep marching on.

Fury, gaseous and expulsive,

Unrestrainedly compulsive,

Spewing noxious words repulsive,

His lies keep marching on.

His apostles spread the message--

Amen choir on the Hill;

He was blaring out the trumpet call

To do His pure blood will,

And unleash His Proud Boy army to

Discharge their one-six kill.

His legions carry on.

Hail the Fuhrer’s neo-Nazis,

And oath keeper kamikazes,

And the fact-distorting Fox-ies.

His legions carry on.

Amidst that clash, one zealot ‘scaped

Death from the crazed invaders,

And stood against the violence of

The Capitol Crusaders.

The golden idol’s dreams were dashed;

So too, the MAGA traitors’.

There is a higher law.

To those who fear replacement,

Seeking democracy’s defeat,

Remaining yet unchastened:

There is a judgment seat!

Yea, there’s a Judgment Day.

Glory, glory higher power

Above any ruler’s tower,

Who must face his final hour.

There is a Judgment Day!