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!
There will be an attempt to put class size in the contract on the agenda
at the DA which the leadership doesn't even want raised because of the
optics of having Unity vote against it. Come out and join us. We will be there until 6PM to support delegates when they emerge.
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
There
are lots of things going on around the UFT. Tomorrow's Delegate
Assembly has become a rallying point for retirees over the health care
issue and for delegates over their future healthcare, their health and
safety during the pandemic and class size which is related to the health
issue.
There was a joint action of opposition groups at the Oct. 13 DA:
The
very act of coming together of so many groups in October and again
tomorrow for joint action at the DA has to make Unity/UFT leadership
uncomfortable. A few more related posts:
Join us this Wednesday, Nov 17 outside the UFT at 4PM
The next UFT Delegate Assembly will be this coming Wednesday, Nov. 17th at 4pm at 52 Broadway.
Inside the hall, our sisters and brother Delegates will be raising two important resolutions.
One is for Small Size Classes which as we all remember was not always the case in our classrooms.
The other one is the Healthcare Resolution which delegates attempted to get on the agenda a few months ago and they will try again. It is just as relevant and important now.
We will be outside the DA to give support and let the public know why these issues continue to be crucial. Please join us between 4-6pm.
We especially want to be present at 6PM when the delegates exit the assembly.
We will have our Healthcare signs and our Retiree Advocate Banner.
Be
it Resolved: That the UFT will prioritize this [class size] as one of our top
demands in upcoming contractual negotiations to align the contractual
class size caps with the city’s 2007 state-approved C4E class size
goals, including no more than 20 students per class in grades K-3; 23
students per class in grades 4-8; and 25 students in high school, to be
phased in over the next four years;
While
I believe we may see some gains out of the City Council bill, we
admittedly know it’s tenuous at best as shared by leadership, today.
There
are also very serious and valid questions in regards to its
enforcement. The specter of an entirely new city council and mayor
leaves us a very small window, also, in my opinion. Even this mayor has
made no commitments to smaller class size. ... Educators of NYC
If you happen to find a UFT contract laying around --- they are rarer than fossils - -- check out the current class size limits. And while at it check out a 1969 conttact, which you are more likely to find than the current one. Holy cow, the class size limits haven't changed. It must be a misprint. Or maybe not.
With a UFT election coming, the UFT leadership shows off its political skills by getting politians to help us with class size - until other politicians take it away.
The actual only way to formalize class size limitsit through the contract, but that is a place you will not see the UFT go until the day far along in the future when of ny some chance a progressive gtoup tosses incompetent and inept Unity Caucus bums out of office.
Here is a report from James on ICEUFT on a new initiative, not by the Unity Caucus leaders but by a rank and file teacher.
Daniel
sat with James Eterno, a longtime dissident leader within the United
Federation of Teachers, to discuss our third and final episode "Inside
UFT Politics and History: How the Nation's Most Powerful Union Impacts
NYC Public Schools (Part 3). Our final installment covered the years
1995 to the present. Topics included the roles of UFT Presidents of
Randi Weingarten and Michael Mulgrew within the union's contractual
positions in their collective bargaining with the cities' mayors.
James's pretty much came on the scene when Randi did. His emergence also coincided with my own reemergence in the UFT after a decade of inactivity due to buying a house and going to grad school. I never thought I would come back but fell into the chaprer leadership in my school in 1994 and that brought be back into the fray. Originally I was supposed to be on with James but have a Bat Mitzvah -- and besides you know I talk too much so now James who is always so polite will not have to deal with me jumping around all over the place.
James was a CL for 22 years and served on the UFT Ex Bd from 1995-2004 with New Action and 2004-7 with ICE. James was also part of the original MORE and ran for HSVP in 2016 and garnered more hs teacher votes than the current UFT HS VP Janella Hinds -- but at large voting you know -- pre-1994 and James would have been VP. Since he retired he has been mentoring many people on union issues.
James also saw his school get closed down, helped lead a fight against the 2005 contract and lots of other stuff.
I didn't know much about Guy Falkes and the Gunpowder Plot - a Carholic attempt to take England back - the equivalent of 9/11 for England. And it came oh so close to succeeding.
Yes I was a history major with 27 credits towards a Masters but every day I learn so much about what I didn't learn.
I loved the movie V is for Vendetta (2006). The fact that Guy Falkes has become a symbol of anarchy (the plot was probably backed by the Pope - so no anarchy there - shows how symbols can get twisted. We saw Guy Falkes masks on Jan. 6.
And then a few years ago I began to read James Shapiro's books on Shakespeare and this one dealth with the remarkable output - King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra --- over a year which just happened to coincide with the Plot.
Censorship laws didn't allow writers to comment about current events, thus forcing Shakespeare into using historical events to delve into current events without getting chopped. Here's a clip from the book blurb - defintely brings the real world events into how they influenced art.
The foiled Gunpowder Plot would have blown up the king and royal
family along with the nation's political and religious leadership. The
aborted plot renewed anti-Catholic sentiment and laid bare divisions in
the kingdom. It was against this background that Shakespeare finished
Lear , a play about a divided kingdom, then wrote a tragedy that turned
on the murder of a Scottish king, Macbeth . He ended this astonishing
year with a third masterpiece no less steeped in current events and
concerns: Antony and Cleopatra . "Exciting and sometimes revelatory, in
The Year of Lear, James Shapiro takes a closer look at the political and
social turmoil that contributed to the creation of three supreme
masterpieces" ( The Washington Post ). He places them in the context of
their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare
was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague
and growing religious divisions. "His great gift is to make the plays
seem at once more comprehensible and more staggering" ( The New York
Review of Books ). For anyone interested in Shakespeare, this is an
indispensable book.
Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish
Play’ was probably written in 1606, just three years after King James I
(VI of Scotland) was crowned as Elizabeth I’s successor, and so
undoubtedly seems to be paying homage to the succession of the Scottish
King to the English throne.
But within that time, in November 1605, the Gunpowder Plot had been
discovered: the plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament, kill James,
and replace him with a Catholic monarch failed, and the plotters were
tortured and horribly executed. The impact of the event was so dramatic,
we still remember it today on Bonfire Night (‘Remember, Remember, the
fifth of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot’, goes the traditional
rhyme…), so we can only imagine the enormity of the event for
Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
It is often said Macbeth is a comment on the Gunpowder
Plot, so why, and how are the two connected? Firstly, many of Macbeth’s
themes resonate with the attempted revolt: it’s a play about treason,
the overthrow of a King, and the downfall of his murderers. Even more
importantly, King James was commonly believed to be descended from
Banquho the thane of Lochquhaber, the historical counterpart of
Shakespeare’s Banquo, the friend who Macbeth betrays and has murdered.
With this in mind the witches’ prophesy that Banquo’s ancestors will be
kings takes on a new meaning: it is referring to Banquo’s ancestor James
Stuart, King of Scotland and England. By extension, it has been
suggested that the escape of Fleance, Banquo’s son, from Macbeth’s
murder plot is designed to echo James’s own escape from the Gunpowder
Plot and to subtly compliment the House of Stuart as legitimate and
truly-descended rulers.
And one more from Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac
Today is Guy Fawkes Day in Britain,
also known as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night. On this night in 1605
Guy Fawkes was arrested while guarding a secret stash of explosives
beneath the House of Lords. Fawkes was a member of the Gunpowder Plot, a
plan hatched by a group of provincial English Catholics who plotted to
blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate the Protestant king,
James I, and replace him with a Catholic head of state. In the aftermath
of Fawkes’s arrest and the discovery of his accomplices, King James
encouraged his subjects to celebrate his “survival by divine
intervention” by setting off fireworks, lighting bonfires, and burning
the traitors in effigy. During his interrogation Fawkes told the Lords
that his intention was “to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native
mountains.” Fawkes and his 12 co-conspirators were tortured and beheaded
in front of cheering crowds.
The
celebration became an annual event which, over the years, grew to
include effigies of everyone from the pope to Margaret Thatcher.
In
turn-of-the-century-Britain children constructed effigies of Guy Fawkes
and trundled them around villages in wheelbarrows, demanding a “penny
for the Guy,” much like trick or treating in the U.S. Fawkes’s
distinctive, curling mustache, pointed beard, and oversized smile became
a popular mask for children. Masks were given out for free each autumn
with the purchase of a comic book.
Once
considered a notorious traitor, Fawkes is now seen as a revolutionary
hero, with his mask becoming a well-known cultural symbol for anarchy
worldwide. The online hacktivist group known as Anonymous uses the mask
as their symbol. In Alan Moore’s comic book V for Vendetta (1982)
and the film version (2006) the character of Vendetta wears the Fawkes
mask and blows up Parliament. During the 2011 protests in Wisconsin the
masks were worn by protesters in the crowd, as they were during the
Occupy protests on Wall Street and in Argentina. In response to the use
of Guy Fawkes masks during possibly unlawful activity, Canada has banned
the wearing of masks during riotous or unlawful assembly. With some
exceptions, an indictable offence in Canada is one that is subject to a
fine of greater than $5,000 or imprisonment of more than six months.
And in the Harry Potter book series, the character of Albus Dumbledore has a phoenix named Fawkes.
I was sent this article which makes some points I wasn't aware of. The interesting point he makes concerns the choice to take the new Medicare Advantage plan with the expectation that if you don't like it you can change back to traditional Medicare next year. But in doing that you also have to get back into the medigap senior plan. I'm not sure that will be that simple. If you have certain health issues that have arisen, will you automatically get back into senior care at $191 a month or will they try to impose a surcharge?I don't trust that process due to the so far incompetent performance of the new company.
Right now in the UFT those over 65 have Medicare for 80% and a medigap plan called emblem senior care for the other 20%. It is automatic. When Medicare covers, so does medigap. And for UFT members that has been free - until Jan. 1 when if we want to keep what we have it will cost us $191 a month each. But you have to engage in an opt out process to stay in the old plan --purposely backwards and the process of opting out to stay in what we currently have is being handled by the new privatized company which has an incentive to not let you opt out. Ooooh, sorry, we don't have any paperwork to prove you opted out.
Medicare Expert: 3 Reasons to Avoid Enrolling in Medicare Advantage
There are legitimate reasons to consider the plans, but certain nuances are also a huge part of the conversation.
After personally talking to thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, I've
seen just about everything you can imagine. And some of the craziest
things I have seen have involved Medicare Advantage plans. There is a
feeding frenzy around Medicare Advantage right now, and it's clouded
with both private equity-backed and publicly traded companies flooding
the market with inexperienced agents and misleading advertisements. It
gets worse every year in the fall due to the surge in advertising around
this topic. Hopefully in this article, I can help clear up some of the
confusion. Keep in mind I'm not saying Medicare Advantage should never
be considered as an option — but in my experience, it is all too often
pushed as a one-size-fits-all solution by people who have not been
properly trained.
First of all, it is very important to establish
some basics around what Medicare Advantage is. Over a decade ago,
Medicare Part C was approved as an option for beneficiaries. The fact
that it is considered a part of Medicare makes it extra confusing.
Medicare has four parts. Parts A and B make up traditional Medicare.
This is the public option of Medicare where the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) administers claim approval for beneficiaries.
Part D is the stand-alone drug coverage. For most of my clients, I
recommend having Parts A and B with a Part D plan, and a Medigap plan to
cover some holes in Parts A and B. The alternative option is to choose
Part C, which often bundles the other three parts together and is administered by a private company. When this happens, the private company gets to make decisions about your claims approvals instead of CMS.
Now,
this alone is not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it's something that
many salespeople do not talk about when selling the plans. These Part C
plans normally have a maximum out of pocket that is between $3,500
$7,500, and a $0 premium.
This can make them an appealing way to protect yourself against
unforeseen out-of-pocket without having to pay a premium. However, there
are a few more nuances to the plans that should be considered.
Provider Considerations
Medicare Advantage plans have a network of providers. These provider
networks have vastly improved recently, but they can still cause issues.
HMOs are health maintenance organizations, and PPOs are preferred
provider organizations. These are the two most common types of Part C
plan networks. Many agents sell PPOs as an indicator that you can use
any provider, whether in or out of the PPO. However, if you go out of
the PPO, watch for higher costs and an elevated maximum out of pocket.
Also, the provider may refuse to file the plan, which means you'll have
to file your own claims. We have seen this happen with one of the
nation's largest Medicare Advantage carriers for the last three years.
Again, this is not a reason to completely avoid the plans, but it is
something to be aware of. Many call centers will tell people that these
providers and hospitals are "in network" because it is a PPO and they
think it'll pay them. This is very inaccurate and can cause a ton of
issues for beneficiaries down the road.
Medigap Open Enrollment
Medigap
is often referred to as the alternative to Medicare Advantage. When
someone is more than six months away from their 65th birthday or their
Part B effective date, they have to answer health questions to get a
Medigap plan. When someone first turns 65 or enrolls in Part B, they can
get a Medigap plan without answering health questions. Many people
decide to try the Medicare Advantage option first because they want to
test it while they're healthy. They like it for two or three years while
they're not having to use it much, but then they get sick and
experience higher out-of-pocket costs and perhaps some issues with
claims. Then they go to an agent and ask to be moved to a Medigap plan.
Now that health issues have arisen, this can be very difficult. It might
be impossible to get through underwriting, or sometimes the best case
is that it is costly.
Skilled Nursing Care
Historically,
there are very few issues with skilled nursing care when billing
original Medicare. Most of the hysteria about Medicare Advantage online
comes from people involved with the billing process of rehabilitation
services, assisted living, skilled nursing, etc. Medicare Advantage
requires them to get prior authorization and continue to prove that
someone needs extended care. Interestingly, they use the same
requirements as Medicare to make sure the condition requires continued
custodial care, but CMS as an organization is paid for by taxpayers and
seems to be less strict on enforcing these standards. My experience
suggests that private Medicare Advantage companies seem to sometimes be
too harsh in their claims denials on these scenarios. This creates a
real issue when someone is in a very vulnerable state. Often the person
making decisions for the insured isn't the one paying for things —
they're just dealing with getting the care necessary for their sibling
or parent. This can make the rhetoric around these plans highly
divisive.
Now that we have gone over these three reasons, please understand
there's legitimate reason to still consider the plans, but these nuances
are also a huge part of the conversation. Consider using a local
experienced agent to help with decisions.
Hercules brought together two rivers to flush out the dung that had
accumulated in King Augeas’ stables for years. But is our new governor,
Kathy Hochul, truly committed to removing the compacted mess King Andrew
Cuomo left behind? Call this challenge a Hochul-ean task.
James Malatras offers a test case, centering on his installation as
chancellor of SUNY — which came with a $435,000 salary and gave him sway
over a well-regarded system of 64 colleges and universities. An
estimated annual $11 billion budget and a workforce of 46,000 support
this enterprise.
The last time I saw Unity selling something so hard, so irrationally –
it was the 2005 contract. I recoiled with mistrust at the hard sell. As
any thinking person might do now. ... Jonathan Halabi, former UFT Ex Bd
There's something profoundly disturbing about our opposition to the New
York Health Act. We are, in effect, opposing single payer health
insurance for the entire state of New York. It's not just that we're
hindering something much needed, a veritable moral imperative. It's not
just that we are slowing down potential progress toward ending the
national disgrace that is our health system. In fact, we are doing both
those things. These things alone could qualify as profoundly disturbing,
but we've gone beyond that... Arthur Goldstein, Ex Bd Member
Thursday, October 28 - 8AM
This update is packed with info.
To me Mulgrew is as criminal as Joe Manchin.Our union's
backing for a privatized plan damages the entire movement towards a
rational health care system and in essence takes us in the opposite
direction -- which will ultimately undermine and destroy Medicare.
No matter where you stand, it is clear that the solution to our union and national health care issues is a single payer plan, which the UFT opposes.
Arthur takes them to task in his recent blog which has gotten some excellent response from people looking to Arthur to take the leadership to task. Arthur is in his 6th year on the UFT Ex Bd, so hearing this from him counts:
Remember those Johnny Carson sleazy skits where he is super slick and trying to sell you something? That is how Mulgrew comes across.
Mulgrew told those of us against we will thank him in 3 years.
Mulgrew’s last email: 90% of hospitals will be in network
In earlier town halls it was 98% of doctors and hospitals.
Try to get the 98% quote from the town hall audio and lo and be hold yhey deleted it.
If Mulgrew's numbers of participants keep dropping - when he hits 75% yell BULLSHIT BINGO.
Lawsuit stuff ---
The lawyers have been telling those who opted out to rescind -- so far my wife and I are not -- because he thinks our opt out might tie us to agree to pay the extra $191 a month each starting Jan. 1 might bind us even of the judge throws the overall agreement out. I don't believe he gave any indication of that and focused on the scummy way the info was presented and insists they come back with a better presentation -- thus the opt out period will be extended -- the union has been making noises about that but with 3 days to go why expect them to tell us?
Here is some more info:
Steve Cohen was the lawyer for the Retiree Group and
he presents advice about the TRO (Temporary Restraining Order), whether
or not you already opted out and what you should do, and his opinion
about future retirees.
To those friends that are still employed,
Mr. Cohen predicts that future retirees will have only one plan health
plan option upon retirement - a medicare advantage plan.
Does Frank say that he is giving retirees more time to learn about Medicare Advantage Plus?
No, he says the implementation plan is irrational. He further states
“if [retirees] are required to opt-in or out of a medical program by the
October 31, 2021 deadline there would certainly be irreparable harm.”
And he orders the Municipal Labor Coalition (including the UFT) and the
City not to give retirees more time to think it over. He orders them to:
“… cure deficiencies with the implementation of the proposed new Medicare Advantage Plan… “
“Can I go to my current doctors
and hospitals? Yes. The NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan is a Group
Medicare PPO, which does not restrict access to providers.”
“there is little clarity as to
which health care providers will be accepting this new Medicare
Advantage Plan” and “it is undisputed that much of the program terms are
still unsettled and unclear.”
But before we believe that either is lying, remember that the judge
is a lawyer, and Mulgrew doesn’t speak to members on big issues without
talking to a lawyer first. And if lawyers wrote both of these things,
then perhaps these things do not mean exactly what we think they do.
An old DA Pal, Pete S, posted this comment on the Retiree Advocate listserve:
I am a Retiree who worked at a School in Manhattan for 17 years, 8 of which I was a Delegate.
Our
so-called leadership has tried to sell us on a new health plan without
ever consulting the membership before consenting to it's endorsement at
the MLC.
I believe that:
1- a
document (s) clearly comparing and contrasting the members' insurance
options should be sent to every member of our union; a) then the members
should directly vote on which plan should be endorsed;
2-
although we are forced to work through the Court system I believe that a
discussion should take place about any other means at our disposal to
force our leadership to heed the voice of the membership, to be more
accountable to the membership, to dispense information more openly and
honestly.
* * *
Also, many thanks to those of Retiree Advocate and groups in the union
who have tirelessly worked for a more democratically structured union and leadership transparency.
Finally, here is a must read article about how our union's backing for a privatized plan damages the entire movement towards a rational health care system and in essence takes us in the opposite direction -- which will ultimately undermine and destroy Medicare. To Mulgrew is as criminal as Joe Manchin.
Unions Shouldn’t Be Helping the Health Industry | Portside
If you can go in person to attend inside or join people outside on Broadway and Murray St. But also livestream at https://council.nyc.gov/livestream.
The yellow announcement below this message is for the action outside the City Council hearing we're calling A People's Hearing--not to be confused with what's going on inside the chambers. For the actual hearing inside, you can submit your testimony via email to https://council.nyc.gov/testify or bring it to read in person.
Either way, we are also asking municipal retirees to send a copy of their testimony to read outside at A People's Hearing. You can send it to retireequestions@gmail.com.
Dear New Yorker/Municipal Retiree:
This Thursday, October 28, 2021, beginning at 1 pm in the Council Chambers of New York City Hall (map
), the New York City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor, chaired by Council Member I. Daneek Miller, wil
l hold
an in-person
oversight hearing on Changes to Municipal Retirees' Healthcare Plan
.
On behalf of City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, we invite you to attend and to weigh in further on this topic.
As noted on the Council’s website here
,
in-person
hearings do not require pre-registration. However, all individuals who
wish to testify in person at City Hall must adhere to the following
COVID-19 safety protocols:
Properly wear a face covering at all times while in City Hall;
Maintain physical distancing of 6 feet from others at all times except when not feasible in limited circumstances; and
Complete a
Covid-19 health screening questionnaire, which will be posted at the
entrance to City Hall, prior to entering the building.
If you plan
to participate, it would be greatly appreciated if you could bring
twenty (20) copies double-sided of your written testimony to the
hearing.
Public
testimony will begin following the testimony of any invited experts.
Depending on the number of people who attend, you may have a limited
amount of time to speak in order to allow as many people as possible to
present their views.
Due to COVID-19 social distancing protocols, seating in the Council
Chambers is limited and cannot be guaranteed, and you may be directed to
an overflow room until it is your turn to testify.
For questions about accessibility or to request additional accommodations, please contact the Council’s EEO Officer at EEOOfficer@council.nyc.gov
or call (212) 788-6936 at least three (3) business days before the hearing.
If you need non-English language interpretation, please email translationservice@council.nyc.gov
, at least three (3) business days before the hearing. Please include the following information in your email:
Name and date of the hearing; and
Your full name, telephone number, and email address.
....if the petitioners
and similarly situated individuals are required to opt-in or out of a
medical program by the October 31, 2021 deadline there would certainly
be irreparable harm.
ATTENTION RETIREES!!!
KIM PARKER OF THE ALLIANCE, EMPIRE/ANTHEM IS REACHING OUT TO PEOPLE WHO SUBMITTED AFFIDAVITS.
DO NOT SPEAK WITH HER OR EMAIL HER.
SEND US ALL EMAILS SHE SENDS YOU, AND EMAIL US ASAP IF SHE CALLS.... NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees (for Benefit Preservation)
They are disagreeing with implementation of the plan… not the substance or the rationale.... UFT retiree
you should see the celebration on Facebook. Like it's VE day. Don't think they grasp what the decision says. .. A retiree
Friday, October 22, 2021, 7AM
This story broke last night and people are going hog wild. I would hold back on the celebrating over the long-term but for now it feels pretty good to see the Mulgrew/DeBlasio gang smacked down in court for such poor implementation and has ordered them to do it over.
The Oct. 31 opt-out date is looming and assume that will be extended --- we did opt out already in three different ways (no one trusts these characters). I will reiterate that the confusion was intentional - we had to opt out of the new plan to stay in the old plan and we had to submit papers to this brand new company that was created instead of the city -- irrational implementation as the judge stated.
Why did those who wanted to stay in Medicare (pays 80%) and Emblem/GHI Seniorcare (20%) have to be the ones to opt out? It should have been the people who wanted the new plan to be the ones to opt in. Fundamentally, few want the new plan and the major reason to take it is to avoid the extortion fee - which for us is about $4500 a year - to stay in the old plan.
There's a lot of commentary on the Retiree Advocate listserve and I will follow up with some of them interesting ones later. Here is the latest from The City --
That is why we are paying the extortion fee -- for assurance - it's insurance like flood insurance which we pay every year over 40 years but all it took was the one big flood of Sandy in 2012 to make it worth it.
This is a temporary victory but the judge also smacked down the Aetna and United Health suit -- other privatiser vultures who want a piece of the action.
.....while the Court has already determined that respondents’ ultimate
determination of choosing a Medicare Advantage Plan provider was
rational and does not intend to disturb that determination, the Court
finds that the implementation of its program is irrational and if the petitioners
and similarly situated individuals are required to opt-in or out of a
medical program by the October 31, 2021 deadline there would certainly
be irreparable harm.
Accordingly, it is hereby
ORDERED that the respondents are enjoined from enforcing the October 31, 2021 Opt- Out/ Opt-In date;
and it is further
ORDERED
that petitioners maintain the status-quo enrollment in until the
respondents cure deficiencies with the implementation of the proposed
new Medicare Advantage Plan, and it is further
ORDERED that
such new plan be sent to this Court for this Court to review and
determine whether such plan cures the defects as indicated above, and it
if further
ORDERED that such plan be sent to the petitioner’s
counsel seven days prior to such submission to the Court and petitioner
may then provide any input regarding the proposed new plan to the
Court.
So they will come back with the same deal but try to get it write on informing us and all that jazz. How long will it take? The rest of my lifespan wouldn't be bad -- oops -- I better not say anything -- they could come back tomorrow and I'd go "pfoof".
And on another front, there was supposed to be a hearing next week to talk about all this stuff --- are the roaches scurrying under their rocks?
CORRECTED - There was confusion as another public hearing was cancelled
PUBLIC
HEARING NOT CANCELLED -
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Contract Public
Hearing scheduled for Thursday, October 28, 2021, at
10:00 AM, is hereby cancelled.
IN THE MATTER OF a proposed contract
between the City of
New York acting through Mayor’s Office of Labor
Relations – Employee Benefits Program on behalf of the Labor
Management Health Insurance Policy Committee for the New
York City Health Benefits Program and Anthem Insurance Companies,
Inc. doing business as Empire BlueCross BlueShield Retiree
SolutioFollns, 120 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, IN
46204, in strategic alliance with EmblemHealth Plan,
Inc., for the provision of health benefits
services in the form of a Medicare Advantage plan under
Medicare Part C for the Medicare eligible retirees and
dependents of the City of New York who are eligible for the
City’s Health Benefits Program. The proposed contract is in
the amount of approximately $23,000,000.00. The contract
term shall be from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026 with
two one-year renewal options. E-PIN #: 0021N002.
The proposed contractor has been selected by Negotiated
Acquisition Method, pursuant to Section 3-04 (b)(2)(ii) of
the Procurement Policy Board Rules.
The
aforesaid Public Hearing has been NOT BEEN cancelled.
Lots of breaking news on the union health issue front which I will post soon but this article nails some issues - Pete Zucker called yesterday asking to be filled in - his take ---
I call it extortion of $191 a month each for me and my wife to opt out and keep what we were getting for free.
Retirees Flee City Medicare Program as Deadline Looms for Move to Private Health Plan
Uncertainty about coverage and costs
under Medicare Advantage has a quarter million former city workers on
edge. Two lawsuits seeking to block the move are slated to be heard in
court Wednesday.
While
I always enjoy reading Arthur's straight and James' comments on the DA,
I loved this report from a first time with her comments. A voice from
the rank and file, an early childhood teacher who spends her days in
classrooms, as opposed to the people who have been running our union. (I
would trust people like her to make better decisions for UFT members.
Put real classroom teachers in charge.) I told her she has a future as a reporter from the DA. I hope she comes back regularly to report.
Attending My First Delegate Assembly
by A new delegate
Got through my first UFT Delegate Assembly tonight (October 13, 2021)
Quite an experience. Opted for virtual, since the registration program kept glitching and I didn’t trust there would be room for me. It did give me the chance to take notes/jot down thoughts, some of them here:
Mulgrew acknowledged repeatedly at the beginning that we are, in fact, still in a pandemic. Strange that this has to be said.
Clarified that observation options for MOTP are still being negotiated.
DOH is no longer conducting investigations re: Covid in schools and they are the ones responsible for setting Covid protocols—this leaves principals on the hook to gamble with spread in their schools when the Situation Room calls. Yikes.
Continued to tout that positivity rates in schools are low, while at the same time saying over and over that testing "fell apart" this year—how can both be true?
If our testing is as bad as claimed, why are we trusting the data?
Claimed that ventilation hasn't been fixed in decades because there's no OSHA for the public sector, but there is PESH, so…huh?
During a bit about SBOs, Mulgrew asked for a show of hands in person and needed to be reminded to open it up to virtual attendees. He did not acknowledge the reminder. Took until questioning and he had to ask how to let us participate.
At one point referred to virtual participation as “Never Never Land," does he intend to take virtual participants seriously?
Instructed us to tell members “do not be afraid of observations.” Acknowledged that some admins use them as form of harassment, but dealing with that issue won't happen until at least next year. How can we bring that back to our chapters and tell them not to be afraid?
Mulgrew, why are you using words like “gypped" when you’re speaking in a formal forum?! Are you joking?! It wouldn't matter, honestly, that's not okay.
Where are all the subs the Mayor promised?: Mulgrew says he has no idea where BdB’s 11k came from, we have roughly 6.5k substitutes.
Every single health care speaker was chastised, interrupted, and deemed out of order. As a new delegate it appears I'll need clarification on when we're allowed to talk about health care, because this happened during multiple parts of the agenda.
Acknowledged that nurses are being split across schools, some responsible for thousands of students at once. That’s horrific.
During questioning, Mulgrew only called on people wearing pink for breast cancer awareness. This was audibly evident on the call and confirmed by delegates who attended in person. While breast cancer awareness is a worthwhile cause, that is not how these meetings are supposed to work. A member reportedly stormed out after Mulgrew refused to call on her based on the color of her clothing, yelling that she herself is a breast cancer survivor.
Motions and resolutions:
Rules of Order state that motions will only be added to agenda (unless under 3 sentences) IF they are written and distributed to delegates. Received no information via email. Still expected to vote or miss our chance. If motions are being distributed in person only, it seems this would violate the Rules of Order themselves as written.
Peter Lamphere was interrupted twice and deemed out of order—the second time he wasn't able to even finish his first sentence, he wanted to extend the motion period so more people could speak. Mulgrew interrupted to call him out of order and declare that it was the resolution period—why was Peter permitted to speak and introduce a motion if the motion period was already over?
Members chanted about health care after members attempted to speak about health-related issues 3x and were ALL interrupted/deemed out of order.
A number of delegates walked out of the meeting, Mulgrew dismissively said "buh-bye" and insisted that another member introduce a resolution by talking over their fellow members. It was an uncomfortable situation. Mulgrew is expected to represent EVERY member present.
Mayoral endorsement:
Noticed that when a speaker received pushback about THIS, Mulgrew said, “Woah, woah, people get to SPEAK!" So what about the people who were cut off over and over again?
Also mayoral endorsement: After a number of executive board members chastised delegates and insisted we go along with the group no matter what (barely paraphrasing), the # of people voting "yea" went DOWN, so maybe that tactic doesn't work after all.
Mulgrew joked that in-person delegates were "gaslighting" him because he forgot whether or not they'd voted already. Does he know what that word means?
One of the agenda items we didn't address was about domestic violence/intimate partner violence and he's throwing around that word...PHEW. Clearly he takes these things seriously.
A delegate asked why so much time was spent on questions that have nothing to do with current issues, and again the mere mention of health care was ruled out of order by way of interruption. It was a valid question.
We didn't actually get to a single agenda item that was actionable. Just voted on publicly supporting political candidates.
That was quite an initiation to the Delegate Assembly. Now to figure out where to keep my eight pages of handwritten notes. I should probably get a notebook before November.
Mulgrew sounded like “my angry drunk father” --- Newly elected Delegate at first DA who also posted-
The woman who stormed out is my chapter leader. She's the real deal.... Tweet
Is there potential of holding a people's DA downstairs outside the meeting -- why go in and be abused?
Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 - 9AM
I will have a lot to say about what happened Wednesday with the joint action of Retirees protesting outside and working members from all active groups in the UFT working the inside -- I have lots of background info and reports are still coming in, including the whining from Unity Caucus about how people are politicizing issues -- HELLO! James and Arthur have detailed reports:
Here is an array of first impressions, many from newcomers to the DA.
The first delegate assembly of the 2021-22 school year displayed the full disarray, disorganized, and unhinged leadership of the union.
Since the start of the pandemic we have had a union that is far removed from its members. Yesterday we saw a leadership that is now in open contempt of its own members.
The president of our union, paid by our union dues, actually yelled at his own members, working classroom teachers, elected by their chapters.
Our union leadership refuses to address changes in retiree healthcare which reduced coverage which is bound to happen to active members in the upcoming contract.UFT leadership endorsed a Mayoral candidate they previously opposed, they were forced to call on executive board members who are no longer in the classroom and retirees that last taught in the 1980’s.
Mulgrew sounded like “my angry drunk father."
A resolution was passed calling for woman leadership of our city council “but we have all men running the largest union of women in the city” -- Chapter leader and long time teacher
Mulgrew’s report was like the worst PD I ever had to sit through” -- New chapter leader
Mulgrew and his Unity caucus are more disconnected than ever before. They haven’t been in the classroom since the pandemic, they have no clue about anything teachers or paras deal with daily and it shows when he talks... Veteran chapter leader
Every single health care speaker was chastised, interrupted, and deemed out of order. As a new delegate it appears I'll need clarification on when we're allowed to talk about health care, because this happened during multiple parts of the agenda... New delegate
There's a lot more to come regarding the walkout, the joint action of so many, some of the speeches made outside, Mulgrew's increasing isolation and deterioration, scared Unity people who fear he may be blowing it for them as the opposition shows signs of uniting for next year's elections, the potential of holding a people's DA outside the meeting -- I mean why go in and be abused?
