UFT Exec Bd Vote Opposing Electronic Voting: Mike Shirtzer and another are Lone Dissenters, 13 Reasons For Electronic Voting as Unity Echoes Republican Vote Suppression, MULGREW SAYS PRIVATIZED HEALTHCARE ISN'T PRIVATIZED

Breaking -- UFT Latest Leak - Mulgrew demands leaks be plugged

Do Mulgrew and company really believe that dues-paying members would have voted down an electronic voting option that would increase our union participation and give members increased access?... Mulgrew’s caucus-laden executive board used arguments against our members’ further enfranchisement that were reminiscent of those seeking to suppress and obstruct increased voting rights and voting access in our national and statewide elections. ..... EONYC

UPDATE - Jan. 5, 2022 - Word has filtered through that there was another dissenter in the vote in addition to Mike. 

Oh what fun we are having in the twilight of our life. Later today we go to the Del Assembly (right after a painful urological procedure - hope I can walk) for a holiday party outside 52 Broadway from 3:30 to 6:30 -- come on down. -- Retirees Invite you to celebrate at Dec. 15 Del Assembly as Mulgrew Seeks UFT Women to occupy stage to counter 3 Men in A Room Image of UFT leadership..

UFT Ex Bd report from Monday Dec. 13 - MULGREW SAYS PRIVATIZED HEALTHCARE ISN'T PRIVATIZED

The focus of Arthur's report -- NYC Educator UFT Executive Board December 13, 2021--Spring Break, Medicare, Election Committee-- from Monday night's Ex Bd meeting was on Mulgrew's distorted report on healthcare for retirees -- as James reported it - MULGREW SAYS PRIVATIZED HEALTHCARE ISN'T PRIVATIZED and reports are he will hit the issue hard at today's DA. 

Let me explain to Mulgrew -- when someone is making a profit on our healthcare that is privatized - just like people running charter schools are making a profit but are calling themselves public schools. So the wonderful people Mulgrew is raving about are private insurance companies scamming and scuttling the public Medicare plan.  And behind the rising costs of healthcare which Mulgrew is abetting.

Is Mulgrew even aware of this? Major Survey Finds 100 Million Americans See US Healthcare System as 'Expensive' or 'Broken'

I will have more to say about Mulgrewcare - which apparently is going into effect on April 1 - Mulgrew comes off as a sleazy used care salesman. Did you see this NY Focus piece from Dec. 9?

New York City Mailed Misinformation on New Health Insurance to Retired City Employees — and Won’t Send Out a Correction -

Hundreds of thousands of retired New York City employees received incorrect information from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration regarding a key provision of a new health plan that the city wants to replace their current insurance with — and, citing a “global paper shortage,” the city is declining to mail out the correct information. Legal documents show that under the new plan, health care providers will have to get approval in advance from insurance companies before conducting certain doctor’s office visits, mental health care treatments, home health care services, and tests such as bloodwork and x-rays, along with dozens of other procedures or treatments. But the city mailed enrollment guides falsely saying that these and other treatments would not require pre-approvals to all retirees who will be covered by the new plan.

Mulgrew silence on this aspect of Mulgrewcare. Then there was this NYC Focus report from last night: 

Judge Orders City to Delay Retiree Health Care Switch Until April 1 Retired city employees will be able to opt out of their newly-privatized health insurance until June 30, the judge ruled

Mulgrew is actually bragging as if this was his idea instead of retirees hiring a lawyer to go to court. I have opted out and will remain opted out at the added costs for both of us of almost $400 a month. Actually, in terms of the UFT election, the delays help Unity because the full effects of the change will not be in effect long enough to piss people off. So maybe it was Mulgrew's idea though I imagine he would have preferred June 1 when the election is over.

Electronic voting Nixed by Ex Bd 99-1--- Mulgrew Says NO video

The other key issue at the Ex bd was endorsing the election committee recommendation not to include electronic voting in the upcoming election following its meeting last Thursday which I reported on last night - UFT Election Committee Meets, Petition Dates Set, Unity (Paid) Election Committee Reps reject UFC call for electronic voting.

If you went to any school in the city and took a poll on electronic voting would 99% oppose it? This is a true indication of how the UFT EB represents the 1% union bureaucrats, not the 99% membership.

Arthur Goldstein reported - I'm not including the lame Unity arguments -- you can read them at NYC Educator--

Michael Shulman--(Election Committee member; Head of New Action, not on Executive Board)Thanks LeRoy Barr for invitation. Thanks Carl Cambria for chairing. Wants to discuss balloting. Favors voting electronically due to low voter turnout. That is key. Not a caucus issue. Big issue is getting membership to participate. Important to be proud of union democracy. We are not moving with the times. About 25% of our membership vote. That is unacceptable. There have been proposals to GOTV, but we are lagging. 

Since pandemic, our union uses secure electronic voting for DA, for CL, for SBOs. Not a radical new proposal. Other public sector unions doing this. We have capability, not as sole source. We could use both. If someone votes both, we could distinguish which came first and that would take precedence.  I come from older generation. I believe many younger teachers use electronic voting. Snail mail alien to them.

I put Shulman's entire comments down below, followed by the 13 points.

Mike Schirtzer (Independent)--Agrees with Shulman. PSC (Professional Staff Congress-CUNY union) has option of online voting. We are in a battle to enfranchise folks who lost right to vote. Eric Adams is looking to union bust. Need to show we are strongest and best union. DA and Town Hall numbers are staggering. We trust AAA to get it right. Teachers under 30 don't know where mailboxes are. Need to open options. 

Mike was elected on the Unity line in 2019 but has remained independent and it showed here. Mike has been nominated to run on the UFC slate for Ex Bd. I trust Mike's political instincts and actually would support Mike if he decided to run on the Unity line, which would make sense for Unity to be able to claim they have one independent voice on their slate

 Here is Shulman's comments to the Ex Bd:

A Missed Opportunity! Unity Votes Down Electronic Voting

By Michael Shulman, Chair, New Action Caucus

The UFT Executive Board had an opportunity to strengthen union democracy at last night’s (Dec. 13) meeting. Instead they clung to time-worn arguments that there was no evidence electronic voting would increase voter turn-out. My request to speak at the Exec. Bd. was agreed to, as I had fully expected. Unity would not leave itself vulnerable to the charge of being undemocratic. After 51 years of union activism, I was certain publicizing a negative reply would only embarrass Unity. They frankly would never allow it. And as an appointed member of the UFT Election Committee, I was in a unique position to make a presentation to the Board.

My arguments were pretty straightforward: Electronic voting would increase voter participation. 

In city-wide UFT elections around 25% of the membership usually vote. I stated that this was not a caucus issue (of course, I suspected otherwise) since it was in everyone’s interest to want higher voter participation. I pointed out that since the pandemic our union was utilizing secure electronic voting at delegate assemblies, voting for chapter leaders and delegates, and for school based options. I pointed to the fact that other public sector unions, such as the Professional Staff Congress, are now using this method for their general elections. I concluded with the reality that the younger generation of educators are using electronics on a daily basis. Why couldn’t we use both – electronic voting and mail-in ballots.

Here are some of the responses from our Unity colleagues:

1)     Nothing indicates electronic voting would increase turnout.

2)     There are a couple examples of voting in functional chapters that did not produce more voting.

3)     Members will use DOE email and cause problems.

4)     Voting on SBO’s has not been a success. We’re not there yet.

5)     The voting in one district is poor and did not increase voter participation

6)     There isn’t time to institute. It is questionable whether it would work. It is an untried idea.

7)     The head of the Retiree Chapter stated it is not certain it would work. We must campaign like Hell. We must do better outreach. The retiree chapter election produced greater turnout.

Only one member of the UFT Executive Board spoke in favor of my proposal. With one exception the motion was denied. Another victory for union democracy?? VOTE UNITED for CHANGE in the spring election. Run with us!

Daniel Alicea of Educators of NYC, a UFC coalition member, came up with the case for electronic voting. He may nail the 13 points to the door of 52.

13 Reasons Why We Should Have An Electronic Voting Option In the Spring UFT 2022 Elections - even if Mulgrew And Company Want To Stop You From Having It.

Do Mulgrew and company really believe that dues-paying members would have voted down an electronic voting option that would increase our union participation and give members increased access?

Last night, Mulgrew and his executive board refused to extend an electronic voting option that was proposed by some in our union’s Election Committee for the 2022 Spring city-wide general UFT elections.

The proposal asks that in addition to our union members voting using a traditional mail-in ballot that we also have an option of securely voting digitally, in lieu of the paper mail-in ballot.

Only 1 executive board member stood up in support of those making the proposal.

Do Mulgrew and company really believe that dues-paying members would have voted down an electronic voting option that would increase our union participation and give members increased access? Who are they representing? Not us.

Mulgrew’s caucus-laden executive board used arguments against our members’ further enfranchisement that were reminiscent of those seeking to suppress and obstruct increased voting rights and voting access in our national and statewide elections.

Last fall, we fought side by side to ensure states like George did not suppress the vote, and yet here is our own union leadership making arguments similar to the voting obstructionists and suppressionists?

Why would they refuse to allow electronic voting in our next election? We can only surmise that large voter turnout threatens Mulgrew and company’s tight grip and hegemony over our union affairs.

The reasons for our union membership being extended access are plentiful, reasonable, and beyond sound.

1. Since the pandemic, we are currently using electronic digital voting in our local chapter leader and delegate elections and for SBOs (School-Based Options).
2. Since the pandemic, our union is currently utilizing secure electronic voting at our virtual and hybrid delegate assemblies among those delegates using the remote option.
3. The recent use of virtual technology has significantly increased member participation in our delegate assemblies and town halls to unprecedented numbers in recent history. Thousands are participating in union matters and union business that were not previously engaged.
4. An electronic voting option would markedly increase member voter turnout and promote greater democratic participation in light of our triennial general elections being typically underrepresented with only about 25% (sometimes less) of the total membership casting a paper ballot.
5. Other local public-sector unions, such as PSC, are now conducting their general elections safely and securely through mail-in and electronic means.
6. In the final cost analysis, it may be a more cost-effective means. We have spent millions in printing mail-in ballots and in paying for workers to help tally the paper ballot votes.
7. When the COVID-19 crisis began, 14 major union organizations, including our umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO, asked the National Labors Relations Board to allow for an electronic voting option within private-sector unions. The subsequent support by our unions for the Protecting to Organize Labor Act, which was recently passed by the House of Representatives, asks for electronic voting as a provision to be codified into law
8. We are disaffecting an entirely new generation of educators by not using the electronic means they use daily for every aspect of our lives. Our elections are over-represented by retirees who may still be using traditional snail mail but we are not capturing the will and votes of our younger in-service members.
9. Today we can apply, sign and pay a mortgage electronically. Many no longer use snail mail, at all. There's no reason that if these types of secure transactions happen daily that we can't vote in our next election, electronically and securely. The technology is readily available.
10. The transition to an electronic voting option would be seamless with the American Arbitration Association, the company our union has used for years to conduct fair and secure elections. They offer an electronic voting option and use many of the reasons we delineate why this is an optimal and preferred option.
11. With an antagonistic new mayoral administration being sworn in, in January, we need a union that is energized, active, and mobilized. Nothing more would signal weakness than if our union feels disconnected and disengaged and that it displays apathy by not turning out in huge numbers for our union matters.
12. We are seeing a new surge of COVID-19 this winter and our own state has tightened up on mandates once again. We don’t know what things look like for us in the spring and with the United States Postal Service in the midst of flux, shortages, and increased delays relying on mail-in ballots, right now, is not the most reliable or safest method.
13. Ultimately, increased member voter participation fosters trust and an empowered democratic voice to build a better and stronger union.

It’s time we vote out Mulgrew and Company. Vote United For Change in the Spring 2022 elections.

Meanwhile, let’s make sure we mobilize now and tell Mulgrew and our union leadership that WE DEMAND an online electronic voting option for our next election.

Send them an email. Call our union office. Let your district and boro reps know we will not relent on this option.

AAA details the benefits of online electronic voting. This is the company the UFT presently uses for conduct its elections.

The views expressed by the individual authors of The Wire are their own. They do not necessarily express the views of The Educators of NYC community.

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UFT Election Committee Meets, Petition Dates Set, Unity (Paid) Election Committee Reps reject UFC call for electronic voting

Ballots go out April 8 and must be returned by May 10 - Petitioning from Jan. 17- Feb. 16. 

This is a two part report -- first from the the Dec. 9 election committee meeting -- I have some choice words and part 2 from the Dec. 13 Ex Bd meeting to ratify the election process - and some choice words for that too.

The newly formed UFT election committee met for the first time Thursday Dec. 9 from 4:30-6 PM to set up the upcoming UFT election process. There are 13 members, 8 from Unity and 5 from the United for Change (UFC) coalition, consisting of Retiree Advocate, New Action, Solidarity, MORE, EONYC, ICEUFT. We were granted one rep each (EONYC declined) but as usual Unity made sure to stack the committee so they could control the election process. 

Why does Unity get 8 reps and United for Change 5? Make a guess.  

In addition, some union officials attended by zoom and old Unity stalwart Joe Colletti took notes. Ya think we were outnumbered?

All 8 Unity reps are on the union payroll. None of the 5 UFC reps are on the payroll and were meeting on their own time. Were the Unity reps getting paid for meeting on the election? At the very least they should have served dinner.

I was the ICEUFT rep on the UFT election committee. We went in to insure that we don't have any problems distributing materials in the schools during the election. They passed out an old DOE memo on parchment giving us rights signed by someone named Dale C, Kutzbach from Jan. 18, 2001 - like pre-Bloomberg days from the old Board of Education -- fossil days. I can just see walking into schools and having principals peruse this and opening the doors wide for us while Unity reps waltz in.

Luckily we found a very recent memo in Principal's Weekly that is current and for retirees very specific:

Policy for Union Visitor Posting of Election Fliers

In accordance with Chancellor’s Regulations D–130, retired employees/union members should be allowed to put union election fliers in staff mailboxes during the school day, provided that the retiree is not disrupting teachers, staff, or school activities and shows sufficient identification to the school administration. All union members, including retirees, must comply with vaccination requirements for visitors to school buildings and the DOE's health and safety protocols. Current staff may be given access to staff/teacher mailboxes during non-working time to distribute union materials....
For questions, contact your senior field counsel or email Karen Solimando.

Thanks Karen -- we will be in touch when some slug principals or Unity hacks try to stop us.

We believe in forcing Unity to take a clear stand when opposing democratic demands. And so they did when we raised the issue of electronic voting.

Let me take you through the process we went through on Thursday and in the follow up part 2 I will review what happened Monday night at the Ex Bd meeting. 

We (UFC) went in with the idea to avoid the ghost of UFT elections past of

The ghost of UFT elections

embarrassingly low turnout where the highest turnout is from retirees by expanding opportunities to vote through electronic voting. We don't even think electronic voting would automatically help us more than Unity. After all, they are so popular in the schools.

 

But first, a Unity reso was made to disallow electronic sigs on petitions -- I misunderstood and thought they were banning electronic voting and objected but was told it was about petitioninning -- one of them said he likes to see a wet signature on a petition. Weird but I guess I can live with wet signatures -- ich! I think we should allow non-wet signatures on petitions but that was not the hill I was there to die on.

But then came the fun part. We were asked to vote on the election posting which stated that ballots would be mailed out, and we did vote to accept that unanimouslybut they then said that meant there would be no electronic voting. Whoa - I withdrew my support and asked for this to be added after - Ballots will be mailed out - "and electronic voting will be allowed." 

We made strong comments. We pointed to PSC voting electronically -- backroom Unity comments are this 30K union is small. We raised the point that the AFL-CIO has endorsed electronic voting. And with Adams and Banks coming in, a low turnout was a signal to them that we are weak.

Wow! To Unity vote suppressors trying to increase turnout is a nuke. They looked desperate to kill it. So every one of them spoke against electronic voting with some weird arguments in support of low turnout -- like why do anything different when we've been "successful". The weirdest was claiming to protect teachers from using school computers to vote --- like no one has a a phone.  The final vote was --- SPOILER ALERT -- 8-5.

Boy that was close -- wait till you hear the result of Monday's Ex Bd vote on the same issue - but I'll save that suspense for next time.

 

UFT Election Committee

Carl Cambria, Chair - Unity - Manhattan Borough Rep

Patti Crispino - Unity, special rep, Ex Bd

Marcus Escobar - Unity, District Rep (10), Ex Bd

Robert Greenberg - UFC - (Retiree Advocate)

Ira Munet - Unity - District Rep (14)

Kathy Perez - UFC (Solidarity)

Sean Rotkowitz - Unity - Staten Island Borough Rep, Ex Bd

Howard Sandau - Unity - Nurses special rep

Norm Scott - UFC - (ICEUFT)

Michael Shulman - UFC (New Action)

Servia Silva - Unity - District Rep (4)

James Vasquez - Unity - District Rep Queens HS

Amanda Vender - UFC (MORE)

Aqeel Williams - Unity - District Rep (9)

 

Retirees Invite you to celebrate at Dec. 15 Del Assembly as Mulgrew Seeks UFT Women to occupy stage to counter 3 Men in A Room Image of UFT leadership

I'm practicing my Caroling. We will be outside while our pals are inside fighting the Unity machine. 

There is increasing evidence that the combination of the growing United for Change coalition (requests to run with UFC have been coming in droves) and the growing leadership ineptitude and loss of faith by even some in the Unity faithful, is leading to some hysterical over reaction.

The video below caused some consternation in the Unity Caucus hackdom world. They had to point to the many Unity fantastic women on Ad Com and on the Ex Bd. We agree - many of them are fantastic. So why doesn't Mulgrew and the other two men in the room consult or even inform them when it comes to fundamental decision making?

But don't you worry. The Unity team has a solution:  Get some of these women up in front for photo ops with Mulgrew during the upcoming Delegate Assembly. 

I will be outside huddled with other retirees trying to listen to the meeting on a phone. Maybe we can get a repeat of the bullhorn incident and have Mulgrew freak out and threaten to cancel the meeting because 8 retirees are outside listening at the same time the DA is being broadcast to thousand.

Last month I reported on this LOL moment at the Nov. DA:

....a group of retirees were huddled together outside listening to the DA with some mild amplification through a bull horn - we are old and the UFT leadership opposes medicare for all which would pay for our hearing aids.  In addition, the 19th floor, where we usually watch the DA, was closed. And despite Retiree Advocate winning 30% of the vote in last spring's chapter election - roughly 7000 disenfranchised voters -we have NO representation at the DA as Unity takes winner take all for all retiree 300 delegates. This is dues taxation without representation. For the record, before the election we asked for at the very least some token representation at the DA for 5 out of 300 and Unity said NO. 

Apparently this unnerved Mulgrew enough to interrupt a great speech by Daniel Alicea on why mayoral control has been so bad and Mulgrew stopped the DA and threatened to shut it down entirely because there are supposed rules about broadcasting the DA outside the building, an LOL moment since they were broadcasting outside the building to thousands of delegates.

 

They sent 3 Unity staffer goons out to yell at us: Queens HS Dist Rep James Vasquez, Wilma Soto and Good old Bill Ruff Ruff, who raced out to yell at us after yelling at Daniel. I yelled back to show us the rule and that if there were a rule about broadcasting outside the DA, they were the ones violating the rule -- 

All of them are on the UFT payroll while also acting as delegates. Nice gig if you can get it -- and you can if you agree to be a Unity Caucus hack.

I'm trying to get a hold of 3 bullhorns.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bTf7UZ137T4&feature=youtu.be

Unity Caucus Panic Over Mulgrew Massive Failure/Incompetence on Healthcare Retiree Changes as Jan. 1 Deadline Off; What Will Mayor Adams Do?

...remind all UFT retirees who still contribute to the UFT that they can still vote and I plan on doing so to show Mulgrew just how much I appreciated his back door move to throw us all under the bus and everyone should do the same.... Facebook 

This email from Michael Mulgrew and Thom Murphy looks extremely gaslight-y. Re: a quote from the email from Michael Mulgrew and Tom Murphy, below, "the UFT strongly voiced its opinion...that Medicare Advantage Plus...should NOT take effect" - Notice the lack of a direct quote, let alone a source or date - all clues to a lie. There is no direct quote supporting this claim, to my knowledge. My heart is heavy, thinking about those who are trying to drown sick seniors in a tide of toxic misinformation. What hidden reward could make that feel worthwhile?... UFT Retiree

Some think United for Change, the new coalition of oppo groups challenging Unity is causing consternation inside the fort, while others think the disintegration of competent leadership under Mulgrew is just as much a factor, the real cause of panic. In the past, most Unity people had faith in their ability to fight off oppo.

Many Unity still do not see UFC as a threat but do see the real threat as coming from within the halls of 52 Broadway-  recent debacles around healthcare, the Mayoral Scott Stringer debacle where 3 million was spent to prop up a clearly losing candidate, only to endorse Adams who the leadership had told people it was not OK to vote for in the first place, the increasing likelihood of failure of the class size initiative, the faux arguments why we don't need to put it in the contract with recent loses or close calls at the DA -- and the membership complaints of lack of response.

In this post, we focus on the Medicare/MedAdv controversy where to stay in Medicare we have to pay $191 a month - and double for spouses to get the same services we have been getting. The promised Jan. 1 date of change is now thrown up in the air -- the security level of UFT retirees, a mainstay of Unity control, has been tossed in the air. Mulgrew's actions in alienating so many retirees, plus the threat to future retirees (See South Bronx School - My Own Story Why I am Wary of Medicare Advantage) has left even many Unity stalwarts scratching their heads.

And let's not forget that Mulgrew fundamentally takes the anti-medicare for all position and supports a plan that fundamentally undermines the public option.

Here are some facts of the current case:

• Until there is a Court decision, no retirees will be moved into the new Medicare Advantage plan. Retirees will remain in the plan they were in for 2021.
• The EmblemHealth / Empire BlueCross BlueShield Senior Care plan will remain premium-free until the new Medicare Advantage plan is implemented.
• Once the Court announces an implementation date, we will notify retirees of the period of time they will have to opt out of the Medicare Advantage plan.
  
  
  

 ----- NYC Office of Labor Relations

 

After 8 months of gaslighting retirees, Mulgrew informed retirees the plan to move them out of Medicare into profit/privatized Medicare (Dis)Advantage plan on Jan. 1 except for people like me who opted out at an extorted price of $191 a month for less than the same services we were getting for free (we will now have copays). Now I won't have to pay that fee until they find another way to implement the plan, though with Adams taking over Jan. 1, who knows?

The massive recent failure of strategy of the UFT/Unity Caucus leadership on school safety/covid testing (Where Was the UFT as NYC Schools Bought Weaker Air Purifiers as Underventilated Campuses Are More Prone To COVID Cases) and class size reductions, escalated with the admission by Mulgrew that the Jan. 1 move out of Medicare and into privatized Medicare Advantage. 

The Mulgrew/Murphy letter claimed the status quo remains until the court decides. But then we do have co-pays starting in January (which is why I am seeing every doctor I can this month). [T]he new GHI Senior Care doctor co-pay of $15, which is not associated with the new plan, will go into effect on Jan. 1 (it was postponed from July 1).

One retiree was outraged: 

the imposition of a new $15 co-pay for the Senior Care Medicare supplement appears to me to be NOT status quo, and therefore in violation of Judge Frank's order to preserve the status quo.

She went on:

Copays impose paperwork, recordkeeping, and time burdens on sick, elderly patients. In an era of Covid, doctors' office paperwork increases waiting room time and handing pens and papers back and forth, making exposure to Covid variant germs statistically more likely. A $15 copay, or even a 5 cent copay, has many hidden costs beyond its dollar amount, compared with no copay.

Other retiree comments

Right now, we pay no premium, but GHI/Emblem/Empire is not providing this coverage for free.  They are being paid by the city.  I don’t know exactly how much, but probably it’s around — wait for it — $191 per person.  That’s a benefit we earned because of all of our years of service to the city.  To be clear — the city is reneging on that promise and shifting that cost onto US.  It’s not a rate increase by the insurance companies — it’s a cost shift by the city to its retirees.  A broken promise.

And the same is true for those who take the supposedly premium-free MA+ deal.  There the cost shift is partly to Medicare, which allows these MA companies to cheat by charging more than Medicare would pay normally (undermining and privatizing Medicare), and partly to US by denying lots of very expensive procedures that Medicare would normally just pay for, leaving US to pay for them or get really sick or, ya know, die.

Here are links to stories on the medicare issue:

De Blasio blocked from rolling out controversial NYC retiree health plan this year, leaving issue up to Mayor-elect Adams --

 https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-nyc-de-blasio-legally-blocked-from-changing-city-retiree-health-plan-20211130-rqqqkrqfu5d2tkb7aiqyaar45m-story.html?

A Manhattan judge has blocked the de Blasio administration from pushing through a controversial new health care plan for retired municipal workers before the end of the year, meaning the thorny issue will land on Mayor-elect Eric Adams’ desk once he takes office.

Mayor de Blasio’s administration asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank earlier in November to allow the city to set a Nov. 30 deadline for opting out of the Medicare Advantage Plus plan or be automatically enrolled in it, saying there otherwise wouldn’t be enough time for the new benefits to kick in by Jan. 1.

But in an order late Monday, Frank wrote that he could not understand why the new benefits needed to be implemented by that date.

“After reviewing the correspondence received in the last few days, I do not plan on amending my prior order at this time,” wrote Frank, who first blocked the administration from rolling out the new plan in October after a group of municipal retirees filed a lawsuit claiming it would significantly water down their health care coverage.

Frank said he will keep the issue on ice at least through Dec. 8, when the parties are supposed to convene for a hearing.

Based on the previous time line offered by the administration, Frank’s order means the new plan cannot take effect by Jan. 1 — the day Adams will be sworn in as de Blasio’s successor.

As a result, Adams will have the ability to pause or alter any potential de Blasio proposal that gets the green light from Frank before then.

The de Blasio administration has contended that the new Medicare plan would save city taxpayers $500 million a year because it can be bankrolled by federal dollars to a larger extent. The administration also maintains that health care coverage will remain as rigorous as under the city’s old Medicare plan, which retirees can also opt to keep, though that would cost them an extra $191 a month.

But the coalition of municipal retirees who brought the issue to court say that the new plan could result in them losing access to certain services and medical procedures.

The coalition also argues that enrollment guides sent out to the city’s roughly 250,000 municipal retirees are marred with factual errors and that the court must thereby slam the brakes on implementation until there’s a clearer picture of what the new plan will and will not do.

Front page for Oct. 16, 2021: Eric: Don't alter health plan for 250,000 retired city employees. (New York Daily News)

Steve Cohen, an attorney representing the plaintiff retirees, said the administration’s bid to rush the plan appears aimed at boosting de Blasio politically.

“De Blasio is seriously considering running for governor, and he wants to be able to say he got the city to save $500 million a year — I get it,” Cohen told the Daily News on Tuesday. “But he can’t do it on the backs of seniors, and he’s just rushing to get it done before he leaves office. It’s crazy. So many things are wrong about what they’re doing and trying to do.”

Laura Feyer, a City Hall spokeswoman, would not comment on Frank’s latest ruling, but reiterated that the administration believes its proposal “provides superior benefits for retirees while saving the system hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“We are working towards a resolution and will keep retirees notified of any changes,” Feyer said.

Adams hasn’t committed one way or another to what he will do as mayor about the Medicare matter, though he recently expressed sympathy with concerned retirees.

“We need to look at it and make sure it’s not a bait and switch,” Adams, himself a retired NYPD captain who’s covered by municipal health insurance, told reporters in October. “I’m a retiree, I get retiree benefits. Their plan is my plan. We want to make sure that it is a fair plan. Nothing is more frightening for a retiree than health care.”

Here is the Mulgrew gaslighting letter:

Due to the ongoing litigation, the UFT strongly voiced its opinion that the New York City Medicare Advantage Plus Plan should not take effect until an orderly transition and continuity of services for retirees can be guaranteed. We have now been notified that the new plan likely will not take effect on Jan. 1, as originally planned. All Medicare-eligible municipal retirees will remain in their current health plans for the time being. No rate increases will go into effect for GHI Senior Care until the New York City Medicare Advantage Plus Plan takes effect, but the new GHI Senior Care doctor co-pay of $15, which is not associated with the new plan, will go into effect on Jan. 1 (it was postponed from July 1). All supplemental health care coverage will also remain unchanged. The opt-out period continues. During this period, retirees may opt out of the new plan or opt back into it. We will let you know as soon as a deadline for making a final decision has been set. In addition, the union has pressed for — and obtained — assurance that retirees will further be able to opt in or out of the NYC Medicare Advantage Plus Plan during the first part of 2022 after the new plan is in operation. The two sides will meet again before the judge on Dec. 8. We will alert you as soon as we have an update. Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew, UFT President Tom Murphy, RTC Chapter Leader

And for more info:

If you're interested in the progress of the NYC Public Service Retirees For Benefit Preservation lawsuit against the city, may I suggest you join their email list? This is the website address if you would like to join:

https://gmail.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=036ef3a3db4831f1dc593990d&id=b12e0c0e65  

In addition, if you'd like to keep abreast of documents and decisions filed in the case, it's public information and can be viewed at the following address: 

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=BMh4Q5TKcmSpfW6lzB3JYg%3D%3D&display=all&courtType=New+York+County+Supreme+Court&fbclid=IwAR15-HDob-PekvCvbOJgLQUqWhhX1iCPaQtvVN6-9AKUm65Tj-00ERmf8Vs

Where Was the UFT as NYC Schools Bought Weaker Air Purifiers as Underventilated Campuses Are More Prone To COVID Cases

The New York City public schools that rely solely on open windows and portable air purifiers have seen 23% more COVID-19 cases per students and a 29% increase in staff case rates when compared to buildings with stronger ventilation, such as HVAC systems...New York City’s Department of Education (DOE) got those devices for a bargain,... WNYC/Gothamist asked the mayor’s office, the Department of Education, Delos Living and city councilmembers to explain why Intellipure air purifiers were chosen for schools given these performance issues.... Gothamist

The UFT leadership has been successful in trying to deflect member ire away from themselves and toward the inept DOE. Hopefully articles like this will change, though the report below doesn't ask the UFT for comment. It should have. The info in the Gothamist article was known during the summer in previous WNYC/Gothamist investigation but no action by the union.

...the city purchased two air purifiers for every classroom from a Manhattan-based startup named Delos Living and its upstate partner Intellipure — a choice officials strongly backed ahead of the school year, even though the devices lack HEPA filters, the industry benchmark for air cleaning.

This is a perfect example of the Unity Caucus/UFT leadership laying down on the job when it comes to health and safety of its members and the children they serve.

Here is a clear case of corrupt influence peddling at the expense of UFT member and children.

Kasirer, a Tribeca-based lobbying firm with ties to the de Blasio administration, earned $195,000 for the project between July 2020 and August of this year, the month before classes resumed. Records show this firm led New York City lobbyists in compensation in 2020 — earning about $14 million.

Yet despite the purchase of Intellipure air purifiers for schools, New Yorkers who walk into most city buildings are unlikely to find that brand of purifier humming in the background. City contracts and photos sent to WNYC/Gothamist by city employees across several departments indicate that most offices rely on other brands, all of which use HEPA filters and provide substantially higher ventilation rates compared to the purifiers in city schools. Some were purchased even as the city made new deals with Delos for non-HEPA purifiers, the contracts show.

Lobbying and corruption: But I'd bet air purifiers in the UFT official's offices are not the cheapies. Certainly not in the Mayor's offices:

The mayor’s office, for example, purchased ENVIRCO IsoClean 800 purifiers in April 2021 that were delivered to 253 Broadway, a building across from City Hall that houses multiple divisions of the mayor’s office. A ventilation expert calculated that this model offers five times as much airflow per hour as the Intellipure Compact air purifiers in the city’s classrooms. The city signed two new contracts for Intellipure air purifiers the same month.

The mantra of "everything de Blasio touches turns to shit (except NYC ferry and pre-k) continues. De Blasio also touches the UFT leadership, his partner in so many things --  like taking away retiree medicare, which has also turned to shit.

PS 18K, the school shown below was a school I covered with computer services in the late 90s  and it's a very old school - probably over a hundred years old. Here are more excerpts and a link to the very long and comprehensive article.

Gothamist: NYC Schools Bought Weaker Air Purifiers. Now Underventilated Campuses Are More Prone To COVID Cases

https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-schools-bought-weaker-air-purifiers-now-underventilated-campuses-are-more-prone-covid-cases

P.S. 18 Edward Bush in East Williamsburg ranked among the top-15 low-ventilation schools, both in student and staff case rates.

ScabCalling: UFT District 25 Rep Lamar Hughes Accuses Me of Crossing Picket Lines 1968 UFT Strike - Why He's Wrong? Why did he even raise a 53 year old issue?

Unity is clearly shaken by our alliance of opposition groups. Check out the District Rep for District 25 making up a story online and on Facebook wrongfully charging longtime dissident leader Norm Scott with being a scab. ...If a Unity District Rep who is an employee of the UFT is making up nonsense about opposition leaders right after United for Change just announced a joint slate, you know they will do and say anything to keep their power, their jobs that pay close to and over $200,000 per year, and their double pensions. It's not about supporting members; it's about their perks. The lies will probably get worse as election season gets closer...  ICEUFT Blog

Sorry about the bullshit that some UFT reps spout out. They are an embarrassment to many in the UFT.... Unity Caucus member

Word is out that after the Oct. DA announcement of opposition groups working together and the announcement of United for Change at before the Nov. 17 DA, Unity held high powered pow wows and went into DEFCON mode, ordering all its highly paid officials to head out to the schools to defend their failed policies, something the opposition is praying for since most of these people don't have any real answers to the rot pervading the 60 year Unity Caucus. 

There are even whispers that some Unity people are very unhappy with Mulgrew and would welcome someone else to run for President in this year's election. My guess is they are just whispers from a few, though we do hear some Unity retirees are not very happy over the healthcare mess Mulgrew has made.

But Unity trolls and hacks were also turned loose to attack voices of opposition. Thus, 

Lamar Hughes has left a new comment on your post "DA UPDATE: Class Size Amendment Passes Over Unity Oppo, Mulgrew ballistic over retirees listening outside, UFT/Unity Staffers on payroll challenged":

‪Report seemed a little childish. Just tell the story. Keep the snide comments to yourself.

You don’t hear anyone coming up with nicknames for Norm after he crossed the picket line in 1968.‬

‪Oh, y’all didn’t know??? Norm Scott crossed the picket line in 1968.‬

Hmmm. A highly paid union employee, District 25 (Queens) Lamar Hughes, someone I've never met and wouldn't know if I fell over him.

It's not easy to get into other people's heads and examining what goes on in the brains of highly paid UFT officials is like untangling dried out spaghetti. Apparently Lamar was offended by my mocking his fellow high paid district 7 rep colleague Bill Woodruff for his increasingly boorish behavior when I referred to him as "Ruff Ruff". 

[When Ruff Ruff goes into schools in his district, some light barking will be appropriate. Or when he speaks at DA, some ruff ruffs from delegates to cheer him on.]

Poor Lamar Hughes - he called me a - SCAB - except it's entirely untrue, but nothing new for Unity Caucus hacks who always assumed everyone opposed to Unity Caucus in the late 60s crossed the 1968 picket lines.  

As I wrote yesterday, UFT/Unity in DEFCON Mode and no holds barred. Word is they are doing desperate oppo research to dig up some dirt on Educators of NYC organizer Daniel Alicea who has become a prominent voice in the opposition despite having voted for Unity in 2019 --- Unity has to be worried that he is not the only defector.

The problem for Lamar and the truth is that I was not an activist until late 1970 when I began to hang out with some people who did cross the line and even opened up closed schools during the 68 strike -- guilt by association, I guess.  

My worst transgression in the 68 strike was still living with mommy and daddy and not really needing the 98 bucks a week take home pay. Not did I have any political ideology to make me go in to teach as a second year ATR assigned to the same school the principal let me go from just a few months before. I was actually overjoyed there was a strike so I could spend some time on the picket line before were told to go home around 11 because there were no teachers going in. I don't even remember kids going in - I think the principal closed down the school as being unsafe - the 68 strike was also a hidden strike by supervisors, who were the  most threatened by community control. 

I stopped going pretty soon and then a colleague asked me to teach middle school with her at a church for 3 hours a day at 20 bucks a day -- two more than I was taking home from the DOE. I think that gig ended after a few weeks. Then it was back to basketball and golf. So when the strike ended - crap - back to hell - and a longer day too and working xmas vacation at double pay - except I had booked a trip to Florida I couldn't cancel. At that point I intended to complete my two year commitment to teaching by June 1969 and go back to grad school. But fate intervened - in February 1969 I volunteered to take over a class vacated by the only teacher who had actually taught during the strike (he was sent to another school) and fell in love with the kids - it was like a lifetime flu.

I recognized the Lamar Hughes attack from the 70s when Unity hacks often attacked oppo people as scabs. I was at the AFT 1975 (pre-75 strike) convention with two buddies who had crossed the line in 68 handing out The Case Against Shanker when I was called a scab by a top union official and yelled back that I had never crossed a UFT picket line - she actually stopped in surprise and we had a chat. So I'm imagining that there is still a culture in Unity about oppo people having crossed the lines.

Camille Eterno claims every conversation I have begins with a noun, verb, followed by a discussion of the '68 strike. So thanks Lamar, for giving me a chance to bring up  my favorite subject.

In the early 70s I began to learn about their reasons for crossing the line and many of them made sense. But I always argued that even if you opposed the strike, it might have been more fruitful over time to honor the strike while fighting against the people in the Unity leadership who perpetrated the strike. And over the years I further learned that there were some muddy waters on both sides, with anti-union forces pushing their version of community control which had to weaken the UFT in its very concept.

I've been in study groups on UFT history discussing the 68 strike and when I debated Leo Casey on the Leonie Haimson/Daniel Alicea hosted WBAI Talk Out of School, we did touch on the 68 strike. (Norm Scott and Shanker Inst Head Leo Casey - Insid...)

Fact is the 68 strike does not fit into the normal category of strikes - like the other two I participated in 67 and 75. Most UFTers are not informed about the complexities, the preface and the after effects. The UFT claims it was about illegal firings - which were actually illegal transfers and seniority issues. What is the usual response of a union? Grievances, courts, etc, not a 3 month strike. Even Randi wouldn't defend the strike, especially when she killed seniority and created the ATRs. 

There are so many more violations going on today, but we don't hear the Lamar Hughes types in Unity calling for a strike, but offering instead a whimper.

My pals at ICEUFT and DOENUTS defended me.

http://iceuftblog.blogspot.com/2021/11/united-for-change-in-chief-unity.html

UNITED FOR CHANGE IN THE CHIEF; UNITY DISTRICT REP REACTS BY LYING ABOUT OPPOSITION LEADER

NYCDOENUTS

 http://nycdoenuts.blogspot.com/2021/11/verbal-attacks-by-paid-union-employees.html

Verbal Attacks By Paid Union Employees Must Stop -Now

Unity is clearly shaken by our alliance of opposition groups. Check out the District Rep for District 25 making up a story online and on Facebook wrongfully charging longtime dissident leader Norm Scott with being a scab. 

If a Unity District Rep who is an employee of the UFT is making up nonsense about opposition leaders right after United for Change just announced a joint slate, you know they will do and say anything to keep their power, their jobs that pay close to and over $200,000 per year, and their double pensions. It's not about supporting members; it's about their perks. The lies will probably get worse as election season gets closer.

UFT/Unity in DEFCON Mode - Tension builds within the UFT over reducing class sizes - Max Parrott, City and State

The history of the UFT is that of one-party rule....a group of opposition caucuses within the UFT announced that they had banded together in a long-shot bid to seize control of the union’s leadership.The rebels have had some initial success......“We had a victory tonight,” said Daniel Alicea, the UFC delegate who introduced the amendment at the Nov. 17 meeting. “We saw an amendment that shows that they’re willing to have a full-court press for class size.” .... Alicea believes that one reason the leadership hasn’t lowered the class size caps under de Blasio is they believe asking smaller class sizes can only come as a trade off in salary negotiations. With billions of federal education dollars coming to the city through COVID-19 relief funding, Alicea argues that the time is now to fight over reducing the contractual caps and more.“We're looking for not just contractual caps, but also the contractual loopholes and exceptions and a grievance process that is further expedited,” said Alicea..... City and State

Reporter Max Parrott covered the November 17 Delegate Assembly events outside 52 Broadway for hours and wrote this in depth analysis. I did my own DA analysis, which ruffled more than a few feathers in the UFT hierarchy, leading to personal (and untrue) attacks on me (see comments below my post):

DA UPDATE: Class Size Amendment Passes Over Unity Oppo, Mulgrew ballistic over retirees listening outside, UFT/Unity Staffers on payroll challenged

It's hard to find reporters who actually report things the way they actually happened, so kudos to Max. Also kudos to him for this shout out:

“One of the key factors in UFT elections has been the retiree vote, which generally has gone very high for Unity,” said Scott, who for decades has chronicled union politics on his blog, Ed Notes.

Word is that the leadership is in DEFCON mode over recent events and has issued orders to be aggressive against oppositionists to its army of hacks and slugs to go on the attack. 

UFT District 25 Rep Lamar Hughes: You don’t hear anyone coming up with nicknames for Norm after he crossed the picket line in 1968.‬ Oh, y’all didn’t know??? Norm Scott crossed the picket line in 1968.‬

Sorry Lamar, y'all just make shit up. But I'll school Lamar on the '68 strike another time.

The UFT leadership sellout on Medicare and support for privatized healthcare is a big issue.

UFC is hoping to make in-roads with this demographic by protesting the union’s support for shifting health benefits for about 250,000 retired city workers to a new plan under Medicare Advantage... “Everybody, including me, thinks that class size is the overriding, bigger issue, but as far as getting votes, the thing is this has a lot of retirees pissed off,” said UFC member Bennett Fischer.

If a significant group of retirees vote UFC, like, say over 35% (there are thousands of Unity retirees so winning that vote is very unlikely), the final numbers could be closer than comfortable for Unity. Thus we actually see Unity hacks attacking us as anti-union for calling for medicare for all plans, a bizarro argument, but expect a lot more to come.  There are whispers that some in Unity Caucus want Mulgrew to not run for President but are too weak - and scared - to act on it.

We'll have some more fun with the Unity gang in upcoming posts. Here is Parrott's article:

Tension builds within the UFT over reducing class sizes

A new coalition within the union dubbed United for Change won a vote to force a referendum on the issue, signaling a growing divide.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2021/11/tension-builds-within-uft-over-reducing-class-sizes/187094/

By Max Parrott

November 29, 2021 03:00 AM ET