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!
We are asking everyone who cherishes the healthcare benefits they earned
to come to City Hall and let the City Council hear and see you! Urge
them NOT TO CHANGE Administrative Code 12-126 and protect us from those
urging changes to a law that has protected us since 1967. We then will head down the block to UFT HQ and tell Michael Mulgrew of
the UFT to keep his hands off our benefits and stop selling them for his
own wages! ....
This is a joint rally with CROC- Cross Union Organizing Committee, along with Retiree Advocate, groups that have been leading the way in the battle.
The Court stated that the City could not force retirees into paying an extra $191 per month if they wanted to opt out of an inferior privatized Medicare Advantage Plan they were being forced into. Since the victory was based on the NYC Administrative Code, the city is now doing an end run by trying to get the Council to change the law!
And our own UFT leadership is leading the way by working with the city to mess with our health plans.
The more unions that push back the better.
Bravest Push New York City Council to Stop Messing with Retirees’ Healthcare
“We have a lot of retirees that are calling that are confused as to why there is a need for a law change. They are against any of these changes.” — UFA President Andy Ansbro. Photo courtesy of FDNY
By Bob Hennelly
A split within the Municipal Labor Committee over the future of the healthcare coverage for New York City’s 250,000 municipal retirees is playing out behind the scenes at the City Council over a controversial MLC proposal to change the city’s Administrative Code 12-126 that requires the City Council’s approval.
The MLC is the umbrella organization for scores of unions that represent over 300,000 municipal workers. The change, which would alter the existing language covering healthcare for retirees, is also supported by the city’s Office of Labor Relations and the Adams administration.
The controversy is an outgrowth of last year’s successful retiree revolt against then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Municipal Labor Committee’s proposal to shift retirees to a privatized Medicare Advantage program in hopes of realizing some savings.
City Hall and the MLC said the plan, branded as Retiree Health Alliance, which was going to be run by Anthem and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, would produce $600 million in savings with no degradation in coverage. Retired civil servants and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees countered the change threatened retirees’ continuity of care, would cost more and would cover less.
Tens of thousands of city retirees opted out. One key issue was a requirement that city retirees who opted out of the new offering would have to pay a $191 monthly premium for their old plan. Subsequently, the two health insurance companies fronting the controversial plan withdrew.
The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees successfully challenged the city in court bringing the implementation of the plan to a standstill at the start of the Adam’s administration. That litigation continues.
In his decision, Judge Lyle Frank, ruled that thanks to the city’s Administrative Code 12-126, on the books since the 1960s, the city was obliged to continue providing retirees with their healthcare without charging them a premium.
Marianne Pizzitola is a retired FDNY EMT and was a member of DC 37’s Local 2507. Pizzitola is also the president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees. In a Sept. 24 op-ed in the Daily News she praised the city’s existing administrative code that guaranteed “the city would pay for a choice of health insurance plans—up to a defined dollar cap. For 55 years, every teacher, firefighter, police officer, nurse and others who served the city knew they would have access to a health insurance plan that met their families’ needs.”
Last month, the MLC voted to ask the City Council to alter the Administrative Code 12-126 as requested by the city’s Office of Labor Relations to clear the way for the implementation of a Medicare Advantage program.
The vote was not unanimous.
Though the MLC’s largest unions like District Council 37, the United Federation of Teachers, Teamsters Local 831 (Uniformed Sanitation-men’s Association) support the change, several unions opposed it, including the Uniformed Fire Officers Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
In a Sept. 9 letter to his members, James Davis, president of the Professional Staff Congress explained why his union opposed the change.
“The proposed change eliminates the HIP-HMO rate as the single standard for determining the City’s obligation to pay for health insurance for city employees, retirees and their dependents,” explained Davis. “Under current law, the city is required to ‘pay the entire cost of health insurance coverage for city employees, city retirees, and their dependents, not to exceed one hundred percent of the full cost of HIP-HMO…’ (NYC Administrative Code, section 12-1260.)
Harry Nespoli, chair of the MLC and the president of Teamsters Local 831 did not return a call seeking comment.
Retirees who oppose the shift to a Medicare Advantage plan point to a recent study by the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General that found the plans run by for profit providers showed that the “plans sometimes denied or delayed patients’ access to medically necessary services, even though the requests met Medicare coverage rules.”
“We have a lot of retirees that are calling that are confused as to why there is a need for a law change. They are against any of these changes,” UFA President Andy Ansbro said during a phone interview. “They want to keep their healthcare plan the way it is and they have reached out to us demanding that we get in front of this and we have explained to them that we have been a no vote on this change and at this point it is in the City Council’s hands and if they wish to make their voice heard they have to call their City Council member and speak to them and we ask that they speak with them respectfully but just get your point across you don’t believe this law should, be changed.”
Ansbro continued. “The down side is we don’t know what the long term consequences are. We understand the short term consequences if they feel they will be able to make their Medicare Advantage Plan legal but if the courts rule that what you are trying to do is illegal, trying to change the law is not the way to go about it. You should go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that’s actually legal.”
“The UFOA voted no in the MLC Steering committee and again voted NO in the general membership meeting,” wrote FDNY Lieut. James McCarthy in a text. “The fight against the change in the administrative code continues on the the City Council. Our active and retired members will also be expressing their opposition to the City Council.”
“The changes proposed would allow New York City, with the approval of the majority of the MLC, to create different classes of employees in reference to health insurance,” warned a UFOA blast email to all of its members and retirees. “This change would then allow New York City to give different health insurance plans to each class. The proposal will also remove HIP HMO as the benchmark for establishing the rate that the city must pay to maintain premium free healthcare for all active and retired members. This seismic change in language MUST BE STOPPED!”
The UFOA continued. “How did we get here…. Over a year ago NYC rolled out the option of Medicare Advantage and described it as a mirror of the current Senior Care Plan. The reality was our members' benefits and access to healthcare would be diminished. Multiple lawsuits were filed, and the rollout of Medicare Advantage was delayed by the judge’s ruling. The City has appealed, and the case will be heard in October. As a result of this pending decision, the city has chosen to change the Administrative Code.”
State Senator Gustavo Rivera, chair of the Senate Health Committee, is a one of the lead sponsors of the New York Health Act which calls for establishing a single payer healthcare system that would decouple healthcare coverage from employment.
“We are at a moment where we have to take all the realities that are around us and think about how we actually solve the problems that are before us,” Rivera said. “Committing ourselves by doubling down on a system that has insurance companies at its core is exactly the wrong direction to go in. But this is exactly what’s happening with the city shifting retirees' benefits for the sake of ‘saving money’—when what you are really doing is taking away the benefits that were negotiated for the folks that are retirees. What I am telling these retirees and everybody else, is that healthcare is a right and we should act like it.”
Here are a few videos from Marianne from The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees exposing the misinformation - also known as Bullshit - from Mulgrew and gang at the UFT who claim Medicare Advantage is just another form of Medicare - Part C - which is its label but is a very different animal if you read my post yesterday with the NYT expose on MedAdv fraud - you know - the very organizations the UFT/MLC are trying to push us into. It's on the front page of today's NYT.
An important point made in the article is the level of corruption at the top of the people running Medicare - appointed politically with no incentive to control these companies from which they emanate from and go back to after serving. So we can't just ask for medicare for all without serious oversight.
“Medicare
Advantage overpayments are a political third rail,” said Dr. Richard
Gilfillan, a former hospital and insurance executive and a former top
regulator at Medicare, in an email. “The big health care plans know it’s
wrong, and they know how to fix it, but they’re making too much money
to stop. NYT
Medicare for all would put all these scam artists out of business - why does the UFT support these crooks?
Mulgrew continuously whines about health care costs but the policies he espouses contributes to these costs.
One of these cited for defrauding the Medicare system will be a partner to the MLC in any new plan offered by the city for retirees. Let us point out that these same groups control the 20% senior plan for retirees but they ability to defraud is somewhat limited by Medicare rules.
And the entire working membership is under the
On Monday night at the Ex Bd Vinnie Gaglione declared MedAdv was just Medicare - Part C - in essence what's the big deal with it?
Mulgrew in essence is fine with the fraud issue -- he even said we can get more money out of Medicare.
My own docs have told me about upcoding - say you are overweight and they have access to the records -- they now ask Medicare for more money for care that has nothing to do with how much you weigh.
Is it time to accuse the UFT leadership of joining the fraud game?
The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions
By
next year, half of Medicare beneficiaries will have a private Medicare
Advantage plan. Most large insurers in the program have been accused in
court of fraud.
The
health system Kaiser Permanente called doctors in during lunch and
after work and urged them to add additional illnesses to the medical
records of patients they hadn’t seen in weeks. Doctors who found enough
new diagnoses could earn bottles of Champagne, or a bonus in their
paycheck.
Anthem, a large insurer now
called Elevance Health, paid more to doctors who said their patients
were sicker. And executives at UnitedHealth Group, the country’s largest
insurer, told their workers to mine old medical records for more
illnesses — and when they couldn’t find enough, sent them back to try
again.
Each of the strategies — which
were described by the Justice Department in lawsuits against the
companies — led to diagnoses of serious diseases that might have never
existed. But the diagnoses had a lucrative side effect: They let the
insurers collect more money from the federal government’s Medicare
Advantage program.
Medicare
Advantage, a private-sector alternative to traditional Medicare, was
designed by Congress two decades ago to encourage health insurers to
find innovative ways to provide better care at lower cost. If trends
hold, by next year, more than half of Medicare recipients will be in a private plan.
Soon, Half of Medicare Will be Privatized
Medicare Advantage is on track to enroll most Medicare beneficiaries by next year.
But a New York
Times review of dozens of fraud lawsuits, inspector general audits and
investigations by watchdogs shows how major health insurers exploited
the program to inflate their profits by billions of dollars.
The
government pays Medicare Advantage insurers a set amount for each
person who enrolls, with higher rates for sicker patients. And the
insurers, among the largest and most prosperous American companies, have
developed elaborate systems to make their patients appear as sick as
possible, often without providing additional treatment, according to the
lawsuits.
As a result, a program
devised to help lower health care spending has instead become
substantially more costly than the traditional government program it was
meant to improve.
Eight of the 10
biggest Medicare Advantage insurers — representing more than two-thirds
of the market — have submitted inflated bills, according to the federal
audits. And four of the five largest players — UnitedHealth, Humana,
Elevance and Kaiser — have faced federal lawsuits alleging that efforts
to overdiagnose their customers crossed the line into fraud.
The fifth company, CVS Health, which owns Aetna, told investors its practices were being investigated by the Department of Justice.
In
statements, most of the insurers disputed the allegations in the
lawsuits and said the federal audits were flawed. They said their aim in
documenting more conditions was to improve care by accurately
describing their patients’ health.
Many
of the accusations reflect missing documentation rather than any
willful attempt to inflate diagnoses, said Mark Hamelburg, an executive
at AHIP, an industry trade group. “Professionals can look at the same
medical record in different ways,” he said.
The government now spends nearly as much on Medicare Advantage’s 29 million beneficiaries as on the Army and Navy
combined. It’s enough money that even a small increase in the average
patient’s bill adds up: The additional diagnoses led to $12 billion in
overpayments in 2020, according to an estimate from the group that advises Medicare on payment policies — enough to cover hearing and vision care for every American over 65.
Another estimate, from a former top government health official, suggested the overpayments in 2020 were double that, more than $25 billion.
The increased privatization has come as Medicare’s finances have been strained by the aging of baby boomers.But
for insurers that already dominate health care for workers, the program
is strikingly lucrative: A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a
research group unaffiliated with the insurer Kaiser, found the companies
typicallyearn twice as much gross profit from their Medicare Advantage plans as from other types of insurance.
Matthew Wiggin, a spokesman for the company, called the inspector
general’s report “misleading.” He said the company uses diagnostic
coding to improve patient care, and noted that the whistle-blower in the
lawsuit had not worked for the company in nearly a decade. “Our chart
review process complies with regulatory standards,” he said, adding,
“Our robust compliance program also proactively seeks to identify fraud,
waste and abuse in the system.”
The
company countered by suing Medicare, arguing that it wasn’t required to
fix inaccurate records before regulations changed in 2014. It won at
first, then lost on appeal. In June, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Inaction at Medicare
Even
before the first lawsuits were filed, regulators and government
watchdogs could see the number of profitable diagnoses escalating. But
Medicare has done little to tamp down overcharging.
Several
experts, including Medicare’s advisory commission, have recommended
reducing all the plans’ payments. Congress has ordered several rounds of
cuts and gave C.M.S. the power to make additional reductions if the
plans continued to overbill. The agency has not exercised that power.
The
agency does periodically audit insurers by looking at a few hundred of
their customers’ cases. But insurers are fined for billing mistakes
found only in those specific patients. A rule proposed during the Trump administration to extrapolate the fines to the rest of the plan’s customers has not been finalized.
Some
of the agency’s top leaders have had close ties to industry. Marilyn
Tavenner, a former C.M.S. administrator, left in 2015, then ran the main
trade group for health insurers; she was replaced by Andy Slavitt, a
former executive at UnitedHealth. Jonathan Blum, the agency’s current
chief operating officer, worked for an insurer after leaving the agency
in 2014, then became an industry consultant, before returning to
Medicare last year.
Ted Doolittle, who
served as a senior official for the agency’s Center for Program
Integrity from 2011 to 2014, said officials at Medicare seemed
uninterested in confronting the industry over these practices. “It was
clear that there was some resistance coming from inside” the agency, he
said. “There was foot dragging.”
There are signs the problem is continuing.
“We
are hearing about it more and more,” said Jacqualine Reid, a government
research analyst at the Office of Inspector General who has analyzed
Medicare Advantage overbilling.
The Justice Department has brought or joined12
of the 21 cases that have been made public. But whistle-blower cases
remain secret until the department has evaluated them. “We’re aware of
other cases that are under seal,” said Mary Inman, a partner at the firm
Constantine Cannon, which represents many of the whistle-blowers.
But few analysts expect major legislative or regulatory changes to the program.
“Medicare
Advantage overpayments are a political third rail,” said Dr. Richard
Gilfillan, a former hospital and insurance executive and a former top
regulator at Medicare, in an email. “The big health care plans know it’s
wrong, and they know how to fix it, but they’re making too much money
to stop. Their C.E.O.s should come to the table with Medicare as they
did for the Affordable Care Act, end the coding frenzy, and let
providers focus on better care, not more dollarsfor plans.”
The UFT contract committee will meet with the city for the first contract negotiations on October 13th.
Mayor Adam’s would like 1 to 2 percent raises max per year according to our sources at other unions.
He has shown very little willingness to even sit down with the entire unionized city workforce that has expired contracts.
According
to our brothers and sisters in DC 37 - one of the largest city worker
unions, he is asking for high premiums for healthcare- in other words
pay into health care which would offset any raise and actually mean a
large pay cut for our members.
The UFT position is clear : premium free, quality healthcare and substantial raises because of inflation.
We
must have improvements in our working conditions and our students’
learning conditions - safe schools so our youngest can learn , schools
with AC as temperatures rise is way past due, class size compliance with
the new legislation and more attention to special education to ensure
that the city is actually serving our kids who need the most help.
We have to understand going into contract negotiation 2 major points:
1.
Contract negotiations are built on back and forth- compromise- we get
some of what you want, the city has to get some of what they want.
2.
In order to get even some of what we want, we need leverage- what do
we hold over the city’s head that will actually bring them to the table
and help us get some or even a majority of what we want?
That
is a question the union leadership has to answer, the contract
committee has to answer, and each and everyone of you has to answer.
What
can you do, what can we do, what should we do to get what we want, what
our students need? What are you going to do in your chapter that you
want all chapters to do?
With
inflation gone crazy, can we afford to live in NYC and the surrounding
areas without a substantial raise? Can the city keep a work force
without one?
If
you look at workers across the country right now; from Amazon, to
Starbucks, now Apple, and Trader Joe’s - they have had to make
sacrifices, they organized, they spent their free time after work,
before work, on lunch breaks- risking their jobs to form unions, to have
what we have now- a certified union that can collectively bargain for
salary and conditions.
Some
workers have been fired, other have had hours cut, many have had to
hire lawyers and spend countless hours in court, while you walked into a
job with a union already formed, but 50 years ago our brethren made
those same same sacrifices- you have what thousands, if not millions of
workers want right now- a union- nearly 200,000 strong.
We can’ttake that for granted.
In
Seattle and Ohio this past year teachers had to go on strike, they had
to make the ultimate sacrifice of giving up pay, salary, food on their
table, healthcare for their children, in order to get what they wanted
-and they won.
I’m
not saying a strike is inevitable- what I am saying is that we have to
be willing to fight for what we want, we will have to sacrifice, we will
have to show the city and public our demands are real and fair.
So we need to ask you, the
person in the mirror, if we ask you to wear blue will you do it? If we
ask you to call local elected officials and the mayor will you do it? If
we ask to join a rally before or after school will you do it? If we ask
to join a march in the city to the steps of city hall will you do it?
To
show this mayor we mean business, what are you willing to do? And yes,
if we ask you to withhold your labor, stop working, go on strike as a
last resort, so we can retain our healthcare , get the raises we need
and have the schools our children deserve, will you do it?
Commentary from Norm:
I found the above under my car windshield wiper. The author clearly doesn't
want to be accused of lifting the tarp put over the negotiating
committee. I and others believe in reasonable open negotiating so the
members and interested areas of the public can be moved in our
direction. If there are some areas we want to keep secret - like what we
would take on salary - I can live with that. But here's something that
costs nothing -- redress the balance of power between the union at the
school level and the administration. Strengthen the grievance procedure
and protect the non-tenured. The author asks what are the members
willing to do? I don't know what would work short of a strike if Adams
just echos Bloomberg and flat out refuses to give us a contract for
years if we don't offer givebacks to pay for it. Is the UFT leadership
even capable of preparing the membership for a strike? I will touch on
that in a follow-up piece.
Healthcare givebacks are coming based on incoming info from the New Action blog and my recent exec bd meetings reports.
Healthcare and the UFC election complaints dominated the Ex bd meeting,
both causing those of us texting during the meeting some double LOL
moments.
The uft leadership new solution to healthcare is to form an in-service health-care committee similar to the bogus retiree health committee loaded with Unity Caucus shills. Watch the new committee endorse whatever mess they are going to make of healthcare for working members in the upcoming contract. Maybe throw a silver sneaker or two at them. As one astute observer of UFT said: GHI is dead - it will be all managed care and choice will cost you.
Ilona Nanay, Ex bd HS: I stand in favor of the resolution (in opposition to the privatization of Medicare). A year ago my mother
died of breast cancer and she was on a medicare advantage plan. It was
virtually impossible for her to obtain care. I think it is one of the
reasons that she passed. It is still extremely frustrating – every time I
hear [Mulgrew] talk about the program. I would love a breakdown of why the NY
Health Act hurts us as members of the union. UFT supported the NY
healthcare in 2015. Why is NY Health Act antithetical to us? It
would expand healthcare across the community. I can't understand why we
are opposed to it....
....interrupted in midstream by point of order by Aqeel
Williams because he noticed someone on the zoom with a sign - horrors -
asked for her to be thrown out of meeting - double horrors.... oh my, someone held up a sign on zoom that few noticed but the Unity police were on the case to interrupt someone talking about their mom dying from cancer a year ago during which you didn't hear a pin drop? Oh, Akeel - you are so sensitive.
The response from Gaglione was along the lines of - she just picked the wrong MedAdv program. -- Double lack of sensitivity for Vinny. And then later, an upset Ilona was approached by some Unity people who wanted to share how their family members also had cancer -- the very people who voted against the reso -- did they have the right MedAdv insurance?
And this-----
Gee - someone might leave a comment in the chat that might contradict the lies and lines Unity puts out. These people must control every means of communication.
Chat room began meeting as enabled but as soon as some people began to post it was disabled.
Just a flavor of the Oct. 3 UFT Ex Bd meeting. --Some more flavors from anonymous comments from observers:
The most fucked-up moments were... When Aqeel interrupted Ilona talking about her dead mother to complain about something that had been happening all along...When
Vincent said “unfortunately you need to look at what you’re buying”
after Ilona talked about how her mother’s poor healthcare contributed to
her death from cancer...When
people who had voted against the resolution came over to a crying Ilona
to tell her about their dead and metastatic relatives...Then Melissa Williams told them off
More OMFG moments brought to us by DISUnity... Fake
news moment when MM said the UFT doesn’t want to organize actions “bc
they don’t want to tell members what to do/boss them around,” when
really by my recollection of having been at times the only member of 193K+ to show up to the actions the UFT “organized” this summer, in truth, they are simply not able to do so...
When
asked by Lydia at Exec Board meeting yesterday about what is union doing to inform members they can attend Ex Bd meetings: Sill cracked
jokes and asked Lydia what she’s doing to get folx involved?... He pulled that line twice. Once with Lydia and again with another speaker. They got "Silled" ... It’s pre-planned gaslighting Playbook... The Secretary and Assistant Secretary make close to a half a million dollars combined. They can at least show fidelity to our constitution which says ex bd meetings are open. Asking a full time teacher and Exec Board volunteer to do their work is patronizing.
Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022
A real healthcare debate broke out at the Ex Bd meeting last night as UFT/Unity spun double talk about healthcare costs and solutions, plus the report on the election complaints.
Mulgrew bad omen: We have to push back against rising costs and how do we do it? We find ways to work with the city to save money ---
Where those savings actually come from is left fuzzy. UFC Ex Bd people challenged the Unity line with a resolution that pushed back.
Here's a piece from Nick Bacon's notes during the question period:
Ibeth Mejia: According to Article 3G1, “ The Board agrees to arrange
for, and make available to each day school teacher, a choice of health
and hospital insurance coverage from among designated plans and the
Board agrees to pay the full cost of such coverage.” Why are we
discussing limiting FREE plans when a choice of free plans is in our
contract?
Response: We are championing choice.
Ibeth: Don’t we already have two not premium free plans, GHI and HIP?
Sorkin: We are looking to preserve good ‘premium free options.’
Ibeth: Presses.
Sorkin: Notes rises costs. Would love to pass costs on to members. So
we need to see what else is out there. We have dictates from decades of
negotiations over healthcare.
Ilona: DC37 sent out a letter to members stating bluntly that if
healthcare isn’t ‘fixed’, their raises won’t keep up with inflation. In
other words, if they don’t agree to lower the quality of their
healthcare, one can infer that they’ll see other parts of their quality
of life be reduced – income, perhaps housing, etc. In the past year or
so, we’ve heard similar threats from UFT. Does the UFT leadership agree
with this assessment from DC37? How will pattern bargaining affect us?
And what can retirees and in-service members expect will happen to the
quality or access to healthcare in the future? Will we only receive
raises if we cut our benefits? Or will we fight for both.
Sorkin: Familiar with letter – speaking of cost savings not reducing
healthcare. Can’t speak to UFT’s role in not negotiating until
healthcare. There’s no talk of reducing benefits – just the cost.
Lydia Howrilka: Clarifying question regarding Ibeth’s question. Why
has the UFT allowed the change in Administrative code 12-126.
Sorkin: Because we want to preserve choice and we want to make sure the MLC has a voice.
Alex Jallot: Mulgrew did support national healthcare. So are we only
going to endorse federal candidates who support universal healthcare?
How are they reducing costs and offering us a choice only if we pay $400 a month per couple? Oh wait -- reducing costs for the city, not for us.
At
7:45 Nick raised a reso calling on the UFT to support Medicare
for all - Keep Medicare as Medicare --- Vinnie from Unity gaslights - MedAdv is just part of med part c.
La di da -- The benevolent UFT is calling for changes in the admin code to offer us a choice - at $400 bucks a month for couples. And those with lousy pensions who can't afford it - that's no choice.
Ibeth- Responds to Mr. Gaglione. Supports choice. We need free choice.
It would cost almost $400 a month for a retired married couple to keep
what they have now. We need Medicare for all.
Another A-plus for Ibeth -- short and succinct.
No wonder Unity was desperate to keep UFC off the ex bd. Instead of rubber stamp meetings ending at 6:30 - this one ran until 8PM. I was on the zoom due last remnants of covid but that helped me notice things - with the assistance of people texting from inside.
Mulgrew: Medicare Advantage is only one piece of what has been going on, which is
why we need an in-service committee. We go to the doctors more than any
other employees of the City....
Is Mulgrew chastising teachers for going to doctors so often? Like I wonder why teachers go to doctors so often? Do you think working conditions? My first two years I was sick all the time being exposed to roomfulls of children.
Mulgrew: ‘Medicare Advantage’ is still part of Medicare. We have the right to do
this, so why not make our own? We want good quality premium free
healthcare.
Sophistry - MedAdv is an alternative to Medicare and sucks money out of Medicare and keeps prices high through high admin costs, ex salaries, and big profits. Mulgrew actually complained about allowing them to call themselves non-profits while making high profits while at the same time trying to move retirees out of public options and into one of these plans.
Here is Nick Bacon speaking for the resolution
in opposition to the privatization of Medicare he presented:(Click hyperlink to
left for full text).
Bacon: Endorses resolution
in opposition to the privatization of Medicare. It was said earlier by Mulgrew that UFT supports a
national single payer public option. Indeed we as a union have passed
resolutions to this effect. It stands to reason that Medicare, the only
current public option, which such a system would be modeled after, must
be preserved. Therefore, we must resist privatization of Medicare.
Medicare Advantage will get cost savings through privatization that
limits access to care for our retirees (and future retirees) who
dedicated their careers in service to our City and students. It will add
to administrative costs and add barriers to care like prior
authorizations. Medicare Advantage is much like charter schools, which
we as a union also resist. Charter Schools offer to do the same as
public schools but ‘better’ and often ‘cheaper’ through privatization.
They erode public education by doing this. Medicare Advantage does the
same to Medicare. Given our own obvious analogy in education, our own
precarious situation relative to privatization, we must argue for
salvaging our public Medicare. And we owe it to the workers who have
retired and one day will retire.
Sworkin: Stand in opposition. States things thee says things that are
false and is misguided. ‘Sometimes we need to make tough decisions.’
Yeah, Jeff, your tough decision will end up screwing us.
Only the 7 vote and Mike Schirtzer in favor of the resolution. Unity votes down resolution.
UFT Election Complaints report by Leroy Barr:
This is part 2 of the UFT report on the UFC complaints. There's lots here to revue but Eterno and Nick cover a bunch of it. I took note of this one:
The complaint charged that UFC delegates had been shut out of making resos at the DA. Leroy reported: It is false that non-Unity members have not been allowed. November:
(Bacon), Daniel Alicea (had on agenda), January (Strivers), various
motions to amend also noted.
BULLCRAP - Actually, close observers have noted very clearly that after the oppo won some points at the October 2021 DA -- notably on class size - Unity shut down oppo voices for the rest of the school year. Leroy claimed Mulgrew doesn't know where people sit when insiders have told us repeatedly that they actually hold DA practice sessions with what is known as the Unity Speakers Bureau - one Unity member told me Mulgrew has a seating plan for Unity people. The LOL moment came when Leroy pointed to Nick Bacon being given the opportunity to make a reso as an example of UFC Oppo - except Nick was actually a member of Unity at the time and UFC hadn't yet been formed.
UFC HS Ex Bd Nick Bacon responded:
Simply want to clarify that it’s unfair to say UFC was
called on in resolutions. When I was called, I was a member of Unity.
UFC did not clearly exist yet. When Daniel was called up his resolution
had been put on the docket the previous school year, well before UFC
existed. It had been on the docket so long that it was moot when he
brought it up, hence him taking it off the agenda. All other members
discussed did not bring up original resolutions. They simply called up amendments or other points of order, which they don’t need to be called on by Unity-elected officers in order to do.
[Note - Leroy informed me they are editing the report to take Nick's comment into account].
By the way - UFC election percentages show serious support from members who voted -- UFC should be given time and space at the DA.
Mike Schirtzer calls for lifting UFT Negotiating committee Cone of Silence a crack.
Can we publicize contract meetings and some our demands that serve our students and parents. Get members in front of cameras to say we want what families want.
Mike did this in a good way --- pointing out that keeping negotiating issues behind closed doors is not the best way to galvanize support. Teachers major demands help children - we should be showing that.
Tonight is an Ex Bd meeting (see below for agenda).
I attended the Sept. 19 meeting and tested pos for Covid 36 hours later -- unlikely I got it there. I feel great but last tested pos on Thursday - a deep dark line. I may be neg but with the weather I am staying home and will zoom in. I will test again tomorrow because we have a Peter Lugers date with family on Friday and have to give notice if we are still pos. Some people stay pos for up to 90 days I was told. Fingers crossed. I can taste that steak -- thank goodness I still have my sense of taste - my wife feels she has lost some sense -- I think I can steal some of her steak if we end up going to Lugers.
Anyway, I started writing this report two weeks ago but got distracted by covid. They serve food and despite my request for Peter Luger steaks being rejected, the food has been quite good.
Sept. 20, 2022: UFT Ex Bd meeting - 18 people associated with opposition show up in person and more on zoom.
It is important for non-Unity people to attend these meetings as a declaration that the UFT is not owned by Unity.
I enjoy these meetings for the camaraderie of the various elements of the United for Change coalition, which has not been very active since the election ended in May. At both the Sept. 12 and 19th meetings we all met an hour before and talked about which issues that need to be addressed, questions asked, etc.
Here's what's really interesting. Many Retiree Advocate people are there mingling with the 30 something new people and what a nice dynamic. That's what I will miss tonight.
We discussed a reso calling for a bi-partisan ex bd action committee - similar to the arrangement New Action had with Unity in their ten years of bipartisanship -- I will admit to have a gag reflex at that memory --- I don't believe in working at the top with people who really have little interest - and that was proven immediatly at the Unity reaction - or over reaction to this mild reso.
When the elected high school Exec. Bd. members presented their resolution --- Nick Bacon did it - see Nick's New Action report on the Exec Bd.:
....it was predictable Unity would line-up to attack the resolution. As one Unity Caucus speaker after another lined up at the microphones to speak against you could tell how scripted the attack was. Many speakers stated that the UFT Negotiating Committee of 500 should constitute and be the controlling factor in forming a UFT Action Committee. This was supposed to make sense! Really a committee of 500?...New Action: Substitute Rights, Healthcare, Buses, 6th Classes, and a No to Action Committee – UFT Executive Board, 9/19/2022
It's not a bad argument - if the negotiating committee is legitimate and not a rubber stamp. I don't feel forming little bi-partisan action committees with Unity has much worth. I'm not for participating in the Unity stacked negotiating committee either -- but the UFC people think they had to be there or get slammed - and some even think they can accomplish something. Maybe they will. I don't hold out much hope.
To me what was interesting was the initial reaction - or non-reaction - of the UFC people who didn't seem to have an offhand response to the Unity argument that the negotiating committee was more democratic. But saving the day from the zoom was Mike Schirtzer -- the lone independent on the Ex bd even though he was elected on the Unity slate. He came up with a cogent, logical reason for this committee that almost convinced me. Sorry, Covid fog has wiped out what he said. (And what a great excuse I have now for anything I screw up.) Mike seemed to unlock the door for the UFC people and one after another they went to the mic and made their case.
I also wanted to share some thoughts about the UFC crew from someone I will keep anon due to some connections to Unity -- but it is so well written and thought out:
I just wanted to express my gratitude for all you have done in just 2 executive board meetings.
You have brought school based, member issues to the leadership of our union, it is important that the folks leading our union hear from working members so they are aware of what is going in our classrooms.
I know some of you may be disappointed the reso didnt pass, but the debate around it was great and meaningful.
Resos brought by opposition will not pass unless it is run by adcom (officers) first- but it still serves at least two purposes.
1. It redirects or changes the conversation-even when it doesnt pass- i would expect at the next contract meeting there will be talk about school based actions-this only happens because of your reso.
2. it serves a political purpose, I hope all your groups send out to your members the reso you brought forth and the rationale for it and share the minutes of the meeting from nick and eterno-it is important that members see what theyre votes resulted in-a group of representatives bringing members' interests forward to our leadership. I also hope you share the ex bd meeting notes with your chapter
The tone and meaning of these meetings have already changed, the talk is about member issues and member concerns-your very presence at these meetings makes it better. It is important that our leaders are accountable to the members they serve-you are there holding their feet to the fire.
At any rate, every member has a better union, a more responsive union, because of your presence and action at these meetings.
The Takeaway: New contract will be the same as the old one with some minor tweaks.
The UFT Cone of Silence has descended on those who attended today's contract committee meeting with a new twist. The Cone has been electrified to zap anyone who repeats even a few words of what was discussed. I experienced this first hand as people who tried to call me with the latest info on the upcoming sell-out had their phones go dead to the sounds of loudly screaming their final words: And then Mulgrew said....... SILENCE --
Before the blackouts hit I managed to hear that the event was very well managed by the Unity machine. See, they haven't lost their mojo at what they do best - managing the membership. If the Negotiating committee '22 is made into a movie, the screenplay may win an Oscar.
It's appropriate the play version is being performed on Broadway and is up for a Lower Broadway Tony - the only show in that part of town. The magic in making the cast of 500 actually believe what they had to say counts is a miracle of UFT/Unity PR.
As for delivering a contract with real gains --- no worries - just vote NO now.
... 
