BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH DA - UFT Leadership Separates from Reality - Strikes are for the Wealthy, Sill(y) comments, LeRoy Bombast, Pattern Bargaining is wonderful (for leadership), Arrogant snowflake Unity Leaders Talk Down to Members

Being Critical is Political - UFT Leadership Mantra to critics telling them to STFU

We have seen an uptick in aggressive attacks on opposition voices by some in the UFT leadership, accusing them of playing politics when they raise critical issues. While not a new tactic, used by authoritarians over the decades to paint critics as "the other", recent variations have escalated at the Exec Bd and DA and on social media. "We do the work" is their mantra and when that work is criticized, they take umbrage. Like we know Mulgrew is doing the work - for the city and Aetna. And when union officials ignore and bury complaints from schools, they want a free pass. 

In the meantime, the real work continues.  

As per Article V, Section 10 of the UFT Constitution, we call for a membership-wide vote for any significant changes to active and/or retired members’ healthcare.

Mulgrew has a weighed vote on healthcare at the MLC using our total members as leverage, as if we actually have a say. Politicians believe him -- that members are OK with these changes. We can force a referendum on health care related changes by using

• BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE UFT: SIGN THE PETITION CALLING FOR A VOTE ON HEALTHCARE CHANGES

• UFT Leadership to Members: CityMD Copays should be $400; we’re better off without the right to strike. Notes on the 3-15-2023 Delegate Assembly. -- NICKNOTES@NAC

The Unity assassins were out celebrating the Ides of March at the Delegate Assembly with plastic knives. As we speak, union officials are combing through ancient UFT scrolls blacking out the word Strike. 

"In 1967, UFT members went on strike extended the summer vacation by two weeks. They did the same by 3 months in 68." 

Reminds me of Florida new curriculum where Rosa Parks was not black and was asked to go to the back of the bus because she didn't have a ticket.

HOW DARE YOU TAMPER WITH OUR PERFECT RESOLUTION ON UFT HISTORY WHERE EVERYTHING WE WON CAME FROM BEGGING AND PLEADING, AND MENTION THE DEADED S-WORD --- UFT/UNITY CANCEL CULTURE AFTER CONSULTATION WITH RON DISANCTIMONIUS

NYC Educator on Mulgrew

Ethics-Shmethics--The Mike Mulgrew Story - *Chapter 21--I Scuttle Health Care for Members*

Nick (New Action) and James (ICE) have the DA dope:

• UFT Leadership to Members: CityMD Copays should be $400; we’re better off without the right to strike. Notes on the 3-15-2023 Delegate Assembly. -- NICKNOTES@NAC

• LIVE BLOGGING FROM MARCH 2023 DA --- Eterno@ICE

  If I am not the president, the next president will have a big say in how this is done. Aetna saying they have the best Medicare advantage program in the country. They are excited about it....Michael Mulgrew, Mar. 15, 2023 DA
  

And UFT members are  equally excited about Mulgrew not being president. Is he sending a signal? Let the Unity hunger games begin. Mike Sill made his move at the DA by lauding the history of the UFT, which has never had a strike.

Sunday, March 19

James Eterno called me to say MORE used the old Norm tactic at DAs of amending Unity resos. I used to get the floor by calling out "speaker against" on resos they thought no one would oppose. "I'm against this pablum joint Unity/New Action reso because it sucks." They were shocked. And I was approached by a union official afterwards that Randi complained my scornful approach didn't show proper respect. I had mocked their "we plead" context at Bloomberg goons instead of telling them to go fuck themselves.

 

I was spared the mahem on Wednesday by staying outside the DA, as usual, handing out a leaflet calling for the above referendum on healthcare issues. I had some interesting conversations. One guy seems to have pretty much bought the Mulgrew line. The perception is that retirees are the ones affected and people don't look too far into the future. Medicare will be gone by the time most of them reach 65, with a plastic knife in the back from Et Tu Mulgrew.

 

Retiree Advocate had a good leaflet, as did New Action.

 

And Kate Conners from MORE was handing out info on the NY Health Act. She and I talked about the segment Brian Lehrer did with State Senator Gustavo Rivera who explains how that's the real way to save money, not MulgrewCare. 

She said she would raise the issue with Mulgrew and she did by asking him to talk to Rivera. He refused.Mulgrew's commitment to higher costs through privatized healthcare is firm. I hear he made some comment that hinted he may not be running for president again. Maybe that board position at Aetna is looming. 

Nick reports:

Kate Connors had an extremely interesting exchange with Mulgrew over the NY Health Act, where he bizarrely hid behind the need for a reso to support it, despite the UFT DA already having passed such resos twice.

Rules, schmules.

It was cold on Wednesday - how are we letting them get away with not letting us give our lit in the lobby like we'd done for decades? Or not allowing us to observe the DA from the 19th floor? So I left at 5 and went into Whole Foods to get some hot soup. 

It was only when I got uptown to my apartment when I started reading accounts of the DA. A MORE member used an old tactic I used to use by amending a mom and apple pie reso on UFT history by suggesting the UFT origin story and growth of power were based on strikes and strike threats in the 60s. ( I was on the 67, 68 and 75 strikes - but too young for the 60 and 62. )

 

Note the vote totals for opening up Taylor Law discussion, despite LeRoy Barr misleading obfuscation.

 

Here is Nick's report on that part of the meeting.

Michael Sill: Honored to support the resolution speaking in favor of UFT’s anniversary. Asks founders of union to stand for a round of applause (standing ovation). 60 years ago, we faced off with the DOE on contract. That had never happened before. 1960 may seem like an abstract concept. Many teachers we meet elsewhere don’t have collective bargaining rights. They might have consultation rights, but can’t do anything on salary/vacation days. Teacher I spoke to makes 30k; at end she’ll make 35k. She pays a premium for healthcare. That’s life without collective bargaining. Our founders looked around them and saw tons of groups, divided by subject, age, ethnic background, vision. They wanted to bring these groups together. They built a whole wing onto the house of labor. Without them, maybe the Florida teacher might have seen my salary and thought I had it bad. These aren’t mythical creatures. Standing ovation.

James Cole: Rise to make an amendment. Adds one whereas about the key role of the strike, without which we couldn’t have formed. Also resolved to fight for right to strike, now illegal. 1960 wasn’t just a vote that brought us together – there was a strike. And in doing so, we were able to win collective bargaining rights. Over the years, those have been codified in law, but with draconian anti-strike clauses. Strikes brought us real raises – not 3%. Currently there are legislators who are working to amend the constitution. We improve our collective bargaining but winning the right to strike.

LeRoy Barr: Rises in opposition. Acknowledges who were here. With respect to amendment, if case where contract was going to go away, would you go on strike? Gives some other examples. There are reasons we would go on strike, break the Taylor Law. This union was built on the strike we had in 1960. If we didn’t ask to get rid of Taylor Law. Without the Taylor Law, we would have lost the contract. Can romanticize going on strike. Understand what you’re asking for – people will go on strike.

Maggie Joyce: Taylor Law protects our contract. Other districts HAVE to go on strike. Chicago went on strike to get what we have. Remember when we were about to go on strike? My husband can support me, but I have paras who support their entire families. A lot of people here live paycheck to paycheck.

Nick Bacon: speaks in favor. This amendment DOESN’T ask to repeal the entire part of the Taylor Law, just the anti-strike clause. We’ve been affected by this clause. We got an email during the beginning of COVID that we had to go in – not take sick days – or we might lose the automatic payment of dues. That’s the Taylor Law. This reso doesn’t mean we’re going to strike – it just asks the UFT to push for our right to be able to do so if we need to. Others have said that we’d strike if issues were big enough, but right now we have the opposite issue – we’re getting so little (from collective bargaining), such as 3% raises, that our members feel the opposite of mobilized to take actions. Let’s join many other unions in this country in simply having one more tool in our union toolkit – the right to strike.

Question called on amendment. Yeses: 271; Nos: 363; Room: yeses: 37; nos: 148. 38% yes, 62% no. Failed.

Eterno report:

Honor UFT for 63rd birthday.

Mike Sill speaks in support of honoring the UFT on its 63rd anniversary. Honors founders. Look elsewhere in the country to see collective bargaining rights don't exist in many places. Some only have consultation rights, some nothing. Teacher makes $30,000 a year and maxes out at $35,000. Premium for healthcare. That was reality before 1960 in NYC. 106 groups represented teachers. Brought groups together. Built wing on house of labor. 

Amendment to add that we went on strike to get those collective bargaining rights and we want to negotiate to get that right to strike back. Strike to get real raises. State assembly and state senate people are working to get amendment passed to legalize right to strike for public sector workers. Honor founders by passing this amendment.

Leroy Barr opposes the amendment. Grateful for what our founders have done and continue to do. There are reasons we would go on strike in spite of the Taylor law if they tried to take away the Taylor Law like if they cut our pay in half or we had to work Saturdays.  Another Unity person agrees with that. Hard to get people on board with striking in 2020 with COVID. Says strikes are for the privileged.

Nick Bacon says that there is a problem with the Taylor Law. We are only trying to push getting rid of this part of the Taylor Law prohibiting strikes, a fundamental human right. We have to have the right to strike. We need that one union tactic  back to be able to strike. We haven't had a strike since 1975 and this is not calling for a strike.

Vote to close debate on all matters passes. 

Vote on amendment:

On Phone 271 to 363 No

In the Room I can't hear numbers.

38% vote for amendment.

38% in a DA often translates into 10% higher with general members. The UFT leadership attempt to distract from any chance to raise the issue is indicative of how they see the Taylor Law anti-strike provision as protection for themselves from even having to raise the issue.

In the meantime, Nick just posted this:

Why doesn’t UFT leadership want us to have the right to strike?

And I saw that Transit Workers are calling for changes in the Taylor Law. 

And this from Europe:

PETITION LINK: https://hcpetition.educators.nyc/?fbclid=IwAR1hTyDOdJKYuEcOW1CIUxjsFnFRkqTV-pACb3PHX9mVJ5vjr397YnrSKbU

 

 

 

Retirees Rally to Protest MLC Vote 11:30, Retiree Advocate Outreach, CityMD Copays Double to $100 in a UFT Sneak Attack

Membership: this is urgent. In-service must start organizing. If it works for retirees, it can work for us. Otherwise, if trends continue, where will we be in 10 years? 20? 30? The answer is simple – we’ll be broke.-- Nick at NAC

Retirees and active workers opposing the drive towards Medicare Advantage will rally on the steps of the Smithsonian Museum, just across from Battery Park in Manhattan, beginning at 11:30 a.m on Thursday, March 9. They will then march along Broadway before rallying again at City Hall Park at 1 p.m. For more information, contact crocnyc22@gmail.com.

Media Advisory For March 9th 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION

NO Medicare Dis-Advantage for New York City Municipal Retirees

New York City Municipal retirees have been fighting for almost three years to prevent the City from switching our excellent traditional public Medicare with a supplement to an inferior, privatized Medicare Advantage Plan. After a successful lawsuit challenge, the City tried doing an "end run" by lobbying the City Council to change a law that has protected our healthcare for decades-- Administrative Code 12-126. This change would not only have affected retirees but could have also diminished current city workers' health benefits.

Retirees fought back and the City Council did not make this change.

Now the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) and the Mayor are on the verge of forcing us into a life threatening for-profit Aetna/CVS Medicare Advantage plan with the vote by the MLC taking place on March 9th.

If this " nuclear option" is approved, retirees will no longer have the choices they have always had. They will be forced into the new Aetna Medicare Advantage plan and if they opt out they will lose all other NYC health benefits they and their dependents have always received: no Medigap coverage, no drug plan and no health coverage for family dependents.

When: Thursday, March 9th, 2023 at 11:30am

Where: Gather at 11:30am by the steps of the Smithsonian Museum across from Battery Park (next to the Bowling Green subway stop)

What: After brief remarks, we will march past the offices of the UFT, PSC, OLR and DC37 and end up in front of City Hall. There will be short statements at each location from various union members. Arrive at City Hall by 1pm

Press Contacts: Gloria Brandman gbran289@aol.com

Sarah Shapiro sarahmorah@gmail.com

Cross-union Retirees Organizing Committee (CROC)

crocnyc22@gmail.com

 

• Labor Notes Update

Medicare money fund will be running out and UFT deal with Aetna is speeding that process up. So when Mulgrew etc argue the city will go broke unless we move to MedAdv which actually has higher costs due to paperwork, profits, etc but argues no worries, the money to cover those costs will come from the feds through medicare payments. 

I tried explaining this after yesterday's meeting to someone who kept insisting the healthcare system would break unless we did this. How can healthcare costs go down when Aetna makes a profit that Medicare doesn't? And when Aetna admin costs are 12-15% and Medicare is 2-3%? The answer is that the feds will be sending the same money to Aetna that they would have been sending directly to the docs but with a premium to cover some of their higher costs, thus increasing the likelihood of Medicare as an option at all disappearing. And as we know, when competition is strangled, costs go up. It's a scam to shift government money into private hands. Just like the charter school scam.

The Mulgrewcare way to move deckchairs on the Titanic. 

NYC Correction Captains’ Association Pres. Says Medicare Advantage is ‘Definitely Not a Better Plan’

"I represent 1,900 retired families,” Ferraiuolo continues, “I have some members that are very elderly — I’m talking about in their 80s, who’ve been retired for 35, 40 years with minimal pensions, a little Social Security, all right? For someone like that to have to have copayments and deductibles means a lot when you’re living on a budget. Sure, if you’re [MLC Chair] Harry Nespoli — and you’ve been a union leader for the last 30 years and you’re making big money and you’re gonna retire with a tremendous pension — the copays mean nothing. I’m looking to protect the men and women who it does mean something.”...

As head of Correction Captains’ Association, Ferraiuolo is a voting member of the MLC — but he says it’s meaningless.

“Even though I have a vote it doesn’t mean anything because all it takes is the teacher’s union [UFT], DC37 to vote and everybody else’s vote is null and void because they carry that much weight,” Ferraiuolo says. “That’s what’s going on. And I do see them in bed with the city.”

Ferraiuolo says there are many inside the MLC who oppose the campaign to strip traditional Medicare benefits from retirees — “but they don’t come out and verbally say it.”

I picked up this leaflet outside the union before the meeting yesterday(see text below). The woman handing it out had no connections to organized groups. She took the initiative on her own --- this is a sign of things shaking when opposition is not just the usual suspects like us. She signed up to work with us and sent us a letter this morning offering a range of skills.

 

Retiree Advocate met earlier in the lobby before the meeting which was flooded with retirees getting out of the cold. RA people worked the crowd, signing people up for our listserve.

I also met a recent retiree outside before the meeting offering her skills to the movement. She remembered me from her school closing rallies. And I got a text from an old 1970s activist with us living in Florida offering to do some work down there. Yes, something is  shaking. Enough to shake the Unity tree which relies so much on retiree support? RA got 30% in the chapter election in 2021 and repeated that number in last year's election (roughly 18k for Unity vs 8K) - A big gap to make up in next year's (April 2024) chapter elections. 

 

BTW -CL Tom Murphy, not too popular lately with retirees, seems to be fazing out- insiders predict Debby Penney who recently resigned from the pension board, as a possible replacement. A wise move by Unity as some people will buy that new leadership might mean a change in policy. Don't hold breaths.
Some are even predicting that Mulgrew will also be going with Karen Alford, Janella Hinds and Mike Sill in contention to replace him. At times he seems desparate but is that a sign of his leaving or trying to stay? Insiders say he is desparate to get this healthcare sellout out of the way and on to a contract and hope the issue fades by election time.

 

Retiree Advocate will be running in the RTC chapter election next spring and hope to run a strong campaign - 

 -- if we were running the chapter, would this healthcare sellout have happened?

Even if we don't win, if we break over 40%, that becomes a threat the next year in the general UFT election. But the key to that is an effective opposition. Right now I'd have to give that a C-.

AFTERBURN:

My previous post: MulgrewCare Update: LET US VOTE, Aetna Doesn't Live up to Promises, the one time "Provider Pass", Contract Tied to Healthcare savings

Halabi: My First UFT Retired Teachers Chapter Meeting

Senior Care vs Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO

ETERNO: CityMD copays to go up from 50-100.

MARIANNE PIZZITOLA ANSWERS VINCE GAGLIONE MISINFORMATION; COPAYS DOUBLED TO $100 FOR CITYMD

 Nick Bacon:

It now costs $100 for UFT to use an Urgent Care. A few months ago it was $50. UFT, it’s time to start paying attention.

Today, hidden at the bottom of an email that overworked teachers might not even see, UFT announced this: “CityMD Urgent Care centers will move to the GHI CBP’s non-preferred tier, with an increased $100 copay effective April 1. This new higher copay is a result of CityMD’s unwillingness to negotiate fair service rates with EmblemHealth.”

Let’s be clear. CityMD is where people go for urgent care in NYC. Most other urgent cares don’t even register, if they are even geographically accessible in the first place. And $100 is completely unaffordable to most of our membership. It will keep our families from getting medical care. It’s also, an absurdly high increase in relative terms. Let’s look at the numbers: our leadership just allowed our copays to go up 100%. But they did nothing when DC37 leadership set our raises to 3%.

Membership: this is urgent. In-service must start organizing. If it works for retirees, it can work for us. Otherwise, if trends continue, where will we be in 10 years? 20? 30? The answer is simple – we’ll be broke.

 

MulgrewCare Update: LET US VOTE, Aetna Doesn't Live up to Promises, the one time "Provider Pass", Contract Tied to Healthcare savings

I'm about to leave for today's UFT retiree chapter meeting which has been sold out for attendance in person - I hear 300 for a room that holds 750 --so yes I'm suspicious that Unity has packed the meeting with its people as some of ours got shut out. Last we heard there were 7000 registered online. Retiree Advocate will be there with our LET US VOTE leaflet and other materials, including a nice RA button you can wear. And join us in a zoom on March 26:

Retiree Advocate/UFT Zoom General Meeting

Sunday, March 26th at 7pm Open to all RA members Open to all interested UFT Retirees Info: retireeadvocate@gmail.com

 

Updates:

Mulgrew keeps saying that healthcare isn’t a part of the current contract negotiations. As I pointed out last week, this is nonsense. ‘Settling healthcare’ was the only way the City would sit down with labor unions to negotiate contracts. Not only is Medicare Advantage clearly a consequence of and prerequisite to collective bargaining, it is part of a larger deal which includes sub-inflation wage increases below the mostly non-unionized U.S. average. Healthcare for in-service members is also due for worrisome changes in cost savings, which could include service changes or increased costs borne by employees. This is all unacceptable. As rank-and-file members are threatened with lawsuits by their own UFT leadership for having the audacity to organize for more, our union officers merely manage decline.... Nick Bacon, New Action blog

Mulgrew lies. And it shows his desperation to get this Aetna deal done because he know no Aetna, no contract. Which explains his meltdown at the MLC steering committee meeting on Thursday when his opposition to tabling a March 9 final vote lost by one vote and he had to call in a non-attendee to call in a vote, creating a tie that was broken by the chair. Pretty desperate. James has the story on the ICE blog:

• MULGREW NEEDS TO PLAY GAMES TO EXTEND VOTE TO GET MULGREWCARE THROUGH MLC STEERING

Mulgrew brags about improvements in preauthorizations and other improvements with the Aetna plan vs the original Emblem. Aetna doesn't have a reputation for always living up to what they promise. I received this from a contact:

Hi.  I am apprehensive about this Aetna plan as described by Mulgrew.  Putnam- Westchester school union accepted Aetna Medicare Advantage about 5 years ago.  We were assured that there would be minimal changes and that all decisions were open to appeal.  Slowly, requirements for prior authorization were installed. Medications were placed on tiers with only the generic accepted automatically.  Medications one had taken for years now had large payment requirements.  Just THIS YEAR they ceased allowing 90 day prescriptions.  Now only 1 month are allowed which means if one gets a 90 prescription, the charge us tripled.  Doctors who not accept Medicare are not required to inform patients and so if you get a new doctor, then YOU have to ask the question.  Otherwise, you will have to make up the 20 percent payment.  There is no benefit to Medicare Advantage!
 ---- a long-time Medicare counselor.

Sure, let's trust Aetna on their promises. I imagine they will live up to most of them for the first few years to help protect Mulgrew and Unity Caucus in upcoming elections (Retiree chapter in spring of 2024 and general election in spring of 2025.)

I will be 80 then and looking forward to increasing pre-authorizations. 

 

Then there is the one-time provider pass - we call it the get out of jail card.

Provider Pass What happens if you are taken by surprise at a doctor’s office and your doctor accepts Medicare but refuses to accept the Aetna Medicare Advantage PPO plan? You have a one-time opportunity to use Provider Pass right then and there. Call Aetna’s special number from your doctor’s office. Aetna will get on the phone with the provider and make a one-time payment of the bill right then so you can keep your appointment for that day. Your call will also prompt Aetna’s member services team to call the provider's office to educate them about how the plan works and how they can join the network or bill Aetna directly. Aetna will then reach out to you and tell you how that conversation went. If the doctor continues to refuse to bill Aetna directly, Aetna will either help you find another provider or you can continue to see the doctor but you will have to pay the doctor’s bill upfront and then submit the bill to Aetna for reimbursement.

Can you imagine standing in the doctor's office calling the special number and no one picks up? And one time only. Should I use it for a broken finger or wait for my one time only chance when I get cancer? Can we sell our one time only pass on E-Bay? Can we buy multiple passes from others?

The other day I called a new doctor who took the place of my ENT doc who retired and they told me she wasn't in the medicare system yet - I'd have to pay up front and go to collect from my own insurance. I want the seamless system I've had for the past 13 years. So I went elsewhere. So here is what Mulgrew claims on docs:

Let’s talk… doctors Making sure you can continue to see the doctors you know and trust is extremely important to us. The proposed Aetna plan is a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan that is custom-built to give our Medicare-eligible retirees maximum choice when it comes to selecting their health care providers. Aetna has an extensive network of doctors and hospitals both in New York City and nationwide. Both Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Hospital for Special Surgery are in network. You do not need a referral to see a specialist. Because it is a PPO plan, you can see any doctor or hospital even if they are not in Aetna’s network (as long as they accept Medicare and accept payment from Aetna). An out-of-network provider will be reimbursed at the Medicare allowable rate, just like they are today, if they bill Aetna directly.

Yes we've seen over the past two years just how much trust is important to Mulgrew who tried to force us into an obviously inferior plan and it was only the resistance that made them try to get a better one -- and I'm not convinced they did even with the claims.

Like they say they won't even reach out to doctors until the plan is passed. And of course we don't get to vote since Mulgrew claimed he was elected to make decisions and elections have consequences. 

But did we know that the election of Mulgrew meant possible death panels?

Here are latest excerpts from the key bloggers:

Arthur: Mulgrew Is Doing It Again

[Mulgrew] did it to save money for Eric Adams. His 2018 deal leaves him beholden to Eric Adams. Adams is supposed to be our adversary in negotiations, but the President of our union is out there aggressively representing his interests instead of ours.

At a recent meeting with retirees, Mulgrew claimed the push to repeal 12-126 was not about removing the minimum the city was required to spend on health care. But if you examine what it says, and the proposed change, that is precisely what it was about. Mulgrew claimed it was all about giving us choice--the choice to pay for the care we have expected, cost-free, for all our careers.  

Mulgrew then blamed the activists who blocked this for making things worse. You'll be hearing a lot of that. Activists, in fact, were doing what union is supposed to do, what Mulgrew is paid to do--working to improve the lot of working people.

When Mulgrew presented the 2018 health care deal to the Delegate Assembly, he said it was a smart deal to avoid premiums for in-service members. How smart is it to give something forever and get something for three years?

Mulgrew failed to point out that, to achieve this, we'd need to throw retirees under the bus. He said there would be no additional copays, but we all know copays have risen by as much as 100%, and in the case of urgent care, 200% to almost 700%.  Mulgrew told us there would be no extreme changes, but dumping Medicare for every retiree is pretty extreme.

What does he plan for in-service members? My bet is we don't hear about it until after the next contract.

Michael Mulgrew will tell anyone who will listen that this is a fabulous deal, but he said the same thing last year about the previous deal. He said, in fact, that every doctor who took Medicare would accept the last plan he tried to shove down our throats. He then clarified, saying not every doctor who took Medicare would take it. 

Mulgrew now says they've fixed the issues with the previous deal. Given that he's misrepresented this deal at every turn, how can we believe him? And, as Jonathan points out, these issues were not really the problem. The problem was that nobody wanted this deal to begin with.

 Nick: UFT/MLC to Greenlight MAP Nuclear Option

Medicare Advantage has arrived in New York, handing over eviction papers to traditional Medicare in the process. UFT bureaucrats are already informing retired members that the plan is imminent. By September, 2023, barring a win from opposition, it’s all but certain that UFT retirees will be ripped off of GHI Senior Care and thrown onto Aetna’s privatized MAP plan. Here are the plan details. Here is a somewhat sugar-coated comparison with Senior Care (it doesn’t even mention prior authorizations). And here is the same thing but for the prescription rider.

All that is left is for the papers to be signed. The MLC vote is scheduled for March 9,

Mulgrew has made it clear that neither retirees nor in-service members will have a say in how he votes. Indeed, sources suggest that he is steamrolling the plan through MLC steering, forcing the vote to happen before other union leaders have their questions answered.

Mulgrew will need to do two seemingly contradictory things to retain a semblance of consent from membership as he attempts to obliterate our healthcare: (1) sell MAP as equal to or ‘better’ than traditional Medicare; and (2) blame others for its implementation, particularly as the only available retiree healthcare plan (other than HIP VIP – another MAP plan).

The Sell Job

While the so-called ‘Coney Plan’ is a slight improvement over what we would have seen in the last go-around, it does nothing to address the more major concerns of municipal workers and retirees. There are still prior authorizations, copays, more limited networks, and the nagging problem of participating in the privatization/destruction of a public good for short term gain. To make the pill easier to swallow, some of the costs in the plan (like the deductible) are temporarily waived and some prices (e.g. the prescription drug plan) are cheaper in 2023 than in 2024. Perks galore are also mentioned on page 5 of the comparison chart to sweeten the deal. Some of the perks, like the fitness benefit, I don’t see swaying retirees.

Halabi: The Problem Was the Plan, Not the Details

UFT retirees did not like Mulgrew’s Medicare Advantage plan in the Spring of 2021. Now he is announcing a new Medicare Advantage plan. Details have changed. But it is still Medicare Advantage.

The problem was Medicare Advantage, not the details.

Mulgrew did nibble around the edges. There are many more preauthorizations under his second Medicare Advantage plan than there are today, but fewer than under his first Medicare Advantage plan (which Unity told us was fine). More doctors will take this one, but not as many as today. There’s a workaround for some denials – a workaround that is not necessary today.

Better than his first try. That’s true.

In fact, in the days leading to the announcement, more thoughtful Unity people were advising retirees to wait to see the details. And some of the details, it turned out, were at least somewhat improved.

But we all know what’s wrong. It’s a Medicare Advantage plan. Privatized Health Care. While our current plan is fine. Many retirees, probably most, will not be ok with this.

UPDATED - UFT Retirees Make Your Voices Heard as MulgrewCare Moves forward at Retiree Chapter Meeting - Live or Remote on Monday Mar 6 at 1 PM at 52 Broadway

On Thurs, March 9 there will be an EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION. The Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) and the Mayor are on the verge of taking away our excellent public Medicare and forcing us into a life-threatening for-profit Aetna Medicare Advantage plan. The MLC is voting on March 9th.

JOIN US AT THIS MARCH AND RALLY TO LET THEM KNOW WE STILL SAY NO

 

 

You must register in advance. 7000 have already done so.

Join us as Retiree Advocate challenges the upcoming move to the Aetna plan at UFT Retired Teachers Chapter Meeting this Monday, March 6th at 1pm at UFT headquarters, 52 Broadway. It will be hybrid so you can attend via Zoom if you can’t go in person. Michael Mulgrew will be making a presentation about the NEW Contract just received from Aetna for the privatized Medicare Advantage Plan he wants to throw us all into! We all must be there to ask questions and make our voices heard loudly. RA reps will be outside with a leaflet and sign-up sheet beginning at 12 Noon.

You must Register on the UFT Website:Register Here
https://web.cvent.com/.../30fe4882-68e5-437d-930b.../summary
 

And sign up with RA so we can send you more info. Click here and let us know you're coming
bit.ly/3ERqMFf

 

The Blogs have been active: 

ICEUFT Blog

MULGREW NEEDS TO PLAY GAMES TO EXTEND VOTE TO GET MULGREWCARE THROUGH MLC STEERING - We got word from inside the Municipal Labor Committee meeting yesterday that there was a vote of the MLC Steering Committee after the regular meeting.

Jonathan Halabi - JD2718 - We heard you loud and clear - 

Mulgrew wrote to retirees today about the Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan. Or Mulgrew and Tom Murphy did. Or someone did, and put Murphy and Mulgrew’s names on top.*

Arthur Goldstein:  Mike Mulgrew Writes a Letter to Retirees

 An Overview

It has been a long road of intense, hard-fought negotiations. This is largely due to you goddamn retirees dragging our asses to court all the time. Well, we're gonna steamroll right over you, because we know what's best for your health.  

 

UFT/Unity Threatens Opposition with Legal Action for Using UFT Logo Using Stroock, their million dollar a year firm - So Sue Me

The bosses of the UFT are out of control... James Eterno, at ICEUFT Blog: UFT SPENDING OUR MONEY ON FRIVOLOUS CEASE AND DESIST LETTER WHILE THE RULING UNITY CAUCUS USES THE LOGO

Message to UFT/Unity/Stroock - so sue me

Maybe I'm not so union proud today. Did you know I can be sued by my own union's high priced law firm, Stroock (Randy's old firm before she became a "teacher") for posting the logo above on this blog? You  know, a logo paid for with my union dues which I have been paying since 1967. So go ahead and sue me - I'd love a case of the UFT suing its own members for promoting the union. Authoritarianism run amuck -- is DeSantis running the UFT?

They act like little mice when it comes to fighting the city or abusive principals, so like any bully they pick on teachers. We've said it often over the years -- the UFT/Unity leadership is more aligned with the bosses than its own members.

A bunch of us in the opposition had an LOL moment when we heard about the threats from the UFT/Unity leadership have made against the MORE Caucus for using the UFT - get this - trademarked logo - during the recent contract campaign - a campaign the union urged people to bring to their chapters. Note the footnoted reference to Ed Notes on the bottom of page 1.

 

If this was an issue why not just mention it to MORE people at an ex bd meeting or DA and ask for it to be removed, which as far as I'm concerned they don't have to do. This is just another example of an attempt to intimidate and suppress opposition voices to Unity -which we've seen at Ex Bd meetings at times this year -  a classic act of authoritarians. How much did getting Stroock involved cost us in union dues?

See below for the account of the over a million bucks paid to Stroock in the 2019-20 year from the LM-2 form

 

 

 

 

The point is that when the leadership proudly announced their contract prep events to engage the rank and file, the oppo people totally supported it. I did my share.

• UFT Contract Teach-Ins Raise Profile with Members ... 

• UFT Contract Update Yin-Yang - Jan. 29 EONYC 7PM P...
• UFT Contract Teach-In Jan. 30 - Showing leadership...

One of these is cited in the footnote of the Stroock letter, along with EONYC and New Action blogs.

 

The union clearly urged people to use their info and even modify it for their schools.

Now here's the rub -- Unity Caucus and its members used the very same logo --- let's see the Stroock letter to them.

 

Unity altering Fair Contract logo then using it to promote new members to the caucus. Unrelated to contract fight.

[UPDATE - Upon reading this blog, the Unity clones have scrubbed these sites].

 

 

More examples of Unity Caucus using the logo.

We are going to have our own law firm - Schmuck and Schmuck send this to Unity since I own part of that logo through my union dues.

 

 

UFT/Unity/AFT/NYSUT Bait and Switch Pro-Privatization Healthcare Duplicity, Playing Swap the Lobbyists Game

Oh, what a tangled web they weave,  

when first they practice to deceive! 

 

Always watch what UFT/AFT/NYSUT Leaders do, not what they say.

 

Ugh! I Mean UGH!!!!!!

 

• UFT political director (and former Cuomo aide) Cassie Prugh leaves for lobbying firm in December but UFT may retain her and her firm (rumor - @10k a month).
  
• Assistant UFT political director Angel Vasquez remains in place despite primarying (and losing) major UFT supporter Robert Jackson. 
• Mulgrew lists himself as a lobbyist along with Vasquez. Vasquez, as Prugh’s assistant, is tasked with lobbying on a city level. As he describes in his LinkedIn bio. Clearly he was responsible for the failed campaign to influence the City Council to amend 12-126. An attempt that hurts retirees and active workers as the code provides decades old safeguards protecting the healthcare of city workers. UFT Payments to lobbyists (Vasquez and Mulgrew?) are listed as 94K. Is this in addition to their UFT salaries?
  

I've been working on this story about UFT/NYSUT political directors that points to how our local, state, national union work in tandem with the corporate Democrats' aim to make sure healthcare remains under the control of private insurance. Remember how quickly Obama abandoned the public option in order to get the private insurance companies to support Obamacare because they are making a fortune? Fundamental neo-liberal concept that better profit making private than anything government. Reaganism from both parties. Only the Bernie left pushes back. 

Thanks to Daniel Alicea for doing the fundamental research. 

Daniel has provided some insights into explaining the reasoning behind the Mulgrew promotion of Medicare Advantage which is controlled by private profit making insurance over the publicly managed Medicare system. 

 

The key: the union is bonded at the hip to the corporate wing of the Dem party which is also pro-privatization which also promotes medicare advantage over Medicare. Biden even appointed a corp exec to run Medicare - the classic fox in the hen house. (see below for details). A gang of lobbyists do their thing very successfully.

Daniel's research into the history of our local, state, national teacher union positions on healthcare shows an evolution going from support for public option toward privately managed care with some careful managing of the language used.

In 2017, the unions flirted theatrically with Bernie Sander’s popular single payer Medicare For All plan supported by a supermajority of Americans. However, Daniel asserts that with the campaigns of Harris and Biden, the union machines like AFT and AFL-CIO fall in line with the privatized vision for private-public national healthcare system. 

 

There's a difference between single payer and medicare for all. Medicare for all Obama care style keeps the private insurers in the game. Single payer means the government pays all bills and also has the ability to control healthcare costs. 

Note this point whenever Mulgrew whines about healthcare costs going up:

In 1996 Pataki rescinded, decades-old practice of setting statewide hospital pricing.

Flashback: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/21/nyregion/pataki-is-seeking-to-end-regulation-of-hospital-rates.html

While mulgrew railed at high health costs his solution was to lower cost to city but never to use lobbyists to put hospital price controls in place by repealing the Pataki '96 giveaway to the hospitals. It’s acceptance that prices must rise and we are the ones who must pay, not the insurance companies.

And have you noticed how since then hospitals have consolidated?

The AFT’s shift on Medicare Advantage and privatization of Medicare 

into a few too big to fail groups?

And the disappearance or deterioration of public hospital options?   

• Here's a link to a dossier of links and documents showing this shift among our teachers unions from a strong anti-privatization stance for decades until the 2019-20 shift to privatization through Medicare Advantage and ACOs. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TmGybt3FwmrVOAxRaL-gd5AD0H-lRs3tV9JjtciTuHU/edit
  

Yes they call for universal coverage but in the model of an Obamacare system extension which is better than nothing but fundamentally is a windfall for private insurers. They are careful in not calling for a single payer system like we have with traditional Medicare. So when Mulgrew tries to move us from single payer Medicare to multi-payer Medicare Advantage, he is affirming the corp Dem (ie. Biden/Shumer/Pelosi, etc) position on healthcare vs the Bernie Sanders single payer wing.

 

Some Key takeaways:

• UFT/AFT leaders "claim" they want universal healthcare while doing everything they can to undermine the possibilities on all levels.
• Ditto for their partners in the Democratic Party run by a center/right connected to private health insurance lobbyists.
  
• UFT hires lobby firm representing healthcare industry.
• Biden chooses member of same firm to run Medicare. 
• Both Dems and UFT try selling universal healthcare for all but must go through private insurance companies instead of single payer.
  

Ed Notes' recent report on the coming changes in the NY State United Teachers (NYSUT News: Going - Pres. Andy Pallotta, Coming - Melinda Person Who? Has Never Been a Teacher - Succession or Coup?) we mentioned that lobbyist Cassie Prugh had left the UFT in December to go work for a private firm, Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips, LLP, leaving her UFT position vacant. Or maybe not. (See below for Prugh's lobby listings.) Also note above and below the letter Mulgew sent to state ethics listing himself and Vasquez as lobbyists at 94K a year while at the same time we hear they may use Prugh, now employed by Manatt, etc. as a consultant. Money to burn. Our money.

 

Want an example of litigation won by Manatt in California where they defended the right of hospitals NOT to reveal fees? Remember, Prugh comes out of the Cuomo admin - check his record on hospitals (and nursing homes).

Manatt secured a landmark victory for its client Dignity Health, a California-based nonprofit hospital system, on October 13, when the California Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the hospital in Gray v. Dignity Health. The decision affirmed the dismissal of a putative systemwide class action lawsuit that claimed Dignity Health unlawfully failed to disclose emergency room fees. The decision also held that Dignity Health complies with all state and federal pricing disclosure laws, none of which imposes a duty to disclose emergency room fees. The Court of Appeal held that the disclosure duty the plaintiff wanted to impose was directly contrary to a host of federal and state laws that prohibit hospitals from discussing cost with patients in the emergency room prior to treating them, thus “disregard[ing] the long standing regulatory environment within which emergency departments operate, which emphasizes that no one in need of emergency care should be deterred from receiving it because of cost.” 

Do you think this victory for hospitals helped them keep prices high?

 

Now how about this one as we tie the Biden admin to Manatt:

 

 

Jeez - the lady running Medicare managed the same firm that Cassie Prugh is working for. A tangled web indeed. Recently we found that Medicare was going to let the private insurers get away with billions in defrauding Medicare.

Daniel's next career should be investigative reporter.

No legislative reports at Ex Bd meetings 

Ok, so we have the link between Prugh and Manatt and the UFT.  For years we enjoyed former UFT Leg rep Paul Egan's reports at Ex Bd meetings because we wanted the latest soccer scores from Manchester United. We no longer get regular reports since Prugh left. Ask who replaced her and you get vague answers, including the UFT will now hire her and her firm as consultants. Now add to this that Prugh's deputy has been Angel Vasquez who outraged people by forcing Robert Jackson, probably the most loyal UFT supporter, into a primary for State Senate. We should not be using our dues to pay Angel Vasquez to work for the UFT. He was the agent of the right wing Dem attempt to purge a progressive. 

 

Here are some of Daniel's tweets on the story:

@manatt

is a VERY big lobbying firm.

@UFT

just secured them as their lobbying firm in Jan. Significant for a few reasons. 1. Manatt is one of the most influential lobbyists for Medicare Advantage & ACOs. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/WM/WM00/20190612/109618/HHRG-116-WM00-Wstate-Brooks-LaSureC-20190612.pdf 

 

2.

@UFT

fmr political director

@cassieprugh

who just left, now UFT lobbyist in Albany. 

 

3. Fmr managing director for Manatt is

@BrooksLaSureCMS

appointed by Biden as director for CMS. She is on record in her belief that the path to national healthcare is through privatization.

 

Prugh and her assistant,

@angelvasq104

have lobbied with

@UFT

FOR admin code 12-126. The provision that protects city worker healthcare. Vasquez still with

@UFT

and on payroll. He ran against

@SenatorRJackson

in 2022. And is responsible for lobbying pols in NYC like

@CnDelarosa

 

To clarify, Prugh and Vasquez lobbied for the ELIMINATION of admin code 12-126.

A single payer option is off the table on state & nat’l level for the big Dem machine. Despite lip service. See Biden & Harris vision for private-public plans. We see this vision in 2019 when

@BrooksLaSureCMS

testified before Congress. It’s as if she targets NYHA https://docs.house.gov/meetings/WM/WM 

This privatization vision is reflected in our teacher unions when

@rweingarten

voted against including Medicare for All on DNC platform. And after decades of anti-privatization policy

@AFT

passes a resolution in 2020 during #lockdown that opens path to privatization.

This shift away from anti-privatization from teacher unions is made evident when

@aft

and

@nysut

rejected separate resolutions seeking to reaffirm our past rejection of privatization of Medicare. This is the AFT reso that was REJECTED in committee and not brought to a vote.

 And some source material:

https://twitter.com/educatorsofnyc/status/1625840781075308544?s=20https://twitter.com/educatorsofnyc/status/1625840781075308544?s=20