UNITY ON THE COUCH

by John Powers, Chapter Leader, Liberation High School

Unity at the DA is an interesting machine to observe. If it were to be rated according to the fairest and most practical methods used to evaluate classroom teaching and community building, it would undoubtedly receive an unsatisfactory rating. It rarely starts on time or ends on time. There is plenty of chalk and talk or just plain talk and no chalk. There is also no "accountable- talk" amongst delegates. Its agenda ("objectives") goes unchecked, unmet and off on tangential paths. Certain members of Unity feel comfortable hurling aloud words and moans meant to intimidate and stop others from voicing their ideas and disagreements about a given topic. All of the above, from my perspective, creates a culture that attempts to dumb delegates down, maintains the status-quo and ultimately makes it difficult to create a stronger, democratic union capable of beating back the no longer creeping, but rapidly advancing privatization of our school system.

It was no surprise then at last Wednesday's DA when Unity put much effort into not appearing to be caught off guard by ICE's resolution of opposition to the planned privatization of GHI-HIP (renamed Emblem Health). Ms. Weingarten's filibustering tactics successfully kept ICE's resolution from getting to the floor; however, with five minutes left, she allowed a Q and A session and encouraged anyone with a "burning question" to go ahead and ask it. This was a transparent invitation on Ms. Weingarten's behalf to entice someone from ICE to create an opening for her to minimize any potential blowback on the part of delegates who may have read and begun thinking about the seriousness of our anti-privatization health insurance resolution that was distributed to them. During these last minutes, Ms. Weingarten maintained that much had been said already about the topic and that the union continues to have reservations about the attempt to privatize 93% of city workers' healthcare plans.

"Much Said?" A recent look at the DA minutes from this school year reflects nothing about the GHI-HIP privatization issue. The only official union information that I could find was online at (http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/general/ghi-hip/). This report, written by Arthur Pepper, reprinted in a January issue of New York Teacher, and entitled, "Monitoring the GHI-HIP Merger," discusses the rationale behind the GHI-HIP merger and its attempt to privatize. Mr. Pepper casually states that healthcare mergers and privatizing are difficult to avoid today and that the GHI-HIP merger/privatization move will allow union members to receive quality healthcare and will create "premium stabilization." Sure it will!

"Reservations?" What reservations? None are hinted at in Mr. Pepper's report. But wait. Again, in an apparent attempt to undermine ICE's commitment to critical dialogue about such an important and sensitive healthcare issue, Ms. Weingarten unveiled 5,000 plus photocopies of a letter dated February 29, 2008 that she wrote to Eric Dinallo, NYS Superintendent of Insurance. In the letter she admits to a union "money-grab" motive regarding a pool of conversion money that will be available if GHI-HIP privatizes. She states, "both New York City and its unions must share in the proceeds since it was their assets and business that made possible the current financial viability of HIP-GHI. Any approval therefore, must make provision therefore." Ms. Weingarten and Unity plan to put union funds before workers' pockets and the quality of healthcare they receive. And to make matters worse, the letter also reveals an ominous sign that something might have changed between the unions and GHI-HIP (Emblem Health) from the time of Mr. Pepper's report in January and Ms. Weingarten's subsequent letter to Superintendent Dinallo. She admits that as of the date of the letter, both CEO's of GHI-HIP have not responded to her request that city unions share in the conversion proceeds. This should shock no one because CEO's do not care about workers; they care about money and profits.

What will Unity do now? How will they sell this to us if the privatization maneuver goes through and they receive a huge amount of money? How will they sell this to us if the privatization maneuver goes through and they do not receive any money? Like so much else about Unity, we will wait and see. They make the decisions, not us.

Last I want to thank Ms. Weingarten and Unity for feeling compelled to show delegates in attendance such an important letter. This type of transparency is a welcomed relief. However, as of this writing, there is still no mention of the letter on the UFT website. How could there be? Too many people would have access to it and might question why our union is behind the privatization of 93% of city workers' health insurance in exchange for filling its pockets. By the way, almost all of those 5,000 plus letters to Dinallo sat near the podium untouched after the DA ended. This is not surprising. So with that, let me ask Unity to lay down on this couch right here. That's it. Relax. Lay down. Close your eyes. Good. Relax. I'm going to count down from ten and you are going to become sleepy. You will listen very carefully to some comments and questions. These are comments and questions that a strong and democratic union might ask in regards to an attempt to privatize workers' health insurance. Ok. You are getting sleepy.

 

10

 

9

 

Good. You are getting sleepy. Sleep is good. You are good at sleeping.

 

8

 

7

 

We must not sell out to a healthcare corporation. Say it. We must not sell out to a healthcare corporation.

 

6

 

5

 

When you sell out, there are no guarantees except profit motives. We must not sell out. Say it.

 

4

 

3

 

There are many questions to ask. Yes. That's right. It's ok to ask questions. It's ok to ask all the workers you represent what they think about an issue. I know that's tough work. I know it's messy work. But it's good work. It's democratic.

 

2

 

So here are some questions to get you started. Here are some questions to help you initiate union democracy. Many of these questions can be found on the internet. It took only a few minutes for me to find them. You have a few minutes. Don't you?

 

What is the value of nonprofit assets?

 

Will the privatization preserve the assets for nonprofit purposes that will enhance the health care of New Yorkers in the long-term or serve as a one-time budget fix?

 

Who will reap the windfall when the privatized company issues its IPO? Will it include any union leaders or executives?

 

Will premiums be raised? Are there any guarantees they will not?

 

Will the privatization increase the number of uninsured in NYC?

 

Will the new privatized corporation be flipped?

 

Will regulators be asked to commission an independent health impact study to answer questions?

 

Will there be more public hearings at times that are convenient for workers. One time on January 29^th at ten in the morning is not good enough?

 

Will privatization reduce competition?

 

1

 

WAKE UP!