UFT President Michael Mulgrew basically lays out the terms of the debate for the next UFT Contract in his email to members (read in full below). He writes that "city officials told us that in order to get the raises we deserve, we need a health care agreement that shows that we are on the path to achieving savings."
He neglects to mention who will pay for those savings: Us.
Mulgrew also conveniently forgets that the unions still must generate around $1 billion in healthcare savings that the unions agreed to but have not given back to the city from a 2018 agreement the umbrella group of city unions called the Municipal Labor Committee made with the city. Mulgrew, DC37 President Henry Garrido, and the majority of the union leaders in the city tried to save the city money by pushing retirees into a privatized Medicare Disadvantage plan (Mulgrewcare). The alternative to Mulgrewcare for a married couple would be to pay close to $400 a month to keep traditional public Medicare supplemented by GHI Senior Care which now costs $0 a month.
A group of retirees from many unions sued and won to stop the givebacks on healthcare because city law protects retirees and active workers premium free healthcare. Now, the MLC majority is trying to change the law so they can once again push retirees into Mulgrewcare and who knows what changes (givebacks) they are ready to propose for active workers? My guess is there will be one inferior premium-free managed care plan with a limited choice of doctors for active employees but workers will have to pay a monthly premium to keep GHI.
The good news is rank and file groups of both active workers and retirees joined by a number of union leaders are opposing Mulgrewcare. The powerful police and fire unions, the Doctors Council, the Professional Staff Congress (CUNY professors), and others voted no on changing Municipal Code 12-126 which protects our premium free healthcare. (Please listen to the leaked recording of the last MLC meeting.) We can put up a resistance.
Retirees are educating the City Council. Maybe we are getting through. This tweet comes from UFT High School Executive Board member Ibeth Mejia:
Are healthcare concessions in exchange for salary increases that most likely won't come close to keeping up with inflation finally the time Mulgrew has proposed one giveback too many?
Dear ________,
Our 500-member negotiating committee met with the city this Thursday for the first day of bargaining on our new contract. Our team showed up in a sea of blue, making a strong statement to city officials that we are united, prepared and ready to fight for the contract we deserve.
This bargaining process will be challenging. In opening remarks, the city implied that rising health care costs will make it difficult for it to afford pay increases for its workforce. Similar to the message it delivered to District Council 37 during their first bargaining session last month, city officials told us that in order to get the raises we deserve, we need a health care agreement that shows that we are on the path to achieving savings.
This turn of events isn't a surprise as we know the spiraling cost of health care has become a national crisis. But we made it clear to the city that we are prepared to fight to make sure we get the raises we deserve while avoiding health care premiums in the coming years.
We do not negotiate health care as part of the DOE-UFT contract. The Municipal Labor Committee (MLC), the umbrella group of 100-plus municipal labor unions including the UFT, negotiates health benefits for all municipal employees. We will continue to go after health care providers, insurance companies and hospitals to bring costs down. New York City is one of the only municipalities that still offers premium-free health care to its employees, and the MLC has worked hard for years to protect this.
At the same time, we are moving forward with negotiations on the noneconomic parts of the new agreement. In the coming weeks, subcommittees representing individual functional chapters will begin meeting with the city and the DOE about their specific issues.
I want to thank all of you who filled out our contract survey last spring and all of you who wore blue to school on Oct. 13 to show our solidarity and determination to the city.
We are going to need to fight harder than ever to get a fair contract with the raises we deserve. But we are no strangers to a fight. If anyone can take on this battle, it's a union as resilient and strong as ours. Let's get ready to make our voices heard.
Sincerely,
Michael Mulgrew
UFT President
13 comments:
🔴 INFLATION: 8.2%
🔴 60/40 PORTFOLIO: -34.4% (𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀)
🔴 Median Rent: $2,002 (+24% from 2021)
🔴 30 Year Fixed Mortgage Rate: 7.1% (That's a new 𝟮𝟬-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵)
tell mulgrew that. and then vote for him again.
No one who reads this blog voted for Mulgrew so you are talking into thin air. And let's blame him for the mortgage rates.
Just like the UFT bargained away the TDA from 8.25% to 7% for UFT members only-and there is now a Tier 6 much different from the Tier 1 of 50 years ago- covers all state workers—I can see a scenario where the MLC—with Mulgrew’s support—decides that all future city workers hired -let’s say after June 30, 2023–are all placed in this Medicare Advantage plan.
If you can have different tiers of TDA interest and NY state retirement tiers—why not different different tiers of healthcare based on your start of service. They all serve the same purpose of saving money —but as long as current active members keep their current healthcare choice and are guaranteed premium free Medicare down the road—just like the current retirees.
At the end of the day, the people who've WORKED--some of us since the age of 14 SYEP--and PAID into Medicare and social security are getting the short end of the stick. Now these idiots have the audacity to TAKE away what we paid into TRADITIONAL MEDICARE. This is why I stand on the notion that working class folks need to protect one another and see our commonality. This mulgrewcare is disgusting.
I guess not many people read this blog because he got 90% of the vote, and nowhere near 100% of members voted.
He has on us an expired contract with the mortgage rates above.
He gave how many millions of our money to the party that got us those mortgage rates, recortd inflation and the expired contract?
JP, Mulgrew got 66% of the vote which is a record low for Unity Caucus, not 90% as you wrote. The opposition United for Change won with 56% of the high school vote.
193,000 ballots were mailed out in total in the UFT election but fewer than 51,000 ballots were cast. The highest turnout was from retirees. I have been trying to tell UFTers to oust Unity since 1995 and admit I have not succeeded. The opposition, not just me, has won with high school teachers. I keep trying.
You are correct. He did get 86% in 2019 76% in 2016.
And the members vote overwhelmingly to approve every contract put in front of them.
How has the HS Board made anything better. Come on, you're grasping now.
My HS doesn't even have a SAVE Room, which is STATE LAW, right?
Does 66% or 86% really matter?
This comment came from the Moose. If you are having difficulty publishing under your Google account, just email me at iceuft@gmail.com. We will moderate it from there. There have been issues with posting that I have heard about since we switched to Google accounts only for comments.
James,
You keep trying and you have finally seen some results on the high-school level. My fear is similar (and an add-on) to the comment made by "Firm 53". If we have Tier 1-6 (which I have commented on many a time), different TDA percentage of interest rates, etc.; what can stop high-schools from forming their own Union with different leadership? This leadership is like taking one without anything to bite down on.
I have to say, it's nice to have civil conversations with the "Anonymous" geniuses throwing in their two cents of debauchery.
On the Healthcare note, this guy Mulgrew has to be kidding me regarding the givebacks for raises. $400 a month would essentially negate the raise. We can't even get a standard of living 3 percent raise for a year. We would end up losing money. If this job didn't have a Pension and 401K, I'd be long gone by now. Mulgrew, you are a disaster. Adams, I never thought someone could be worse than Wilhelm but you take the cake too.
If I can't publish this comment due to whatever computer issues, James, please let the crew know "The Moose" is posting loud and clear! :)
JP, Please read the Exec Bd notes we put up after every meeting so far. I believe our high school people are making a difference.
Email us JP. We would be happy to offer guidance on compelling your school to follow SAVE law. In fact, I could forward the issue to our high school executive board people and ask them to raise it. Gotta tell us where you work.
Do you think, by any chance, that the new NYCDOE platform has absolutely no way to see transcripts, report cards, attendance, Regents grades, program cards, etc...Is by accident...Or, do you think they are trying to make those things invisible so nobody can see the grade fraud?
Skedula, which was "hacked" last year, had access to all those things.
A teacher can't even look up that type of student info.
SAD and FAKE! But the highest graduation rate ever.
Well there is a way to see all that stuff. the student profile page that every teacher has access to. Everything all in one spot including grades and attendance. However, in order to see current grades in live time, the school must be inputting assignments and grades into gama.
https://www.nycenet.edu/studentprofile/Home/MainMenu
Thank you. That link is very useful so I can keep emailing the NY Post about grade fraud.
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