LIVE BLOGGING FROM MAY DELEGATE ASSEMBLY

 Mulgrew Report

Looking at way to keep hybrid DA's for next school year. Resolutions are backing up with a half hour question period.

Federal

Recognizing nurses, teachers, and others. Nurses went through a lot last year. They got through it and they deserve the appreciation they should be getting.

Infrastructure package turning into a big deal. Trying to make it bipartisan. Infrastructure includes schools. Rich Mantell working with construction unions and others. Trying to get schools in any package. Voting rights playing out in each state. Vote is a precious thing. Craziness based on lies is a shame on the country at this point in time.

State

The big ugly at end of a legislative session may be coming. Legislators have to vote for everything. No assurances that our health care will work with the state healthcare bill. Nothing out there for homelessness.  Mayor counts things as he wishes but many people don't have homes. Homeless students growing. State budget best we've had for education but the complete abdication of responsibility on homeless situation. city should hang its head in shame. Albany blames city, city blames Albany. Enough of that. Big challenge but it would help if we could get tens of thousands in a permanent housing situation.

Summer School

Can we get enough members who want to work in summer school? Most of summer school will be done in person with a few exceptions for 683 students who have heavy-duty medical issues. Posting up for 683 but nothing else. It's better than it was at this time last year but worried that everything will have to go through City Hall. Medical accommodations sunset at the end of June. Regular process in effect for next year. Vaccination status is a personal choice; it is not part of a medical accommodation process. We will see how many students and teachers we get for summer school. If we have 100,000 more students, we may need to go to city to negotiate a package to incentivize summer school teaching.

PD Days at the end of the year: unless city can prove that there is a need to have people coming in the building, we can stay remote. On the clerical day, people working remotely not on a medical accommodation can be asked to come in. 

Next school year

If we continue on our current path, there is a real possibility our school system will be fully open in September. 3 foot distance might be gone. Country moving toward 70%. At 70%, herd immunity should have virus dissipate. CDC should change regulations for schools before school starts. Biden predicts this by July 4.  The calendar is out. We have exactly 180 aidable days. PD days count as part of the 180. No room to change it. SBO's to move Parent evenings and days can be done. Trying to get preapproved DOE-UFT menu for preapproved SBOs. If we are back to the regular collective bargaining agreement, there are no cameras. We won't approve SBOs to have people teaching on camera. The School system should be told to program as if all are coming to school in September. We need to stop silliness now. Want mayor to announce that decision is made that we are open. "Our children need....." campaign. We have our five-point plan. DOE talks about CBO's. Debbie Poulos comes on that SBOs are going to be on election Buddy should be up within next two weeks. No votes yet but the information will be coming shortly. 

Mulgrew again: It's our SBO's, not the principal.  Training with college and career counselors to make sure graduates get an hour. CUNY and SUNY have partnered with us. Curfuffle with DOE. Intervention teams have started. Likes new chancellor a lot but DOE is in the last year with the current mayor. We can make some changes in the middle of the school year but we don't want to lose this year. Pushing agenda forward. 

Healthcare report: Municipal Labor Council worked with NY Presbyterian so we can see bills and audit them to see what is inside them. 1.3 million covered by healthcare that MLC covers. RFP stalled on retiree healthcare. We won't agree to something that does not include every doctor that accepts Medicare. Retiree Chapter forming committee. Active people should do the same. 20% retiree healthcare covered by the city. It is important to have a standing healthcare committee to talk about the negative and positive aspects of it. Overall healthcare plan sunsets next year.

3% raise on May 14. Different titles get paid at different times. That is the last raise for this round of bargaining. We have to form a negotiating team for the next contract. This contract runs out in September 2022. We need a large negotiating committee with each chapter (bargaining unit) negotiating. We need that in place in October. If there is an opportunity to get a contract, we will move. Final retro check will be in the middle of July. Retiree trustees will get information out on upping TDA for this pay period. People want to know how to up percentage for that check and that check only but there are limitations on summer payroll so trustees are investigating what can be done. Member Assistance hotline is open. People are struggling. Will send out in Chapter Leader Update. We want people to use the hotline for others too. Spring Conference on Saturday. It will be mostly digital with a small group at the union on the second floor.

Politics

At this moment, three front candidates. Mr. Yang, Mr. Stringer and Mr. Adams. They poll who is first and second because of ranked-choice voting. We don't know when we will get the results. It took three weeks to get city council results on one race. Bloomberg had an anti-public school agenda. Schools set up to have the neediest students called failures. Schools closed and new ones took higher achieving students. Accountability system set up to fail certain schools. The whole thing was a shell game. Other issue was the expansion of charter schools and the lack of accountability. Bradley Tusk ran this for Bloomberg and is now running Yang campaign. Adams working with Jenny Sidelis from Students First. Yang's inability to answer questions and Adams' relationships and donors are a problem. Stringer has a sexual harassment complaint against him. We support anyone's right to make an allegation. There has to be due process after that. A Group of unions has funded an independent expenditure group on behalf of Stringer. Race is a big mess but now there are three people who right now look viable. Some lower-tier candidates moving up but our people are looking at it closely. Yang and Adams working with people who are proven enemies of public education who want to get back into City Hall.

We have a real shot at having a regular school year next year. We hope that optimism comes true. It would be nice to get past this pandemic. We should be proud of what we accomplished.

Staff Director's Report

Leroy Barr gave some dates of events. Teacher Appreciation week, nurse appreciation day, and provider appreciation day. Chapter leader elections are underway. For uncontested seats, send in CL certification forms. June 13 5k walk to raise money for UFT disaster relief fund. Spoke to reso maker on tax the rich who withdrew it. Recognizes Ed Al_Fitr

Question Period

Question: CL from D 24, staff conference and faculty conference, will we go back to extended day and are September and May parent conferences still happening?

Mulgrew Answer: We are working under the regular contract for next school year unless something changes. SBOs coming. Parent-teacher conferences in the calendar. We want to consolidate SBO votes.

Question: Google classroom plus digital portfolios and what about June 22 primary day?

Answer: Schools are open on primary day. We had to adjust the calendar as we started two weeks late. We pushed for DOE to move voting out of the schools. Many ballot locations moved out of schools. Leroy Barr will follow up. If a teacher wants to do Google classroom, that is okay. We can't agree to that being mandated. That has to be part of a collective bargaining process. Money attached to each school to set up asynchronous learning on election day because DOE can't mandate a digital classroom. This has to be ironed out in a collective bargaining process. Classic collective bargaining issue. We have to deal with snow days too. We need real negotiations.

Question:  Harbor School CL, early retirement incentive, do you have anything you can share?

Answer: Yesterday, was not in a good mood on the ERI. We had dialogue with the city today and we will be talking to them tomorrow and Friday as well. We will see where it goes. There was movement in the right direction from yesterday's town hall to today. This is going to be tough.

Question: Para rep in Queens, do we have two days less on our calendar because there are no snow days?

Answer: Yes because all of the holidays fall on the calendar so there are less days. The two days after labor day are holidays. For 2022-23, it looks like we are going to be down to 179 days. There are less reporting days.

Question: Brooklyn CL salutes her DR, will there still be COVID testing in September? They only tested 8 today.

Answer: How many they test is based on average attendance. Positivity rate below .3. It was .6 from December through a few weeks back and now it has dropped to .3. Can't say if there will be testing in September. Stopping real spread in school is about testing. We have more testing in our school system than any system in the country. We get a report every morning and now feel confident we are heading in the right direction. Reading test reports was a sickening feeling when during the second wave. We will wait and see what doctors say.

Question: D75 teacher is pretty confused about 683 for summer school. How will it work for staff? Students not vaccinated. How do we maintain social distancing? 

Answer: Building was tight to begin with. Mary Vaccarro will put it top of the agenda for consultation. Vaccination is a tough issue. We can't mandate seeing a vaccination status. New building coming for this school as these are some of the neediest students. 

Question: Bronx delegate, union battling with hospitals and now we are privatizing healthcare for retirees. Why aren't we supporting healthcare act in Albany?

Answer: MLC against this. Senior care plan we have is managed by a private provider that is not for profit. Bill in Albany does not work for us. We have 300,000-500,000 people uninsured in NYS. It's not a lot in terms of the state. We will try to work with anyone to get everyone insured. Something is wrong with our entire system. We are not going to give away tens of millions with a bill that doesn't work for our members. We are all in a private service that manages our healthcare. That bill will cost you a lot of money.

Question: Guidelines for graduations?

Answer: Last year they said no graduations and graduations still happened. It can be done safely in places like football fields. This is aggravating. We should get City Council to yell at them too.

Question: MOA for this year is up June 30, is there going to be another one?

Answer: Once we are out of our health emergency, it automatically sunsets June 30. We are going to work under our contract after that. If DOE wants something else, they have to bring it to the table. We will work with them on snow day issue because we could lose days where we were scheduled to be off.

Question: Vaccine and asking about it. If someone is vaccinated, do they have to quarantine?

Answer: Vaccination program worked quite well. We shut down principals who tried to keep vaccinated people in buildings when there was COVID in a classroom. Privacy issues. If a classroom is closed down and you want to come to work, you can come in. If you want to stay out, you can. Up to you.

New Motion Period:

Celebrate Provider Appreciation Day for this month's agenda. Maker of the motion reads the motion. The resolution had 94% yes and 6% no

The next motion was to celebrate Nurses Appreciation Day. Maker reads the motion. 94% yes and 6% No.

David Pecoraro has resolution to support David Weprin for next month's agenda. Talks about us opposing candidates. We have never supported a comptroller candidate who does not have a BA. Like Liz Cheney I stand on principle. Leaving DA because of backing David Weprin. He is the most qualified person to be Comptroller. He stands up for our members including his 91-year-old mom. We support a candidate who is not leading in the mayor's race but we should support the candidate for the comptroller who is not looking to eventually be mayor. We could be in a fiscal crisis. We need the most qualified person to be comptroller and that is Weprin. 

VP Karen Alford spoke against who rose to speak against Weprin. Weprin is not the most qualified candidate. Corey Johnson oversees an $88.2 billion budget. Corey Johnson has been our friend. Appointed former teachers to be there for what we need. Corey has supported us. He made sure that all of our members to keep our jobs. He has supported all of our UFT supported programs. 

25% Yes-75% No.

Leroy Barr suggests a motion to extend to do endorsements. It needs a 2/3 vote.

77% Yes-23% No

Karen Alford speaks again for Corey Johnson. UFT treasurer Tom Brown follows up. Then another in favor. Mulgrew asks for a speaker against. Someone from D24 opposes Johnson. Credible sexual assault allegations for mayor is one and one is opposing defunding the police and increasing social services. That was followed by a DR speaking in favor.

82% Yes-18% No

More endorsements followed for the ones that were rejected last month. 

They passed easily.

LIVE BLOGGING FROM MAY TOWN HALL

Thanks to my wife, I was in on time. Michael Mulgrew thanked people for taking the time to be on the call. For this school year:

Teacher Evaluation

We have an agreement on evaluation. Trying to get a waiver with NYSUT on MOSL. We were not able to get that done. We will come out with a recommendation for all the schools. We highly recommend that everyone pick a citywide MOSL. That is a very loud recommendation. We are still waiting for a ruling on tenure. We think it will be like last year. The budget gives us the most money ever from Albany but everything else up there is politics and not working that well.

The city is meeting with us on planning for next year on a weekly basis. Things are getting jammed up in City Hall. National level, we are hearing there will be another change in CDC guidelines before August 15 when many schools around the country open. 58% have a COVID shot, we have another 12% to go to get to 70%. 3 foot rule works for many out of the city. 3 foot rule works for us for many schools. We think people should be able to apply for remote. We have to be strong as we can for our profession to get as many people as we can back into the schools. Teachers unions being blamed for schools not reopening. That is garbage but one mayoral candidate is saying that. DOE wants in-person summer school. That is not totally possible with 683 programs where many students have medical issues. Postings are out; the calendar is out with only 180 days. We got the two prep days at the beginning of the year. Election day will continue to be a PD day. Teachers are getting per session to set up an asynchronous instructional day. We are making 180 days.

May raise goes into effect on May 14. For those who qualify, the last retro will be coming from two rounds of bargaining ago. We were able to get through pandemic without furloughs. No layoff clause to delay retro was smart because the economy was in bad shape. it is in better shape now. School debts are wiped off the books. Every school is getting a good budget allotment.

City not interested in negotiating an Early Retirement Incentive. Nastiest budget fight might be in NYC. Mayor leaving office. We sent them a letter. We may have a fight and we will deal with it. 

We should program now as if all of the kids are coming back in September. We have to try to push the city. This is the last year this administration will start the school year. We will do more to put pressure on City Hall if we have to. It gets really weird at the end of mayoral administrations. Mayor should thank Union and people on Building Response Teams but that's not happening. We want clear guidance by the end of May with some flexibility needed if virus changes circumstances.

Politics

We have never run this many races at one time. Thinks its 53 races. Union thanks volunteers. We owe a great deal of gratitude to those who volunteered. Mayor, comptroller, etc. The candidate we endorsed had an allegation against him. We take it seriously but we believe in due process. The people who did the work reconvened and said we want to move forward with the endorsement. It is coming down to a three-person race. Looking at polling, money spent and how much they have left. The other two viable candidates are troubling to us. During Bloomberg years, constant attacks on our Union. Closing schools and pushing students with greater needs kids into schools they wanted to close. That was some of the nastiest fights we have ever had. The accountability system was designed to say someone is a loser. If a teacher takes a child who was 3 grades behind and moved him up a level, that is a phenomenal success but schools that had kids at grade level were looking better. Rubber rooms, assaults against us. Person who ran Bloomberg's things was Andrew Tusk. He is running Andrew Yang's campaign. The group that he worked with was Students First. That is a pro-charter school organization. Student's First is running independent expenditure for Eric Adams. They are probably working together (Yang and Adams and Students First). Not trying to promote conspiracy theories but this is a fact. We closed and opened in September after having a greater loss than any other system. We figured everything out with safety, livelihood and profession. Now we have another challenge. Students First want us to go away. They will go to large lengths to make us go away. Many in-person students getting requests for services. Students have faced social-emotional damage as have all of us. We have been affected to the core of our souls. We have training that is sold out to train people. Member Assistance Program, we know how important this is. Call 212 331-6322 MAP Care program. Come to us. Entry anxiety is a term you will hear. This is real. Thank MAP people. Have to have a plan for it to work for our students. Thank College and career advisors for giving students an hour. We started training them yesterday. They need access to good information as they leave the school system. 

Nobody knows the population of our school system. Reports range from 85,000 down to 300,000 down. Let's put a class size reduction program in 100 schools. Two candidates being supported by people who want to destroy us and this union. Elder statesmen from the city urged us to make a deal back in 2010. We didn't. Contract negotiations start next spring. We would rather negotiate with people who understand what we do. One more town hall at the end of June probably. The goal is to get our buildings programmed before we leave this school year. We will work with CDC and State. We dealt with issues going to 3 feet. We have had over 2,000 operational complaints. Most resolved. Many got extra compensation. If someone has more work, we got them compensation.  City wants to maximize instructional time. 6 hours and 50 minutes in some schools. Contract goes back in place in September. 

Last year, if we would have said we are where we are now, we would have all taken it. We did what we had to do when we closed on March 15. The accommodation process will be opened but I don't think we will get blanket accommodations. Vaccination status is a personal choice. We will protect people. We will see what the city says. We need a mayor we can work with who has a chance of winning. We were the reason schools did open. 

Questions

Question: District 20 chapter leader, from the five-point plan, how can we ensure social workers, psychologists can be in our school?

Mulgrew Answer: We need to move quickly. We have the budget. We may need a petition that every school needs an intervention team. We must make this loud. Parents are on our side. Happy questioner brought this up. Frustrating dealing with this administration. Lack of focus. Mayor focusing on daily press conferences. Money is there; we should be able to have this.

Question: Thanks Mulgrew; postings for summer school, will job description be the same?

Answer: Is Michael Sill there? 

Michael Sill: 683 is up. Traditional summer school (summer rising) should be up Friday. Vast majority will be an in-person program. Small remote. Concerns of those who don't want to work in person. If you had retention rights and had an accommodation for this year, you will keep retention rights if you don't work this summer. Librarians, lab specialists will be up too.

Mulgrew: DOE looking to get 200,000 students which would double and triple summer school. Don't know how many people want to do summer school. We have plans if we have more students than teachers needed. We will look at a compensation package if we do get the students. Pandemic going in a good way in the tri-state area, many may want to take a break. Thanks Mike Sill and his department.

Question: CL from Manhattan, SBO's for next year, if schedules can be SBOed?

Answer: We were supposed to have an answer on this last Friday. Not looking to keep pandemic agreement in place unless we go back into pandemic. We talked about this with DOE last week. they have not gotten back to us yet. Can SBO open school days but still waiting on other SBOs

Question: QHS CL on cameras in the classroom. Expecting a three-foot rule to maybe still have AB cohorts, our position on cameras?

Answer: Can't teach to kids live and remote students on camera. Some CTE schools might need an exception but if less than 5% are remote, it is very inefficient. We can create academies for remote students districtwide or boroughwide. Tell administrators to hold off on programming. 

Question: Can parent-teacher conferences remain remote?

Answer: That is on the table for a possible SBO for schools that want to do it. Schools said it worked so much better that way. Try for a pre-agreed upon SBO or to make it a policy. May get pushback from City Hall.

Question: MLC and health insurance, is there an update?

Answer: Municipal Labor Committee negotiates healthcare as a group which is why we are the only workers left with premium free healthcare. We want to form a standing committee on healthcare and will talk about it at the DA tomorrow. We can't keep absorbing healthcare increases from insurance companies, doctors and hospitals. Ridiculous increases. Two or three years ago, we started getting aggressive by not taking increases. In-service did healthcare savings and city started negotiating with hospitals and insurance companies. Bloomberg wanted us to have premiums. MLC had low-hanging fruit to save to put back in the health fund when de Blasio came in. What we save goes back to the healthcare fund. We fought with NY Presbyterian because they would not let us analyze the bills they were charging us. We told them there is no way they can charge us $1,500 an x-ray. CEOs making $9 million. We want senior care for Medicare retirees to continue. We have not gotten answers. Representatives from unions vote at MLC. We have questions and we are not moving forward right now. Insurance companies came back with good bids but this is a nasty business. Patient has no idea what is going on. If we don't get what we want from our retirees to at least keep the minimum of what we have now, we are not moving forward

Question: PD Day and Clerical Day, are they remote?

Answer: Principal can bring people in if rules are followed and kids aren't there. We said if people are just going to go to their rooms, it makes no sense. We presented this to Chancellor and we have not heard back. Clerical day, we don't know what records you will need access to. We are not going to dump it on the in-person teachers only.

Question: Planning for next year, Will there be reopening committees this summer?

Answer: Yes, we hope to be in a position where virus is almost eradicated. Working with a group of doctors since last year in February. They have stuck with us. Locals around the country in AFT want Building Response Teams like we have. We gave them the information. We would like to continue the same process. Cleaning has to continue. We can't slide back now.

Question: Are we getting teachers choice this year?

Answer: Mayor pulled teachers choice out of the budget to get even with us for closing the schools. We can fight with him tooth and nail until he leaves like we did with Bloomberg. Hopefully, we don't have that scenario with de Blasio. We will figure out something one way or the other.

Question: School psychologist for 30 years, hiring 300 new social workers, what about school psychologist?

Answer: Intervention teams include social workers, psychologists, guidance counselors responsible for 200 students. Intervention team could be a game-changer looking at the work we will be facing.

Question: Early Retirement Incentive, is it for all titles?

Answer: City wants to set a precedent that they can pick teachers by certification area. We can't let them do that. This may be a big ugly fight. We don't want to pit people against each other. We can't agree to subjects rather than title (teacher). Paras would be included if we do ERI.

Question: D 14 teacher, 100CTLE hours approaching in June, is UFT talking to state or DOE to postpone this deadline? Paperwork more challenging than taking courses. Nobody picks up the phone. We feel slightly offended by what we have been through.

Answer: We have been talking with the State Education Department. Unprecedented 100,000 hours through UFT. Is Mary Vacarro on?

Mary: We haven't gotten anywhere on the extension with the state yet but there are plenty of courses. We can assist with people having difficulty on TEACH. 

Mulgrew: Can work with State on people having an issue on TEACH. We didn't want to be the number one CTLE provider in the State of NY. We would prefer to have the waiver.

Question: 12.5% retro last October and 12.5% in July. Will TRS give us a window to up TDA contributions in July?

Answer: We are working on this right now and will get it out as soon as possible. Not sure in NYC system can do a one-time upping of the percentage and can it be changed back before September. 

Question: What are the plans for technology going to be for next year? Are kids going to have to apply for i-pads for next year?

Answer: This is a big issue. We are working on some solutions. We were hired to work in person. We were not hired to work remotely or in a digital setting. A majority of the contract does not apply to our current working conditions. DOE assuming we can do our job or in a digital environment. That is a serious collective bargaining issue. That is why we are getting per session for asynchronous work on Election Day. We have told the DOE that this is not under the working conditions of our collective bargaining agreement. If they are threatening days off, we will have to decide. To do this additional work without collective bargaining is irresponsible. There is a lot of collective bargaining between contracts. This administration is leaving. If city puts a package before de Blasio leaves, we would have to talk about it. Next negotiating committee, this is a big issue. Where is tech support? Where are the devices? We need something definitive and there must be true equity. This is a collective bargaining issue.

Question: Is grievance process the same if we don't get grade we want to teach from preference sheet?

Answer: Format agreed on and preference sheets have gone out. Yes, it will be under the normal reorganization grievance process.

Question: Back pay for 2020 spring break?

Answer: Once the grievance process is fully reopened, that will be the first new arbitration. Para terminations and salary matters. City gave us 3 CAR days, we have in writing that city agreed that the 3 days doesn't matter to us asking for compensation and we could bring this forward. It might be end of June beginning of July. It will be a straightforward arbitration.

Question: Programmer wants a hard date for what is going on in September,

Answer: Program as if everyone's coming in. Holding things up is politics.  If it is 3 feet distance, we need an application process. It should be smoother than last year. 

Mulgrew thanks Rasheed for being a good host. COVID numbers are so low. 70,000 tests a day and averaging below .3% positive. We will go hard on the ERI. Fighting for the right things is fun. School year not easy but members made it work. We kept going in-person and remote. Thanks everyone. Spring Conference is Saturday. Complete thanks and gratitude to each one.

UNITY UP TO THEIR OLD TRICKS TO STIFLE DISCUSSION AT DA

Michael Mulgrew's Unity Caucus has gone to new lengths to ensure that there is as little meaningful discussion as possible on important issues at the Delegate Assembly. Unity is so afraid to have controversial issues come to the floor such as Medicare privatization and possibly rescinding the Scott Stringer Mayoral endorsement that they have to manipulate the DA agenda so that the Delegate Assembly will more than likely not discuss anything substantive on Wednesday.

For those who have not been following closely, since last March UFT meetings have been remote. The DA has insane limitations that make democracy even more of a joke than even under normal circumstances. Within the electronic rules, the only chance rank and file delegates have in order to have a motion added to the agenda is to submit it to UFT Secretary Leroy Barr on the Sunday before the Wednesday DA  at noon after he sends an email to all the delegates. The new motion period is only ten minutes so delegates are aware they better be on the top of the agenda if they want to be heard. Barr has told a delegate I know that the Union puts the motions directed to the agenda in order of how he receives them on email. 

In an amazing coincidence, the first two resolutions that were emailed to Barr on Sunday for Wednesday's May DA were to honor health providers and then one to support nurses. 

Motions directed to the agenda for the May 12, 2021 Delegate Assembly

Motion No. 1 — Resolution to celebrate Provider Appreciation Day (submitted by Tammie Miller)

Motion No. 2 — Resolution in support of School Nurse Appreciation Day (submitted by Cynthia Bennett)

A Resolution to endorse David Weprin for comptroller, one to oppose Medicare privatization, another motion to move up the privatization of Medicare to the top of the agenda, one calling for electronic voting in all UFT elections, one to rescind the Scott Stringer endorsement, and more all apparently came in after those two noncontroversial resolutions to honor healthcare providers and support Nurse Appreciation Day. I have nothing against the healthcare providers and I support Nurse Appreciation Day but these two motions are getting top billing. Why? The answer is basically to make sure none of the controversial issues are discussed. Typical Unity Caucus manipulation to get what they want.

Far more legitimate are Educators of NYC events that are true discussions. Don't miss tonight's forum on how the schools should be reopened.  Full disclosure is my wife Camille will be one of the panelists. 

EXECUTIVE BOARD REPORT BRINGS NEWS ON ERI, VACCINE MANDATES, MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION, MAYOR'S RACE AND MORE

Go over to NYC Educator and read tonight's Executive Board report from Arthur. 

Some highlights:

On Early Retirement Incentive:

DOE--When you're near the end of an administration things get weird. Primary in June has made it weirder. Admin wants to remain relevant, so city budget is a fight for us. Have not engaged in Early Retirement Incentive. 

On possible vaccine mandates for our members:

Moskowitz mandating vaccines, will we take a position?

Doctors who advise us say integrity of these vaccines is unprecedented. I get emails on both sides. People need to think this through. If we don't hit 70%, this will be around for years. Will be no medical accommodation based on people not wanting to be vaccinated. Not medical condition. 

Mayor's race:

Mayor's race shaping into three person race. Stringer has allegations against him, but most unions who've endorsed have stuck. Allegations are allegations. Our group that first endorsed says we should continue.

Never thought we'd go back to Bloomberg days. Yang isn't billionaire, but is tied with this group. Adams is tied with Students First. We will get word out.

On Medicare privatization:

Health care updates? 

Mulgrew--Mediator at MLC cannot go forward because our questions haven't been answered. 

Read the whole report.

ONE YEAR SINCE CHAZ PASSING

I was reminded the other night by Lydia A and Jonathan Halabi that it has been one year since Eric Chaz Chasanoff passed away.

Tonight is a good time to copy Jonathan Halabi's tribute to Eric over at JD2718. It is well worth reading. Eric and I used to talk regularly about our blogs. I think Jonathan captures the essence of what Eric was all about here. At the end, Jonathan notes how Eric always endorsed him in UFT elections.

Here is what Chaz said about my wife and me in his 2013 election endorsement: (note we are no longer in MORE).

Treasurer:  Camille Eterno - MORE  Mel Aaronson was a very effective Treasurer but has been long retired.  I want an active teacher who understands the present day realities of the classroom to handle my money.  Being married to James tells me she is a good decision maker.

Executive Board: - High School -

Jonathan Halabi -  New Action/Unity  He really tries and has been a dissenting voice in the past.

James Eterno - MORE - The best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be.

Okay, I probably should not have looked that up but you do understand we respected each other greatly. Rest in peace, Eric.

Jonathan Halabi's tribute to Chaz:

Eric “Chaz” Chasanoff was one of the best-known New York City teacher bloggers. He was an exceptional advocate for teachers, and a opponent of arbitrary and unfair policies.

policies.

Eric wrote regularly for well over a decade. He started in 2006. And he didn’t stop, until COVID stopped him.

During the pandemic he was writing every two or three days. On April 26 he wrote about reducing administrative costs, and not school budgets. And then… Silence. On May 2 I wrote to him. He was already sick, and did not respond. I didn’t know. I wrote to other bloggers, to his UFT borough office. And then we learned.

Eric was a weatherman – on TV – before he was a teacher. He became an earth science teacher. Earth Science Eric. Read here as James Eterno, his UFT Chapter Leader at Jamaica HS, talks about Eric.

Eric wrote about teacher issues. He wrote about teacher financial issues – pension, TDA. He wrote about problem schools, and problem administrators. He wrote about good work the UFT did, and he wrote about serious problems with the UFT.

Eric was independent, and fiercely so. He belonged to no caucus. Every election he endorsed people from each caucus, including some from Unity. I am proud that each time I ran, he endorsed me.

Eric was not a leftist, as some critics of the UFT leadership are. His views tended to be a bit left of center, but they varied, issue to issue. In the last presidential election he lived through, he did not vote for Donald Trump or for Hillary Clinton. I believe, had he lived, he would not have voted in 2020 for Trump or for Biden.

Eric’s most consistent “politics” were those of fairness. He advocated for fair treatment, again and again, for teachers who the system abused. The system abused Eric, too. Read here as NYC Educator Arthur Goldstein stands up for Eric against twisted charges (this is from 2012).

After that, the NYCDoE put Eric, a highly qualified teacher, in excess. They made him what is often called an “ATR” -forcing him to wander from school to school. But for Eric, that gave him more experience to write about, and more people being victimized by bad administrators or by the system to support.

And that’s what he did. He taught. He advocated. He wrote. He wrote after he retired. And he wrote until one week before his death.

He was missed, immediately. Many bloggers wrote of his passing. I did. Twice. Eric’s memorial page on the “UFT Honors” site is full of tribute.

I will close this post with what I shared on that page:

Eric wrote on his blog Chaz’s School Daze almost two thousand times. Most of his readers, and he had many, did not know his name. He was not writing for recognition, or promotion. He wrote because he cared deeply. He cared about students and schools. He cared about teachers, especially about teachers. And most of all, Eric cared deeply about right and wrong.

I was trying to think of one example that really stood out. And I looked at Eric’s early writings, about politics and teaching and the value of experience – but the one that caught my eye – in his first month on-line – was about a girl’s basketball game. One team’s coach had run up the score badly on a weaker opponent, 137 – 24. Eric, who had coached, was horrified:

• * Don’t run up the score on an inferior opponent.
• * Keep your best players out once it is a blowout.
• * Never embarrass another team.
• * Show class and be a role model for your players.

It was that same sense of right and wrong that motivated his defense of teachers. And it is that sense of class, and that dedication to fairness that I will remember.

Rest in peace

EDUCATORS OF NYC FORUM ON WHAT SCHOOL REOPENING SHOULD LOOK LIKE IS TUESDAY @ 7:00

Don't miss the Educators of NYC forum on school reopening is coming on Tuesday. Representatives from the various UFT caucuses along with community leaders will be on the Zoom. This is the kind of conversation the UFT should be having.

Here is a link to sign up for the event.

The panelists are  some real top flight thinkers in NYC education.

SUCCESS ACADEMY MANDATING COVID VACCINES FOR EMPLOYEES; WILL NYC BE NEXT?

 This came from Success Academy to their employees.

What will NYC be doing on this issue for their employees? There is a piece in the latest Chief Leader civil service newspaper on vaccinating city employees. Thanks to John Lawhead for forwarding it to me to beat the paywall. The first two paragraphs: 

For months the de Blasio administration has resisted forcing public employees to get the coronavirus vaccination even as Governor Cuomo threatened to withhold future doses from the city hospital system.

But Dr. Jay Varma, Mayor de Blasio's top virus adviser, April 29 indicated the city's patience was ebbing, particularly regarding health-care workers, citing a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on a nursing home in Kentucky where unvaccinated staff were determined to be the source of dozens of infections and two deaths.

We posted last week on how mandatory vaccinations for staff and students in NYC public schools might be very popular with parents and teachers. The legality of any kind of vaccine mandate is a gray area now because of the Emergency Use Authorization of the vaccines. They did not yet go through the regular FDA approval process, but mass vaccinations seem to be the way to get this pandemic under control. 

MEDICARE OR MULGREWCARE?

We predicted how yesterday's UFT Retiree Town Hall would function.

This is what this blog said on Monday:

UFT Town Halls in the age of COVID-19 are basically like call-in radio shows. President Mulgrew gives a lengthy monologue saying whatever the UFT is doing at the present time is the greatest thing ever and then some screened questions are allowed. The questions usually start with something like: "Hi Michael, thank you for the wonderful, amazing job you are doing..." My wife and some friends have tried to get through and have never had a challenging question answered live by Mulgrew. 

We were almost completely on target. Yesterday at the Town Hall for Retirees, Mulgrew gave a long speech saying how switching from traditional Medicare to the Municipal Labor Committee's Medicare Advantage would be the greatest healthcare system in the country. We're calling the privatized system that could be coming soon "Mulgrewcare" although all Medicare-eligible NYC municipal retirees, not just UFTers, will be part of the program if it goes through. 

The Mulgrewcare pledge: Under Mulgrewcare, retired city employees are being promised the same or better health benefits at the same price as now with the same reimbursements for Part B. Better still, the savings we get from this privatized benefits program would come back to us through the health stabilization fund. Whatever insurance provider that wins the contract will get more money from the federal government only if we consumers are satisfied. Does this sound too good to be true?

After Mulgrew finished selling the program, there were the softball questions coming one after another. I was not entirely correct in my forecast, however, as one rather difficult query did get through that of course Mulgrew could not adequately answer.

Bennett Fisher asked: What is to stop doctors who do currently take traditional Medicare from not accepting this plan at their discretion?

Mulgrew Answer: The fact is most doctors accept Medicare because there are federal and state incentives for them. That would be a problem even if we stay in our same plan. If something like that were ever to occur, if it is on a small scale, we would use all of our abilities and whatever companies we are working with to get that fixed. If it is a large scale, then it becomes a legislative issue at a state or federal level.

Mulgrew offered no guarantee that doctors will take Mulgrewcare.

This is from eHealth:

Medicare Advantage plan networks must include hospitals, dialysis centers, primary care physicians, specialists, and other health-care professionals and suppliers.

However, Medicare Advantage plans don’t have to contract with every Medicare provider in their area. Instead, they contract with Medicare providers who agree to coordinating patient care, improving the quality of patient care, and accepting the Medicare Advantage plan’s reimbursement schedules and administrative rules.

To be fair, my guess is Mulgrew will be right for the majority of NYC retirees since 250,000 city retirees is such a large pool of patients so most doctors would continue to take the city's privatized Mugrewcare. However, if doctors are receiving less of a reimbursement or slower payments from the privatized insurer, who knows? There is no certainty.  

As for the long term, I would still like my two questions from yesterday answered:

Medicare Advantage or part C is privately run healthcare. If 250,000 NYC retirees go from a public into a privatized program, don't we run the risk of weakening traditional Medicare significantly which will make it less likely that we will get Medicare for all in the long run which is what we should be striving for and that is the only way to really control prices?

Also, I may have attempted to sneak this in:

How are we going to be opposed to privatizing schools (charters-vouchers) when we are privatizing our own healthcare?

If 250,000 city retirees are strengthening the current United States privately run healthcare system that Mulgrew conceded is out of control in terms of costs, then Mulgrewcare is bound to fail in the long run. One retiree I spoke to today said he recommends that people buy health insurance company stocks. Insurance companies will be the big winners if 250,000 NYC retirees are pushed into privatized Mulgrewcare.

2021-2022 NYC CALENDAR RELEASED WITH CONTROVERSY OVER DELETION OF COLUMBUS DAY

The NYC Department of Education released the new school calendar today for the 2021-2022 school year. It looks like school will be starting almost a week later because Rosh Hashanah starts on the night of Labor Day so teachers need not report until Thursday, September 9, 2021, and school will not start for the kids until Monday, September 13. Snow days are now asynchronous learning days so forget about them.

This is not the controversial part. One million Italian-Americans in NYC were not consulted about the change from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day on the calendar. I am not going to go through the entire historical judgement on Columbus here. That is way beyond the scope of this posting. Let's just say if you judge him in the context of the 15th and 16th centuries, he comes out a bit better than if you use today's standards. (This may come as a shock to some of you, but I never taught from the perspective that just about everything the United States and Western culture have done has been for some nefarious purpose.) On the issue of the DOE calendar, the fact is many Italian Americans are not happy that Columbus Day was eliminated as a holiday. It is still recognized as a New York state official holiday.  

From ABC 7:

There are also two changes in the observed holidays this year. First, the non-attendance day on October 11, 2021, will be in observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day, with Columbus Day removed from the calendar.

That decision was quickly blasted by Republican lawmakers.

City Council members Joe Borelli and Steve Matteo and Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis issued a joint statement demanding the Department of Education restore the name "Columbus Day" to the holiday, claiming it was removed without any public announcement or fanfare.

Further down:

In response, the DOE updated its calendar to celebrate October 11 as Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People's Day.

"Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People's Day will celebrate the contributions and legacies of Italian Americans and recognize that Native people are the first inhabitants of the land that became our country," the DOE said in a statement. "By including these holidays on our calendar we are honoring the past, present, and future contributions of Indigenous communities and Italian Americans."

Maybe that will be enough to appease show respect for my fellow Italian-American brothers and sisters.

Here is the calendar page from the DOE.

We'll have more information when we get it. Thanks to the people who sent the links. Note it is still Indigenous People's Day on this version. 

 

From Mulgrew Dear __________, I'm happy to report that the city Department of Education finally released the 2021-22 school calendar today. The holidays next school year make the calendar particularly challenging — especially with Labor Day falling immediately before Rosh Hashanah. But the final calendar still includes the minimum number of days to meet collective bargaining requirements and receive aid from New York State. Here are some of the highlights:

Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 6, and schools are closed for Rosh Hashanah on Tuesday, Sept. 7, and Wednesday, Sept. 8. As is customary, all school-based staff will report to work without students for two days, on Thursday and Friday. The first day of classes for students is Monday, Sept. 13. Schools will be closed on Yom Kippur on Thursday, Sept. 16. Schools will be closed on Veterans Day on Thursday, Nov. 11. Schools will be closed on Lunar New Year on Tuesday, Feb. 1. The mid-winter recess will be from Monday, Feb. 21 to Friday, Feb. 25. The spring break, which includes Good Friday and Passover, will be from Friday, April 15, to Friday, April 22. Schools will be closed on Eid al-Fitr on Monday, May 2. Schools will be closed for Juneteenth, a new public school holiday, on Monday, June 20. Parent-teacher conferences will take place only in early November and in March.

See the 2021-22 school year calendar for staff » This morning, we sent a text message linking to the family version of the 2021-22 school calendar. If you'd like to receive UFT text messages in the future, please use this online sign-up form. New York City schools must, by state law, have 180 “aidable" days. This year’s calendar is at that minimum because of the late start of classes and the number of school holidays. This situation has produced some unusual features in the 2021-22 school year calendar:

The last day for students will be Monday, June 27, but the last day of work for classroom teachers, attendance teachers, school nurses, therapists, lab specialists and paraprofessionals will be Tuesday, June 28, as contractually required. It will be a Chancellor’s Conference Day. June 30 is the last day for all other UFT school-based titles. Snow days, if we have any, will be remote instructional days. Otherwise, the DOE would have to convert another scheduled holiday to an instructional day to make up the day to meet the 180-day minimum. Election Day will be a professional development day. Students will have a remote learning day with no synchronous or live instruction. All schools will receive funding to pay per-session to teachers to plan that day’s asynchronous instruction.

I hope this information is helpful as you plan ahead. Thank you for everything you do.

Sincerely, Michael Mulgrew UFT President Staff version

LIVE BLOGGGING FROM RETIREE TOWN HALL

President Michael Mulgrew greeted the retirees. Apologizes for not having more information out there as negotiations continue on an RFP. Our lawyers said not to release information but other unions put out more information. Healthcare is 1A with wages. Received emails.

Municipal Labor Committee negotiations on healthcare costs are always ongoing. Our goal is not to diminish benefits. Michael Bloomberg strategy was to let costs spiral out of control and then diminish benefits. We had to hold tight through stabilization fund. PICA drugs which people need in a health crisis are needed by sickest individuals. We want to keep premium free healthcare which almost nobody else has. Under de Blasio, there has been a lot of negotiations but year-to-year costs have been going up even faster than under Bloomberg. Was a HIP baby as my father was sanitation worker. HIP building back and not so worried about bonuses. Forced new workers into HIP and now 95% stay in HIP. We save a lot of money from that. We use money we save into stabilization and to fund and to fund raises.

RFP on PICA, we were very tough negotiating and saved $300,000,000 Healthcare front and center in fight. We want to keep all doctors and everything else. We use our buying power to keep what we have and put more into stabilization fund. 

Some emails are just not true. Have met our obligations for contract we are already in. UFT officers do not have a different medical plan than everyone else. People using things that are factually wrong for their own purposes. How do we get to a better place?

Senior care program when city shut down. Medicare part A and Medicare Part B and Medigap. Costs going way up on senior care. Discussions stopped because of COVID. Question: How do we maintain what we have and use buying power to benefit retirees? We had a major fight with NY Presbyterian. Hypothetically, x-rays being used on the same machine were charging $1400 while others were charging $400. We and the city do healthcare together. There are too many of us. We are not the rest of the United States. We are not going to be lambs to the slaughter. We agreed with the city to get back to the insurance companies to audit the hospitals. We bring large numbers of people. 250,000 in senior care and 1.3 million active members. 

Two things to clear up. I hate the name Medicare Advantage. Medicare risk plans from 1990s and 200s that were bad plans. Individuals going medicare individual plans on their own are what people are complaining about. Any plan that would net accept Medicare, we are not interested in. Preserve premium free and access to doctors. Reduce costs and that money has to go back to healthcare stabilization fund for our benefits. If we pay $100 and it goes down to $80, the money goes back to us for benefits. Medicare Advantage Group plan. The city and the city unions are the group. We don't want the off the shelf plan. We are telling insurance companies we have 250,000 in plan and we want to know what you will do for us.

How do they make money? Part A and Part B, last 20% picked up by the city. City does not get federal reimbursement because it is not covered. We are entitled to some reimbursement in the group that could come back to the stabilization fund. This will stop us from doing something crazy two or three years from now. NYC public employees are the only people with premium free healthcare in the United States. It is not free. What we have we have paid for and we continue to pay for it. At the end of every year, people at the MLC have a list of everything that has been utilized. We then adjust rates. Prices keep going up. That's why we have embarked on this process. If we do nothing, two or three years from now we will be in a bad position. We have fought and paid for too much over the years. If we can now say that by moving to this kind of plan, the process is not done, if we get everything we want in writing so we can continue to have premium-free healthcare with more or the same benefits, we can do it or we can say no. Each union in the MLC gets a vote. Put all of the unions together and trying to figure out how to get things done is tough but it has served us well. We're trying to create more revenue and keep the benefits we have. We saved money on PICA. Using our power, we tell Emblem we need a better process.

Why would someone want this business? How can I be assured they are trying to do the best by our members? Federal government more than happy to give people money to manage it. Group plans, the group gets set up with x number of dollars for every person and then the real money is if the people within the group are satisfied. They get money with a 4-star platform. Reads an email, non politically motivated. If we do this transition, there will be no additional costs. We as a group are telling the insurance company that this is what we want. On Empire for supplemental coverage, will it be impacted? No. Could we go back to senior care plan? No, if we go in this direction. You would have to pick up $170. The process is to wait for the mediator to decide and then the MLC would decide and it would be brought back to this group. We are driving everyone in the industry nuts. We have to make sure everything is in writing and everything is assured to us. Most pick up 365-day hospital rider. We think it should be covered for the year. RX rider should be covered. No cap for out-of-pocket. Some families hit really, really hard. How do we get a cap? We deal with this system personally taking care of my wife and my mothers. Lots of out of pocket costs. You can go to any doctor that takes Medicare. Some hospitals we are not going forward unless we can get full coverage from them. Presentation yesterday at MLC so now free to talk a little more about it.

Fight with NY Presbyterian worked so we should be okay with them. We need a standing committee on healthcare in retiree chapters and with in-service people too. Loves that we are in this fight. We believe everyone should have premium-free healthcare. If we play by their rules, this ends in us losing. We are getting super aggressive. Keep benefits, reduce costs and have savings go back to us. Joint labor-management committee to monitor everything within the system. Fought hard and are proud of it. We can preserve these rights for generations and generations until the federal government does something about drug costs and hospital costs. Our fight is to make sure we keep this benefit. it is the entire MLC that does this. In service healthcare contract is coming up next year. Emails have pushed things into our negotiations. Questions guide us.

Question: Phased in or come at once?

Mulgrew answer: It's not finalized so we can't say now.

Question: What is the MLC?

Answer: Municipal Labor Council is all the unions negotiating as a group on healthcare. That's police, sanitation, CSA, others and us. 

Question: Live in Oakland, California, how would we be affected?

Answer: All Medicare doctors will take it and can go to another Medicare doctor if yours retires. 98% of doctors take Medicare.

Question: Daughter in college on my GHI. What would happen with her coverage?

Answer: Writing it down. Doesn't think there will be a problem with that. Will ask that question. We put that into new plan. Should be fine.

Question: If we switch over, would we still get a part B reimbursement every spring?

Answer: Yes

Question: Part A and Part B gets paid for by the federal government if enrolled (Mulgrew says 6,000 aren't enrolled), government said for big firms and cities to administer plans. Express Scripps, would there be a problem if they moved that?

Answer: That won't be a problem.

Question: Particulars important, committee on healthcare to meet and be strong. Is that different from joint labor-management committee? 

Answer: Retiree chapter should set that up, can't tell chapter what to do. Joint committee of MLC would need a retiree and in-service member. These battles are not stopping. Hospitals ask for 18% increase and only raise it 9% like they did us a favor. Non-profit CEO with $9 million salary and millions in bonuses. Hospitals got billions of dollars from federal government in COVID. 

Question: Parent of developmentally disabled man in his fifties. Accept Medicare. Will we be negotiating with smaller facilities?

Answer: They will have to accept it. Can use a facility outside of Medicare in senior care  and we will make sure they can be used.

Question: In negotiating, have to give like new members in HIP. Instead of having people go into HIP for one year, make it 3-5 years to add to supplemental program?

Answer: Everyone when we negotiated this thought that nobody would want to go into HIP. New CEO said she was doing what she could for to improve it. That will be on the table for the next negotiation.

Question: Retiring this year, will offices be open for a pension consultation?

Answer: They are open now.  

Question: Would be losing UFT welfare fund dental and optical?

Answer: No, but we could lose more if the stabilization fund is depleted. 

Question: When is negotiation going to be over and when will we get a printout of the decision?

Answer: We have still have questions with the mediator from our bid. The mediator makes a decision and then we will bring to you what is in that plan. Decision then on what the UFT vote will be at the MLC.

Question: Live in Florida on west coast, programs for Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Florida Medicare is different that anyplace else?

Answer: Can move into different plans. Many individual plans in Florida. We are not interested in narrowing of networks or facilities. We want the broadest network possible. Institutions, we have a lot of people in Florida. Most hospitals take Medicare. There should be no issues, especially in a state like Florida. 

Question: Thanks Mulgrew, Part B reimbursement, what about IRMA payments?

Answer:  I think that will be fine but not totally certain. Not clear on that at this moment but we will get back to you. Tom Murphy chimes in that IRMA will remain the same. 

Question: Retirees not yet on Medicare?

Answer: They stay where they are at this moment. Let the committee drive what they should be doing. Keep and improve benefits and lower costs. 

Question: If people want to remain on GHI senior care they can do it for an extra $170 a month?

Answer: Can pay more if you like but you can keep the same doctors in the group. Why pay for something you would get without paying?

Question: Is this an HMO or a PPO?

Answer: It's not an HMO it works more like a PPO. You just go and it is covered. They offer more than what is covered because they want to have the good scores to get more money from the government. 

Question on expatriots?

Answer: We are asking about that. 

Question: Bennett Fisher asked: What is to stop doctors who do currently take traditional Medicare from not accepting this plan at their discretion?

Answer: The fact is most doctors accept Medicare because there are federal and state incentives for them. That would be a problem even if we same in our same plan. If something like that were ever to occur, if it is on a small scale, we would use all of our abilities and whatever companies we are working with to get that fixed. If it is a large scale, then it becomes a legislative issue at a state or federal level. 

(Sorry folks, I missed a while as an operator finally picked up to let me ask a question. No surprise but I wasn't put on the call.)

Question: Gym memberships and group classes?

Answer: We are working on that.

Mulgrew thanks people for taking their time. Recommend a standing healthcare committee. We're taking care of each other. The nastiness of politics especially on social media has had a bad effect. That is not us. Take pride in taking care of in-service and retirees. Hope you have a better understanding. Tell people to calm down on Facebook and other social media. We are really good people. There will be another town hall when we make a decision. 

You can listen to the entire Town Hall on Sound Cloud. 

The question I wanted to ask:

Medicare Advantage or part C is privately run healthcare. If 250,000 NYC retirees go from a public into a privatized program, don't we run the risk of weakening traditional Medicare significantly which will make it less likely that we will get Medicare for all in the long run which is what we should be striving for and that is the only way to really control prices?

Also, I may have attempted to sneak this in:

How are we going to be opposed to privatizing schools (charters-vouchers) when we are privatizing our own healthcare?

ALMOST 500 ATTEND RETIREE ADVOCATE WEBINAR ON MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION; SCHIRTZER ASKS MULGREW FOR A DISCUSSION ON MEDICARE ADVANTAGE

I had the privilege of being one of the speakers on Zoom last night as hundreds of retirees attended the UFT Retiree Advocate webinar in advance of Michael Mulgrew's Town Hall with retirees on Tuesday. An invited medical doctor pretty much laid out the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage and then people associated with New Action, Solidarity, MORE and yours truly were able to speak.

I told the Zoom that UFT Town Halls in the age of COVID-19 are basically like call-in radio shows. President Mulgrew gives a lengthy monologue saying whatever the UFT is doing at the present time is the greatest thing ever and then some screened questions are allowed. The questions usually start with something like: "Hi Michael, thank you for the wonderful, amazing job you are doing..." My wife and some friends have tried to get through and have never had a challenging question answered live by Mulgrew. When the UFT dispatches an unprepared part-timer to call to answer the question that was posed, it is rah, rah, UFT essentially.

Tomorrow, I hope the retirees will have an open question and answer session during the Town Hall at 1:00 P.M. One retiree said we don't want a 90-minute UFT "infomercial" but rather a real dialogue on changes possibly coming for Medicare-eligible retirees. 

We have reported on what we know about the probable changes coming mostly based on information from my other union, the Professional Staff Congress (CUNY teachers) which along with the UFT is part of the 152 union Municipal Labor Committee negotiating with the city. 

Mike Schirtzer, who is pretty much the only independent left on the UFT Executive Board, asked two questions on Medicare and this was his followup from Arthur Goldstein's report (bold added by me):

Retiree town hall--Please take questions on Medicare.

Mulgrew- Not making any decisions yet. If we have to blow it up, we will.  Lots of bad information out there. There are always factions. UFT officers get same health care as everyone else in the UFT. Of course it's very inportant. People are bored when I talk about hospitals, but when we're negotiating, those costs are on the table. The most expensive doctor is usually not the best one. It's an insane industry. They wouldn't allow us to question costs, just pay bills. That's what we're dealing with. We need to avoid high premiums. Retiree chapter has already given me lots of questions.

While I am against privatizing services like education and healthcare, early studies show Medicare Advantage does have many satisfied customers. However, research also reveals that MA does limit access to care. Then there is the question about people who are very sick. 

This is from what I believe is a very objective paper published by HeathAffairs.org that acknowledges the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage (MA):

Another marker of quality is whether Medicare beneficiaries remain in MA plans when their health deteriorates. On this basis, there is reason to question whether MA plans offer higher quality. One paper found that MA members who had been hospitalized at least once had a higher rate of switching back to traditional Medicare than did other MA enrollees. The same was true for users of home care and long-term nursing home care.

We can't forget the profits:

We know that MA is dominated by a few large companies, and that it is a profitable line of business. At the end of 2020, the four largest MA companies accounted for more than 60 percent of total enrollment, and the 15 largest accounted for more than 80 percent. MA has also been very lucrative for many private health insurers. In 2017, according to MedPAC, the average pretax margin of for-profit MA plans was 5.2 percent; in 2018, it was 4 percent.

The HealthAffairs.org summary:

In conclusion, it is not clear that Medicare Advantage for All would help bend society’s cost curve more than Medicare for All or other policy proposals. In fact, the current evidence suggests that MA plans have not saved Medicare any money relative to traditional Medicare. To the extent that they lower costs, the lion’s share of those savings seems to be flowing to insurance companies, partly in the form of profits. Policy makers should consider whether this is the direction in which they want health care financing to go.

LETTER TO MULGREW-MURPHY ON MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION

In my inbox is a letter to Mulgrew-Murphy that expresses retiree frustration over a possible switch for retired city employees from Medicare to a private Medicare Advantage plan.

Here is the link to register for the Retiree Advocate webinar this evening at 7:00 P.M. that will discuss this issue. My understanding is 200 people have registered.  

Shameless plug: I will be one of the panelists this evening. I will be speaking on how Mulgrew's town halls operate ahead of the Tuesday Mulgrew town hall with the retirees.

After stewing in my anger, fear and frustration over this sellout I needed to put my thoughts on paper.  Here is the copy of my letter to Tom Murphy and Michael Mulgrew.

It’s mind boggling to think that as a growing majority of Americans, on both sides of the political divide, support a national single payer healthcare system the UFT is taking a giant step backward (behind closed doors) and dropping the Medicare Traditional program offered to UFT Retirees and changing it to Medicare Advantage, a private, for profit, medicare [sic] like program.  

Honestly, the UFT is following in the foot steps of the Trump Administration by its privatization of the UFT Retirees medicare program.  This private, for profit program will need to make a profit, unlike government run Medicare Traditional and thus cannot give us the same services at the same cost.  We don’t need smoke and mirrors.  Just do the math.

A few well documented and researched facts. (1) The US ranks 11 among the top10 Industrial Western Countries in quality and delivery in healthcare services.  (2) The top 10 countries all have a universal health care system.  The systems are less costly and provide better health care for all of its citizens.  (3) Private health insurance companies stand between doctors and patients.  Decisions are made based on a business model formula of patient healthcare needs that yield a profit for the company.  Do the math, otherwise they wouldn’t be in business.

UFT THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! 

 

“The MLC is tasked with finding cost savings for the city to the tune of $1.1 billion during the current negotiation period (2018-2021) —including $600 Million in fiscal year 2021.”

It’s not OK for senior citizens living on a fixed income to bear the onus, look else where to fill the gap.  

UFT MAKE DEMANDS OUTSIDE THE BOX!  

For example, demand that the city end all the sweetheart tax free and tax abatement programs and other lucrative incentives given to both domestic and foreign investors.  That money would be more than enough to bridge the savings the MLC has been tasked with. You just have to scratch the surface.  Seek and you shall find, as the expression goes.  

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.

Retirees  live on a fixed income while the big corporations, investors and CEOs pay nothing or a pittance in City taxes. Why are the most vulnerable being ordered to fix the financial gap?

It is not OK for retirees to bear the brunt, carry the burden of bridging the gap because the City says it can’t afford to pay for the Retirees government run Medicare Traditional program. 

It’s not OK to privatize the retiree medicare program that will provide less flexibility, reduced services and cost more. 

It’s not OK for the UFT to use the theatrics of smoke and mirrors to tell us we are getting the same and or better deal in a private, for profit  medicare [sic] like plan.  Health insurance companies are in the business to make a profit.  Profit is the driving force and not healthcare.  Using the business model you cut corners on healthcare but not reduce profits.  And don’t throw tele-doctoring in our face! Anything to make a buck for the health insurance industry. 

THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!

We need a national healthcare system.  Rather than moving towards that end you are beefing up the Trump era model of privatizing government services. SHAME ON YOU.

UFT YOU SHOULD AND CAN DO BETTER!

Healthcare is a human right and not fodder for corporate greed! 

 

A Very Disappointed  UFT Retiree,

Denise Rickles