UFT Unity leadership is on the warpath today, defending their indefensible betrayal of retirees. (And in-service are next, once they get us to pass that crap contract Adams wants.)
Now that they themselves are pushing every city retiree into a system that none of them wanted or chose (let alone voted on), they're going full-steam ahead to blame membership. There's a lot of irony here, and I'm a big fan of irony.
Plan A for Unity was to dump so-called Advantage only on those who could not afford an upgrade. Unity sent highly-compensated former vice-presidents to advocate for "choice." This choice, for me, would be the choice of downgrading my future pension by $5,000 a year, to start, for me and my wife. From there, of course, the sky's the limit. This was quite upsetting to me, even though I may have been able to swing it.
What cannot be overstated is that this was an impossibility for many city employees. There are a lot of city employees who make a lot less than teachers. So this much-vaunted "choice" was off the table for them. A friend tells me that, under the current scenario, it will cost him and his wife about $9,000 a year to retain standard Medicare. That's too much for me.
Mulgrew's Minions will say they tried to protect "choice." They'll conveniently omit it was only for those fortunate enough to afford it. And hey, those VPs who made several times our salaries, who retired with two pensions? They probably light their cigars with hundred dollar bills. 9K a year is peanuts to them. They will say those nasty retirees who stood up to them ruined it for everyone. They're quite arrogant about it, in fact. Here's a letter from a UFT bigshot to retirees:
Dear Committee Members,
I try to be even handed and neutral when I write. BUT, there are moments that even I lose that sensibility.
So, if I may point out the biggest reversal of position that I have seen in the last ten years other than Trump's almost daily doublespeak, this article tells us that Ms. Pizzatola of the lawsuit organization now urges the City Council to AMEND THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE!!!
I presume this article is accurate but many have not been so. If it is accurate, those who contributed to her now see the reality that they were misled over the past months on the issue. My personal opinion has been that her YouTube character has created a cult. At yesterday's RTC meeting several people shouted out to Michael that the lawsuit decision did not prevent choice. Ms. Pizzatola now proves otherwise. President Mulgrew was right!
Finally, hopefully, we will no longer hear this particular falsehood perpetrated and perpetuated as truth.
Vinny Gaglione
Remember, whenever someone says but, you may disregard whatever precedes it. This person, obviously, is partisan as all get out. Now it turns out the article was inaccurate, he was wrong, and he later had to walk back this nonsense. Still, the arrogance is palpable. Do you believe for one minute this guy is even-handed or neutral? Do you want a guy whose job depends on loyalty to "President Mulgrew," who created this disaster, representing you when said Mulgrew is acting against your interests?
Here's a simple fact. All of this stems from Mulgrew's boneheaded deal with MLC. They promised 600 million dollar a year savings forever for three stinking years of cost of living raises. That is, obviously, a terrible deal. Now they want to blame retirees, desperately defending their hard-earned health care, for their colossal screw up. And if that's not enough, now they want to ram this inferior deal down our throats in order to secure a contract at significantly less than half cost of living.
Seriously, how did our union leaders even graduate high school? They clearly have yet to master basic arithmetic.
Who knows what's good for members? We do. Who should be making these decisions? We, the members, who will live with them. Not "President Mulgrew," who pays himself triple our salary, along with all sorts of positions in NYSUT, AFT, MLC, and who knows what else. President Mulgrew, though, adamantly denies us a vote on this.
UFT aristocracy now stands up, in front of God and everybody, and suggests that the spread of charter schools and the privatization of education are unacceptable. This, of course, comes after they've successfully brought odious charter leaders to NYC, and even started their own charters. Still, I'm glad they've come around. Better late than never.
Here's a fact--they're absolutely right that school privatization is unacceptable. Further, it's unethical. And so is privatization of health care. It's been a disaster for the United States, and has its roots in racism. And now we support it!
Shame on us if we don't fight it with everything we've got.
Posts
