DC 37 retirees say they’ll fight takeover

They call takeover a 'scam'

District Council 37 retirees have called the decision by the international union to place their association under administratorship a “scam,” insisting that the group’s resistance to a planned switch of city retirees’ health care to Medicare Advantage was the true reason for the takeover, and not the parent union’s allegation that it was because of the association’s failure to file tax returns for several years. 

Ann Widger, the international retirees director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told members last month that the DC 37 Retirees Association, which represents more than 25,000 retired DC 37 members, was placed under an emergency administratorship and had its officers suspended because it had failed to file tax returns for the past six years and had lost its tax-exempt status. AFSCME did not indicate any financial wrongdoing.