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To the editor:
The attempt by the Municipal Labor Committee to block City Council legislation protecting municipal retirees’ health benefits has reached a new level of audacity and shame. In October, MLC Chair Harry Nespoli sent a letter to Speaker Adrienne Adams opposing legislation that would preserve retiree health benefits, labeling it illegal.
Now, MLC Co-Chair and District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido has invited every City Council member to union headquarters next week to discuss health care and the bill. Unconscionably, retirees actual stakeholders — will be excluded, most notably Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, who has been leading the fight against the proposed switch to a Medicare Advantage plan.
Unless Garrido has had a come to Jesus moment, Council members will continue to be fed the big lie that unions and the MLC represent current retirees. And that the bill is illegal. In fact, DC37 and MLC attorney Alan Klinger implied last year (on an MLC meeting recording) that a similar bill introduced by former Council Member Charles Barron was indeed legal.
Fellow NYCOCSR retirees will march and rally outside DC37 headquarters on Dec. 16 to protest our exclusion. As Pizzitola, quoting former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, has said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
Harry Weiner
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MARIANNE.PIZZITOLA
Harry - stop - you're makin' sense! Retirees are not in unions, we don't vote on contracts. Unions had a solemn duty to protect retirees - Klinger makes it clear - they want control of what we have to continue to pass costs on to us for THEIR benefit. They have been concession bargaining for years. If we preserve our benefits that have been unchanged for 60 years - preserve it like a floor... the unions can build on it, but cannot reduce. They should like that and support it. But they don't.. Why? Because they have every intention to increase copays and transfer premium to us. Eventually, senior care will cost the City nothing, because retirees will be paying copays and deductibles. Mulgrew, Garrido and Nespoli will say, "But its Premium Free!!" Meanwhile YOU ARE PAYING THROUGH THE NOSE EVERY TIME YOU GO TO THE DR. Its a con job.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 Report this
krell1349
I'm a DC37 retiree and what Garrido is trying to do is unconscionable. I received the letter. He's throwing the retirees under the bus. Keep up the good work, Marianne. I support the work you are doing. The retirees should have a seat at the table. I don't want an inferior Medicare Dis-Advantage plan. The way the healthcare is now is great. Until now, no copays, no pre-authorizations. I want it to stay this way. Hopefully the copays will eventually be eliminated.
Thursday, December 12, 2024 Report this
DOTHERIGHTTHING
The Unions/City made an illegal deal as the courts have declared time & time again. Retirees are Not represented by Unions anymore.The illegal deal traded Retirees earned promised healthcare away for pennies.
The Unions will now with hold endorsements & campaign money from any Council Member who supports bill 1096 to protect NYC Medicare Retirees.Aren't those acts anti-union?
Obviously , Garrido & other so-called Unions have NO Shame!
GOD Bless Marianne Pizzitola! Even Firemen Need Heroes!
Thursday, December 12, 2024 Report this