Unity--Paras Need a Boost, and Retirees Can Piss Off

Yes, that’s a parody cover. Mulgrew didn’t actually say those words (and Cuomo didn’t win the primary), but Unity’s indifference to retirees is mind-blowing nonetheless. Meanwhile, it’s comical watching Mayor Mamdani, who sat at a UFT Hilton gala professing support for the para bill, now claiming it violates the Taylor Law.

The real NY Daily News, while claiming to sympathize with the paras, seems to agree:

Mulgrew should have done a better job on behalf of the UFT paras at the negotiation table, like he did on behalf of the UFT teachers. The state Taylor Law, which regulates labor relations with public unions, delineates what matters are required to be collectively bargained, what is allowed to be collectively bargained, and what is forbidden to be collectively bargained, like pensions.

Pay, including wages, salaries and bonuses, like the Council’s Mulgrew $10K checks, must be collectively bargained. There is no role for a legislature to send out money.

I've no doubt Mulgrew will disagree, and it’s likely this is headed for court. Despite what DN writes, Mulgrew did no better for teachers than for paras—teachers just had a higher salary to start. Everyone got the same raise, no matter what. Let’s not forget, when Mulgrew had the chance to give paras a permanent, pensionable raise as high or higher than the bill’s one-year allowance, he opted not to bother.

Meanwhile, Mulgrew has gotten up, in front of God and everybody, on multiple occasions, claiming 1096, the City Council bill that would support and sustain retiree, is a violation of the Taylor Law. He can’t say it enough. And his lawyers, paid to support Whatever He Says, couldn’t agree more.

The irony here is the Taylor Law explicitly covers paraprofessionals. It does not cover retirees at all.

Yet Mulgrew will go on and on about how we’d like to help retirees, but we can’t violate the Sacred Taylor Law

What we have here is a leader who’s opted to do whatever he wants, however it suits him. We further have a veritable army of people, ostensibly paid to represent us, who have literally signed an oath of loyalty to their caucus (rather than us).

And just in case that’s not enough, Michael Mulgrew will fire anyone who doesn’t support his whims. If they happen to have been elected by a three to one margin, as Migda Rodriguez was, too bad.

Perhaps Mulgrew missed the memo— REAL respect for paras includes honoring their democratic decisions.

When Unity spits in our faces, who will stand up for us? Of course, it’s on us to stand up for ourselves.

Mulgrew kept the first draft of the para bill under wraps until his Very Smart People assured him it did not violate collective bargaining. These same people thought they could charge retirees for the health care we were promised free all our careers. They thought they could impose co-pays on us in violation of the GHI contract (but eventually rewrote the contract to do so).

I don’t know where Mulgrew finds these lawyers, but despite his satisfaction with them, I question their competence. I’m not at all persuaded the para bill will withstand a court challenge.

Along with the Great Minds of Unity, these lawyers have a history. They did not count on retirees resisting Medicare Advantage. They fully expected us to do and say nothing. Make no mistake, aside from wearing a blue shirt one day, or a green one another, that’s the level of activism Unity wishes to engender. And that’s precisely why UFT raises consistently fail to keep up with the cost of living.

We’ve made some progress with Retiree Advocate (RA), but not enough. RA was very happy to accept the endorsement of the NY Organization of Public Service Retirees during the campaign. They put out a leaflet saying they’d battle for our health care. But they no longer communicate with the group. When I’m out marching with Marianne, I don’t see them. I don’t see RA organizing RTC to join, to raise money, or to work with our brother and sister retirees for a better future.

In some ways, I sympathize with them. It can’t be easy when Mulgrew builds an actual frigging wall so his Unity Cult doesn’t catch your cooties. It can’t be easy when the people who should be your main source of support turn out to be the same ones with whom you must do battle.

Still, that’s the job. If you run on a promise to stand with our brother and sister retirees, to protect health care, that’s what you have to do. If Michael Mulgrew and Unity block your way, you think outside the box. You forge alliances with anyone, everyone who can support your cause. That’s one reason why we, Fix Retiree Benefits, are willing to work with RA this election cycle, despite the fact they’ve not met our expectations.

Unity, though, continues to gaslight us. They have their phony-baloney Health Committee that, along with RA, approves contracts sight unseen. They passed a feel-good resolution to fight to improve the COLA, the second such resolution they’ve passed, and have done diddly squat. Our pharmacy premium went up 50% over two years, SHIP has doubled, and if they haven’t literally told us to drop dead, they’ve made it a point to work against our plainly stated goals.

It’s no big secret that Michael Mulgrew and the Unity Patronage Cult have decided to ignore the democratic voice of the UFT Retired Teacher chapter. We’ve voted twice, by overwhelming margins, to support legislation that would not only insure we not only retain our long-promised health care, but also roll back the odious co-pays that have wreaked havoc on our most vulnerable members.

Despite this, Mulgrew has the chutzpah to show up to our meetings, invited or otherwise, and boast of how well we are treated. If that’s so, why are we all paying pharmacy premiums most city retirees do not? Why did Mulgrew’s BFF Tom Murphy run meetings in which no votes were taken and members made no decisions whatsoever? Why does the RTC have no budget, and why must every single penny we spend be approved by Mulgrew?

The only thing Michael Mulgrew and Unity care about is keeping themselves in power. They saw, in the last general election, that fewer retirees voted, and that they managed to outpoll both ABC and ARISE together among retirees. They think we are satisfied with their promises of opposing Medicare Advantage, and ought not to fret over their mad scramble to keep the power of dumping us into it at the earliest possible juncture.

It was another story with the paras. I cannot imagine how anyone lives in NYC on a paraprofessional salary. The paras were set to revolt, so Unity kept them quiet last round, with the promise of this bonus. It was a 100% political calculation, and we know that because until Fix Para Pay embarrassed them, Unity chose not to help them at all.

Democratic leadership, at its most basic, is about representing and serving those you lead. That’s not what Unity practices. Mulgrew fancies himself a king, does as he pleases, and doesn’t fret until and unless there’s a direct threat to his power. The Unity Caucus is a thoroughly corrupt arm of this philosophy.

Unity must go, next year in the Retired Teacher Chapter, and the following year altogether. It’s our job to toss them and choose representative leadership. This is a new day, and it’s only just beginning.