We Must Aid Retired Paras in Distress

Our group, Fix Retiree Benefits, along with Fix Para Pay and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, has written a letter to both UFT President Michael Mulgrew and AFT President Randi Weingarten, demanding help for the 183 retired paraprofessionals whose pensions are being cut. You may view the letter here. Randi Weingarten wrote back, saying she’s addressing the issue. I will keep you posted.

Also, we ask you to sign a petition supporting them. Given the grotesque ineptitude of TRS, who knows where this ends? Who’s to say that tomorrow, next week, next year, TRS won’t turn around and decide teachers, counselors, secretaries, OT/PT, school nurses, anyone and everyone won’t be hit with one of their new and novel interpretations? This has to be stopped right here and now.

There is a piece in SI Live from August 1st, about the para situation. I’m glad to see it covered somewhere other than here, and I hope that’s the start of a trend. I’ve spoken with reporters from at least two other publications in the last week, and we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt:

Three advocacy groups representing active and retired New York City educators are raising concerns over recent actions by the New York City Teachers’ Retirement System affecting retired paraprofessionals.

The groups, Fix Para Pay, Fix Retiree Benefits and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, say the Teachers’ Retirement System has notified over 100 retired paraprofessionals that their disability pensions were calculated incorrectly more than a decade ago.

I’m glad to see this getting press coverage, and I’m proud to be part of two of the three supportive groups. While I don’t qualify to join Fix Para Pay, I wholeheartedly endorse their cause. We know that pay is not the only issue paras face. 183 retired paras having their pensions cut by half means they need stronger protections. Paras need a path to tenure, as well as retroactive equity in how their pensions are structured.

In the SI Live piece, we finally have words from the UFT. Spokesperson Alison Gendar is quoted:

“We have successfully worked with TRS officials to lessen the impact of the agency’s error on our members, but there is more work to do,” said Alison Gendar, a UFT spokesperson. “We are committed to working through legislative and legal channels to make sure that our members are not further harmed.”

Now this is not a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I’ve spoken with Alison, and she’s smart (in stark contrast to the “Very Smart People” Mulgrew loves to reference). That said, I hear no sound, feel no fury from these words, and they still signify nothing.

Of course, Alison is a spokesperson. She’s not an elected union official. Elected union officials, in fact, need to use her when they aren’t up to the task. Michael Mulgrew has said nothing. Elected para reps? Having signed the oath, perhaps they’re waiting on Mulgrew to tell them what to say. Tom Brown and the other trustees, the ones Mulgrew places on a pedestal? Mum’s the word. Likely as not, Mulgrew told Alison to just get out there and say something.

When I was little, I used to ride through the Midtown Tunnel with my parents. There were these guys sitting in little windows, evidently working in the tunnel all day. I used to think those guys had the worst job in the world.

Now I think Alison has the worst job in the world. Of course, she needs to rationalize this disaster as best she can. I couldn’t come up with better. But there is no rationale and it’s her job to provide one. One of the great things about being a teacher was that I wasn’t required to rationalize errors (beyond nodding my head politely during a whole lot of wasteful PD).

It’s tough to explain (let alone defend) the big nothing that the UFT has accomplished with TRS, especially when UFT Unity’s newly elected Trustee/ Assistant Treasurer Tom Brown chairs it. As far as helping paras who were led to expect a certain pension rate, at least one by Brown himself, UFT has done nothing to help the 183 retired paras facing financial ruin.

In my last post, I went after a particularly offensive statement quoted by Lynn Winderbaum, a Florida representative of the Unity Caucus. The quote referred to “only” 183 paraprofessionals having their pensions cut by half and called it “good news.” I didn’t concur at all. It went on to suggest they were getting “information and assistance” from the UFT. I deemed that disingenuous and preposterous, as they were still losing the money.

Lynn Winderbaum wrote me, saying the quote came from Bennett Fischer, RTC Chapter Leader, and not Unity. I was pretty surprised. That said, the source of the quote does not remotely improve it. (It was written in an email to “Section Coordinators,” whatever they may be, and Winderbaum, evidently, is one.)

It certainly sounded like something that came from Unity. It seemed to bend over backward to defend them:

The good news is that only 183 members, paraprofessionals who retired on disability pensions, are affected. The bad news is that their pensions are being cut in half.

However, the UFT is providing information and assistance to paraprofessionals who have been affected to make sure that this error is corrected and that they receive the correct amount they are entitled to in their pension checks.

There’s a lot to unfold right there. Which “error” is he referring to? Is the error the pension they were promised, or is it the one, when they call UFT, they’re told they are stuck with? If it’s a TRS error (and it is) why on earth must these retired paras pay for it? What exactly is the “correct amount?” Is it the amount they were promised, or the one TRS says they will get?

Now TRS says they will get 50% of what they were getting. In fact, they’re likely to get even less. Many, more likely most, will be unable to simply pony up three years of half their pension, and will therefore face deductions going forward. Thus, they’ll end up receiving even less than half of what they were promised.

I once had a Shakespeare teacher who told us, “Once anyone utters the word but, you may disregard whatever precedes it.” Bennett chooses the word, “however,” but it means the same. It effectively discounts the fact that they’re losing half their income, with the proviso they’re receiving “information and assistance.” I’ve met with some of the affected paraprofessionals and the “information and assistance” they’ve been receiving has been on the lines of, “Gee, we’re really sorry, BUT there’s nothing we can do.”

You see? Everything that precedes but is meaningless. Not only am I losing half my pension, but they also want me to return a year and a half worth of what I’m receiving. What do I care how sorry you are? I want you to do something.

Just how helpful is UFT? I advised one of the affected paras to call the UFT’s free legal plan for advice. She wrote me back, saying when she told them what her issue was, they refused to help her.

Up until now, despite Alison’s impressive sounding words, what we’ve gotten from Unity are crickets. And Bennett’s assurance they will get the “correct amount that they are entitled to,” is cold comfort when TRS says they’re entitled to half of what they agreed to upon retirement.

If an injury to one is an injury to all, an injury to 183 is beyond intolerable. These are our sisters and brothers, and it’s on us to come to their aid.