“Litigation against the falsehoods have been won consistently in a Court of Law by the Retirees! Still this Mayor and these Current Union Leaders disrespect us in every way. Never thought they would harm us. From 51 Council members in the NYC Council, just a few support us, the rest of these elected members ignore us.” – Organization of NYC Public Service Retirees~ Member, July, 2026
Our newest bill legislation will save current and future retirees from becoming homeless, being without sufficient healthcare and possibly being without sustenance. How can we defend a Mayor and Union Leaders who constantly hold back the facts? Your disdain for the public service worker in NYC is well known. Having held a public service title for over 22 years and a union shop steward position (for a term) my knowledge is verified. My counterparts in the private sector earned triple my salary. Yet, the benefits I was promised when I retired allowed me to accept living with a limited income until my retirement. Now, years later, when my spouse and I are both retired, have less income, the healthcare plan conditions I retired with, under the contract in place at the time, suddenly became threatened. That fact will harm us.
A few years back, “Out of the Blue”, DC37’s leader Henry Garrido and the then Mayor Adams sent out a letter stating retirees were being forced into a Medicare Advantage plan as their BETA group. Outrage was my first reaction, then fear. I started writing to the newspapers, online blogging and other ways to get the help I knew we would need if this was enacted. We could never afford what this devious change would require of us. I thought all was lost until I joined the Organization for NYC Public Service Retirees. Marianne Pizzitola, as the President and the Board Members of the Organization are retired educators, data information gatherers, and deep research experts who gave me hope. A terrific law firm was hired from our voluntary personal donations and our legal struggle against this injustice began and continues to this day. Despite winning eleven court cases, including appeals, this new Mayor Mamdani and the Union Leadership are still trying to use those who are retired as their scapegoats and continue to repeal our won cases. The latest horror is that Mayor Mamdani is a proven ageist who ignores our representative, our Organization’s President, Ms. Marianne Pizzitola, for a meeting to discuss our plight. Just last week we find out through a public notice he allowed raises for the City Council Members and his administration heads. Then yesterday we see a printed NBC New York article revealing he borrowed $4 BILLION from our NY Retirement Health Care Fund and was due to repay it in June 2026. He tells his buddy, Comptroller that he can’t repay it now and gets an extension to pay it back in December 2026. No guarantees it will be repaid at that time, though. No interest on that borrowed $4B either for the six extended months. That interest put back in our fund along with the principal borrowed, would sustain Retiree health care as they promised, for many more years. As well as cover newly retired current public service employees from DC37 and UFT. If it is guaranteed to be returned by the end of 2026. But wait! This morning it is publicized, with a joking inference to a purchase of a “Gucci” jacket by Hochul from the taxpayer’s dollars that Gov. Hochul gave Mayor Mamdani an $8 billion boost to his “needy” budget, I wasn’t laughing at the “insider’ joke since he still didn’t repay the $4B he owes retirees for their covered Healthcare. When ageism is being blatantly practiced by the NYC Mayor, the NYC Council, the NYC Union Leadership it is no laughing matter. Being disrespected, ignored and made fun of is deplorable behavior from all of them. The aging retirees who dedicated their lives to the service of the NYC public deserves better treatment.
Just as we were resilient, dedicated, loyal, and steadfast in our public service jobs, that same tenacity is alive within every retiree. We are continuing to fight for our survival. Both for traditional Medicare and financially by keeping our promised supplemental healthcare coverage choice from the City, and the ever increasing co-pays we are forced to now pay for testing and other lab services. It astonishes me to know that elected City officials and Union leaders could actually despise older retired service workers who kept the City operational, in maintained order, and rebuilt after each crisis tried to destroy our City.
We will never stop fighting and we will never give up what was promised.
~Kathy (O’Neil) Napoli
Retired from CUNY University and DC37
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