Weapon of Truth: Words

Fighting back with my sole weapon - words of truth!!

Dear media leaders in Journalism both independent  and corporate,

“NYC’s largest municipal unions urge their members to confront Council members who oppose their latest Medicare Advantage push”. Talk about printing the facts! Where do you get yours? Totally biased with the  wrong talking points! If you want the facts, the truth, the actual research for all of these things you print and podcast about… request an interview with Marianne Pizzitola or watch her YouTube channels! Marianne Pizzitola is the President of the NYC Organization for Public Service Retirees of which I am a member!

How dare you try to disgrace and disrespect those courageous and caring limited number of the NYC Council Members who after much deliberation and FACT CHECKING, made the decision to support CM Marte’s 1096 bill! That legislation will save current and future retirees from becoming homeless, without sufficient healthcare and being able to maintain themselves if disabled now or in the future. How could you side with a new Socialist Mayor, current Union Leaders and the newly elected Speaker of the NYC Council who are lying to and threatening to the current work force and retired work force that serve this City daily? This new Speaker and this new Progressive Socialist Mayor support New York’s Sanctuary City Status. Even though this sentence appears political at the heart it is not! It is about people’s real lives. This sanctuary policy hurts decades of public service employees now retired by diminishing their earned benefits by giving them away to others who have not contributed anything to this City. Do your due diligence as journalists by researching the facts for the litigation enacted by the organization for public service retirees.

The retirees were being forced into a Medicare Advantage Plan and by doing so we would lose our traditional type Medicare and CHOICE of an accompanying city paid Medigap plan that was paid for since the 1960’s. Disregarded are our deductions including and continuing onward from our limited Social Security deductions for Medicare; previous pension deduction contributions, union dues, agency fees, current co-pays, and our blood, sweat and tears! How dare you think or say otherwise! Unions are created to Unite us NOT Divide us! This Mr. Garrido, and Mr. Mulgrew used funds designated for members including retirees and now want us to cover their misappropriation of funds!

They decided to  pick upon the most vulnerable group… aged retirees and TRIED to make them a BETA group! We have NO vote in negotiations of current contracts, we have NO say in stopping their nefarious plans… so litigation was essential! This new Mayor ignores us and all the facts that support our fight against the harm put upon us from all the people in charge.

Where is Lee Saunders of AFSCME on all of this? He is the top Union person who is always concerned about Union busting. So why is he not recognizing or weighing in on Garrido and Mulgrew and  what they are  doing with their threats against the NYC Council’s support of 1096, CURRENT dues paying members, and public service retirees. What they  are doing is pitting current active employees against retired public service employees and that is the fastest path to Union busting I have ever witnessed!

Why would our Retiree Association President at DC37,  be afraid to take on Henry Garrido and Michael Mulgrew for this threat to the core of this Union? Debunking their lies and methods is the path to walk upon by supporting public service retirees.

Why do you dare to hurt the very people who helped build and rebuild this City on a wing and a prayer? We never asked for anything! We believed in the promises given. We worked for years, skimping and trying to feed our families on our low wages just to not be a  burden to anyone for financial assistance in our retired years! How could you listen to the words of these Union leaders who spit directly in our faces like none of us matter at all! In this era of fact-checkers and researchers the correct answers are right in front of you. Journalists need to take a step back and rescind these lies publicly! Garrido and Mulgrew need to resign and everyone else needs to own their responsibility for allowing this to continue! The only fighting back legion in all of this are the Retirees of NYC Public Service. Our President is a born Leader! Her fact checking is impeccable and we trust the truth she tells us will get us to the right side of history! We support Marianne Pizzitola and believe in her and ALL the volunteer retirees who are on our Executive Board, and those who serve as our Moderators. We pay by out of pocket donations for our Accountants and our Attorneys from our meager incomes. We are 1000% behind them all!

We buy newspapers, subscribe to News sites, independent Journalist sites, and we Vote in political races! We matter Mr. Mamdani, Mr. Garrido, Mr. Mulgrew, and Ms. Menin and we will keep mattering until our last breath!

Suncerely,

Kathy Napoli