Thursday, May 8, 2014

Mulgrew Gets Definitive At The DA: No Paying For Health Care

There was a leaked memo going around that said city workers will pay a percentage of their salaries toward health care as per a "savings" agreement made between the city and the Municipal Labor Committee.

Here's how the payments will work according to the memo:


Salary
<$30,000
Contribution Percentage of Salary
0.0%
$30,000 - $40,000
0.5%
$40,000 - $50,000
1.0%
$50,000 - $60,000
1.5%
$60,000+
2.0%

Now before you think this is just some Internet conspiracy thing and the leaked memo is phony, Capital NY also reports that city employees paying a percentage of their salaries for health care is indeed on the table:

POTENTIAL HEALTH CARE PROBLEM IN U.F.T. DEAL -- Capital’s Dan Goldberg and Sally Goldenberg: Despite assurances from leaders of the city teachers' union that members “should not” have to pay more toward their health insurance as a result of their agreement with the de Blasio administration, that remains a possibility. Both the United Federation of Teachers and City Hall regard it as a last resort, something of a stick to encourage members to find other sources of health care savings to reach the targeted $1.3 billion over four years. But it has not been ruled out, and teachers could be asked to contribute as much as 2 percent of their salary to pay for benefits. In public, U.F.T. president Michael Mulgrew made it sound as if there was no chance that teachers would have to pay for their health benefits. The U.F.T.’s delegate assembly approved the contract deal on Wednesday night. http://goo.gl/2kxOjF

A colleague from school attended the Delegates Assembly yesterday, took notes at the meeting and reported back that UFT President Mulgrew was adamant that teachers would not be paying into their health care as part of this UFT contract proposal.

My colleague said that Mulgrew said the leaked memo was not something the unions had agreed to, that it had come from the city, that in any case one union could not agree to such a change, that it is the function of the Municipal Labor Committee as a whole to do so.

My colleague said that Mulgrew and the UFT leadership drew a line in the sand at the DA and said, unequivocally, members will not be paying premiums for health care as a result of this contract deal.

I am going to be very blunt about this paying for health care story:

If Mulgrew and the UFT are misrepresenting the "health care savings" in either the contract agreement or the backing vote by the Municipal Labor Committee and are preparing to get the rank-and-file a "generous" 2% salary increase next year only to take it right back for health care contributions, there will be hell to pay.

There is a lot of anger out there over the contract already, the delayed compensation, the "retro" that really isn't retro but future compensation for decade-old work (which you need to still be working for to get) and the changes to some of the work rules, including the ATR provisions and the "65% can opt out of the contract" provision.

My sense is that despite the anger from many in the membership over the contract, enough will vote yes for this contract proposal to pass it because A) they need the money, B) they think it will get passed no matter how they vote anyway and C) in the end will be concerned about what the UFT will negotiate if this gets voted down (HINT: could be worse - a meme put out there already by the UFT leadership and the Unity caucus.)

In short, the usual reasons why bad contracts have passed in the past.

But if the UFT leadership has agreed to a stealth health care payment and aren't being open and honest with the membership about it before the contract vote, I think you will see a major revolt in the ranks against the leadership.

Yes, the UFT rank-and-file have passively submitted to every slap and punch they've gotten from the NYCDOE and the UFT in the 13 years I have been a teacher, but I think they will hit a bridge too far if the UFT gets the membership a 2% "raise" next year and the city takes it right back for health care contributions.

What say you out there?

What have you heard about this stealth health care increase the UFT is allegedly spring on us?

Do you think the UFT, the rest of the unions and the city are playing a fast one on the rank-and-file, telling us there will be no payments up front for health care only to hit us with a 0.5%-2% payment of total salary once the contract is passed and the pattern is settled?

I have a difficult time seeing even the UFT leadership being this deceptive and dishonest, especially since this kind of betrayal would be the very kind of thing that most members would never forget.

Maybe Mulgrew might still think he could win re-election pulling that kind of fast one, but I bet an opposition from MORE running on the "Mulgrew Lied To Your Face And You Can See The Evidence Of That In Your Pay Stub" platform could beat him - especially since he was so emphatic about no health care payments at yesterday's DA.

But having been around for almost 13 years, nothing would totally surprise me anymore, so it's a question that needed to be put out there and asked.

That I even need to write this post speaks to how little trust there is for the current UFT leadership, the deals they make and the words they speak.

If it turns out Mulgrew and the leadership are lying about the stealth health care increase, we will use these words Mulgrew and his leadership spoke at yesterday's DA to drive home once and for all to the rank-and-file that the current UFT leadership are cheats and liars and it is time to clean house and bring in somebody who will truly represent the rank-and-file rather than just their own interests and privilege.

20 comments:

  1. Paying for health insurance is a slippery slope. In New Jersey we are paying. Christie is not satisfied and he is threatening to raise our payments a lot.

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    1. Yup. I have argued over and over on this blog that this is a concession I will not give because once it starts it never ends. It's 2% at first, then 4%, then 10%...

      UFT leadership says we're not paying for health care. De Blasio said same thing.

      I'll take them at face value despite the leaked memo.

      If it turns out they're lying and we get dinged for premiums I will hit them every day over the betrayal leading up to the next UFT election and do my damnedest to make sure as many teachers know about the betrayal as I can.

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    2. deBlasio does not say the same thing....From the NYTimes.....Aides to the mayor said they had cultivated a newly cooperative relationship between the city and labor negotiators, and they believed the unions would make good on a commitment to reduce their health care costs by $3.4 billion. If not, they said, the city reserved the right to enforce some of the terms.

      “These savings are enforceable by arbitration,” Mr. de Blasio said. “These savings will happen. Period.”

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  2. Mulgrew is pulling a fast one. If we can't meet the city health savings target, an arbitrator gets to decide on cuts. So, the contract itself may not outline premiums or benefit changes but they will end up being made anyway. In a few months (a year?) We will be told that we need to pay 2% of our salaries in premiums or an arbitrator will force us to use the so-called centers of excellence and city worker's clinics that the memo discusses. At that's a best case scenario -- worst case is we pay 2% and still have to go to some Soviet-style workers' clinics.

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    1. That's a scary prognosis - and you're probably right.

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    2. deBlasio came right out and said it. I posted what he said to a reply to the comment above this one. He will be using arbitration to help cut health costs. And if the Times is reporting it, Mulgrew knows it. He just didn't want it in the contract because he is playing games.

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  3. "Vote No" signs, everywhere.

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    1. There sure are a lot of them around Facebook and the Internet.

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  4. Absolutely ridiculous to say we will get a deal that is worse if we say no. When has that ever happened in the UFT past? Two deals went down and better agreements followed. One voted down by DA and the other by membership. It is amazing how powerless people feel we are. This is why we are so easily taken advantage of in so many ways. Many of us have a sense of fatalism even though ultimately the power is in our hands. Use it wisely instead of accepting our fate.

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    1. Didn't write the sentence well, James. I meant Unity people are saying if this gets voted down, the "next" deal could be worse, we'll have to wait until the other 152 unions make deals, etc. I'm a little blinkered from grading MOSL's today, but I saw that argument in at least two different places on the Internet.

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    2. "But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'"
      — Numbers, 13:31-33

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  5. The high school teachers get it and most will vote no. The elementary school teachers don't get and they want the pittance increase and money now. We must all reach out to our brothers and sisters in the elementary schools and enlighten them about the hypocrisy and the unfairness of this contract proposal. The ballots will start arriving May 19th.

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  6. "But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'"
    — Numbers, 13:31-33

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  7. Take a look at this article, it pretty much sums it up: www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/201405/8544974/potential-conflict-deblasios-teacher-accord

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  8. Alternatively, the city contributes to the UFT welfare fund. They could reduce the contributions to the welfare fund and make us pay higher copays for medicine, dental and vision.

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  9. This reminds me of Obama's, "you can keep your doctor."
    which was of course an intentional lie. But the intentional lie by the American politician is accepted as ethical by American folks

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  10. I was at the DA and Mulvey definitely made it clear that we would not pay a portion of premiums. I agree that if he is lying it would be his downfall. Mulgew may be a jerk but I don't think he is dumb enough to commit political suicide.

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    1. It would have been suicide if that was included in the contract, so Mulgrew is going to do what he did with the evaluations when he let Cuomo decide, and now deBlasio will do the same. He already said he would take it to arbitration and win this concession. Mulgrew will play stupid and yell and stomp his feet while winking.

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  11. Those who want to see this contract voted down need to understand that it will take a political campaign to do so. MORE is organizing such a campaign and everyone's help is needed to spread the word -- not only in your school. There are over 1700 schools. Look for the VOTE NO leaflets - or make your own and give it to people you work with - and beyond. A teacher lives in your building? Hand a stack of leaflets. Are you in a co-located school? Find your way to the mailboxes of the other schools. Is there a school near yours? Head over and talk to teachers and see if someone will hand them out. Unity is on the move - scheduling visits from the suits who will hold meetings where they will filibuster like Mulgrew did. Don't let them. Put a time limit on them and debate them. Use all the facts you have to fight them tooth and nail.

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  12. Teachers including HS teachers are in the dark. It's not like years ago when HS always voted for the opposition and held seats at the Ex. Board. Randi has been changing the rules, and with the oath signing, chapter leaders are like politicians, lying their way to a 2nd pension job because they signed the oath.

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