The “deal” didn’t just affect teachers in the UFT. It was negotiated between NYC and the Municipal Labor Committee, and it affected 250,000 NYC retirees and their dependents in all municipal unions, including teachers, fire fighters, sanitation workers, cops, EMTs, professors, staff analysts, health-care workers, and all the various city worker retirees in DC 37. Mulgrew (UFT) and Garrido (DC 37) were pushing it and their unions have weighted votes inside the MLC. Other unions had no choice. These two unions worked out deals with de Blasio in 2014 and 2018 to raid the Health Stabilization Fund to provide wages for active workers, such that the raises wouldn’t appear on the city budget lines. In exchange they agreed to provide health “savings” by shifting the cost of health care onto retirees and pushing them into the arms of for-profit insurance corps. When retirees from all city unions fought back and achieved a win in court, Mulgrew and Garrido are now saying the retirees are the reason why active workers can’t get wage increases now. So the union leaders who should be fighting to defend workers’ rights, on and off and after the job, are pitting actives against retirees. Doing the bosses’ job for them.
The “deal” didn’t just affect teachers in the UFT. It was negotiated between NYC and the Municipal Labor Committee, and it affected 250,000 NYC retirees and their dependents in all municipal unions, including teachers, fire fighters, sanitation workers, cops, EMTs, professors, staff analysts, health-care workers, and all the various city worker retirees in DC 37. Mulgrew (UFT) and Garrido (DC 37) were pushing it and their unions have weighted votes inside the MLC. Other unions had no choice. These two unions worked out deals with de Blasio in 2014 and 2018 to raid the Health Stabilization Fund to provide wages for active workers, such that the raises wouldn’t appear on the city budget lines. In exchange they agreed to provide health “savings” by shifting the cost of health care onto retirees and pushing them into the arms of for-profit insurance corps. When retirees from all city unions fought back and achieved a win in court, Mulgrew and Garrido are now saying the retirees are the reason why active workers can’t get wage increases now. So the union leaders who should be fighting to defend workers’ rights, on and off and after the job, are pitting actives against retirees. Doing the bosses’ job for them.