A Special 'Talk Out of School' broadcast, tonight: Conversations with Bennett Fischer, candidate for RTC chapter leader, and Marianne Pizzitola, Prez of NYC Retirees
Tonight, we talk about the upcoming UFT spring election, the fight against the erosion of our union healthcare benefits with the forced implementation of Medicare Advantage, and much, much more!
Hey, union family:
I’m inviting to join me, tonight, Sunday, February 25th at 7 PM, for a very special broadcast of Talk Out of School on WBAI 99.5 FM.
I speak to retired educator and union activist, Bennett Fischer.
Bennett, along with over 300 retirees, is running on the Retiree Advocate slate to lead the Retired Teachers Chapter within the United Federation of Teachers.
Retiree Advocate (RA) is political caucus in the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).
They will challenge Michael Mulgrew’s deeply entrenched Unity caucus with a full slate of three-hundred retired educators — teachers, paraprofessionals, therapists, counselors, nurses, secretaries and other UFT titles - in the triennial chapter elections this spring.
For nearly three years, Retiree Advocate/UFT and our allies from across the spectrum of NYC municipal unions, have been fighting to preserve our traditional Medicare benefits, as they face attacks from the mayor's office, the Municipal Labor Committee, and Mulgrew, the architect behind the city’s privatized Medicare Advantage plan (MAP).
Health care decisions should be between us and our doctors. Big private insurance corporations should not profit at the expense of our health. Thankfully, RA and NYC retirees are fighting to preserve and strengthen NYC laws that protect our benefits.
This upcoming spring retiree chapter election may have a big impact on our union leadership in regards to the fight to stave off attempts by the city to force all Medicare eligible city retirees into the highly litigated and much maligned MAP.
In the second segment, I speak to Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees. Her organization, comprised of NYC retirees from our city’s unions, has been leading the fight against the city and the top establishment union bosses who are partnering in cost savings healthcare givebacks that endanger the healthcare benefits of retired and active city workers.
She will share updates on the fight the NYC retirees are waging to preserve their hard earned benefits. We also have an very interesting conversation about the upcoming RTC election and the history behind the misuse of the Healthcare Stabilization Fund.
You don’t want to miss tonight’s broadcast! You can listen to the livestream on your computer or mobile device at wbai.org
The show will be available to download as a podcast on Apple, Spotify, and here, at The Wire.