NEARLY 10K HEALTHCARE REFERENDUM PETITION SIGNATURES + MLC READIES TO REPLACE GHI-CBP FOR ACTIVE CITY WORKERS
NEARLY 10K HEALTHCARE REFERENDUM PETITION SIGNATURES + MLC READIES TO REPLACE GHI-CBP FOR ACTIVE CITY WORKERS
An update from UFT Members for Premium-Free and Quality Healthcare
We launched the UFT Healthcare Referendum petition campaign in March of this year. We are now at around the 10K petition signatures mark, even as we are approaching a dire stage in the future healthcare of city active workers and city retirees.
The Municipal Labor Committee (MLC), led by a handful of union bosses, continues to plow ahead with their campaign, in partnership with the City, to sell-off our hard-earned healthcare benefits for "cost savings".
As you know, city retirees are still being threatened to be forced into a privatized, inferior Medicare Advantage plan.
The City is appealing the August court decision which "permanently' halted their attempts as a result of the lawsuit brought by the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees.
The City is also still trying to get the City Council to change the city administrative code and blocking legislation that would preserve the Senior Care plan, with traditional Medicare, from being codified.
And, now, UFT executive member and New Action co-chair, Nick Bacon, shared with us, in an article, a startling revelation that the healthcare plan for all city workers is on the verge of a major, cataclysmic change.
Bacon writes,
"On Wednesday, October 11th, following an audio leak of internal talks about the Request For Proposal (RFP) to select new healthcare insurance providers, UFT President Michael Mulgrew told us more about the pending healthcare switch than he has in a long time. Don’t get me wrong—that isn’t much—but now we have official confirmation that GHI-CBP as we know it will no longer be our insurance carrier. To most of us, that’s not exactly welcome news.
What will we have? Either Emblem (but newly with UnitedHealthcare) or Aetna (with Aetna)."
Recent DC 37 delegate meeting minutes reveal that this change to active city worker healthcare is imminent and that members will only given 90 days notice about this looming change.
The need to be able to have a democratic voice in the decision-making of collective bargaining agreements involving any major changes to our healthcare is greater than ever. Our petition addresses this precisely.
We need our union family to organize further around this petition if we are to let Mulgrew and leadership know that the rank and file members must have a direct say in our healthcare plans.
One interesting historical note: In 2008, the UFT delegate assembly affirmed in a resolution that we are the primary stakeholders in our current healthcare plan, including the right to be included in any profit conversion by successive organizations.
Please, help us reach 11K and beyond. We need to get to 19.5K.
Let's prove to the naysayers that say we won't hit the 10% of UFT members needed to trigger a referendum vote to preserve our healthcare from significant changes and to ensure all proposed changes are fully disclosed to every union member.
Call to Action
We need you to spread the word. today. Share the petition with your UFT friends and family, schools, colleagues, former colleagues -- to all who will listen and are concerned about the direction of our healthcare benefits.
You can do so by having them sign it electronically at: hcpetition.educators.nyc
Or download and print the PDF version and circulate it among UFT members: hcreferendum.educators.nyc
We need all chapter leaders, delegates or active members who are circulating petitions at their schools to submit these to us.
You can also help this cause by making a donation for our tech, administrative and printing costs.