Yes, our teeth matter! -- Mulgrew launches his union re-election campaign with long awaited, highly demanded, "new and improved" Welfare Fund benefits.
Yes, our teeth matter! -- Mulgrew launches his union re-election campaign with long awaited, highly demanded, "new and improved" Welfare Fund benefits.
It's really ugly, and the exact opposite of "Unity", when a UFT employee paid with our dues money attacks dues-paying UFT members. I wish our union could have open, substantive conversations about our Welfare Fund.
I am not understanding why so much is focused on dental. My husband is NYPD and his Union dental is the same as us. I also find many dentists that take our dental coverage. When I lived in Queens, I found them. When I moved to Long Island, I found them. I didn’t have a dentist that dropped me because of the coverage. Members at my school did not have the experience you are talking about. My brother, the doctor in private sector has less dental benefits than we do.
This complaint seems political and not genuine at all.
Leave the name of your dentist. Share the wealth. BTW, my daughter is NYPD. Her free braces seem to counter your claims. My older daughter is a third year Elementary Education teacher in Brooklyn. She doesn’t get free braces, nor can she find a decent dentist that accepts UFT.
Also free braces depends on the stage of a child. I used both PBA and UFT coverages for my kids braces. We have to pay out of pocket for braces because they are preventative braces which means they got them younger. But someone who already has all the grown up teeth, braces are covered. They are not all the same. It depends on the stage and age of the child. Like I said, I am able to double dip on both union benefits and the coverages are pretty much the same. I know because we run both benefits.
My dentist is Dental Korner in Great Neck. For kids, I highly recommend Kiddsmiles. They have several locations. So dental and kid friendly. I love them. It’s convenient because there’s more than one dentist to go to.
I'm glad you've had good experiences with dentists, but others haven't been so lucky. My first dentist switched to accepting Welfare Fund as partial coverage. I switched to another dentist, who then dropped Welfare Fund due to low reimbursement rates. I'm now on my third dentist, who is great, but she has also commented on the difficulties working with our Welfare Fund. Not sure why you would think I'm making that up.
Our Welfare Fund benefits are excellent. I’ve never had an issue with prescription coverage or dental. Facts matter. The union has had conversations and has explained that there are processes to making improvements to the plan which do not happen overnight. When making changes to the plan it’s important to be thorough. But you all want to keep your narrative for political purposes. It’s ok for you and your cronies to continuously insult and slander hard working people who are dedicated to the work they do. People are allowed to defend themselves and put out factual information. We all see The bully tactics of your groups narrative where you spew nothing but hate and misinformation but as soon as someone claps back with facts your response is you can’t do that “I pay dues”. Well, I pay dues too. dental. Facts matter. The union has had conversations and has explained that there are processes to making improvements to the plan which do not happen overnight. When making changes to the plan it’s important to be thorough. But you all want to keep your narrative for political purposes. It’s ok for you and your cronies to continuously insult and slander hard working people who are dedicated to the work they do. People are allowed to defend themselves and put out factual information. We all see The bully tactics of your groups narrative where you spew nothing but hate and misinformation but as soon as someone claps back with facts your response is you can’t do that “I pay dues”.
I'm glad you've never had major issues with Welfare Fund coverage, that's what we want for all members. I've had good experiences with prescription coverage, but with dental it's ranged from mediocre to poor. That's not because of the dentists who treated me or the rank-and-file employees of our Welfare Fund. Mulgrew and Unity, the actual cronies getting paid double salaries and double pensions with our dues money, are the ones to be held accountable. When they could be more transparent and more open to discussion and collective problem-solving with their fellow UFT members, Mulgrew and Unity instead attack us for daring to question what they do. It's a 60-year hierarchy that needs to be reformed. Let's make our union more democratic, more responsive, and much stronger.
Is there a feature that one can enable that allows for a direct reply, on the Unity page, to your poorly written attempt to persuasively argue in favor of Unity and Mulgrew? Specifically, the Ad Hom attacks are getting old, and are blatantly transparent. Do we have to reply here?
Your hit piece doesn’t mention the fact that retiree dental and prescription benefits are covered by two separate entities. We retirees don’t raise the cost of welfare fund prescription costs. In fact, you didn’t mention retirees at all.
Was your target audience solely the in service demographic, or did I miss something Geof?
Our dental plan is substandard when compared to other unions. It’s the worst of all unions. Start there, then work your way back. Reverse engineer the issue, instead of waxing poetic about the never ending process to obtain better dental benefits. We’ve been yawning over that regurgitated verbiage, year after year.
Nobody wants to hear how hard you work. We only want results. You’re not doing manual labor over there. Get it done, or find someone else who can.
Interesting you noted that the bloated wf can be used to fight litigation against the city to keep our promised traditional Medicare/supplemental. Since we were promised this and the Orgnycretirees has won multiple court cases, it seems unethical to use our wf to keep litigating against ALL NYC Public Service Retirees.
Collective bargaining is the backbone of any strong union, including the UFT!
It’s frustrating and counterproductive when attacks come from within our own ranks, especially from those whose roles are funded by our dues. This behavior undermines the very spirit of solidarity that strengthens our union and our ability to collectively negotiate. We should be creating an environment where open, respectful, and real conversations can happen — not one where members are pitted against each other.
The real strength of the UFT lies in its members, all of whom deserve to have their voices heard. If we want to maintain and expand our hard-won gains, we need to focus on what unites us: better working conditions, support for educators, and the future of public education. By building bridges and encouraging open dialogue, we can continue to use collective bargaining to uplift all members of the UFT. This negative campaign appears to mislead its members.
It’s time we return to the principles that make our union powerful: solidarity, transparency, and unity in purpose.
Chad, you know that what you’re claiming is patently untrue. President Mulgrew and the entire UFT leadership continuously take actions to ensure high-quality, premium-free healthcare for both our union’s active members, as well as our retirees. Our UFT Welfare Fund is always engaged in continuous negotiations with insurance carriers, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and all other stakeholders within the healthcare sector — all with the singular focus of getting our union members the greatest access to the highest quality of healthcare that is currently available in our country. This also includes our dental care, which our union’s leaders are constantly striving to improve access to for all of our union’s members. No other public sector union in the country has a Welfare Fund as strong and as extensive as the UFT Welfare Fund is, and this is a true testament to the lasting legacy, strong leadership, vision of the UFT Unity Caucus, of which I am very proud to be a member of myself.
So you utilize two dental plans to cover costs. What are your experiences with solely using UFT dental?
The issue here is the single UFT coverage that most members and retired members have.
There’s nothing political about a dental plan. The costs that each union plan covers are available to compare and contrast.
Do you see anything like this with UFT dental?
PBA FAQ’s
“Q: Does the adult orthodontia benefit cover Invisalign?
A: The orthodontic benefit now available to active PBA members and their spouses/partners covers the full cost of traditional braces or it can be applied towards other treatments recommended by your provider, including Invisalign. Charges for all treatments vary from dentist to dentist, so it is advisable to shop around for the best rates available among in-network providers.
Q: Why did the PBA change dental plans?
A: The PBA Health & Welfare Funds are investing in the expanded benefits members have been asking for, including a much larger provider network and better overall quality in the dental plan. These benefits are funded by City contributions as part of our collective bargaining agreement. In 2008, we negotiated “escalators” that automatically increase the City’s contribution with every raise we receive. Because of that critical benefit, and because of our careful stewardship of the Funds over the last two decades, we have the resources to invest in improving benefits. This new plan is the benefit you worked for and earned.“
Does the UFT dental plan include “escalators” that automatically increase the City’s contribution with every raise that UFT members receive? That’s negotiated through collective bargaining; something that the UFT has failed to do.
I didn’t include the MetLife dental plan that we pay for through my wife’s private sector employer. It’s not too expensive of a premium, yet every dentist that we go to asks for MetLife instead of our UFT plan.
What do people do who only have UFT dental? Show me the full price of braces within the UFT dental plan.
Did you copy and paste that? Can you suggest a dentist that accepts UFT? I’ll go to yours if I have to. I can’t find a decent dentist that accepts our plan. Do you folks get some sort of executive plan through the UFT? You sound like you don’t worry about seeing a dentist.
Response here:
https://uftunity.substack.com/p/uft-welfare-fund-under-attack-unmasking
Geof Sorkin
Geof, would Unity's Substack consider enabling comments on its posts?
It's really ugly, and the exact opposite of "Unity", when a UFT employee paid with our dues money attacks dues-paying UFT members. I wish our union could have open, substantive conversations about our Welfare Fund.
I am not understanding why so much is focused on dental. My husband is NYPD and his Union dental is the same as us. I also find many dentists that take our dental coverage. When I lived in Queens, I found them. When I moved to Long Island, I found them. I didn’t have a dentist that dropped me because of the coverage. Members at my school did not have the experience you are talking about. My brother, the doctor in private sector has less dental benefits than we do.
This complaint seems political and not genuine at all.
Leave the name of your dentist. Share the wealth. BTW, my daughter is NYPD. Her free braces seem to counter your claims. My older daughter is a third year Elementary Education teacher in Brooklyn. She doesn’t get free braces, nor can she find a decent dentist that accepts UFT.
Also free braces depends on the stage of a child. I used both PBA and UFT coverages for my kids braces. We have to pay out of pocket for braces because they are preventative braces which means they got them younger. But someone who already has all the grown up teeth, braces are covered. They are not all the same. It depends on the stage and age of the child. Like I said, I am able to double dip on both union benefits and the coverages are pretty much the same. I know because we run both benefits.
Hi
My dentist is Dental Korner in Great Neck. For kids, I highly recommend Kiddsmiles. They have several locations. So dental and kid friendly. I love them. It’s convenient because there’s more than one dentist to go to.
I have never been dropped.
I'm glad you've had good experiences with dentists, but others haven't been so lucky. My first dentist switched to accepting Welfare Fund as partial coverage. I switched to another dentist, who then dropped Welfare Fund due to low reimbursement rates. I'm now on my third dentist, who is great, but she has also commented on the difficulties working with our Welfare Fund. Not sure why you would think I'm making that up.
They know that you’re not making anything up. It’s a poorly organized group effort to discredit your factual claims.
Our Welfare Fund benefits are excellent. I’ve never had an issue with prescription coverage or dental. Facts matter. The union has had conversations and has explained that there are processes to making improvements to the plan which do not happen overnight. When making changes to the plan it’s important to be thorough. But you all want to keep your narrative for political purposes. It’s ok for you and your cronies to continuously insult and slander hard working people who are dedicated to the work they do. People are allowed to defend themselves and put out factual information. We all see The bully tactics of your groups narrative where you spew nothing but hate and misinformation but as soon as someone claps back with facts your response is you can’t do that “I pay dues”. Well, I pay dues too. dental. Facts matter. The union has had conversations and has explained that there are processes to making improvements to the plan which do not happen overnight. When making changes to the plan it’s important to be thorough. But you all want to keep your narrative for political purposes. It’s ok for you and your cronies to continuously insult and slander hard working people who are dedicated to the work they do. People are allowed to defend themselves and put out factual information. We all see The bully tactics of your groups narrative where you spew nothing but hate and misinformation but as soon as someone claps back with facts your response is you can’t do that “I pay dues”.
Your copy/paste response double pasted your CTRL V command, LOL.
BTW, I’m from the PJ’s myself. You may need to explain “…clap back…” to some of our less informed retirees.
Drop the name of your dentist. We’ll all line up at their door.
I'm glad you've never had major issues with Welfare Fund coverage, that's what we want for all members. I've had good experiences with prescription coverage, but with dental it's ranged from mediocre to poor. That's not because of the dentists who treated me or the rank-and-file employees of our Welfare Fund. Mulgrew and Unity, the actual cronies getting paid double salaries and double pensions with our dues money, are the ones to be held accountable. When they could be more transparent and more open to discussion and collective problem-solving with their fellow UFT members, Mulgrew and Unity instead attack us for daring to question what they do. It's a 60-year hierarchy that needs to be reformed. Let's make our union more democratic, more responsive, and much stronger.
survey.uftmembers.org
Is there a feature that one can enable that allows for a direct reply, on the Unity page, to your poorly written attempt to persuasively argue in favor of Unity and Mulgrew? Specifically, the Ad Hom attacks are getting old, and are blatantly transparent. Do we have to reply here?
Your hit piece doesn’t mention the fact that retiree dental and prescription benefits are covered by two separate entities. We retirees don’t raise the cost of welfare fund prescription costs. In fact, you didn’t mention retirees at all.
Was your target audience solely the in service demographic, or did I miss something Geof?
Our dental plan is substandard when compared to other unions. It’s the worst of all unions. Start there, then work your way back. Reverse engineer the issue, instead of waxing poetic about the never ending process to obtain better dental benefits. We’ve been yawning over that regurgitated verbiage, year after year.
Nobody wants to hear how hard you work. We only want results. You’re not doing manual labor over there. Get it done, or find someone else who can.
Interesting you noted that the bloated wf can be used to fight litigation against the city to keep our promised traditional Medicare/supplemental. Since we were promised this and the Orgnycretirees has won multiple court cases, it seems unethical to use our wf to keep litigating against ALL NYC Public Service Retirees.
This comment is entirely inaccurate. The UFT Welfare Fund is not involved with any Medicare litigation. That is a verifiable fact.
Geof Sorkin
It is a verifiable fact we have not seen Michael Mulgrew or Unity take any action to defend Medicare access for UFT Retirees.
https://www.work-bites.com/view-all/ebelpo6j2srx7pgmh6ffo45s9gx2xc
For some reason I’m blocked from posting
Here is what I wrote
Collective bargaining is the backbone of any strong union, including the UFT!
It’s frustrating and counterproductive when attacks come from within our own ranks, especially from those whose roles are funded by our dues. This behavior undermines the very spirit of solidarity that strengthens our union and our ability to collectively negotiate. We should be creating an environment where open, respectful, and real conversations can happen — not one where members are pitted against each other.
The real strength of the UFT lies in its members, all of whom deserve to have their voices heard. If we want to maintain and expand our hard-won gains, we need to focus on what unites us: better working conditions, support for educators, and the future of public education. By building bridges and encouraging open dialogue, we can continue to use collective bargaining to uplift all members of the UFT. This negative campaign appears to mislead its members.
It’s time we return to the principles that make our union powerful: solidarity, transparency, and unity in purpose.
I fully agree with you!
Chad, you know that what you’re claiming is patently untrue. President Mulgrew and the entire UFT leadership continuously take actions to ensure high-quality, premium-free healthcare for both our union’s active members, as well as our retirees. Our UFT Welfare Fund is always engaged in continuous negotiations with insurance carriers, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and all other stakeholders within the healthcare sector — all with the singular focus of getting our union members the greatest access to the highest quality of healthcare that is currently available in our country. This also includes our dental care, which our union’s leaders are constantly striving to improve access to for all of our union’s members. No other public sector union in the country has a Welfare Fund as strong and as extensive as the UFT Welfare Fund is, and this is a true testament to the lasting legacy, strong leadership, vision of the UFT Unity Caucus, of which I am very proud to be a member of myself.
Yada, Yada, Yada. You’re so happy to virtue signal, and blindly worship your Great Leader. That’s patently true.
“Shanker is rolling over in his grave.”
You're talking a lot but talking around what I said. Please explain what action Mulgrew and Unity have taken to defend Medicare for UFT Retirees.
Mulgrew made the statement about the cost of prescription drugs and cited obesity drugs
as an example, when he was talking to retirees.
Mulgrew did not know that retirees have their prescription drugs covered under the GHI/Emblem Health plan.
Hopefully, his “very smart people” know that because he has no clue.
So you utilize two dental plans to cover costs. What are your experiences with solely using UFT dental?
The issue here is the single UFT coverage that most members and retired members have.
There’s nothing political about a dental plan. The costs that each union plan covers are available to compare and contrast.
Do you see anything like this with UFT dental?
PBA FAQ’s
“Q: Does the adult orthodontia benefit cover Invisalign?
A: The orthodontic benefit now available to active PBA members and their spouses/partners covers the full cost of traditional braces or it can be applied towards other treatments recommended by your provider, including Invisalign. Charges for all treatments vary from dentist to dentist, so it is advisable to shop around for the best rates available among in-network providers.
Q: Why did the PBA change dental plans?
A: The PBA Health & Welfare Funds are investing in the expanded benefits members have been asking for, including a much larger provider network and better overall quality in the dental plan. These benefits are funded by City contributions as part of our collective bargaining agreement. In 2008, we negotiated “escalators” that automatically increase the City’s contribution with every raise we receive. Because of that critical benefit, and because of our careful stewardship of the Funds over the last two decades, we have the resources to invest in improving benefits. This new plan is the benefit you worked for and earned.“
Does the UFT dental plan include “escalators” that automatically increase the City’s contribution with every raise that UFT members receive? That’s negotiated through collective bargaining; something that the UFT has failed to do.
I didn’t include the MetLife dental plan that we pay for through my wife’s private sector employer. It’s not too expensive of a premium, yet every dentist that we go to asks for MetLife instead of our UFT plan.
What do people do who only have UFT dental? Show me the full price of braces within the UFT dental plan.
Did you copy and paste that? Can you suggest a dentist that accepts UFT? I’ll go to yours if I have to. I can’t find a decent dentist that accepts our plan. Do you folks get some sort of executive plan through the UFT? You sound like you don’t worry about seeing a dentist.