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New York Politics

NYC’s largest municipal union urges workers to confront Council

members who oppose Medicare Advantage push
By Chris Sommerfeldt
New York Daily News • Published: Aug 22, 2023 at 12:43 pm

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New York municipal retirees protest changes to their Medicare in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, March 9, 2023. (Barry Willilams/for New
York Daily News)

New York City’s largest municipal union is text-blasting its members urging them to bombard
Council members with critical phone calls if they support a bill that would guarantee traditional
Medicare coverage for retired municipal employees, the Daily News has learned.

The text action from DC37 is part of the politically influential union’s support for an effort by
Mayor Adams’ administration to make a cost-cutting, privatized Medicare Advantage plan the
only health insurance option available for the city’s 250,000 municipal retirees.

The texts, copies of which were obtained by The News, take aim at Intro 1099, a bill penned by
Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron that would require the city to offer its retired workers a
premium-free traditional Medicare plan. Most of the city’s retirees currently benefit from such
a Medicare structure, consisting of the universal federal program and a city-subsidized Medigap LATEST
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legislation could put active union workers’ health insurance at risk. 5m

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City Councilman Charles Barron (Michael Albans/New York Daily News)

Geo-targeted to reach active DC37 workers in the districts of the 17 Council members who have
signed on as sponsors of Barron’s bill, the texts call out the sponsors by name for supporting a
measure that “threatens DC37′s ability to keep your health care premium-free.”

The texts then list phone numbers for the Council members’ offices and encourage recipients to
call them and “ask why” they’re backing the Barron bill.

The missives do not elaborate on how Barron’s measure would harm active city workers’ health
care.

DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, a top leader in the municipal organized labor
hierarchy, has repeatedly warned that the city might have to start charging active workers
monthly health insurance premiums if it can’t shift retirees into a more cost-effective Medicare
Advantage plan.

The robo-texts started going out this week, and several of the Barron bill-backing members
have already received calls from concerned DC37 workers, according to Council and labor
sources familiar with the matter.

DC37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, a top leader in the municipal organized labor hierarchy, has repeatedly warned that the city
could have to start charging active workers monthly health care premiums if it can’t shift retirees into a cost-cutting Medicare Advantage
plan. (Andrew Schwartz/For New York Daily News)

Among the bill sponsors are Queens Democrat Council members Linda Lee and Lynn
Schulman, Brooklyn Democrat Justin Brannan, and Republicans Ari Kagan of Brooklyn and
Vickie Paladino of Queens — all of whom are facing challengers in November’s Council
elections.

Speaking to The News on Tuesday morning, Barron, a democratic socialist who’s leaving office
at the end of the year , said the DC37 text blast is “terribly misleading” and an attempt by the
union to politically punish Council members who resist the proposed Advantage switch.

“This is supposed to be a democracy, but if you don’t believe their lies, they punish you?”
Barron said. “That’s disgusting.”

The text action comes after Garrido and other DC37 brass discussed plans in June to make life
politically tough for Council members supporting Barron’s legislation. In a private virtual
meeting at the time, DC37 leaders raised the possibility of pulling monetary support,
endorsements and other political perks for any members bucking the line on the Advantage
matter, according to a recording obtained by The News .

The text blast appears to be the first political retribution action taken by the union since that
June meeting.

New York municipal retirees protest changes to their Medicare in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, March 9, 2023. (Barry Willilams/for New
York Daily News)

It’s unclear if the union plans to rescind any endorsements for Barron bill-supporting Council
members ahead of the November elections. Several of the bill sponsors, including Brannan, the
Council’s Finance Committee chairman, were endorsed by the union earlier this year.

Thea Setterbo, a spokeswoman for DC37, which represents some 150,000 municipal workers,
would not say Tuesday if it plans to take additional actions against members favoring Barron’s
legislation.

Garrido, through a statement provided by Setterbo, defended the text blast.

“We have a fundamental obligation to inform our union members of harmful legislation — and
the elected officials who support it — when their livelihood and rights are at risk,” the statement
said. “Despite what certain individuals claim, Intro 1099 is an outright attack on workers’ right
to collectively bargain their benefits ... This irresponsible proposal would also lock in a specific
retiree healthcare plan without a means to pay for it, effectively saddling active workers and
pre-Medicare retirees with the bill.”

For decades, premium-free health care coverage has been a given for active and retired city
workers.

The Adams administration and municipal labor leaders are raising the possibility of undoing
that guarantee due to ballooning city budget deficits that could top $10 billion by the 2026
fiscal year, according to fiscal projections.

New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks at City Hall on August 16, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

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With the looming deficits in mind, the mayor’s team has stressed the need for allocating budget
savings across the city government — and shifting retirees into an Advantage plan is a top
priority on that front.

The mayor’s budget advisers estimate enrolling retirees in Advantage would save the city as
much as $600 million annually on health care costs, thanks in part to the program being
subsidized by the federal government at a higher rate than Medigap supplements. Unlike
traditional Medicare, Advantage plans are administered by private health insurance providers,
which also produces savings.

Thousands of retired city workers — and their allies in the Council — have countered that
Advantage is a bad deal. They’ve pointed to federal studies that show Advantage plan holders
can be denied “medically necessary” care, in part due to convoluted pre-authorization processes
required by private insurance providers for some procedures.

Adams has dismissed those concerns, arguing his administration’s plan would improve
coverage for retirees and continue to provide them with premium-free care. The Municipal
Labor Committee, an umbrella organization for the city’s public sector unions co-led by
Garrido, has joined Adams in trumpeting the plan as a boon to retirees.

But courts have blocked several versions of Adams’ Advantage plan , ruling it violates local laws
that require the city to provide its retired workforce with premium-free health care for life. The
administration is currently in the midst of appealing one such ruling .

Marianne Pizzitola, a retired FDNY EMT who leads a grassroots retiree group that filed the
lawsuits resulting in Adams’ plan being blocked, said DC37′s text message blast is especially
insulting because it pits active union workers against retirees.

“This is not how labor treats labor. We built these unions and built NYC,” Pizzitola said. “Active
workers are basically being told,’ If we can’t screw the retirees, we need to screw you.’”

2023 > August > 22

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