Teachers-union boss Michael Mulgrew’s decision to renege on his deal for retiree health-care benefits is more proof he can’t be trusted.
More important: He agreed to shifting retirees to Medicare Advantage to generate savings that paid for teacher raises and spared United Federation of Teachers retirees from paying health-care premiums, so if that’s off the table, Mulgrew needs to find savings elsewhere.
Or see his members’ pay cut to help make up the loss.
Under the arrangement — agreed to by the city and the Municipal Labor Committee (which reps city unions, including Mulgrew’s UFT) — the 250,000 retirees will join a Medicare Advantage plan managed by Aetna, trimming costs by $600 million a year.
That deal was negotiated under Mayor Bill de Blasio; Mayor Adams has just been trying to make it happen.
Yet suddenly Mulgrew is backing out.
“The United Federation of Teachers withdraws its support for the Medicare Advantage program for New York City Medicare-eligible retirees,” Mulgrew wrote in a letter to MLC Chairman Harry Nespoli.
Why the change of heart? Internal union politics, plain and simple.
A cadre of UFT retirees (most of whom don’t even live in the city but nonetheless get to vote in union elections) opposed the deal, and last week a faction representing them trounced Mulgrew’s group in union-leadership elections.
Mulgrew, who faces his own reelection next year, took the hint.
Yet raises for teachers and other workers were predicated on the $600 million in Medicare Advantage savings.
The deal also freed members from having to pay health-care premiums.
The union boss may fear political opposition from members, but that’s no excuse to renege — and stick the city with a sudden $600 million-a-year tab years after pay hikes went through.
If Mulgrew wants to back out, the onus is him, and the rest of the MLC, to find new savings to plug the hole.
Does he favor slapping his members with health-care premiums?
Would he agree instead to smaller pay hikes or outright cuts for teachers?
Those should be the defaults if the Medicare savings vanish and he can’t offer a reasonable replacement.
No way should New York taxpayers have to cover this kind of tab just to save his job.
