After Hostile Takeover By AFSCME: Rally Today For Retirees’ Healthcare Rights With DC37 Retirees’ Association, NYC Org Of Public Service Retirees

DC37 Retirees’ Association, NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees to hold rally and press conference today in Manhattan

To help explain the issue, Marianne Pizzitola, of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees (a completely separate legal entity from their former unions) posted the following video to Youtube:

We have previously published an article describing this issue in a small amount of detail when it first happened.

The announcement of the rally occurring today follows:

DC37 Retirees Hold a Press Conference and Rally

Manhattan, New York: On February 22, AFSCME President Lee Saunders placed the DC37 Retirees’ Association under emergency administratorship. Six to eight AFSCME staffers barged into our office, seized books and records, and changed the locks to our office. Our website content was changed and our ability to meet our members’ problems ended. We were open throughout the Covid epidemic, and have been forced to make due with a reduced office staff. The folks who were on the job that day suffered emotional and mental distress, and were shaken to their core. There were attempts to take people’s personal cells phones away from them. Not a nice picture.

AFSCME says that all this was done because we failed to submit IRS 990 forms which not for profit groups must file. Also, they say our books were not audited. We gave all needed information to our accountant to meet those requirements. We never received a notification from the IRS that we had lost our non-profit status or owed penalties.  When we learned that there was a problem, we started corrective action at once.

Ann Widger, who was named administrator of the Retiree Association, said in her statement to our members “I realize that some will say this is about the current debate around retiree health care for New York City Retirees. Make no mistake: it is not.”

Yes Ann, that is exactly what this is about. We also say that this “debate” is a matter of life and death for an older population with serious health conditions that will be compromised by a Medicare advantage system known to put their profits ahead of patients’ health needs.

Yes, our accountant failed to file needed forms with the IRS. However, one month prior to the AFSCME action, our board voted to resume our contributions to help pay for the legal cases filed by the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees. Those lawsuits have stopped the Medicare advantage plan in its tracks (to the benefit of our members.)

Last June, Widger sent us a threatening memo and warned us not to continue our contributions. We refused to buckle under, we support the fight against the deal made by the Municipal Labor Committee (including the local AFSCME council) and the city. That is the real “crime” we are being punished for.

We would have hoped that our national union would stand with us in this fight. AFSCME says they are in favor of traditional Medicare, as proven by numerous resolutions passed at conventions over the years. Instead they are punishing us for our fight to maintain it.

Advertisement

Many of us have spent over fifty years as members of AFSCME fighting for the benefits we need today. The constitution of our organization says that we exist to protect and expand the rights and benefits of New York City retirees. We refuse to have our health benefits diminished by the plan to force retirees into a privatized for profit Medicare (dis)Advantage Plan!

The statement by the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees follows:

NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees Stands in Solidarity with DC37 Retirees for A Press Conference and Rally in Protest to AFSCME

Manhattan, NY: Outraged by the hostile takeover of the DC37 Retirees Association, the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees stands in unwavering solidarity with our fellow retirees.

For years, we’ve fought tirelessly to defend traditional Medicare, only to face betrayal from those who once swore to fight for us. Now, the DC37 Retirees, despite belonging to a supposedly powerful union with a long history of leadership, face draconian punishment for simply advocating for the exact cause we champion.

Their supposed leaders, failing their fundamental duty, offered no support or guidance before seizing control of the DC37 Retirees Association. This outrageous double standard becomes even more egregious when considering other union groups with similar issues faced no such consequences.

This betrayal goes beyond the takeover itself. In June of last year, a powerful AFSCME official, Ann Widger, threatened the DC37 Retirees Association for daring to support our legal fight to protect traditional Medicare. Her message: continued donations would result in receivership. Following through on her threat, the hostile takeover occurred when donations resumed.

Unions, once beacons of dissent, now stifle these very voices and threaten those fighting for their fundamental rights.

We are the backbone of the labor force who demand a swift return to the core values of unions: protecting workers and retirees, not silencing them.

This attack on retirees trying to protect their earned Medicare benefits is shameful. AFSCME, once a champion for Medicare alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and President Johnson, now allows its largest district council to force retirees into a privatized, for-profit plan that weakens their access to doctors, denies care, is rejected by many of our healthcare providers, and puts seniors’ lives at risk.

We thought we were UNION!

PRESS CONFERENCE

Join us on Wednesday, March 6th at 11 AM at 75 Maiden Lane as we fight for justice, our healthcare future, and the soul of the union movement!

Banner Image: Labor Day protest. Image Credit – Liemedia