I posted about this event just as I was leaving to attend Thursday morning:. NYC Retirees Press Release - Legislation Introduction with Council Member Christopher Marte to Protect Retiree Healthcare. No one from the UFT/Unity was there (of course) but ...
No one from the UFT/Unity was there (of course) but we had 4 members of the RTC Exec Bd at the event and a nice crew from Fix Retiree Benefits, which has been working closely with NYC Retirees.
Fix Retiree Benefits in the house
Saturday, August 15, 2026
DSA had a bunch of social events going on today and I intend to go to a beach party in Rockaway where I will stand around and try to find someone over 30 to talk to. There is also a local Rockaway DSA group meeting elsewhere which actually includes older people. Oh, the choices.
I attended the Thursday morning NYC Retiree rally and presser near City Hall along a nice sized crowd where the new bill replacing 1096 was announced by Democrat Chris Marti, one of the most liberal city council members from the lower East Side who was joined by Staten Island Republican Frank Morano, one of the most conservative members.
Only Marianne Pizzitola could accomplish such a feat of unity. I find it more than ironic that certain forces inside the current leadership of the Retired Teachers Chapter of the UFT have been critical of her efforts to unite all sides of the political world in the the support of the healthcare of retired NYC workers because they would rather people whose politics they abhor not to support us and castigate Marianne for getting them to work in our interests. The level of support for working with Marianne is one sticking point in the disagreement between the 30 year old Retiree Advocate, which won the 2024 election with Marianne's massive support, and the new kids on the block, Fix Retiree Benefits (FRB), which has been working with her organization to battle on issues like co-pay and para pensions.
After it was over and we took photos, I was one of the few people left when Rockaway lifeguard legend Janet Fash showed up.
She came by subway, so no surprise that the A-train would get here there late. She was disappointed in not getting to meet Marianne and Arthur Goldstein. I had just bought her book the day before and she signed it. (CBS Saturday morning just did a major feature on her and she has been appearing on NPR and other media). Her book goes beyond her life story and explores the corrupt lifeguard union. I remember reading about her battles with the union leader, who was also her boss. (Yes she was retaliated against). She was also active in the UFT as a chapter leader in a Queens middle school and had gone to UFT DAs and borough meetings and was aware the UFT is not democratic.
She is very up to date on the doings in the retiree chapter. I ran into her at the June RTC meeting and she attended the FRB zoom in late June and signed up to be more involved. She decided to take the ferry back to Rockaway and I considered going with her. I was trying to decide whether to go back to Rockaway or go back uptown to Bryant Park for a 12:30 Broadway in the park. I also had tickets for an Art Cart drawing class at 2:30. Having had chemo the day before, I had to make sure I had the energy to keep going. I decided to stay in the city and take a late afternoon ferry home.
I stopped for breakfast at a Dunkn on Chambers St. and took the subway uptown to Bryant Park (one of the great wonders of NYC and only a few blocks from my pied... er apartment (don't tell Mamdani - lucky I have a cheaper one). The night before I missed the 6PM yoga class but this Monday I'm going to the City of God movie.
Anyway, I'm so glad a went because I met two ladies with health issues, one with Type 1 diabetes (she was wearing a dexcom patch) and later at the Art Cart a cancer survivor who had a lot of knowledge and was very encouraging. We talked so much, my drawing of the buildings surrounding the park look like a Jackson Pollock.
Back to the rally and presser, this is an updated version of Intro 1096 that was proposed during the 2024-25 Council session.
The bill summary states: This
bill would maintain the health insurance coverage of eligible retired
employees of the city of New York and their dependents by prohibiting
the City from increasing the total costs for healthcare above the rate
paid by each retiree as of December 31, 2021, or by decreasing the level
of coverage that was provided to each such retiree as of December 31,
2021.
The full text of the bill reads as follows:
Int. No. 1008
A
Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to protecting the health insurance coverage and contribution
for Medicare-eligible retired employees of the city of New York and
their Medicare-eligible dependents
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section
1. Subdivision a of section 12-126 of the administrative code of the
city of New York, as amended by local law number 9 for the year 2010, is
amended to read as follows:
a. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings [hereinafter stated]:
[i.
“]City employee.[“] The term “city employee” means [A] a person: (1)
who is employed by a department or agency of the city; and (2) is paid
out of the city treasury; and (3) is employed under terms prescribing a
work week regularly consisting of twenty or more hours during the fiscal
year; and (4) is not employed by the board of education.
[ii.
“]City retiree.[“] The term “city retiree” means [A] a person who: (1)
is receiving a retirement allowance, pension or other retirement
benefit from a retirement or pension system either maintained by the
city or to which the city has made contributions on behalf of such
person pursuant to subdivision (g) of section 80-a of the retirement and
social security law; and (2) immediately prior to such person's
retirement as a member of such system, was a city employee, or was an
employee of the board of education employed under terms prescribing a
work week regularly consisting of twenty or more hours during the fiscal
year; and (3) had at the time of retirement, at least five years of
credited service as a member of such retirement or pension system,
except that (A) such requirement of credited service shall not apply in
cases of retirement for accident disability, (B) the requirement of
credited service for vested retirement and service retirement shall be
at least ten years for a person who was not an employee of the city or
the board of education on or before the effective date of the local law
that added this clause, and (C) notwithstanding the provisions of clause
(B) of this subparagraph, the requirement of credited service for
vested retirement and service retirement shall be at least fifteen years
for a person who was not an employee of the city or the board of
education on or before the effective date of the local law that added
this clause, is receiving a retirement allowance from the New York city
teachers' retirement system or the New York city board of education
retirement system, and held a position represented by the recognized
teacher organization for collective bargaining purposes on such person's
last day of paid service.
[iii.
“]Dependent.[“] The term “dependent” means [T]the spouse of a city
employee or city retiree or any child of a city employee or city retiree
during the period of eligibility of such child for coverage under the
insurance contract applicable to such employee or retiree; provided,
however, that no spouse or child of any such employee or retiree shall
be deemed a dependent after the death of such employee or retiree.
Diminish.
The term “diminish” means to cause any change in health care offered
that could potentially make it harder for city retirees residing
anywhere in the United States, including its territories and
possessions, to access their health care than before such change was
made. These changes include increasing the total costs for healthcare
paid by each city retiree, including with respect to premiums,
deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments.
[iv.
“]Health insurance coverage.[“] The term “health insurance coverage”
means [A] a program of hospital-surgical-medical benefits to be provided
by health and hospitalization insurance contracts entered into between
the city and companies providing such health and hospitalization
insurance.
§
2. Section 12-126 of the administrative code of the city of New York is
amended by adding a new subdivision e to read as follows:
e.
The city shall not diminish the health insurance coverage provided to
city retirees and their dependents or the contributions the city makes
for such health insurance coverage below the level of such benefits or
contributions made on behalf of such city retirees and their dependents
by the city as of December 31, 2021. Nothing in this subdivision shall
be construed to impair the ability of employee organizations to
negotiate the terms and conditions of employment, including those
concerning future retirement benefits, for their employee members.
§
3. This local law takes effect immediately and is retroactive to and
deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after December 31,
2021.
New York City Council Member Chris Marte [D-1st District] reintroduced legislation on Thursday aimed at blocking ongoing efforts to chip away at the healthcare coverage municipal retirees earned after decades on the job—and this time, he said, the bill will pass.
“I think there’s a lot of momentum on our side,” Marte told Work-Bites outside the gates of City Hall Aug. 13. “Whether it’s the recent [court] decisions, the [$53M] settlement, it really shows that this is a force to be reckoned with and we’re on the right side of history.”
In 2024, then Mayoral-candidate Zohran Mamdani told Work-Bites that Marte’s bill—then known as Intro. 1096— would not be needed if he was elected. But municipal retirees who have continued to press for legislation further codifying the healthcare package they had enjoyed up until the end of 2021, insist a new bill is needed.
Last year, they successfully pushed Mayor Eric Adams to abandon a campaign—originally hatched between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the heads of the largest public sector unions in the city—to strip municipal retirees their tradition Medicare and Medigap benefits and herd them into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan.
The scheme was supposedly going to save the City of New York $600 million annually and cover long overdue raises for active city workers.
Adams also imposed $15 copays on municipal retirees that many living on severely limited incomes could hardly afford. Retirees fought them, too, ultimately convincing Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank to block the charges in 2023.
Venerable New York City municipal retiree Evelyn Jones-Rich helps to rally supporters outside the gates of City Hall this week.
The Adams administration later responded and successfully managed to reinstate the copays.
Just this month, however, municipal retirees won a $53 million settlement with the City of New York and EmblemHelath reimbursing them for the $15 copays they were forced to part with back in 2022.
This week, Marte said his reintroduced bill will put a stop to any further efforts to diminish retiree healthcare.
“Whether that’s limiting your network, whether that’s changing your provider to give you a worse system or increase your copays—that will not happen when we pass this bill,” he said on Thursday.
Previous versions of the retiree bill, according to Marte, had to “side step” the legislative process and be introduced from the City Council floor because then-City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams opposed it.
This time, he added, his team has been able to introduce the bill though the legislative process with the bill-drafting unit, “so [opponents] can no longer say that we did not look at this bill before it was introduced.”
Council Member Frank Morano [r] joins fellow Council Member Chris Marte [l] in calling for passage of newly-reintroduce legislation protecting the traditional Medicare benefits City retirees earned on the job.
“They can no longer say that our lawyers didn’t have an opportunity to look at every single word to make sure it was right or not. All those false narratives they’ve used in the past two years against us—they can no longer be used today,” he said.
Intro. 1096 largely failed to pass because District 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, head of the largest public sector union in the city, also opposed it and actively worked to intimidate other City Council members against supporting it.
“We are in the fight of our lives,” nonagenarian Evelyn Jones-Rich told Work-Bites on Thursday. “There are millions of us who believe in ourselves and the city we built—and we will prevail. We will fight to keep our traditional Medicare, we’re going to fight to keep our supplements, we’re going to fight to not have copays. We believe that we make this city and this nation—little people like us, ordinary people, ladies who have struggled behind the scenes. We have stood in the shadows for too long. Now we are standing up—we are speaking out.”
Marte’s reintroduced retiree bill also comes out of the gate with strong bipartisan support. In co-sponsoring the new legislation, City Council Member Frank Morano [R-51st District] has easily out-lefted the most progressive members in the legislative body and democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani himself.
“The government talks constantly about rebuilding trust,” Morano said on Thursday. “Here’s a good place to start: Keep your word. The $53M victory that we’re [also] talking about today proves something else: You can fight City Hall—and sometimes City Hall loses. Retirees should’t have to hire lawyers and spend years in court every time somebody in government comes up with another clever way to reinterpret a promise. That’s why we need legislation.”
Mariann Pizzitola, retired FDNY EMS first-responder and head of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, said the City of New York should never seek to achieve savings or balance the budget on the backs of active workers or retirees.
“Here’s the deal,” she said, “these people worked for decades. They’ve been retired for decades. A promise was made to them. They kept their end of the deal and the city has to keep its promise. We’re going to hold them accountable to that.”
Mayor Mamdani, a close ally of Garrido, has so far ignored Pizzitola’s requests to meet and discuss retiree legislation.
Garrido, along with the other of the heads of the Municipal Labor Committee—UFT President Michael Mulgrew and Uniformed Sanitation Men’s Association President Harry Nespoli [retired]—have long insisted that legislation protecting retiree healthcare violates collective bargaining rights.
Marte, however, maintains that the newly-reintroduced retiree bill explicitly protects collective bargaining and that nothing in it limits the ability of employee organizations to “negotiate terms and conditions of employment, including future retirement benefits, on behalf of the active employees they represent.”
“We have heard the stories of retirees being frustrated, being scared, having anxiety every time they wake up, or every time they have to go to their doctor or provider—that is killing our people who have given so much for our city,” Marte said on Thursday.
I'm just leaving to attend this event today. Here is a photo from last week:
COUNCIL MEMBER CHRISTOPHER MARTE, NYC RETIREES TO RALLY FOR LEGISLATION PROTECTING RETIREE HEALTHCARE
Marte to Reintroduce Legislation Protecting Municipal Retirees from
Medicare Advantage, Increased Healthcare Costs and Reduced Access to
Care
Who: Council Member Christopher
Marte, New York City municipal retirees, Retiree healthcare advocates,
Elected officials and supporters
What: Rally to Protect NYC Retiree Healthcare and Reintroduction of Retiree Healthcare Legislation
When: Thursday, August 13, 2026, 9:30 AM
Where: Broadway and Murray Street
New York, NY — On Thursday, August 13 at 9:30 AM,
New York City Council Member Christopher Marte will join retired
municipal workers and advocates at Broadway and Murray Street to rally
for permanent protections
for the healthcare benefits earned by New York City retirees.
Following the rally, Council Member Marte will formally reintroduce
legislation at the City Council’s Stated Meeting to prevent the City
from diminishing healthcare coverage for Medicare-eligible municipal
retirees and their dependents.
While the City has stepped away from its previous effort to move
retirees onto Medicare Advantage, retirees remain in limbo and
vulnerable to future attempts to privatize their healthcare, restrict
their choice of doctors, or impose new copays and other out-of-pocket
costs. The legislation would ensure that the City cannot reduce
retirees’ healthcare access or contributions below the protections they
had as of December 31, 2021. (The next day, the City imposed copays for
the first time in 60 years that have amounted to
a car payment to many, preventing them from accessing life-saving care
or putting them in debt.)
For decades, New York City retirees have relied on healthcare benefits
they earned through years of public service. The legislation seeks to
ensure that a future administration cannot unilaterally force them into a
privatized Medicare plan with limited provider
networks or increase the costs retirees must pay to access care.
"Retirees are no longer in unions, although they used to protect us.
The Administrative Code states, 'The City will pay the full cost of
health coverage up to the HiP HMO for every employee, retiree, and their
dependent.' Our Senior Care plan only covers
the 20% of our bills Medicare doesn't, and it is well under the HiP
HMO. There was no reason to impose cost transfer on retirees. We MUST
fix this injustice and never force retirees into Medicare Advantage,"
said Marianne Pizzitola, President of the NYC
Organization of Public Service Retirees. "We have this law because
Mayor John Lindsay passed it when Medicare was created so he could give
it to City workers. We kept our promise; the City must keep its
promise."
The legislation also explicitly protects collective bargaining rights.
Nothing in the bill limits employee organizations from negotiating the
terms and conditions of employment, including future retirement
benefits, for the active employees they represent.
Retiree healthcare protections have historically been established
through City law, and protecting benefits for people who are already
retired does not interfere with collective bargaining agreements
covering current workers.
The rally will call on the City Council to act while it has the
opportunity to provide retirees with long-term certainty and prevent
another attempt to place their healthcare at risk.
Mulgrew and his Unity flacks must be in mourning since he never met a co-pay he didn't like.
Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the Ed Notes blog.
I'm in Manhattan and heading down to the presser and rally at City Hall. Don't expect any UFT officials to be there. But will Retired Teacher Chapter officers and exex bd members be there to celebrate a freeze on co-pays for the rest of this year?
I will be taking photos and report back tomorrow with an analysis of the rift between most of the RTC leadership and Marianne, a leading cause of the current rift within the RTC chapter that just may hand back the chapter to Unity, which will be a disaster for the future of our healthcare. Mulgrew and crew is probably moaning over the fact co-pays are frozen until Jan. 1 2027. Due to my medical condition(s) - diabetes and cancer plus the usual assorted issues any 81 year old faces, I see many doctors.
Just yesterday I left my house at 7AM to catch a ferry to 34th St (an hour and a half) and then a bus uptown to 74th St, another hour including a 15 minute walk to the Koch center, where I had blood taken (ca-ching) and a meeting with the endocrinologist nurse (more ka-ching? Next week I have 3 appointments in one day. And the co-pays come flying into my in box.
I was told the other day that Marianne has over 10k UFT retirees in her network. My election analysis has shown that Marianne brought over 9k retiree votes to both the 2024 victory in the RTC election and in the 2025 UFT election. Those 9k votes are up for grab in next year's RTC battle between Unity and Retiree Advocate and Fix Retiree Benefits. There are some serious differences between RA and FRB, some over Marianne who some in RA don't consider kosher enough politically to support plus major resentment over her support of ABC in the election last year which brought them those 9k votes.
There are also differences over the lack of pushback against the UFT leadership where FRB feel the RTC leadership (10 officers and 15 Exec Bd members ) has been weak in defending our healthcare, seemingly distracted by outside factors - very quick to support workers in other unions but I've seen nothing out there urging members to show up today.
I will be taking attendance and some photos.
NYC PUBLIC SERVICE RETIREES TO HOLD RALLY ON CITY HALL STEPS FOLLOWING $53 MILLION HEALTHCARE SETTLEMENT
WHO:
Marianne Pizzitola, President, NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
Jacob Gardener, Walden Haran Williams LLP
Steve Cohen, Pollock Cohen LLP
New York City public service retirees
Supporters and advocates
WHAT:
Following the announcement of the $53 million class action
settlement between the City of New York, EmblemHealth, and more than
250,000 retired City workers over unlawful GHI Senior Care co-pays,
retirees will gather on the steps of City Hall to discuss
what the settlement means—and why the fight to protect earned retiree
healthcare benefits continues.
Speakers will address the significance of the settlement, the impact on
retirees living on fixed incomes, and the organization's call for
long-term protections for retiree healthcare.
The Speaker's Office must permit legislation to properly protect retirees to be introduced.
WHEN:
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
10:30 a.m. ET
WHERE:
Steps of New York City Hall
New York, NY
VISUALS:
Marianne Pizzitola speaking on the steps of City Hall
Retired New York City public servants gathering in support
Interview opportunities with retirees directly impacted by the healthcare changes
MEDIA OPPORTUNITY:
Marianne Pizzitola and retired New York City public servants will be available for interviews immediately following the event.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Deborah Schonfeld
Communications Consultant
Boy there's a lot on the plate to report and every day when I don't post, the list gets longer. This morning, NYC Retirees led by Marianne Pizzitola made a historic announcement. Another monumental win for NYC Retirees led by their president, Marianne.
Wednesday, August 5 Rally and Press Conference at City Hall:
There is some irony in that one of the sticking points in the (rare) negotiations between Fix Retiree Benefits and Retiree Advocate over the upcoming Retiree Chapter Election next spring is over an alliance with Marianne who has come under criticism from some ideologues over what may or may not be her personal politics, which frankly I don't give a rat's ass about since she is focused on one issue: protecting retiree benefits of all municipal workers.
Marianne appeared in NY1 last week and when asked what would be her number 1 wish, it was to end the co-pays. While she did win backpay, she also won a freeze on raising co-pays for this year. I know full well about co-pays as I have a few every week.
New York, NY, August 3, 2026
– In a major development, the City of New York and EmblemHealth agreed
to pay $53 million to settle a class action lawsuit on behalf of more
than 250,000 elderly and disabled retired City workers enrolled in
EmblemHealth’s GHI Senior Care Plan. The suit was brought by the NYC
Organization of Public Service Retirees and a handful of retirees. The
signed settlement papers were sent to New York County Supreme Court
Justice Lyle E. Frank for the Court’s approval.
The
settlement refunds co-pays that retirees were unlawfully charged for
medical visits between January 1, 2022 through January 31, 2023. The $53
million represents 100 percent of the co-pays retirees had been
charged. In addition to the monetary settlement, the City and
EmblemHealth also agreed not to increase the existing $15 Senior Care
co-pays through at least December 31, 2027.
The
$53 million settlement amount is one of the largest class action
settlements in New York City history. In addition, the lawsuit saved
retirees an estimated $106 million through a temporary injunction, which
halted the co-pays for two years.
This
settlement is just the latest healthcare victory by the NYC
Organization of Public Service Retirees, which has, to date,
collectively saved retirees approximately $3.16 billion since 2022. The
Organization stopped the City from forcing retirees to pay for Senior
Care, which the City itself has valued at $600 million per year;
prevented the City and EmblemHealth from charging retirees co-pays in
2023 and 2024, which (according to EmblemHealth’s records) was worth
approximately $106 million; and pioneered this class action settlement
that is returning $53 million to the pockets of retirees.
“This is a wonderful victory for retirees,” said Marianne Pizzitola, president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees,
one of the named plaintiffs. “The older people get, the more likely
they are to need medical care, and co-pays are one of the worst, most
regressive burdens making healthcare unaffordable. We hope Mayor Mamdani
and City Council Speaker Menin recognize this and roll back co-pays.”
“Retired
City workers have proven once again that they will fight relentlessly,
and successfully, to protect their healthcare rights, which have been
under constant attack for the past five years,” said Jacob Gardener of Walden Haran Williams LLP, one of the lead attorneys for the retirees.
“It is another step forward in ensuring affordable healthcare for our seniors,” said Steve Cohen of Pollock Cohen LLP,
the other lead attorney for the retirees. “Now we have to get the City
Council and the Mayor to eliminate co-pays for seniors entirely. They
were promised and deserve free healthcare in retirement.”
The NYC Teachers
Retirement System (TRS) contacted over 180 retired paras and advised
them they “made a mistake” when their pension was calculated some more
that 15 years ago. Not only are they reducing their pension by half,
they are clawing back the alleged overpayment for the last three years. ...the UFT argue that active paraprofessionals are making an
unlivable wage and even declare war on the Mayor if he doesn’t sign into
law the bill in the City Council to give them a $10,000 ‘respect check’
of Non-Pensionable income. Well a pension that is 2/3 of that salary is
unlivable and now take more than half of that away from them when they
came to rely on that money is criminal. The UFT told these paras when
they called, that there was nothing they can do. The UFT has been
silent on this issue. TRS already cut these
retirees pensions in half beginning with the July pension check.
Well, look at this one. The UFT, with its 3 TRS pension reps sits silently by and not standing up for the affected disabled paras who are undergoing pension reductions due to a mistake made by TRS in overpaying them. A group of UFT paras and retirees have joined with the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees to stand up for them.
July 31, 2026
Good Morning,
Attached is a press statement from our three organizations. Fix Para Pay is a slate of active and retired UFT Paraprofessionals advocating for better wages to be negotiated by their union. Fix Retiree Benefits is a slate of active and retired UFT members advocating to protect an improve the conditions for UFT retirees. NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees
is an organization of over 200,000 municipal NYC retirees founded to
protect retirees healthcare and other benefits from diminishment in
retirement.
Together,
we stand with our retired paraprofessionals today. The NYC Teachers
Retirement System (TRS) contacted over 180 retired paras and advised
them they “made a mistake” when their pension was calculated some more
that 15 years ago. Not only are they reducing their pension by half,
they are clawing back the alleged overpayment for the last three years.
You
have watched the UFT argue that active paraprofessionals are making an
unlivable wage and even declare war on the Mayor if he doesn’t sign into
law the bill in the City Council to give them a $10,000 ‘respect check’
of Non-Pensionable income. Well a pension that is 2/3 of that salary is
unlivable and now take more than half of that away from them when they
came to rely on that money is criminal. The UFT told these paras when
they called, that there was nothing they can do. The UFT has been
silent on this issue that needs to end today. TRS already cut these
retirees pensions in half beginning with the July pension check.
We
are collectively demanding that they amend the Retirement and Social
Security Law they amended in 2002 under then President Randi Weingarten
and correct this injustice and TRS must pass a resolution not to claw
back any alleged overpayment.
