NYC's largest municipal union urges workers to confront Council members who oppose Medicare Advantage push

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 supplement.

Supporters of Barron's bill argue it would protect traditional Medicare coverage at a time when it's under threat by the Adams administration's Advantage push -- but the DC37 texts say the legislation could put active union workers' health insurance at risk.

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.

Among the bill sponsors are Queens Democrats 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.

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 health care 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.

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 preauthorization 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.'"

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