The Promise We Must Keep: Why Retiree Healthcare Is the Heart of Our Union’s Future

The people who built our union are being pushed into Medicare Advantage — with the UFT’s help. If we don’t stop this now, we’re next.

A few weeks ago, I spoke to a retired teacher who spent over 30 years in the classroom—building science kits out of her own pocket, walking students home after school, showing up every day because she believed public education could transform lives. She told me she’s disappointed and terrified. Not because of her age. Not because of her health. But because the healthcare she earned through a lifetime of service is on the chopping block—and the union she helped build is helping it happen.

Let that sink in.

This is a teacher who poured everything into her work. Who walked picket lines and staffed phone banks and mentored younger teachers who now fill our classrooms. And now, she’s being told her healthcare is too expensive to protect. That we have to solve management’s problems and so the “smart” choice is to quietly accept a privatized Medicare Advantage plan with fewer doctors, more red tape, and less control.

She deserves better. And so do all of us. As Maya Angelou said, “A person who is well raised knows to respect the elders…for surviving.”

There’s a bill in the City Council—Intro 1096—that would guarantee her and every other municipal retiree the right to remain in traditional Medicare with a supplemental plan, premium-free. It’s not radical. It’s a promise kept. But UFT leadership is opposing it. They're siding with the Mayor and the Municipal Labor Committee’s (MLC) cost-cutting scheme instead of standing up for the very members who built this union.

The lawsuit filed by the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees (Bentkowski v. The City of NY), often referred to as "The Nuclear Case,” is vital to preserving our traditional Medicare. This May 15th, oral arguments will be presented to the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany. If The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees prevails, neither the Mayor, nor the CIty, nor the MLC will be able to force retirees into any privatized Medicare Advantage plan. But guess on which side the UFT leadership filed an Amicus brief? They filed in support of the City, and they refuse to change their position on this case.

They say they don’t support Medicare Advantage but are taking no action to prevent it.

Let’s be honest: it's up to all of us to stop this now.

Our retirees have come together—like they’ve done so many times before—to resist a healthcare scheme that both the City and our own union leadership are pushing. They’ve been dismissed, disrespected, and written off, but they keep fighting. And we need to pay attention because we will be retirees one day. And if we allow this attack to stand, we’re not just betraying them—we’re watching the essence of union values being ignored. Our retirees are not relics of the past—they are the foundation of our union. They built the schools we teach in. They formed the union chapters that protect us. They won the rights we rely on every day. And now they’re showing us what happens when the union stops fighting for us and instead looks for compromise. If the city and our union can strip them of their healthcare without a fight, then nothing is sacred. Not for them. Not for any of us.

We have a choice: stay silent and hope we’re spared—or stand up and demand better.

That’s why I’m running for UFT president with the A Better Contract slate.

We believe a union worth having is a union that keeps its word. One that doesn’t sacrifice the vulnerable to cut deals behind closed doors. One that doesn’t hide the truth from its members. One that fights like hell for every educator—whether they’re in their first year or their final chapter.

Here’s what we stand for:

• We support Intro 1096. Period. It protects retiree healthcare and sets the floor for our future, not the ceiling.

• We end the backroom deals. Members deserve transparency, a real voice, and the power to say yes or no to what’s done in their name.

• We bring retirees back into the heart of the union. Their wisdom, their fight, their needs—they all matter. They won’t be ignored under our leadership.

• We protect healthcare as a right, not a bargaining chip. For retirees. For in- service members. For everyone.

This election isn’t just about replacing one president with another. It’s about reclaiming our power—and reimagining what a fighting, fearless, future-facing union can be.

We don’t have to accept crumbs. We don’t have to settle for leaders who serve the system instead of the members. We can be the kind of union that honors its elders, empowers its members, and never backs down from a fight.

We can keep the promise.

But only if we do it together.

Vote for A Better Contract. Stand with retirees. Fight for OUR future.

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