Open Letter to Members of NYC City Council

Dear Council Members,

My name is Nick Bacon. I’m a constituent of District 7. I’m also a city worker and a member of the UFT Executive Board. I understand that the leadership of my organization (the UFT) has been lobbying the City Council to change Administrative Code 12-126. Please understand that they never consulted membership on taking this position. There was never a vote. Many informed members, such as myself, strongly disagree with the UFT leadership’s move here. Indeed, Administrative Code 12-126 protects both in-service and retired members from paying premiums on healthcare that we and our families need. No matter what rhetoric UFT leadership is using, there’s only one reason to change the code: so that the City can put retirees onto a lower quality Medicare Advantage plan just to save a few bucks. Doing this would also open a Pandora’s Box that could lead to other future cutbacks for in-service healthcare. We have to draw a line in the sand here and say no. Our retirees and future retirees deserve the high quality healthcare they earned. We can find other sources of healthcare funding and cost-savings. Amending 12-126 would literally put our lives on the line. 

Please do the right thing here. Please vote NO on amending the code. 

Sincerely,

Nick Bacon,

Member of UFT Executive Board (High Schools) and Co-Chair of the UFT New Action Caucus