Randi is sitting at home, thinking about Mulgrew and vigorously chopping a small carrot for a salad, when she gets the call that Unity has lost the election!
Randi: Well, well… Thanks for the info, babe - stay gorgeous and charter a plane for me immediately to New York City.
Randi is met at the airport by Michael Mulgrew - looking completely terrified.
Mulgrew: Randi, you look marvelous. You get younger with each passing day. How are you?
Randi: How do you think, you fu•king Putz?! I hand the reins over to you and ask you to do nothing - absolutely nothing without checking with me first and this is what you do?! Well, I’m gonna tell you how I’m doing. But first turn around and bend over. ( Mulgrew does as he’s told. She proceeds to land a hardy kick that would make any SuperBowl kicker proud.) Now I’m feeling much better in answer to your question.
Mulgrew: You’ve got to help me, Randi!! How can I fix this?
Randi: Don’t worry - I’m here now. Let’s get back to your office and you’re going to write a letter. A letter to assuage all the retirees that you have insulted, lied to and betrayed. You’ve got to make them feel like you’ve always been working in their best interests - but don’t make it too obvious.
Mulgrew: Easily done! They believe everything I tell them. But Randi, Adams won’t like that - I’ve made assurances!
Randi: The retirees have seen through you like an empty glass bottle. AND I don’t give a flying fu•k about your assurances - you write that letter and you get it out NOW!
Dear ______,
Today I'm writing to let you know that I have sent a letter to the chair of the Municipal Labor Committee, Harry Nespoli, to tell him that the UFT cannot continue to support the Medicare Advantage program. The city's losses in the courts and the needless anxiety created among retirees has made it clear to us that our support for this initiative cannot continue. Additionally, as the city has also delayed our current negotiations on in-service and pre-Medicare retiree health care for months, we no longer feel that it is in the interest of our members to be part of that process.
For nine years, we have been able to achieve savings while maintaining high-quality, premium-free health care. But it's become abundantly clear over the past two years that the city is no longer interested in being a partner in this approach. Our process is no longer collaborative; it is now adversarial. This administration has proven to be more interested in cutting their costs than honestly working with us to provide high-quality health care to the workers of this city.
You did not deserve the angst and fear you went through as we worked toward our goal of improving our health care in an increasingly difficult national landscape. I have heard your voices. And as we have all grown increasingly frustrated with this process, we will use our strength in the MLC to push for a new strategy moving forward.
No matter what, we will always do the tough work of fighting for our goal — maintaining our benefits and keeping the high-quality, premium-free health care that all our members deserve — and we will do it together. |
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Disclaimer:
Stories herein containing unnamed or invented characters are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.