Retirees are not in unions anymore - but you don’t diminish retiree healthcare and assess costs to retirees on fixed incomes. Unions should be protecting retirees. We are on fixed incomes, COLA’s do not keep up with the cost of living, and now you want to assess a copay tantamount to a car payment on a monthly basis to finance active workers?! No. We will not stand for that.

In 2026. If a retiree receives an $18,000 pension, they will see a 1.2% increase, equaling $216 for the year, or $18/month. But now the MLC assessed copays totaling hundreds of dollars a month in many cases. You are taking their COLA and their pension creating an affordability crisis- a few ill informed labor leaders created instead of protecting us from. Let’s be better labor leaders - and I will never stop trying to educate them!

You can find him on Hardball Press and his books are also on Amazon - a must check out if you love mysteries!

Joe updates us on the Procurement Policy Board’s lack of transparency and the fight of the Chelsea Fulton Elliot Housing Seniors to keep their homes.

The Joe Maniscalco from Work-Bites gives us an update on the #NYCHA Chelsea Elliot houses struggle with their seniors being kicked out of their apartments

September 29,2025

Why are we rushing again? Why weren’t other unions this impacts who are NOT in the MLC, not given any notice of this new plan either?

Transparent? Democratic? No.

https://www.marte4speaker.com/

We need #democracy and #transparency in government!

The B Block of our show has Guest Joe Maniscalco, an independent journalist from Work-Bites https://www.work-bites.com/support speaking about the latest articles he produced on Labor in NY and nationwide

AFSCME’s Substack AFSCME Local 1674 AFSCME Utah #aflcio #dc37 #uft

(other union affiliates will be tagged - as it is important to educate other union brothers and sisters what is happening to us here in NYC by our former union instead of protecting our earned and vested Medicare benefits they are selling us off to fund their raises and lobbying against our legislation to protect what we earned!)

Change starts with you! And when you have proof your money is being used against you, take action!

And to Leo Casey I challenge you to an open debate on this and our organizations endorsement process any time you want. Standing invite since you think you know who I am, what our organization does, and finds no issues maligning me with false narrative. It is a small man that has to do that. You are entitled to your own opinion - not your own facts.

Thank you to Joe Leone for the music. “Don’t Speak!”

While the city finally agreed to temporarily “suspend” some, they never were honest about the number and they could be re-evaluated every two years by the city and our former unions. That is something we will never trust after what they did.

In traditional Medicare, there are RARE prior authorization. If your doctor wants to treat you, they can! Listen to what this doctor’s office has to go through to fight for their patients.