June 2025 – PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hello All:
Hope all is well with you and yours.
We had some bad news about the appeal decision on the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees court case. The decision was in favor of the city. This is a setback but not the end of the fight. We are waiting to see what the city is going to do.
We have been working with Marianne and her group on City Council lntro 1096. If you go to https://retiredlaborstrong.nyc – Retiree Candidates, you will see candidates in the Local City Elections that have pledged to the retiree cause. Please support these candidates and ask your family and friends to do the same. As far as State Legislation is concerned, the session is over, and Senator Harckham dropped his original bill and introduced a new bill. The current language on the new bill does not give us what we need, and we are working to have the language modified. We continued to have opposition from the AFLCIO regarding our health protection bill throughout the session.
I want to thank you for your help throughout this process. The National will continue in building bridges of support for our legislation and asking you to help when political action s necessary.
Thank you for your support.
Hope to see you at the convention.
God bless,
Mike Fahy
May 2025 – PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hope all is well with you and yours.
The legislative session has been delayed in starting due to budget talks. Although this is common, this year’s budget talks have taken a lot longer than usual.
Below are the bills that we are supporting this year. You will notice that several bills have not been numbered for this year’s session, budget talks are one of the issues holding that up. We have been working to get these bills numbered and with the budget talks being over soon, this should start happening. You can check for new numbers on this web address: www.nysenate.gov/legislation. Click on the SEARCH BILLS and put in the old number under the PRINT NO and press SEARCH. Then click on the bill number for that year and that bill will come up. Halfway down the page you will see the current bill numbers listed. You can click on the current number and the appropriate bill will populate.
The health care protection bill is still receiving opposition from the AFLCIO. DC37 is a member of the AFLCIO. We continue to speak to politicians and other organizations while working with Marianne Pizzitola and her group to push this bill forward. We will be in touch with political action requests when it is appropriate.
Thank you for your support.
Mike Fahy
917-843-8787
November 2024 – PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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I hope all is well with you and yours. We had a great turnout at the Convention this year and a good time was had by all. Looking forward to seeing you all at next year’s convention. We have been continuing our work on the health protection bill and have been working closely with the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees. As you know, the bill received great support from both active and retiree groups and garnered fantastic support from state legislatures. The bill was stopped at the end of the session by opposition from the AFLCIO. The UFT backed off from their opposition shortly after the session ended and the MLC notified the city that they would not pursue the Medicare Advantage plan.
The health protection bills will be renumbered for the new session and the calls for action will follow shortly thereafter. On another front, Marianne Pizzitola and the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees were successful in getting a health protection bill introduced in the city council, spearheaded by Councilman Christopher Marie, Into — 1096.
Our success is determined by the involvement of everyone in our political action. We have put out blast emails regularly during the last session, asking for your help, and you stepped up to the plate. We will be continuing with this process in the upcoming legislative session. Thank you for your efforts and your continued support, the results are obvious.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.
Mike
February 2024 – PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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To All Chapter Presidents and Members – Happy New Year to you and yours. We have a lot to look forward to in 2024. But, before I get into that, the convention was a great success and a fun time was had by all. There were two great people honored as the Man and Women of the year. Richie Alles from the firm of Barasch & McGarry was our Man of the Year. Richie is a great guy and works hard to make sure that the needs of 911 stricken survivors are taken care of. Marianne Pizzitola was our Women of the Year. She shouldn’t need an introduction, but her efforts and the efforts of her organization are holding off the attacks against our senior health benefits. The RSA was in attendance led by their tenacious leader Bob Cotumaccio. Thank you also to PBA President Hendry, who made a donation to the National, presented by Trustee Kevin Murphy. Many more were in attendance that we thank for their attendance, their support, and their input. We even got a visit from the Nassau County Police ‘oRsCommissioner.
2024 is going to be a busy time. We have our legislative agenda for the bills that were numbered in 2023. This year is also an election year for all state legislatures. We will be doggedly involved with this election cycle. More on this in the near future.
The 2024 legislative session started early this year, in August. That is when we started meeting and talking to legislative representatives, gearing up for the 2024 session, that actually started mid-January. One reason for the early start was new legislation, and guess what, a health protection bill. Rich Molloy, the ever vigilant watcher, received information about the bill and we dove right in. The bill was being pushed by a lobbyist, to whom we made contact and have been helping where we can. We saw the same problem with this bill that we had with the Lanza bill. The original senate bill was sponsored by a Republican Senator. This Senator was very gracious and did the right thing.
We were able to help facilitate getting the bill sponsored by Democrat Senator Pete Harckham under bill 58388. This is a good bill and you should read it. One of the many good points about the bill is that it actually prohibits moving senior retirees to a medicare advantage plan. As we have been saying all along, the attack on retiree’s health benefits will spread, and it is. There is a lawsuit going on in Cortland County NY and more recently there is action being taken by retirees from the TWU. We have been working with the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees and Marianne has joined the information network.
I would like to thank the board members, the local chapter members, and the members of the Information Network for the contacts to local representatives that were made through the 2023 session. Those results can be seen.
Please keep up the good work that you do. Stay hopeful and stay well. Remember that all of our legislative action will benefit every public service retiree in NYS and what we do for retirees and their families now will also affect active members when they retire.
To the Chapter Presidents, Boards, and Members, thank you all for the work that you do. Lastly, the 35th Annual Convention is being held from September 15t1 through the 17th this year at the Villa Roma. I hope that you would support us by coming to the convention (bring the family) and buying a Mega Raffle.
Thank you and God Bless you.
March 2024 – PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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Hope all is well with you and your family. During the last couple of months, we have all been fighting to keep our health benefits from being changed. I would like to thank everyone who participated in our efforts with the City Council to stop the change to the Administrative Code. When the Speaker of the Council spoke at the hearing, she mentioned that she received over 100,000 emails from retirees requesting that the City Council not change the code.Through the summer and fall we have been working on forming a Legislative Information Network with many other organizations. The network is up and running and continues to grow.
The LIN was utilized for the City Council effort, and we thank those organizations for their participation in stopping the change being sought by the MLC. I should also mention the work being done by the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees on our health protection and the great job they have been doing. The effort by the City and the MLC is not over and since we are into the legislative session, we are moving forward with health protection legislation.
As we all know, the attempt by the City and the MLC would affect all civil service retirees. There are two health protection bills that are numbered for this session. One bill, sponsored by Senator Lanza (S4191), and Assemblyman Weprin (A4989) would protect all retirees in the state. We are putting our efforts into moving this bill forward, and working with the Alliance to get this bill a dedicated effective date. Once the actions are planned I will reach out to you through your club president. Expect that soon.
Regards to All,
Mike Fahy