Listen: NYC Council Member Urges Colleagues to ‘Stand Strong’ With Retirees…

NYC municipal retirees resisting efforts to push them into a Medicare Advantage health insurance plan line up outside City Hall on Jan. 9 hoping to get into a hearing on the bill aimed at changing Administrative Code 12-126. Photo by Joe Maniscalco

By Bob Hennelly with Joe Maniscalco

There’s an African proverb that goes like this: “Support those who may have lost their teeth…because they supported you when you were teething.”

On the latest edition of the Stuck Nation Radio Labor Hour, New York City Council Member Charles Barron [D-42nd District] talks about his support for municipal retirees opposing changes to the Administrative Code privatizing their healthcare — and how he hopes his colleagues in the City Council will “stay strong — and not go for the scare tactics of the mayor and the speaker and vote for something that’s gonna hurt those who did so much for us.”

“The Progressives need to make sure they understand who has the power — it is not the speaker; it is not the mayor,” the Brooklyn legislator says. “The speaker has one vote on everything that comes forth; the mayor has no votes. So, we need to understand power — the 51 City Council members have the power to pass the budget, to pass land use development projects, and to pass legislation.”

Council Member Barron also talks about the NY Health Act, the stock transfer tax and Aetna’s ugly roots supporting antebellum slaveholders.

Listen to the entire interview, including comments from callers, below: