NYC Council Runs Scared of Garrido, While Endorsements Anger Retirees
A NYCOPSR truck lampoons District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido in Foley Square earlier this month. Photos/Joe Maniscalco
By Joe Maniscalco
District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido continues to scare the bejesus out of the New York City Council.
In 2023, the head of the largest public sector union in town threatened to “withdraw support…money…endorsements—everything” from any New York City Council member blocking his attempts to help Mayor Eric Adams push the city’s 250,000 municipal retirees into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan.
And he hasn’t let up since.
No matter how hard-pressed and insecure municipal retirees fearing for their future become, Garrido hasn’t missed an opportunity to try and marginalize them, paint them as unscrupulous cranks, and accuse them of attempting to undermine his union.
As a result, Intro. 1096—legislation to protect the healthcare municipal retirees were promised when they signed up for civil service—remains stagnant in the basement of the New York City Council with just over a dozen cosponsors.
And even those who have signed onto it—with the exception of its sponsor Chris Marte [D-1st District]—haven’t exactly been moving heaven and earth to advance it.
Council Members Alexis Avilés [D-38th District] and Shahana Hanif [D-39th District] brought the total number of Intro. 1096 supporters to 13 when they recently signed onto the long languishing bill.
As supporters of the measure, both have obviously given Garrido’s arguments against its merits very careful consideration—rejected them—and decided to back retirees who have spent the last four years winning in court and beating back every other high-powered attempt to strip them of their Traditional Medicare benefits.
NYC Council Member Alexis Avilés rallies with municipal retirees outside the gates of City Hall in 2023.
Work-Bites wanted to know more about their decision-making process and why they ultimately rejected Garrido’s rationale for attempting to strip retired trade unionists of a public health benefit they earned on the job.
Council Member Avilés said she took a lot of time considering Intro. 1096 talking to “experts outside the parties involved.”
“I'm not a healthcare expert by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I have learned a lot during this process, and still have a lot to learn,” the Brooklyn legislator told Work-Bites. “But ultimately, I think what I understood was that this is obviously a much larger problem that we have to address—that healthcare clearly has run amok. That across the country, Medicare Advantage is taking over, much to the disadvantage of folks who really need healthcare. We see that the health insurance industry profits off of not providing full care to people, and that's just wrong—fundamentally wrong.”
Garrido, along with Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] heads Michael Mulgrew and Harry Nespoli, have also insisted that Intro. 1096 is illegal on its face and somehow in violation of collective bargaining rights.
Council Member Avilés, however, said she looked at that argument, too,— but that, ultimately, “it does not appear to me that this is a collective bargaining infringement.”
Council Member Hanif came to similar conclusions, but put the blame for attempting to strip retirees of their Traditional Medicare coverage at the feet of Mayor Adams—who infamously called the Medicare Advantage push a “bait and switch” when former Mayor Bill de Blasio advocated it.
“Everywhere they have been implemented, privatized so-called ‘Medicare Advantage’ plans have resulted in worse coverage and higher costs for seniors,” Council Member Hanif told Work-Bites in an email. “Shame on Mayor Adams for trying to force these plans on the retired municipal workers who have served our City. As President Trump tries to decimate Medicaid and Medicare, City Hall should be fighting him every step of the way instead of laying out the red carpet.”
As Work-Bites previously reported, profit-driven Medicare Advantage plans across the country also perfectly align with Trump’s “Project 2025” agenda to undermine Traditional Medicare and Medicaid.
Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the New York City Council, said that New York City municipal retirees “deserve to keep their current coverage.”
“That’s why I am a proud co-sponsor Intro. 1096,” Council Member Hanif told Work-Bites. “I am laser focused on making Brooklyn more affordable for my constituents. That means fighting tooth and nail for all workers, both active and retired. I will always champion pro-labor legislation, union campaigns, and high-quality public healthcare.”
Retirees Split Over Hanif
The lack of support—or tepid support—Intro. 1096 has gotten so far has resulted in the New York City Organizaiton of Public Service Retirees [NYCOPSR] and its President Marianne Pizzitola seeking out candidates from one end of the established political spectrum to the other who pledge clearly to support retirees in their fight against the Medicare Advantage push.
In January, members of the organization picketed the Manhattan offices of Council Member Erik Bottcher [D-3rd District]. At that point, Bottcher had not yet signed onto Intro. 1096.
Other retirees and retiree advocates who met with Bottcher while the sidewalk demonstration continued, emerged from that meeting declaring that the members of the New York City Council “don’t give a shit about retirees.”
Retirees holding placards denouncing Medicare Advantage then marched into Bottcher’s district and pressed the fight further. The council member signed onto Intro. 1096 not long after.
NYCOPSR, which Pizzitola defines as a “one issue organization,” has yet to endorse Council Member Avilés, however, and chosen instead to endorse Council Member Hanif’s opponent—Maya Kornberg—in the race the 39th District councilmanic seat.
That move has angered other retirees also long in the Medicare Advantage fight living in Council Member Hanif’s district who like and support her. They reject Kornberg, in part, for accepting campaign contributions from Solidarity PAC—an organization hostile to members of the New York City Council who have expressed support for the people of Palestine continuing to die under Israeli bombs made possible by U.S support.
Council Member Shahana Hanif stands with retired New York City worker Myra Hauben in Grand Army Plaza last summer.
“I am against big money in elections and that is exactly who is bankrolling Maya Kornberg,” retired New York City teacher and Cross-Union Retirees Organizing Committee member Sarah Shapiro told Work-Bites. “She is funded by a pro-Israel PAC and by Republican mega donors. She has no political experience and only moved here six years ago from California. Shahana was born and raised in our district and is being targeted because she came out in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. I don’t Trust Maya Kornberg and would never support her, especially when she is running against CM Shahana Hanif, who has a proven record of standing up for the most vulnerable and for working families.”
Fellow CROC member Martha Cameron also denounced NYCOPSR’s support for Kornberg’s candidacy.
“I find it quite disturbing that Marianne is ‘endorsing’ a city council person on behalf of 250,000 retirees,” she told Work-Bites. “Those retirees who live in Shahana Hanif's district think very highly of her. People are fairly disturbed by Maya Kornberg running against her because Hanif is well liked and very progressive. Marianne does not speak for all the retirees, most certainly not for those who live in Shahana Hanif's district.”
Gary Goff is a retired New York City municipal worker and former vic-president of both AFSCME Local 2627 and DC37 Retirees Association. He says Council Member Hanif has been a “major supporter” of retirees for years.
“She knows our issues,” Goff told Work-Bites, “has spoken at our rallies and met with us numerous times in her office. We’ve always found her insights very helpful. She’s also my council rep so I know her work on other issues as well. She has deep roots in the area and works hard for all her constituents. I find it suspicious that the only Muslim woman in City Council is being opposed by someone who gets much of their funding from outside the state. A good bit of it from Republicans.”
Pizzitola issued a statement to Work-Bites saying, "The NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees fully supports and endorses Maya Kornberg for City Council. Maya has instilled in us the confidence that she is truly committed to leading and protecting the earned Medicare benefits of public servants.”
As the roiling over endorsements continues, retirees also continue to suffer unimaginable levels of anxiety and stress worrying about both their healthcare and pensions. Council Member Avilés further said the mayor of this city could end the mess tomorrow if he chose to do so.
“I'm not sure we've cracked a knot here,” she told Work-Bites. “This lies squarely with the mayor. The mayor could solve this issue tomorrow. He has decided he is not interested in doing that, which is a dereliction of duty—at best.”