Headline should read "Mayor to Retired City Workers: Drop Dead!" Can't imagine why we're having a massive recruitment problem in city government when this is how you can expect to be treated after you've put in your time.

Recruitment and retention problem. What the hell is my incentive to stay? Is my pension next? Are they going to take the money I've paid into that and tell me to fuck off?

Well isn’t that fucking the working class over once again, politicians favorite thing to do.

Ah I wonder how much if a kickback he’s getting from the private contractor

Considering NYC does not have the power to issue new USD, default risk is always be a concern for the lender (or creditor), which is proportional to the political pull of the deferred compensation recipients.

The issue in this case is not the viability of the investments, it's "will the union give away my rights to the pension I paid into at some point in the future?" Because that is the precedent they are setting here.

Absolute fucking scum.

For the recipient, the effect is the same. Call it agency risk instead of default risk. There is plenty of history where deferred compensation agreements such as retiree healthcare and defined benefit pensions were renegotiated.

The unions are absolutely just as much to blame, and I say this as a union member.

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Medicare Advantage is a scam. If you're young and think stuff like this doesn't apply to you, just know it will eventually. Let stuff like this slide and by the time we retire we'll have no options left.

The city unions have been beyond useless, especially the last few years. Watch them roll over for Adams and fuck over workers then tweet about how they're #GettingStuffDone or some nonsense.

Retirees and active workers need to unite to get rid of the corrupt union leaders who agreed to this. Then we need strong leaders who will play hardball in the new CBAs.

That’s exactly what’s happening honestly

ERISA laws would prevent that. Nothing wrong with protesting and organizing over a real loss in deferred compensation (retiree benefits) but conflating it isn't helpful.

Why?

DeBlasio could have resolved expired labor agreements before leaving office but he punted. He's painted a Progressive but that maneuver was anything but....

1, There are explicit exemptions for government retirement plans in ERISA. I'm not an expert, but surface level research says that state/local government plans have more leeway in accounting and reporting practices and are not insured by the pension benefit guaranty corporation.

2, central to the point of this is that the union leadership is telling members to encourage their representatives to change the law to allow for reduced benefits. Even if there are ERISA protections from members now the union leadership is attempting to remove them in the future.

I suppose the effect is of the same nature, but this is a complete abrogation of the agent's responsibility. This is the union saying "yeah, even we don't care about the benefits you're promised." It is entirely reasonable to not expect your agent to pull that shit.

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‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions

TL;DR: It's a private plan that uses the term "Medicare" to dupe people into thinking it IS Medicare. It offers worse coverage and less doctor options for a higher price. It's bad all around.

They literally asked their members to lobby the city to allow this to happen.

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Medicare Advantage Plans Often Deny Needed Care, Federal Report Finds

This has been pretty widely reported for awhile. Medicare Advantage notoriously denies coverage for things covered under Medicare and it's harder for patients to find doctors in network.

Which unions? PBA? UFT? UFA? DC/37?

The UFT was one of them