DC 37, the city’s largest public sector union, has rescinded its endorsement of one City Council member and committed to stop donating to several others in retaliation for their support of a bill that would protect retired municipal workers’ access to traditional Medicare, according to records obtained by the Daily News.
The retribution is born out of a long-running effort by Mayor Adams’ administration to shift the city’s roughly 250,000 municipal retirees into Medicare Advantage, a privatized, cost-saving version of regular Medicare.
DC 37, which represents some 150,000 active city workers, has supported the Advantage switch — its union leaders agreeing with Adams’ argument that it would save the city hundreds of millions of dollars each year and continue to provide retirees with adequate health coverage.
But a group of municipal retirees has so far blocked Adams’ Advantage push in court, arguing it would water down the traditional Medicare coverage they claim they’re entitled to by law.
Some Council members are siding with the retirees and have introduced legislation to codify into law that the city must offer retirees a traditional plan, comprised of the federal Medicare program boosted by a city-subsidized supplement.
The Council effort has infuriated DC 37 brass, and in a previously unreported March 19 meeting, union leaders took action to punish the lawmakers backing the bill, according to minutes of the confab reviewed by The News.
In the meeting, union delegates, including DC 37 boss Henry Garrido, authorized a resolution to “cease” donations or other political assistance to “any” Council members who support the bill, the minutes reveal. The minutes say the measure was greenlit “after much discussion,” though the records don’t elaborate on that point.
Additionally, the delegates approved a motion to “unendorse” Brooklyn Councilwoman Alexa Aviles “because of her support” for the legislation, the minutes say.
Aviles, a progressive Democrat who faces multiple challengers in June’s Democratic primary, was first awarded DC 37’s endorsement during her 2021 campaign. She didn’t return a Friday request for comment.
The DC 37 move comes after Garrido in 2023 privately threatened to “withdraw support” from any Council members supporting the bill, as first reported by The News. DC 37 is hugely influential in local elections and known to contribute generously to its endorsed candidates, and launch rigorous get-out-the-vote efforts for them.
Council records show the bill has 15 co-sponsors, including both Democrats and Republicans. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, whose mayoral run was endorsed by DC 37 last month, hasn’t signed on to the bill and her support would likely be required for it to move.
The minutes from the DC 37 meeting slam the bill, penned by Manhattan Councilman Chris Marte, for failing to “identify a single source of funding” to bankroll the continuation of traditional Medicare for retirees.
Due to surging health care costs, the minutes say DC 37 leaders fear if the bill becomes law, active duty city workers would lose their free health care and have to “pay premiums of up $1,500” in order to subsidize the retirees’ plans.
Marianna Pizzitola, an ex-FDNY EMS who leads the retiree group that has blocked the mayor’s plan in court, called DC 37’s retaliation against Council members “disappointing.”
“But it is also consistent with their ‘throw the retirees under the bus’ posture,” she said.
The beef over the Council bill aside, courts have repeatedly blocked Adams’ administration from implementing the Advantage plan. His administration has appealed the matter to the state’s highest court, which is expected to hear arguments later this month.
