Proposal for an Open Election Slate

Adopted by Retiree Advocate Organizers 10-2 July 13, 2026, with final approval by Retiree Advocate Membership 42-12 July 26, 2026.
Amended by Retiree Advocate Organizers 10-2 July 27, 2026, with final approval by Retiree Advocate Membership 37-11 August 20, 2026.

Proposal for an Open Election Slate

1. Introduction and Leadership Mandate

Retiree Advocate (RA) welcomes any UFT Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) member to run on an open slate in the upcoming UFT chapter elections. The slate will build on our proven record of accomplishment and the advantage of incumbency.

We invite RTC members to run on the open slate. To that end, Retiree Advocate proposes the formation of a committee to re-elect a common leadership. This committee is open to all RTC members; no one is excluded. The committee will be charged with approving a platform and candidates for RTC officer and executive board positions.

2. Candidates

Independents and other interested members are welcome to run on this open slate, provided they accept the platform framework included in this proposal.

• Eligibility: Any RTC member in good standing can submit themselves or others for nomination to executive board positions by contacting the Committee to Elect an Open Election Slate. 
• Vetting: All nominees will be vetted by the Committee. 

3. Platform Framework 

(*See Tentative Platform)

The Committee will review the platform. The main headings are modified from the 2024 Retiree Advocate Platform (that we won on) to better highlight the importance of healthcare:

Proposed platform headings

• Organize To Protect and Improve Retiree Healthcare
• Organize To Protect Pensions
• Expand Democracy in the UFT including the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC) 
• Solidarity with Working Educators
• Social and Economic Justice for All

4. Participation and Norms

Retiree Advocate looks forward to working with UFT retirees in this open election slate. For a truly collaborative relationship some minimal standards of conduct are necessary.

• Foster inclusive spaces: Actively promote respectful discourse in person and on social media platforms. 
• Uphold member dignity: Cultivate a culture of mutual respect and conflict resolution.
• Champion labor and union rights: Support the labor movement by aligning with political candidates who boast strong pro-union, pro-labor voting records.
• Align with inclusive leadership: Partner with public figures and leaders who advocate for dignity and respectful, inclusive communication.
• Respect collective representation: Honor and acknowledge the diversity of the RTC membership and its place in the UFT.
• Strengthen the union community: Encourage participation in the union’s collective strength, including participation in the RTC.
  

5. Critical Strategic Note on Timeline

To ensure success, this election process must begin immediately. Any delay effectively weakens our chances of success. Immediate action is vital to maintaining solidarity and momentum.

Tentative Platform

Organize To Protect and Improve Retiree Healthcare

• Prevent our healthcare from being privatized—No Medicare Advantage
• Improve our dental benefits. Use the Welfare Fund surplus.
• Improve our hearing and vision benefits.
• End Copays on Medicare Retirees. Seek to remove copays on pre-Medicare retirees and all UFT members
• No Amazon! Maintain our drug delivery choices
• Everyone’s Health Care Matters! Work to protect in-service health care, as well as retiree healthcare
• Support and organize for Intro 1096 (or whatever number of a successor bill)
• Educate members about the New York Health Act (NYHA)
• Work to support a national single payer health plan

Organize To Protect Pensions

• Improve the COLA formula on our pensions to match the full Cost of Living
• Expand Social Security Benefits and ensure that they are not diminished
• Push for NYS to raise the interest rate on fixed TDA accounts
• Push back against efforts by the federal government to undermine educators’ unions and our benefits.

Expand Democracy in the UFT including the Retired Teachers Chapter (RTC)

• End winner-take-all chapter and union elections.
• End patronage. Make retiree jobs open to all UFT retirees, regardless of caucus.
• Retiree Advocate has improved RTC meetings for all: let’s continue and expand:
  • Democratic Meetings
  • All members can vote
  • All speakers take questions
  • Wide variety of outside speakers
• Real committees – open to all RTC members: Healthcare, Labor Solidarity, and more

Solidarity with Working Educators

• Lobby the state legislature for Pension Equity—Move Tier 6 to Tier 4
• Retirees can help:
  • Assist chapter leaders with organizing chapters
  • Assist chapter leaders in dealing with abusive administrators
  • Organize charter schools
  • Organize solidarity with other unions
• Keep public schools public. No charters or vouchers
• Fully fund our schools. Slash the Tweed bureaucracy. Stop wasteful spending on no-bid contracts for consultants and vendors.
• Support our colleagues in higher education (including CUNY)
• End mayoral control

Social and Economic Justice for All

We support:

• expanding the fight to protect all immigrants—children and adults
• raising the minimum wage to a living wage
• alleviating student loans
• universal parental leave
• subsidized childcare
• a massive jobs program to address racial and economic disparities
• a progressive tax system including a stock transfer tax
• the right of all workers to join together and bargain collectively with their employers

We oppose and fight racism, and all other oppression (especially for transgender youth)
We call to prioritize local communities, social services, and veterans’ benefits over military spending

Retiree Advocate just finished its first elections for Organizers. Five new organizers were selected: David Gurowsky, Joan Cohen, Novelette Foote, Roque Ristorucci, and Sean Ahern. They join Angelo D'Angelo, Bennett Fischer, Bobby Greenberg, Gloria Brandman, Greg Di Stefano, Jonathan Halabi, Michael Shulman, Michele Rayvid, Prudence Hill, and Sheila Zukowsky, bringing the Organizing Committee to its full size of 15.

This election opened with a call for nominations April 14. Members were invited to nominate themseslves. Nominations closed on April 24 with eight candidates: Arthur Getzel, David Gurowsky, Joan Cohen, Novelette Foote, Roque Ristorucci, Sean Ahern, Sid Kivanovski and Victor Jordan. Elections were conducted with a ranked choice voting system (Scottish Transfer Vote), using OPA Vote. Voting closed May 1. 

All members as of April 24 were eligible to participate, and most did. Thanks to all our members who participated in this, our first election process.

RA adopted bylaws this winter. Membership was opened up. We have now conducted our first transitional election. The next transitional is scheduled for this September (2026). Five current organizers will step down (they may choose to stand for reelection), and five Organizers will be elected. Our first regular election will take place September 2027, at which time 100% of our Organizers will have been elected (all within the previous 18 months).

At the SHIP (Supplemental Health Insurance Plan) Annual Trustees Meeting last Friday, December 5 2025, there was a vote to double SHIP premiums (from $120 to $240 per year), to increase them by 100% starting on July 1, 2026. I can't tell you about the discussion that took place during executive session, but I will tell you the vote was not unanimous. I voted against it, but it passed 4-3. (The SHIP trustees are Elementary VP Karen Alford, Secretary Leroy Barr, retiree Gloria Brandman, Assistant Treasurer Tom Brown, Treasurer Victoria Lee, retiree Michele Rayvid, and myself.)

 A premium increase might be necessary, but not a hundred percent, not double our current amount. The numbers we saw are based on assumptions about some recent benefit increases. But the data isn't complete yet; it is still coming in. This much of an increase could use retiree premiums to fund a very large surplus for SHIP. That does not seem right. We could have waited a year and found that a smaller increase would have been more appropriate.

 SHIP is well run. SHIP gives back to its members. We haven't had a premium increase in fifteen years, since 2007, which is a good thing. But a 100% premium increase is more than we need at this time. And any increase should be discussed with retirees first.

 It's time we trust our members.

 - Bennett Fischer

Retiree Advocate is opposed to doubling SHIP premiums for retirees. We urge retirees to contact the SHIP trustees, and tell them:  Rethink your decision. Use our premiums to pay for running SHIP, not for building a savings account. Discuss all changes with retirees.

On June 23rd, UFT President Michael Mulgrew sent two letters - one to the Municipal Labor Committee and one to the members of the UFT - announcing his withdrawal of support for the City's Medicare Advantage plan and from the ongoing negotiations on in-service healthcare. It's a good development, and it's entirely due to Retiree Advocate's big win in the RTC chapter election. We did this together! Bennett's response to Mulgrew follows.

I learned about quilling at the December 2022 RTC meeting. Quilling is the craft of bending and rolling strands of paper into decorative objects. I wasn't expecting to learn about quilling when I went to that RTC meeting; I was expecting to debate the UFT's plans to move me, and everyone else at the meeting, into a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan. Tom Murphy, Mulgrew's man at the helm of the Retired Teachers Chapter, had other plans. He didn't want to talk about healthcare. He wanted us to learn about the craft of quilling.

A riff on the April RTC meeting

The April 16th RTC meeting was interesting indeed. First of all, it was finally revealed in a Unity brochure that Tom Murphy will be running for RTC chapter leader again. He's done such a great job of supporting Mulgrew's give away of retiree health benefits that he's being awarded the Aetna-Mulgrew Seal of Approval®.

ORGANIZE TO PROTECT AND IMPROVE RETIREE BENEFITS

• Protect our Healthcare from being privatized – No Medicare Advantage
• Protect our Pensions

Retiree Advocate/UFT is running against Unity caucus in the Retired Teachers Chapter elections this May. In the coming campaign you will hear Tom Murphy and Michael Mulgrew tell you that Retiree Advocate/UFT is somehow anathema to Union. You will hear that we are working with forces that would destroy unions. That is not merely speculation on my part. We've already been hearing it from both of them at RTC meetings, Delegate Assemblies, Executive Board meetings, and virtual town halls.