WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9434 Retirees are protesting a move by the Niagara Falls Water Board to transfer them from an existing Medicare Plan into a privatized Medicare Advantage Plan, which they say violates past contracts that had been agreed to by both sides.  The Retirees are set to hold an informational picket late today (Monday, June 24th) before addressing the Water Board at its regularly scheduled meeting.  Over the weekend, the group made signs to carry during the picket.  Pictured above, from left to right: Mike Hamera - a 40-year Maintenance Worker; Scott Jones - who worked at the Wastewater Treatment Plant for 31 years; and Rich Splendido, who worked in Operations for 28 years.  (Photo Provided By Scott Jones)

(NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK) – Scott Jones, a Member of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9434, worked at Niagara Falls’ Wastewater Treatment Plant for 31 years.  During that time, he and other Union Workers employed there agreed to 15 separate contracts that unbelievably included 0% wage increases in each deal.  Why?  Because they wanted to ensure they were covered with health benefits when they retired.  But now, the Niagara Falls Water Board has gone back on its word and wants to move 100 Retirees into a privatized plan on July 1st, which the Workers say violates the agreed-to conditions of those past contracts they’d okayed.

As a result, the Retirees who are impacted by this proposed move are set to hold an informational picket late Monday (June 24th) before heading into an evening Water Board meeting to publicly state their anger as to what is transpiring.

And, those Retirees won’t be alone.

Word has gone out across the Niagara County Labor Movement and it’s anticipated a host of other Private and Public Sector Unions will be in attendance to not only support their retired USW Brothers and Sisters, but also underscore that fact that a contract is a contract - and that once agreed-to, it should never be broken.

“I ‘don’t really think (the Water Board) has thought this through.’  ‘They’re attacking the most vulnerable and they don’t respect our contracts,’” Jones told WNYLaborToday.com over the weekend as he and several other Retirees - who range in age from 60 to 80 - gathered to make a series of signs that they’ll use during the informational picket, some which read: “We Are City Workers,” “Honor Our Contract” and “Leave Our Medical Alone. 

“‘First thing we did was organize’ the Retirees and ‘then reach out to the USW for help,” Jones said.  “‘(The Water Board wants to) take us out of our current plan and put us in one where we are not sure what’s covered, including those who are facing catastrophic illnesses.  And if you let them (break the contract), they can do it again and take more away from you.”

“The Retirees are ‘very upset.’  (The Water Board) ‘is not respecting us.’  ‘What this does is violate our contracts,’” continued Jones.  “First wind we got of it was when we received a packet of information on the Medicare Advantage Plan on May (15th).  (The Water Board has) ‘given us no explanation.’  ‘We agreed to (15) contracts (over the course of time the Retirees worked at the Wastewater Treatment Plant) where we received (0%) wage increases’ to keep our benefits when we retired.  ‘(What the Water Board now seeks to do) is not something that we bought and paid for.’  (The Retirees) ‘don’t know what will happen (if the switch goes through), including what’s covered to what co-pays will be.’  ‘We hope our picket will get their attention.’”

USW District 4 Sub-Director Jim Briggs, who also serves as President of the Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, addressed the issue during last week’s monthly Council Meeting, where the call went out for Unions and their Members across Niagara County to support their USW Brothers and Sisters in need.

“‘Everyone needs to stand together,’” Briggs told those Union Leaders and Representatives in attendance.  “The Water Board ‘is wrong.’  The USW ‘is looking at what can be done legally because of these egregious changes.’”

Besides reaching out to their Union Brethren, Jones said the Retirees have also gone “political” and have been making calls to City of Niagara Falls Council Members - “leaving them voice mails ‘in order to get their attention too.’”

The former Niagara Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant Workers are not the first to encounter such a problem, Jones tells WNYLaborToday.com.

Retirees in Massachusetts and Vermont, as well as in New York City, are facing the same battle as their former employers look to switch them over to privatized Medicare Plans.

“New York City Retirees ‘are going through this right now, as many as (250,000) - they’re trying to put a stop to it in the courts,’” Jones said.

WNYLaborToday.com just last week published a Labor News Story out of New York City on just what Jones was describing (Go To: Transit Supervisors Organization/Transport Workers Union Local 106 ‘Enshrines Right’ To Medicare - WNY Labor Today: Your On-Line Labor Newspaper, Bringing You Labor News From Across The Nation, New York State & Western New York)