JANUARY 2006 - Worcester Retirees Battle City Manager And Win - While Association officials are fighting back efforts at the State House to enact legislation that would increase healthcare costs for local retirees, members are waging similar battles in their city or town halls. Take, for example, Worcester where retirees and their allies successfully stopped the city manager from increasing health insurance costs for some of them within a matter of weeks.

Members Outraged

"To say I was upset, when I got the notice in the mail and then learned that O'Brien would be presenting his plan to the city council just a couple of days later, is putting it mildly," exclaimed Association member Tony Teixeira, who retired from Worcester Vocational a little over 5 years ago. "If the proposal went through, then even with my cost-of-living increases, I would be getting less in my pension check than 5 years ago.

"To me, that's a disgrace, and I'm not including the increases in my co-pays. I still live in Worcester and, believe me, my city councilors are getting an earful from me about this outrage and O'Brien's antics."

"Tony Teixeira's sentiments echo many of the calls that our office has received from retirees on this issue," according to Betsy Early, executive secretary of the Worcester Retirement Board. "While the Board has no direct say on insurance, I'm not surprised, considering how upset they are, that they're reaching out to us for help and support."

Association Helps Out

Worcester retirees also called the Association for help. In response to their calls, Association officers swung into action, coordinating grassroots opposition.

"We alerted hundreds of members, who retired from the city and continue to live there," reports Association Legislative Liaison Shawn Duhamel. "If the O'Brien plan was to be stopped, it was imperative that they immediately contact their city councilors and attend the next council meeting.

"Members, like Tony Teixeira, did just that. And, it's had the desired result - at least for now."

Several city councilors stated they preferred that O'Brien's plan be postponed until the next open enrollment period, which is scheduled for this spring. According to Councilor-At-Large Dennis Irish, "There needs to be some kind of dialogue with retirees... That just hasn't happened in this instance."

Without the city council's support, O'Brien decided to postpone implementation of his proposals until this spring's open enrollment period. While the retirees have won this initial skirmish with the city manager, there's no question that the battle will continue this spring.