The group, called the Protect Our Benefits Committee, is preparing an initiative aimed both at making the system more responsive to the concerns of city workers and preserving the benefits that retired workers were required to sign on to as a condition of their employment.
Responsibility is now in the hands of an independent, seven-member health services system board.
The body would be required to meet only once a year. Its members could be removed at any time for any reason. Protect Our Benefits Committee members argue that the mayor's plan would greatly diminish the ability of active and retired workers to influence decisions on health care. We're trying to preserve the affordable health care that was promised to us, and we're not going to get any help from the mayor on that. The committee has numerous problems with the mayor's plan.