“We’re feeling better but we’re not home yet,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew reassured retirees gathered for the 53rd annual Retired Teachers Chapter Luncheon on June 13 as he summarized the state of New York City’s public schools at the close of the 2015–16 school year.

“We are moving education to a better place,” Mulgrew said, but he warned of unmet challenges, particularly efforts nationwide to defund public education.

Mulgrew said New York City public school educators stand up for what’s right. “We made that decision when we walked into the classroom and the hospital,” he told the record crowd of 600 gathered at the New York Hilton. “There’s no way to turn that off. We have that inside us.”

“And we have something no one else has,” he continued. “We have the UFT retiree chapter, the strongest in the nation. Thank you for being that great chapter.”

The luncheon is an annual celebration and recognition of the contributions of retired members to the union, their chapter and the community.

Carol Gerstl, who served as the union’s governmental affairs counsel and chief Albany lobbyist before her retirement in 2015, received the Tom Pappas Award. Gerstl was recognized for directing the union’s campaigns in Albany to attain an age 55 retirement plan and a cost-of-living adjustment for public-employee pensions, among other legislative victories.

At the morning awards ceremony, an Award of Recognition was added this year to mark the work of retirees Murray Blasz, Peter Lytell and Irwin Ostrego who have been tutoring immigrants seeking citizenship. In presenting the award, John Soldini, the Retired Teachers Chapter vice chairman, noted the importance of their work, “especially in times of ‘know-nothing’ voices trying to obliterate the contribution of immigrants in our immigrant nation.”

The two nurses who received the Federation of Nurses/UFT retiree service awards, Diana Grillo and Christina Zill, stressed the importance of the union in their careers. “Let new nurses know how important the union is,” Zill advised, while Grillo noted, “The union gave me a voice — how to fight the good fight.”

The packed house broke into applause when Beatrice Nebel, on the eve of her 100th birthday, strode to the podium to receive a NYSUT Community Service Award.

Wearing a red rose that distinguished him as an award winner — 50 years as a UFT member — Jonathan Turkel spoke of his 19 years of retirement as a “wonderful time” spent woodworking and hiking in upstate New York — “all due to my UFT pension.”

After 32 years in the classroom and years as a chapter leader, Turkel said, “Without the pension, I’d be nowhere. It gives me economic stability.”

NYSUT President Karen Magee, who presented the NYSUT Retiree of the Year award to Vincent Gaglione, complimented the many retired members who have traveled the country on political assignments to protect labor and public education. “And when Hillary Clinton is elected, I know who to thank for that,” she said.

Retired Teachers Chapter Leader Tom Murphy applauded the “bred-in-the-bone” characteristics of UFT retirees whose “activism is in their DNA.” They vote in disproportionately high numbers, remain politically active on many fronts, continue to serve their communities — and turn out in record numbers for their annual luncheon.

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