AFSCME to Congress: Reform or Repeal GPO & WEP Laws

February 07, 2008

END THE UNFAIRNESS – IVP Joseph Rugola, executive director of OAPSE/AFSCME Local 4, calls on Congress to change or repeal laws that hurt retired public employees.

Photo Credit: Jay Mallin

In mid-January, Joseph Rugola, executive director of Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE)/AFSCME Local 4, called on Congress to repeal or reform two federal laws that are cutting into the retirement benefits of hundreds of thousands of retired federal, state and local government employees.

The laws – the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) – offset spousal Social Security benefits of public-sector retirees who pay into public pension plans instead of Social Security.

Rugola, also an International vice president, told members of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security:

“AFSCME is a strong supporter of the Social Security system and we are troubled that the benefits of many of our members are unfairly reduced through the arbitrary application of these two laws.”

Rugola’s testimony also pointed out: “Most private pensioners only pay into Social Security, yet they can receive a full pension and a full Social Security benefit, with no offset of any kind.” Rugola discusses two actual cases in this short video:

Find more information on GPO and WEP in the Retirees section of AFSCME.org:

• Q&A: Social Security’s Government Pension Offset
• Q&A: Social Security’s Windfall Elimination Provision