For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 17, 2005
AFSCME Calls Two Million Voters on Social Security
Union Organizing at the Grassroots to Stop Benefit Cuts
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is making two million phone calls to voters in 33 congressional districts across the country to educate voters about how President Bush’s Social Security privatization scheme will jeopardize their retirement. The calls are part of a massive national campaign to stop Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, a move AFSCME International President Gerald W. McEntee calls, "dangerous and irresponsible". The calls also direct recipients — voters who are not union members — to call their Senators and Representatives in Congress and ask them not to support the President’s plan.
In addition to communicating with the general public, AFSCME has already called a quarter of its 1.6 million members on this issue to generate pressure on members of Congress.
"President Bush’s attempt to privatize Social Security will hurt all of America’s working families, and that is why we are reaching out to everyone," said McEntee. "The Bush plan is bad and will lead to huge cuts in guaranteed benefits that workers have earned and are counting on. Organizing at the grassroots is the best way for us to cut through the President’s propaganda and staged events and speak directly to the people who have the most to lose."
According to estimates the average retiree that lives 20 years past retirement and chooses a private account will lose $154,000. For every dollar workers have in their private accounts at retirement, the government will deduct 50 cents from the guaranteed benefits they have earned by paying into the Social Security system. The private investment account will be controlled by large private companies on Wall Street that will be more concerned about their bottom line than workers’ retirement. To make the transition, President Bush will need to borrow $2 trillion from foreign nations such as China and Japan.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, is the nation’s fastest growing public service employee union with 1.4 million members. AFSCME organizes for social and economic justice in the workplace and through political action and legislative advocacy. AFSCME represents a diverse group of service and health care workers in the public and private sectors including nurses, EMTs, bus drivers, child care workers, custodians and librarians.
