Retirement Insights
Preserve your friendships — and your pension security — as a member of the AFSCME Retirees.
When AFSCME members retire from their jobs, they don’t have to retire from the union. They can join the 190,000-member AFSCME Retiree Program and continue to work for dignity and security in the public sector.
With 32 chapters and over 200 local subchapters around the country, the Retiree Program enables retiree members to attend regular meetings and socialize with friends from working days. They also get the latest news on retirement issues: Social Security, for example, and Medicare, as well as public pensions and employer-sponsored retiree health plans.
AFSCME retiree chapters lobby their legislatures and city councils to protect and improve retirement benefits. Their efforts have paid off again and again as they’ve won periodic pension supplements and (even better) automatic an-nual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) on pensions. They’ve also helped win seats for retiree representatives on retirement system boards of trustees so beneficiaries can get their voices heard and their pensions protected.
In many places, our retiree chapters have successfully lobbied former employers to help cover the cost of retiree health care benefits and to cover spouses and survivors as well. On the national level, they’ve worked to preserve Social Security and Medicare — not only for themselves but also for the next generation of older Americans.
Included in the low annual dues rate for retiree members are subscriptions to the Retiree Program’s informative national newsletter, PrimeTIME, and AFSCME’s Public Employee magazine. In addition, retiree members are eligible for all the AFSCME Advantage benefits that are offered to the working members including the union’s MasterCard. (Retiring union members can maintain their MasterCards only if they join the Retiree Program.)
Following is a list of AFSCME retiree chapters nationwide. Don’t hesitate to call the appropriate chapter if you’d like to join or if you need more information about chapter activities. If, as yet, no chapter has been organized in your area, you can join the AFSCME Retiree Program as an at-large member by writing for an application: AFSCME Retiree Program, 1625 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-5687.
Arizona Retiree Chapter 97
(602) 252-6501
S. California Retiree Chapter 36
(213) 484-8300
N. California Retiree Chapter 57
(925) 28-4400
Connecticut Retiree Chapter 4
(860) 225-7656
Delaware Retiree Chapter 81
(302) 323-2121
City of Miami Retiree Chapter 11
(305) 863-8623
Hawaii/HGEA Retiree Chapter 152
(808) 536-2351
Hawaii UPW Retiree Chapter 646
(808) 871-5106
Illinois Retiree Chapter 31
(312) 641-6060
Iowa Retiree Chapter 61
(515) 246-1517
Maryland Retiree Chapter 1
(410) 547-1515
Michigan Retiree Organizing Committee
(313) 935-6656
Minnesota Retiree Chapter 3
Twin Cities area
(612) 455-0773
Minnesota Retiree Chapter 6
state government
(612) 483-4076
Minnesota Retiree Chapter 65
local government outside Twin Cities
(218) 885-3242
Minnesota Retiree Chapter 96
Duluth area
(218) 722-0577
New England Retiree Chapter 93
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts
(508) 997-9936
New Jersey Retiree Chapter 1199J
(973) 242-4453
NYC Retiree Chapter 37
(212) 815-1782
New York Retiree Chapter 82
(800) 434-8201
New York Retiree Chapter 1707
(212) 219-0022
NY/CSEA Retiree Chapter 1000
(518) 434-0191
Ohio Retiree Chapter 1184
(614) 433-0303
Pennsylvania Retiree Chapter 13
(717) 564-9797
Philadelphia Retiree Chapter 2
city, blue collar
(215) 895-3315
Philadelphia Retiree Chapter 47
city, white collar
(215) 893-3765
Philadelphia Retiree Chapter 1199C
(215) 735-1300
Rhode Island Retiree Chapter 94
(401) 724-5900
Houston Retiree Chapter 1550
(713) 928-3738
Washington Retiree Chapter 10
(360) 352-8262
West Virginia Retiree Chapter 77
(304) 925-8256
Wisconsin Retiree Chapter 7
(608) 836-6666
City of Milwaukee Retiree Chapter 48
(414) 768-0986
