Retirees Go Hawaiian
AFSCME's Retiree Council meets in Honolulu; aims for 200,000 retiree members by 2000.
The future of Social Security and Medicare were on the top of the agenda as more than 180 retiree activists from across the country attended the 18th Annual Meeting of the AFSCME Retiree Council, held in conjunction with the International Convention in Honolulu. Participants included 38 official council members and other AFSCME retiree leaders.
During the two-day meeting, the Retiree Council heard from President McEntee and Secretary-Treasurer Lucy, who congratulated them on the phenomenal growth in AFSCME retiree membership: from 18,000 in 1980, the year of the first meeting of the AFSCME Retiree Council, to more than 190,000 members today.
HOT TOPICS. Retirees from across the country expressed anger at congressional leaders who are trying to build a case to privatize Social Security by telling the public that the fund is facing bankruptcy. In fact, Social Security is solvent and able to pay full benefits through 2032. A subsequent shortfall will require moderate corrections — not the extreme and risky privatization solution being promoted by Big Business and its congressional allies.
The retirees also expressed concern about the National Commission on the Future of Medicare, which is scheduled to issue its report to Congress next spring. The commission has limited the number of field hearings and has heard chiefly from insurers, doctors, hospitals and HMOs. Few retirees have had an opportunity to express themselves on the future direction of their health care program.
PENSION PROTECTIONS. Kerry Korpi, director of AFSCME’s Research and Collective Bargaining Services Department, presented details of a new AFSCME initiative to train and communicate with working and retiree members who are trustees of pension funds. AFSCME is trying to mobilize its influence in pension boards to get corporations to act responsibly toward their workers.
Korpi also described widespread efforts to dismantle traditional defined benefit pension plans which guarantee retirees a fixed income. Some public employers are making a push to replace them with defined contribution plans, which work more like personal savings accounts and would provide lower benefits for the majority of future retirees.
UP AHEAD. The council re-elected its slate of officers: Chair John Slaven (Rhode Island Chapter 94), Vice-Chair Doris Clark (Illinois Chapter 31) and Secretary Maggie Blanch (Pennsylvania Chapter 13). The meeting closed with a discussion of Retiree Council goals for the coming year. These include efforts to elect pro-Labor, pro-senior candidates in the November elections; to mobilize at the grassroots level on behalf of Social Security and Medicare issues; and to build AFSCME retiree membership to more than 200,000 by the start of the new millennium.
HAWAIIAN FLAIR. The council meeting had a strong Hawaiian influence. The retirees were welcomed by the two Hawaii retiree chapters, HGEA/AFSCME Chapter 152 and UPW/ AFSCME Chapter 646, which have a combined membership of over 12,000, statewide. The groups sponsored an opening reception that featured native Hawaiian music and a buffet of local delicacies prepared by chapter members.
Betty De Lima, president of Hawaii’s UPW Retiree Chapter 646, presented each council member with a colorful keepsake — a hand-woven ribbon lei, representing six months of her hard work.
By Susan Ellen Holleran
