Retirement Insights

Retiree Council Meets, Confers, Decides

Representatives from AFSCME’s 33 retiree chapters meet as retiree issues hit the front burner on Capitol Hill and in communities across the country.

Washington, DC

With the debate on Social Security, Medicare, prescription drug coverage and pension safety raging all around them, representatives from the 33 AFSCME retiree chapters met here June 15 and 16. Experts on various senior citizen issues addressed the council. Chapter representatives networked — sharing success stories and getting advice on building their chapters.

News to peruse. Chapters reported on recent accomplishments:

• Philadelphia Retiree Chapters 2 and 47, with the help of Councils 33 and 47, mounted a campaign that led the city council to approve a two-year pension adjustment for city pensioners retired at least 10 years. They will get a $1,000 bonus for 1999 and another for 2000 — plus $100 additional for every year of retirement beyond 10. The city has also set up a Pension Adjustment Fund for future increases.
• Washington Chapter 10’s successful lawsuit against the state of Washington on behalf of retirees who had been overcharged for health insurance premiums is paying off. Some $42.5 million will be refunded to the 16,000 public retirees in the plan during the overcharge period. Refunds ran as high as $2,000 or $3,000.
• New Mexico’s retirees helped organize support for a state constitutional amendment protecting public employee pensions by outlawing state raids of their retirement plans. The amendment was supported by 77 percent of the voters.
• Miami Chapter 11 and AFSCME Local 1907 (Council 79) won an improved cost-of-living-adjustment. Current retirees in Miami’s General and Sanitation Pension Trust with a pension of $10,000 or less will see their annual COLA rise from 2 percent to 4 percent. Future retirees will receive a 3 percent COLA.
• Minnesota Chapter 3 announced that participants in the Minneapolis Employees Retirement Fund have been awarded a 7.5 to 8 percent increase based on the fund’s investment returns. For the first time the increase will be added to survivors’ pensions.
• The Cincinnati Subchapter of Ohio Retiree Chapter 1184 has won some new benefits for city retirees: a death benefit increase from $2,000 to $7,500, an annual COLA improvement from a simple 3 percent to a compounded 3 percent, and a special catch-up COLA for long-time pensioners.
• New York AFSCME affiliates have formed a coalition with other public-sector unions and retiree organizations in the state to fight for a permanent COLA.

Family caregivers. The high point of the meeting was a presentation by Dr. Jeanette Takamura, assistant secretary for aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She provided an overview of the proposed Caregivers Initiative.

Proposed by President Clinton — at a cost of $625 million over five years — this is a new program to provide counseling, training, and information and referral assistance to family caregivers of older persons. It would be operated by the Administration on Aging in partnership with state or local offices on aging. The initiative is seen as a small but important step toward a comprehensive national policy on long-term care.

“As I’ve traveled around the country,” said Takamura, “I’ve heard so many stories from seniors and their family members about how difficult it is to provide loved ones with the care they need. This program will provide critically needed help to over 250,000 caregiving families.”

Roger Hickey, director of the New Century Alliance for Social Security, told the retirees that the alliance plans to lobby members of Congress to sign a pledge to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare. “We’ve got the politicians — for the first time in a long time — in the position that they have to answer to the voters,” he said.

By Susan Ellen Holleran