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Retirement Insights

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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