When retirees David Berman and Ed Johnson reconnected recently after many years, they agreed to become union activists again and to co-chair the new RTC Mid-Hudson Retiree Section.

Berman, the former chapter leader at PS 262 and PS 20, both in Brooklyn, and Johnson, who was chapter leader at the now-closed Franklin K. Lane HS in Brooklyn, were UFT members who knew each other through their union engagement and reunited through a democratic club.

“We’re going back to our roots,” Berman said, “and it makes me feel young again and excited to be involved with the UFT once more.”

The need for the new section grew along with the number of UFT retirees living in the Hudson Valley — approximately 1,200 in the mid-Hudson area alone — who could benefit from a section closer to where they live. Since the section’s formation in October 2018, three meetings have each attracted close to 100 retirees, who came to hear speakers describe the benefits and support the UFT provides.

“Hopefully, we will grow from here, reactivating people,” Berman said. “Just because you’re retired doesn’t mean your activist days are over.”

Berman and Johnson plan to hold political action meetings to build a strong UFT retiree vote in the 2020 election. That includes holding small group meetings throughout the valley and sending out 5,000 postcards focused on a single issue every four to six weeks from now until the election. Retirees who don’t like making phone calls to win votes can help with mailing postcards, they said. There will be something for everyone to do.

Their ultimate goal is to create a viable cadre of active retirees in the Hudson Valley working on issues affecting their quality of life and building on the legacy of the retirees who built the UFT.