Mar 15, 2007 4:04 PM
Other retirees I talk to are always surprised to learn that for UFT retirees the union door never closes. For us, retirement doesn’t mean a pat on the back, good job, goodbye. We never become once-upon-a-time UFT members.
No matter how long we’ve been retired or where we have retired to, our UFT membership is alive and well and provides us with an active voice in its governance. We not only vote with our in-service brothers and sisters in UFT general elections, we are represented on the UFT Executive Board, have 300 retiree delegates representing us each month at the Delegate Assembly and are further represented by elected delegates at state and national conventions.
Our voices are heard and they are listened to.
The UFT did not just secure for us the best benefits of any teachers in any public school system in the country and call it a day. It continues to work on our behalf.
Right now the UFT, in concert with other retiree allies, is working to legislatively overhaul the disastrous Medicare Part D drug plan to allow Medicare to use its bulk purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices. It’s also working to find ways to close the doughnut-hole gap in coverage and to secure a drug importation bill.
While the automatic cost-of-living increase we struggled for so many years to win dramatically improved the pensions of long-time retirees, the UFT knows we need to improve the COLA for everyone.
Working together we saved Social Security from privatization and we’re working together now to rid Medicare Part B of the recent addition of means testing. Our RTC resolution opposing means testing is on the agenda for discussion at the March 28 Delegate Assembly.
In my last column I reminded you about the extensive social services we and our families have access to. The Welfare Fund and SHIP continue to improve our benefits wherever and whenever they can.
Our ties to our union remain strong and productive.
Our ties are equally strong as a chapter. As some retirees choose to settle outside the metropolitan area, we keep up with you. Not only do we have active sections across the country in Florida, California, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Las Vegas, we also have sections in Puerto Rico and Israel. And we make sure to touch base in person with most of you at least once a year.
When we do come into your area, we bring our senior issue experts for first-hand information about pensions, benefits and programs that include trips, seminars and a host of courses available through the Si Beagle Learning Centers — better known as the UFT University.
Busy as she is, UFT President Randi Weingarten is always vigilant about protecting and maintaining our benefits and staying in touch. She speaks at our chapter meetings and luncheons — one in the fall for new retirees and another in the spring for all retirees — and was the keynoter at Florida’s 28th Annual Luncheon this month.
In addition, we remain well connected through the news and information we bring you through these retiree pages of the New York Teacher and our quarterly newsletters. In the metropolitan area we have regular monthly meetings that are well attended, lively and very interactive.
This union-retiree connection is a symbiosis, not a one-way street. We’re always on the buses headed to Albany when the UFT needs our support and we swell the ranks of demonstrators, help in leafletting campaigns and man phones and write letters during election campaigns.
As retirees, we worked hard to elect this Democratic Congress and we can see signs of legislative activity in many areas we have a stake in, but we’re still a long way from all we hope for. Remember: Our congressional margins are thin and the president still has veto power. So we need to stay active and committed to ensure victory in the 2008 election because there is so much more that needs to be done.
Stay tuned.