WHEREAS,America’s traditional retirement-security model consisting of an employer-provided defined-benefit plan, Social Security, and personal savings has in recent years unraveled for tens of millions of working-age households; and

WHEREAS,defined-benefit pension plans provide secure retirement income but they have been all but eliminated in the private sector and have come under increasing fire in the public sector by those who want to eliminate them; and

WHEREAS,only half of workers in the United States have access to any type of employer-sponsored retirement plan, and 38 million households have no retirement account assets; and

WHEREAS,the median balance held in defined-contribution retirement accounts is $3,000 for working households and $12,000 for households near retirement, which demonstrates the failure of defined-contribution plans to provide retirement security; and

WHEREAS, U.S. workers collectively face a shortfall in retirement savings of between $7 and $14 trillion, depending on which assets are counted; and

WHEREAS,all workers must be able to count on a guaranteed stream of retirement income that allows them to maintain their standard of living after a lifetime of work; and

WHEREAS, state and local public retirement systems are able to provide millions of working people guaranteed streams of retirement income for life because of the efficient, low-cost, and  professional manner in which these systems invest retirement assets; and

WHEREAS, 16 states are either considering legislation or taking the first steps to create public-private partnerships that enable voluntary employer and employee contributions into a retirement trust that would be professionally managed with a diversified portfolio and overseen by state and local pension trustees; and

WHEREAS,Social Security is America’s most successful anti-poverty program, providing low- and moderate-wage earners with a needed and guaranteed retirement income; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the United Federation of Teachers supports efforts at the state and national level to improve and build upon the federal Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT supports efforts to set up private-public partnerships that can extend defined-benefit pension plans to private-sector workers whose employers choose to invest in low-cost, professionally managed plans overseen by state and local retirement systems; and be it further

RESOLVED, that United States needs for all workers to have a guaranteed retirement income for life that allows them as well as their spouses and partners to maintain their standard of living after a lifetime of work and which protects  Americans from falling into poverty as they age; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT reaffirms its support for defined-benefit pension plans and rejects efforts to increase reliance on defined-contribution plans as the primary means for retirement income.