I’ve written before that national issues can also be local issues, and that we as union members help ourselves when we join national fights to protect the benefits and services we enjoy locally as UFT members. That’s why I was happy when, at the December RTC meeting, we passed a resolution to start an RTC organizing campaign to defend Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

The Trump administration and MAGA Republicans are using the Project 2025 playbook to cut health care and make structural changes to the social safety net on which all Americans rely. They are cutting a trillion dollars from Medicaid, which is forecast to cost some 15 million people their health coverage and seriously hurt seniors who rely on it for long-term care and nursing homes. MAGA Republicans want to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act, removing the price cap on insulin and the $2,000 annual limit on out-of-pocket prescription costs, both of which are essential to so many RTC members.

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts to the Social Security Administration have already led to office closures and reduced access to benefits. DOGE’s theft of our personal data has led to benefits being wrongly terminated.

The Trump administration’s cancellation of research contracts and oversight bodies makes it difficult to track the real-world consequences of the systemic changes at play. But one of those planned systemic changes — a huge goal of Project 2025 — is to shift us by default into private Medicare Advantage plans.

So how do we fight back?

We educate, organize and grow. We educate ourselves about the scope of the attacks on our social safety net and the connections between legislation and the delivery of our benefits. We organize an RTC network to meet regularly to phone-bank, write and rally. We activate by developing toolkits that can be used to organize local RTC networks around our issues. We grow by making connections with other AFT retirees, labor unions and local retiree groups.

When we exercise our activism muscles, we prepare ourselves to fight for anything.

Organizing a social safety net campaign will require the help of our local and national union. Our chapter is large, but we cannot rely on size alone. We’re really good at turning out for an election cycle or one-off rally, but we need to get into the habit of “showing up” on a regular basis to protect our collective interests. It is the legacy of the labor movement to work collectively; to prepare ourselves for the ongoing; and to organize and build something that outlasts any one administration, remaining in place in both times of crisis and progress.

The UFT is hoping to pass a resolution at the Delegate Assembly that will turn this campaign into a unionwide initiative. Once that happens, we will be in touch with ways you can participate and help us grow this campaign to protect the social safety net. Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare aren’t just for retirees. They are institutions that bring stability and security to all Americans, enable us to live a dignified life, allow the labor movement to flourish, and let us enjoy a democracy that works for all of us.