Retiree Power

The Retirees Association of DC 37’s first educational conference – attended by 600 members – focused on the political clout of retired union members and their role in strengthening the labor movement.

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The first education conference held by the Retirees Association of DC 37 underscored the important role that
retirees will play in this year’s presidential election and the long-term fight to improve the livelihood of working families. Some 600 veteran union activists came out in force for the March 13 conference, whose theme was “Retirees Working for Future Generations.”

“We are living longer. We are healthier. We are dynamic. We are union retirees,” said Retirees President Stuart Leibowitz.
“It’s a tribute to you that we have grown from 21,000 members in 2001 to over 26,000 today,” he told the enthusiasti audience. He thanked AFSCME, DC 37’s parent union, for its support in the association’s successful organizing campaign. The day’s program dealt with an array of issues, including Medicare, Social Security, pensions and union benefits.

A major focus concerned how the Bush administration policies hurt working families. The conference served as a rallying cry for retirees to participate in the labor movement’s “Take Back America” political campaign. In the months leading up to the fall presidential election, thousands of union activists throughout the country will be participating in a grassroots campaign to elect worker-friendly candidates in statehouses, the U.S. Congress and the Senate — and ultimately the White House.

AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee described President Bush as “without a doubt the most anti-worker, anti-family and anti-democratic president this country has ever seen” in his address to the activists. “He has to go.”

Mr. McEntee criticized the nation’s loss of 3 million jobs on Mr. Bush’s watch and the administration’s huge tax cuts for the wealthy. At the conference, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum presented Mr. Leibowitz with a proclamation that named March 13 as “The Retirees Association of DC 37 Day.”