CSEA President Danny Donohue: Build your union power In this issue, you will read about the CSEA Retirees’ new Facebook page, our candidate endorsements and the passing of a great CSEA activist whose dedication helped expand our Retiree Division. All of these features have one purpose: to help you build your union power, whether at the voting booth, spreading our message or being inspired to activism. CSEA Retirees play a vital role in our union. Working people are under attack by those who don’t value them. The people who are attacking us also don’t value your retirement security. In 2013, your pensions pumped $11.3 billion into New York’s economy and were responsible for 58,000 jobs. Yet corporate interests and right-wing politicians want to gut our pensions. New York state has a defined-benefit pension system, which means that you get paid what you Message from Retiree Executive Committee Chair Judy Richards This fall, we should all be thinking of how we can become involved in our communities and union to keep our “American Dream” alive. Finding ourselves just waiting for the “other guy” to do all the work is not the answer. Each of us needs to take part in our future! The CSEA Retiree Strategic Planning Committee recently held its first teleconference focusing on developing a Retiree Facebook page, which went live Oct. 1. Learn more about the new Facebook page on Page 8 and better yet, “like” it to get regular updates on issues facing CSEA retirees. Our next two goals will be recruitment and political action. The latter is more important than ever. Donald Trump is running on the motto “Let’s make America great again,” a phrase made famous from Ronald Reagan’s 1980 Presidential campaign. America has changed a lot since then and not necessarily for the better. In 1980, the average CEO of a Fortune 500 company made 42 times that of the average worker. Today, that CEO makes 375 times that of the average worker; wages for most workers have actually fallen. This dramatic swing in our economy that is now favoring corporate and financial elites at the expense of middle-class retirees and workers is better known as income inequality, and the gap is at its widest in New York state. How has this happened? The increasing concentration of political power in the hands of corporations has allowed them to manipulate the rules in their favor. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich notes that patents, trademarks, and copyrights have been enlarged and extended for pharmaceutical companies, which leads to the business leaders getting richer and us paying more for medicine. Reich also notes that antitrust laws, or monopolies, have been relaxed so that some companies can charge us more due to lack of competition. Another sad change is that the percentage of workers who have job-related pensions has fallen from just over 50 percent in 1979 to under 35 percent today. Today, the average person retiring at age have earned, regardless of the economy. That system has been in place since 1920, and New York consistently has one of the best-managed, most stable pension systems in the United States. Many of those who are attacking workers support shifting our pensions to a defined-contribution system. Your pensions would be based on the performance of the stock market, which is obviously much more risky to your retirement security. A 2012 study shows that the poverty rate of senior citizens is nearly nine times greater without a defined benefit pension. We can’t afford this. One of the best ways to fight back is to get out and vote for candidates who 65 only has $103,000 in retirement savings, according to the Federal Reserve. That equals $343 per month, hardly enough to live on! We need to work together to help make changes for future retirees. We can raise wages for working people and not bankrupt companies. We can speak up to stop the rules from being manipulated so workers can better support their families. We can take a big step in making these changes by doing one thing – voting. We can stand together and elect people who stand with us; those who understand that America’s greatest resource is our people. Many of you have expressed concern over prescription drug costs. Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. Last year, prescription drug costs in the United States increased by 12 percent and the top three pharmaceutical companies earned $45 billion. At a time when Medicare isn’t allowed to negotiate prescription drug prices and when retirees are already, on average, spending 37 percent of their Social Security checks on out-of-pocket health care costs, it is critical that Congress act to protect Americans so they can better afford stand with you and with workers. This year’s local government elections are extremely important, as they affect your daily lives in your communities. Voting for candidates who support middle-class retirees and workers – and holding them accountable while in office – is vital to our futures. As CSEA Retirees, you should be proud of being part of a union that values doing good and works hard to do better by bringing people together. When we stand together, our union is strong. prescription drugs. Congress needs to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable and pass the Prescription Drug Affordability Act of 2015! This bill, recently introduced by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, demands transparency from drug companies and holds the pharmaceutical industry accountable for fraud and price manipulation. In 2014, the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $250 million on lobbying and campaign contributions, more than any other industry in the United States. It will be a tough fight, but together, we can hold drug companies accountable and protect the American people from these corporate abuses. Now is the time for each of us to contact our representatives and demand passage of the bill. I ask each of you to become involved on any level, whether it be making phone calls, letter writing, attending rallies or attending meetings. All of your efforts will affect your future and those of your families. Together we can still live the “American Dream.” Judy 2 CSEA RETIREE NEWS
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