Page 2 - Retiree News Fall 2023

CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan: Tell your story, grow our union
Greetings, Sisters and Brothers,
Each of us has a story to tell
about how and
why we came
to be employed
where we worked, as well as the challenges we faced during our careers.
I’m willing to bet that despite these struggles, the work was still extremely rewarding.
You may not have become wealthy from public employment, but your work truly helped our communities thrive. Those public jobs also included a guaranteed pension that helps you to live more securely during your retirement years.
You have all played a role in keeping our union strong and continue to do so. Now, I ask you to help us grow our union through sharing your story. When we share our stories about how and why
we entered public service, we can make a big difference for working members and potential members.
Our working members are consistently facing understaffing. Over the next several years, these challenges may worsen because more than a quarter of state employees will be eligible to retire and not enough people are replacing them. For various reasons, people just aren’t taking public sector jobs, despite the rewarding nature of the work and the benefits that come with it.
Our union is working with Governor Kathy Hochul and her administration to help recruit more
people to public jobs and help retain workers. The governor has presented plans and initiatives and even signed legislation
to encourage more people to enter public service. Increasing recruitment would help with retention, as workers would be relieved from having to do more with less, as well as lengthy and stressful shifts.
The more recruitment and retention we achieve, the stronger our union will be, including for retirees. Our union’s Retiree Division is working hard to recruit the soon-to-retire workers to join our retiree union. By helping grow our union, we also help keep our union strong long into the future. However, to do this, we need more people to fill public service jobs. You can help with recruitment because of your experience
working in the public sector. Another way to help is to seek
out people who may be thinking about public sector employment and tell them why we pursued these careers. We can encourage them to apply for one of these unfilled positions. Every filled position helps.
I urge each of you to try to reach out to one person you know who may be interested in public service and share your story with them. Encourage them to apply. More information can be found at https://www.cs.ny.gov.
In solidarity,
Mary E. Sullivan, President
rate loans and credit cards for eligible members and even discounts when buying furniture! Who can beat that?
Life is better in a union, and life
is better once you retire! Urge your former co-workers, friends and family to join us and find this out for themselves!
In solidarity,
Bernie
Bernadette Giambra, Retiree Executive Committee Chair
Retiree Executive Committee Chair Bernadette Giambra:
Help us grow stronger
ello! Hello! your CSEA region office.
Happy fall As much as we want to bring to all of retired members back into our
union instead worked hard to elect Adam Bello as County Executive. He has consistently stood with working people and retirees, and our union is proud to endorse his reelection.
Our union is also willing to fight for retirees – not only in the political arena, but in the courtroom. We also work hard to update members on the latest union news and issues that affect them.
On a lighter note, CSEA also has many member-only benefits that
can help save you money, whether it’s member-only insurance offers, discounted hearing aids, low interest
you! The weather may be getting cooler, but our union’s efforts
to recruit more Retiree members are only getting hotter!
Retiree Local officers are working hard to grow our union. Our Retiree union is very strong, but if we are to grow even stronger, we need more people to join us!
Do you have a former co-worker, friend or family member who has retired and never joined our Retiree union? Ask them to join; bring them to a local meeting, if your local is able to have meeting guests, or simply ask them to fill out a retiree membership application.
If you need an application and have access to the Internet, email csearetiree@cseainc.org. If you don’t have Internet access, call CSEA Headquarters at (800) 342-4146 or
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union family, our goal is to never see members leave at all.
The Retiree Division is working hard to recruit working members before they retire; we are attending events on all levels of our union to meet with members who are planning to soon retire. We want them to know that we want them to stay in our CSEA family even though they will soon retire from their careers.
Here is why growing our retiree union is so important. Think about our former employers. Many of them would love any chance to balance their budgets on the backs of their retired employees by cutting our retirement security.
A small number of voices may not make a difference, but a large group will have clout. Need an example? On Page 1, we discuss how former Monroe County administrators didn’t care about working people or retirees.
We didn’t accept it. In 2019, our
Congratulations to our 2023 Retiree Golden Locals!
Local 905 Ithaca Area Retirees
Local 909 Dutchess-Putnam Retirees
Local 914 Oneida-Madison-Herkimer Tri-County Retirees Local 917 Orange-Ulster-Sullivan Retirees
Local 918 Rockland Retirees
CSEA RETIREE NEWS