Page 2 - Retiree News Spring 2017

CSEA Acting President Mary E. Sullivan:
OGet involved to get things done
ur President, Medicare.
Danny Donohue, We need to get
is currently involved and have a role
home recovering from a
surgical procedure and
is doing very well. He
sends his best wishes to
all of you and is looking
forward to returning to
work as soon as he is
able. Until then, I am
holding down the fort as Acting President, and I am looking forward to working with all of you to continue moving our union forward.
Many of you have approached me personally over the years sharing how much you resent our political involvement. And I get
it — politics can get messy, many of us are passionate about our beliefs, and none of us like feeling we are being told what to do, or how to vote.
The truth is that political involvement is how we get stuff done. The laws on the books today that establish our pensions and worker rights are there because members just like you and I got involved in the political process and made our voices heard.
You may be retired, but that doesn’t lessen everything that
is at stake for you. When times get tough, many politicians think that your pensions and health insurance are expendable.
It’s our job to show them
how wrong they are to cut the retirement security that you have earned.
We are always evaluating
how our representatives, on every level of government, have historically voted on important retiree issues. As public retirees, we have the advantage of
voting on people who make the important decisions on your pensions, health insurance and other important retiree benefits such as Social Security and
in these decisions. If we fail to get involved, the results could not only
be devastating to you, but to those who are still working.
On the center spread of this issue, you will
read about how Wisconsin’s labor movement was swiftly decimated by a single piece of legislation
in 2011. That legislation was successful, in large part, because of workers’ political apathy.
By the time everyone realized what had happened — that their collective bargaining rights had been ripped out from under them — it was already too late.
It’s a cautionary tale, but we need to learn from it and not take our rights for granted. We also need to get involved in another issue — defeating November’s Constitutional Convention ballot referendum.
If voters approve a convention, our pensions are in jeopardy. During a constitutional convention, everything in our state constitution is on the table, open for change. Many of those who support a convention also mistakenly believe that your pensions are excessive; a gift.
We all know that nothing we have is a gift — we have earned our pensions. We have the right to a dignified, secure retirement.
Sisters and brothers, we cannot afford to be apathetic with the attacks on workers and retirees continuing to build. Let’s look
at the big picture. If you care about your communities and your family’s security, we need to join together.
Interested in getting involved? You can call me personally and I’ll get you in the mix. That’s how serious I am about this.
I hope to hear from you soon!
Message from Retiree Executive Committee Chair Charlotte Adkins
As I write this
column, the
U.S. House
of Representatives
has passed its
ACA health care
bill and sent it to
the Senate. This
health care bill
is detrimental to
those who need affordable health care. The insurance companies are the benefactors.
We are in this fight to keep health care affordable and available for all Americans, especially for our union members and their families. We
will all be affected when Medicaid dollars are compromised for New York state. The domino effect will be felt by all but the very rich. Jobs and services are at stake.
CSEA President Danny Donohue has activated the Federal Political Action Liaisons (PALs) Committee, and he has appointed me to our union’s Federal Issues Committee.
I will proudly serve on this committee, and I thank President Donohue for the opportunity to represent CSEA and the retirees. The committee attended an excellent training in March. Lobbying the lawmakers face-to- face about our issues and concerns puts a face on CSEA members as they hear from us directly. Many of the issues facing us are scary, and some are painful as we watch what is going on around the world. The political atmosphere is concerning and our union continues to prepare for the fight ahead.
The 2017 CSEA local and unit elections are taking place right now. On July 1, 2017, some locals will have new officers, while others will have their current officers re-elected. Each region will swear into office all 2017 elected officers to serve the next four-year term.
As we report on Page 1, the state legislature rejected the governor’s state budget proposals that would have increased health insurance costs for current and future retirees. The budget sets up a health insurance trust fund intended to pre-fund retiree health benefit
costs for state retirees and their
beneficiaries.
While the budget is now final,
our work in Albany is far from done. CSEA is strongly supporting four bills that affect retirees:
45-Day Notice for Changes to Health Insurance (S.4324/A.5210)
This bill would require municipalities to notify retirees at least 45 days before changing their health benefits. This is a priority bill for CSEA for the 2017 legislative session.
Retiree COLA Benefit Increase (A.6045/S.3306)
This legislation would provide a cost-of-living adjustment increase for members of the retirement system by increasing the base benefit amount for the computation from $18,000 to 25,000.
Retiree Health Benefit Protection (A.7250)
This legislation would prevent an employer from diminishing the benefits that were in place at the time of retirement.
NYSHIP Contribution Rates (S.1862/A.2823)
This legislation would establish the state’s contribution rate toward the premium charges for current and retired state employees enrolled in a health insurance plan under NYSHIP.
This will be a very busy year. CSEA will continue to work on strengthening our union to better face challenges ahead, including those that affect our retirement security. We must also be vigilant toward saving Medicare and Social Security. One of the most important fights for 2017 is to vote down the state Constitutional Convention proposal that will be on ballots in November. It is essential that we
all do our part to get the word out, and prevent this convention, which is not only costly and unnecessary, but potentially jeopardizes our pensions and many more key protections.
Best wishes to President Donohue for a speedy recovery.
In solidarity,
Charlotte
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