Page 2 - Retiree News Winter 2018

CSEA President Danny Donohue:
In the face of challenges, sHtand strong together
appy New Year! interests and wealthy As we settle into people who are funding 2018, we have Janus think that
many historic challenges that we must face together.
As many of you
know, we are facing
the reality of Janus v.
AFSCME Council 31,
a U.S. Supreme Court
case that will review whether agency, or fair share fees, are constitutional. The court is due to hear oral arguments in this case in late February, and a decision is expected sometime in June.
Sound familiar? It should, especially as this case addresses the same issue as Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which the court heard in early 2016. That case ended in a court deadlock shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. This deadlock effectively resolved that case in favor of the lower courts’ opinions, which sided with the union.
While we were relieved, we also knew that it would only be a short reprieve. Now, we are facing the Janus case — with a full court that is likely to side with the plaintiffs.
Should Janus be decided in favor of the plaintiffs, as we expect, it will be harder for us to protect our jobs, benefits and even retirement security.
But it’s not impossible, but it will take every single member to stand together.
As we have already been doing for two years, we are pushing forward with engaging members and having conversations about what it means to stand together. The ONLY way we can meet our challenges is to build our union.
As retiree members, your role is different, but the stakes are also high for you. The corporate
our benefits are too generous, which includes our retirement security.
Congress has already indicated that it will pay for the recently enacted federal tax plan by making steep cuts
to programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Worse, the federal legislation makes clear that taxpayers in New York will also be bankrolling this tax plan.
Closer to home, some of you are facing cuts to your retirement health benefits by your former employers. You earned these benefits — they are not a privilege.
Even if your retirement benefits largely remain unaffected, your working brothers and sisters who hope to retire one day may find themselves in a less secure spot to do so.
That’s why we need to stand together to protect our freedom
to have a fair return on our work, which also means your retirement.
Last year’s constitutional convention vote taught us a valuable lesson — that when we stand together, we can win. Many of you made key contributions to our efforts to urge New Yorkers to vote no.
Let’s take that energy that we used to defeat the convention to also defeat the corporate special interests who want to weaken us. We must be diligent, stand strong and, most of all, Never Quit on our union!
In solidarity,
Message from Retiree Executive Committee Chair Millie Lucas
Working toward a stronger union
Happy New Year to you all! I wish you all peace and good health in 2018.
In 2017, we
showed what we,
as CSEA retiree
members, can accomplish when we step up and work together. Along with our working CSEA sisters
and brothers and our allies from labor and numerous organizations, many of you worked hard to urge our members and other voters to defeat the New York Constitutional Convention proposal.
You reached out to tens of thousands of our retired members to urge them to vote NO on the convention. On Election Day, you came out to vote in high numbers. About 83 percent of New York voters defeated the proposal. All of this happened during a year when local election turnout was predicted to be low.
We have to bring this momentum to this year, when we have a lot more work to do. Our union is facing challenges, including a U.S. Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, that will review the constitutionality of agency, or “fair share,” fees by nonmembers who receive the benefit of representation.
Many experts believe the
court will likely overturn Abood and declare fair share fees unconstitutional in the public sector. This will make our job a lot harder.
Our working sisters and brothers will continue to work hard to have conversations about what it means to stand together and build a stronger union, and so will we.
Our goals for 2018 are increasing membership, communication and political action. As retirees, these goals are key to building our union, no matter where you live.
Our first goal is to boost our membership. Specifically, we are
looking to increase our visibility
at union events and meetings.
We want our working sisters and brothers to know that they can continue to be a part of our union even after they retire. Preparing for retirement is a major step in life, and we want to help. In the Long Island Region, we periodically hold retirement seminars. If you are interested in learning more about setting one up in your region, please let me know and I can help with the guidelines our region has set up for such events.
It’s also important for us to increase communication so that you know the latest about our union. For several years, we have had a CSEA Retiree Facebook page that is primarily moderated by
one of our brothers. We are also looking to get as much of your contact information as possible so that we can keep in touch with you through email or even conference call. We are also looking to increase our outreach to you through this publication. If you want to start
a Facebook page or website and need some help, we urge you to take advantage of our union’s resources and reach out to our Communications Department.
Political action is also a major priority. Our PEOPLE Program protects our pensions, Medicare, Social Security and many more things that are important to our retirement security. If you haven’t yet joined the program, please consider doing so. It might be the best money you spend this year.
For our members who are in Florida, we may be far apart,
but you are also our sisters and brothers. We will be working with our three locals there to also boost our membership in that state. If you are considering moving to Florida, please consider getting involved.
In solidary,
Millie
2 CSEA RETIREE NEWS