WHEREAS:
Over the next fifty years, improvements in life expectancy and the retirement of the baby boom generation will increase the number of Americans age 65 and over by more than 20,000,000 -- enlarging the size of that age group by two-thirds; and
WHEREAS:
The workforce is aging rapidly - by 2005, 37 percent of all workers will be age 45 and older; and
WHEREAS:
The segment of union membership that is age 45 to 54 has grown over the last fifteen years from 20 percent to 30 percent, while the proportion of membership age 25-34 has declined from 30 percent to 20 percent; and
WHEREAS:
Three million union members are expected to retire between 2003 and 2020, a huge loss that could eventually result in a seriously weakened labor movement; and
WHEREAS:
The highest ratios of older union members to younger members occur in many of the states that are most critical in determining U. S. presidential elections, such as Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and California; and
WHEREAS:
In 1980, AFSCME had the foresight to create the AFSCME Retiree Program, which so far has organized 200,000 dues-paying members in 35 chapters and over 200 subchapters nationwide, making it the largest organization of public-sector retirees in the U. S. and the fastest growing union retiree organization in the labor movement; and
WHEREAS:
Only a handful of other unions have developed their own retiree organizations, leaving the vast majority of retired union members with no opportunity to maintain affiliation with the labor movement.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME encourage, support and assist other international unions in building organizations comprising their retired members; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME continue to encourage the AFL-CIO to develop programs for union retirees, an effort already off to a good start since the 1999 appointment of the first-ever retiree coordinator in the federation's Department of Field Mobilization; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That the delegates to this AFSCME convention endorse the AFL-CIO Executive Council's recent action to establish the Alliance for Retired Americans, a new organization that will bring together retirees from every international union to fight for labor's progressive agenda.
SUBMITTED BY:
Loneste M. Blackwell, President and Delegate
Mary E. Kasunic, Secretary
AFSCME Retiree Chapter 1184
Ohio