Now that the Medicare prescription drug act is law, the AFT and its affiliates are educating members and the public about the new legislation and encouraging active solutions to fix the problems they find in it.

The AFT is working to strengthen the law so that it allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices and administer a drug program, closes the benefit gap and provides much better coverage and stronger incentives for employers to continue providing healthcare benefits to their retirees.

The union has been meeting regularly with Medicare supporters in Congress to develop a unified approach to reform for lower drug prices, guarantee coverage and strengthen traditional Medicare. In addition, AFT staffers have been addressing the issue by speaking to a variety of retiree groups nationwide.

In the meantime state affiliates, like the New York State United Teachers, also are reaching out to their members. In March, NYSUT offered a one-day Medicare training program to prepare member-volunteers to be part of a statewide speakers’ bureau and to conduct workshops across the state explaining the problems in the new law.

This law really is having a negative impact on NYSUT members, says NYSUT legislative representative Floyd Cameron. “A large portion of our membership is taking it on the chin.” The union wants to encourage members to demand accountability from public officials who voted for the law and generate support for real Medicare benefits, he explains.

You've earned your retirement

By Walter Dunn

If the end of this school year spells retirement, then welcome to the ranks of AFT retirees. Your membership in the AFT while you were working has secured you a lifelong retiree membership in the national union. (Just make certain that your local union updates your status from “working” to “retired” in its membership report to the AFT.)

While there are definite benefits attached to being a lifelong national AFT member, you can get even more out of your membership by becoming involved in your local’s retiree activities. First, find out if your local already has a retiree chapter or a specific retirement program—there are more than 90 chartered AFT retiree chapters. If not, why not start a retiree chapter?

The national AFT office can assist you and can provide a booklet entitled “Building To Last: A Practical Guide To Forming and Strengthening Retiree Chapters.” If you’re interested in starting a retiree chapter, ask your local or state federation president to contact the AFT retirement program for more information. Once you’re a part of a retiree chapter, you’ll find you’re in good company with more than 190,000 AFT retirees nationwide.

There’s much that all of us can do as retirees. Our issues are great: We must guarantee that retirees can get a real Medicare prescription drug benefit, not the bait-and-switch law the Bush administration foisted off on seniors. We also must protect Social Security against privatization, a high priority in 2005 for the White House and its allies in Congress. We must continue to work to strengthen public education and preserve it from the threat of vouchers and tuition tax credits. AFT retirees will be front and center in our union’s activities in the fall elections and are active in both national and state legislative efforts that affect our ability to have long, healthy and productive retirements.

The AFL-CIO’s Alliance for Retired Americans also has retiree membership opportunities. All AFT retirees are automatically members of the national alliance and are not required to pay dues. The alliance already has chartered state affiliates in 17 states and plans to have more chartered by the end of the calendar year. The alliance has been in the forefront in the battle for an affordable and comprehensive Medicare prescription drug law that truly protects retirees with coverage, and the organization will play a key role in the fall elections. Once again, the alliance is sending buses to Canada from neighboring states to dramatize the difference in prescription drug prices between the two countries The adage that there’s strength in numbers still applies as you make the transition to a more comfortable, but no less active, time of your life.

For more information, e-mail the AFT retirement program at retirees@aft.org or call AFT retirement program director Frank Stella at 202/879-4526. The program also produces an electronic newsletter, “AFT Retiree E-news,” which provides up-to-date information 20 times a year on retirement issues. To subscribe, visit www.aft.org/retirement and simply complete the short profile.

Walter Dunn is chair of the AFT national retirement committee, an AFT vice president, and second vice president of the New York State United Teachers.