Retirees enjoy the rewards of lifelong union activism

When Ray Variakojis retired in 1994, he didn’t know what to do with himself, so he started collecting stamps.

That just wasn’t enough. Then George Taylor, founder of Northeastern Ohio AFT Retirees, nudged him to attend a meeting, and Variakojis got hooked. Now he’s executive director of the Cleveland unit that covers chapters in 30 counties.

Variakojis’s story is a lot like those of many other AFT members who have discovered the joy—and rewards—of remaining active with their unions. Through the efforts of retiree chapters, these members are reconnecting with longtime friends and colleagues, volunteering for phone banks set up on behalf of union-endorsed political candidates, and getting the latest information on pensions, Social Security and other retirement issues.

Whenever retiree healthcare is the topic at chapter meetings, the place is filled, notes Variakojis. “Our pensions are etched in stone, but our healthcare is penciled in.”

Some chapters’ meetings include tangible benefits like flu shots or the opportunity to sign up for computer classes. “You have to give them something,” says Ray Kikta, president of the Cleveland chapter, which provides retirees with a light lunch and a good meeting topic, like alternative medicine or scams. That way, he adds, the local can legitimately ask for participation in return.

Cleveland, which started with only about a dozen members in 1990, today boasts well over 1,000 members.

Part of the lure of retiree chapters is keeping members involved. In New York state, the number of retirees has grown sixfold since 1991. Today, they are totally enfranchised as members, says Pat Longo, manager of retiree services for New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). Retirees can vote, attend representative assemblies and submit resolutions, giving them virtually all the rights and responsibilities of working members.

It’s no cakewalk

Rounding up soon-to-be retirees and persuading them to remain active with their union isn’t always easy. “I really don’t want people to think it’s as simple as pulling together a list and holding a get-together,” says Andy Gussert, president of AFT-Wisconsin, who compares the process to “picking BBs off a driveway. It’s hard, detailed and boring, but at the end you have a bucket of BBs.”

And of course, everybody has to pitch in. Teresa Green, the Cleveland chapter’s second vice president for membership, has recruited 10 to 15 regular phone bankers who conduct a “blitz” of potential members in spring and fall. The result: a one-third increase in chapter membership over three years. “People who’ve been retired a long time don’t usually have a lot of contact with other retirees,” Green says, “so they really appreciate the call.”

The ranks of AFT retirees are growing fast. Gussert cautions that this is not the time to lose our brain trust, our longtime soldiers and officers. “These are our most experienced people,” he says. “They’ve been running the union for the past two to three decades.”

Kathy Monaghan is a good example. Now president of the state retiree chapter, she was secretary of AFT-Wisconsin for 36 years and knows the scene inside and out. She’s working on a way for union reps to initiate more personal contact with local retirees.

Political action is where retirees really make their mark, not only by passing the hat but by volunteering for campaigns. Gussert says his state’s retirees were directly responsible for turning the Wisconsin Senate from anti-labor to pro-labor in the last election. Now, there will be a pro-labor majority in a highly anticipated vote this spring on collective bargaining rights in higher education. “That’s 17,000 new members for AFT-Wisconsin, if we pass it,” says Gussert.

Beyond pushing for good causes and continuing to serve their communities, AFT retirees get something back.

“You go to these meetings and see your former colleagues,” NYSUT’s Longo reflects. “There’s all that camaraderie. The social, the political, the union things—they’re all wrapped up together.”

For the nitty-gritty on starting a chapter, including sample bylaws, get the AFT’s Building to Last: A Practical Guide to Forming and Strengthening Retiree Chapters. For more information, call 202/879-4526 or e-mail retirees@aft.org