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On Aug. 14, Social Security will mark its 90th anniversary—but instead of celebrating, labor leaders and activists say the program faces the gravest threats in its history. Speaking during a virtual town hall on Aug. 7, AFT President Randi Weingarten warned that the Trump administration is pursuing policies aimed at dismantling Social Security. “They’re not going to tell people that they don’t want it,” she said. “We have to fight in every which way we can, particularly those of us who are not yet on Social Security, … for people to have it and to keep it … for our children and our grandchildren.”
Weingarten tied the looming anniversary to another recent milestone—the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act—warning that efforts to erase historical achievements go hand in hand with attacks on economic security. She urged members to join Social Security days of action planned for Aug. 14 and Aug. 16 to push back against cuts and privatization.
Jessica LaPoint, a member of the American Federation of Government Employees and president of AFGE Council 220, which represents Social Security Administration workers, delivered a stark insider’s view. “We’re worried right now as workers, and with the rapid pace that [Social Security] is being dismantled from within, that we’re not even going to make it to midterms, which is why we need to be out there, loud, right now,” she said.
She noted that the current SSA commissioner is avoiding meetings with labor, centralizing operations away from community-based field offices, and accelerating understaffing. LaPoint warned that contracting out SSA work to private companies could drive administrative costs from less than 1 percent to as high as 20 percent, reducing service quality while handing public money to private industry. “Everything is on fire, and the workers are suffering,” she said, adding that staff rights, flexibility and job protections are being stripped away almost daily.
The town hall also featured teen activist Eliseo Jimenez of Lubbock, Texas, whose grandmother’s benefits were cut drastically by the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset. To bring attention to the issue, last summer Jimenez walked from Texas to Washington, D.C., helping push through the Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed the WEP and GPO.
“I think her benefits were cut in half,” Jimenez said. “It was a lot … to see my grandmother suffer, … and she’s paying into a system she couldn’t pull out [of]. It was very wrong to me.”
Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, drew parallels between past attacks on public employees and the current crisis, describing a system “stretched to the breaking point.”
He warned that recent staffing cuts and operational changes could soon cause millions of Americans to miss their checks—not just once, but for months. Research shows that “a huge percentage of Social Security recipients can’t weather missing even one month’s payment,” Lawson said. “We’re talking about a catastrophic situation that’s approaching, … and it’s not an accident. They’re wrecking it so they can rob it.”
The stakes, speakers agreed, are high for millions of retirees, disabled Americans and survivors. Advocates are organizing Social Security days of action on Aug. 14 and Aug. 16, with rallies across the country to demand full funding, fair staffing and protection from privatization.
[Adrienne Coles]