News from AFT Retirees Archive

In her State of the Union address July 16, AFT President Randi Weingarten called the entire union to action at the AFT convention in Washington, D.C., telling attendees that in a time when billionaires are wielding unprecedented power in politics, they are lacking the one thing that has consistently catalyzed change: the power of the people. She delivered a powerful message: “We will change the trajectory of this nation and secure a better future for all.”  

 

Members of the AFT Retirees division from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., during the AFT convention this month to discuss their program and policy council’s four goals: increasing retiree activism, improving retiree data, fighting federal policies harming retirees and boosting retiree activism in the upcoming general election.

 

During a session on democracy, belonging and power at the AFT convention, delegates turned their attention to one of the biggest questions we face: What are we going to do to protect our democracy? Thousands of AFT members are coming together to get out the vote and help ensure November’s elections are free and fair. The stakes could not be higher.  

 

In this AFT Voices post, retiree Jim Carr reflects on an unexpected career that began with a part-time teaching opportunity inside Elmira Correctional Facility in New York and grew into 30-plus years of public service and union leadership. He recounts how the 1979 correctional officers’ strike became a defining moment, inspiring him and fellow employees to challenge unfair penalties through a landmark legal case. The experience reinforced the value of solidarity, perseverance and collective action in protecting workers’ rights.  

 

In May, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska vetoed a bill that would have brought pensions back to public employees. In 2005, the state ended its defined-benefit program for employees hired after July 1, 2006. Rachel Molina Lodoen is a project manager at the Anchorage School District who supported the bill to restore pensions for Alaska's state workers. In a Voices post, she says that since pensions were stripped from public workers, it's been harder to retain employees in the district. The Last Frontier's public employees have to build careers without guaranteed pensions that can offer them an easy retirement life.

 

The AFT honored a labor movement trailblazer and a veteran educator for their decades of service and extraordinary contributions to justice, advocacy and public service, during the AFT convention. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders, the first African American to lead the union, received the AFT’s Bayard Rustin Human Rights Award, while veteran educator Martha Strever was honored with the AFT Lifetime Achievement Award for an unprecedented 65-year career in the classroom.

 

AFT delegates closed out the 2026 convention by passing resolutions aimed at fighting for a better life for all. Resolutions passed from the Retirement Committee pledge to organize and activate retiree chapters nationwide and fight for responsible stewardship of public pension funds and investments.