Retired Articles
Retired
News about issues affecting retirees and how retirees continue to support the work of the union. Activists never retire!
California Educators Celebrate US Senate’s Vote to Pass the Social Security Fairness Act
December 20, 2024
For Immediate Release
Contact: Matthew Hardy (510-703-5291)
WASHINGTON, DC – CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals released the following statements from President Jeff Freitas and CalSTRS Investment Committee Vice-Char and AFT 1521 Treasurer Sharon Hendricks following the US Senate’s overwhelming bipartisan vote in support of HR 82, the Social Security Fairness Act, which will repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).
From Jeff Freitas:
Rest in power Dennis Kelly
We are saddened to report the passing of former UESF president Dennis Kelly. In addition to being one of the founding leaders of UESF, Dennis was a stalwart member and leader of CFT for decades, ultimately winning CFT’s highest honor, the Ben Rust Award, in 2018. Our thoughts go out to Dennis’s wife Hene, his children Edith and Nathanael, and his entire family.
Rest in Power Dennis. You will be missed.
CFT Retirees Are Powering GOTV Efforts Across the State
Council of Retired Members
Retirees from up and down the state are hitting the pavement and putting pen to paper this election season.
Taking the Reins on Retirement
Patti Serafin started from scratch when creating a new retiree chapter
Dennis Kelly, President of the Council of Retired Members, thinks retirees, often with a wealth of information and usually some extra time, are the ideal people to get involved with union activities.
That’s why Kelly would like to see locals help start retiree chapters. After decades with United Educators of San Francisco, Local 61, Kelly is now involved with Local 61- R.
CalSTRS and CalPERS Data Breach: Impacts and Actions
Information and action items to protect yourself
Both Dennis Cox, the Southern Vice President for the CFT Council of Retired Members, and Doug Orr, Chair of the CFT Retirement Policy Committee, want impacted members to do whatever they can to protect themselves from a recent data breach that affected both CalSTRS and CalPERS.
In June, officials from both pension funds announced that cyber attackers stole information, including names, Social Security numbers and birth dates.
Data leak impacting hundreds of thousands of STRS and CalPERS retirees and beneficiaries
In June both the CalSTRS and CalPERS systems announced that data from a third-party vendor had leaked, impacting hundreds of thousands of retirees and beneficiaries in both systems. The leak did not impact actively employed members of either system.
In total, cyber-attackers stole personal information from 769,000 CalPERS retired members, including names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates. The hackers also may have gotten the names of former or current employers, spouses or domestic partners, and children.
How CalSTRS and CalPERS pensions are protected from inflation
Governor signs CFT-sponsored legislation to provide earliest CalSTRS retirees another supplemental check
Both CalSTRS and CalPERS have mechanisms in place to guard a retiree’s defined benefit pension against eroding purchasing power. The first is a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, and the second is a “floor” below which the buying power of a pension cannot fall. Now thanks to a CFT-sponsored bill recently signed by Governor Newsom, CalSTRS retirees from earlier decades will see additional relief.
Take action now to avoid income shock at retirement
End the Social Security penalties WEP and GPO
Districts are supposed to tell new hires about the impact “WEP and GPO” will have on their Social Security—but often they don’t, says Dennis Cox, president of the CFT Council of Retired Members. That means teachers who are counting on a certain amount of income for their retirement get a shock when they find out they won’t be getting it. This happened to Cox.
“I found out I wasn’t going to get my full Social Security benefits and Medicare would be taken out of that,” he said. “I got clobbered, and there’s many people in a worse situation than I am.”
Retirees gearing up for national midterm elections
Voices of experience hope to educate younger Americans, reverse Social Security penalties
Political season is in full swing and, with days to go until California’s June 7 primary, CFT retirees are already looking ahead to the November 8 General Election.
“I can’t tell you how many people have told me they are mad as hell and ‘ready to do something’ because of the leaked Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights,” said Mike Nye at-large representative on the CFT Council of Retired Members.
Elders Speak! project preserves union history for future generations
AFT Local 2121 marks 50th anniversary with oral history
By Bill Shields
Janitors organize live onstage, in multiple languages. A domestic worker ponders the meaning of life as she mimes ironing clothes. Dancing hotel workers tell how they won a good contract. These stories emerged from an oral history project called Work Tales produced by the Labor and Community Studies Department at City College of San Francisco. I spent 25 years teaching in this department.
What are the WEP and GPO and how will they affect your pension?
Now is the time to make our case to Congress
Retired Berkeley Unified teacher Bonnie Cediel taught for 16 years. She was married for 34, but her partial CalSTRS pension precludes her from receiving any Social Security spousal benefits. The Government Pension Offset, (GPO) passed in 1977, is the reason.
You can help start an AFT retiree chapter!
Retiree division sets sights on organizing more chapters
For most of her career, Kate Disney taught engineering at Mission College in the Silicon Valley city of Santa Clara. Disney learned the ins and outs of the West Valley-Mission Federation of Teachers contract when she became a union rep in 2017. She was elected president of the local in 2019.
“You learn about different sections of a contract as you go through different phases of your life and career,” she said. “Certain portions are more important at different ages.”
Retiree chapters serve as vaccine finders
Support members and parent unions during the pandemic
The retiree chapter of the AFT Guild in San Diego usually does monthly yoga and meditation classes, as well as getting together for walks and union meetings. Now though, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, members haven’t been getting together in person, chapter President Susan Morgan says.
Paul da Silva became the candidate he wanted to see
First teacher elected to College of Marin Board of Trustees
For years, Paul da Silva, a biology teacher at the College of Marin and a member of United Professors of Marin, Local 1610, wondered about the lack of teachers on the college’s Board of Trustees and tried to talk retiring professors into running. No one took him up on it.
So when he decided in the summer of 2019 that he would retire, he concluded, to paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, he’d have to be the candidate he wished to see in the world.
What I did to help win in Election 2020
Five retirees recount their extraordinary efforts
CFT retirees have broad-ranging interests and community relationships — and a lot of collective power. That is reflected in these five first-person accounts from very connected and active retirees.
Retirees mobilize for most important election in their lives
The threat to our social norms is “mind boggling”
Every senior has a long personal view of U.S. history, but nearly all would agree that this presidential election will be the most important ballot they cast in their lives. The prospect of Donald Trump in the White House for four more years has ratcheted up emotions.
“The threat to our Constitution, to our institutions, and to our social norms is mind boggling,” said Dennis Cox of the CFT Council of Retired Members.
Retired unionists go digital during the pandemic
Seniors getting comfortable online and learning new organizing tricks
It is 12 noon on Friday and the California Alliance of Retired Americans is ready to Zoom. Scores of CARA members from San Diego to San Francisco are gathered around home computers, ready for the next best thing to an in-person meeting.
Tips for seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic
How one retiree chapter is supporting seniors during stay at home
By Susan Morgan, President, AFT Local 1931 Retiree Chapter
As a retiree chapter, one of our current challenges is to find new ways to stay connected, be supportive, and sustain our esprit de corps. The current pandemic has increased challenges for retirees, many of whom were already dealing with the social challenges of isolation and loneliness. These newly heightened mental health concerns are real, and our task is to find meaningful ways to connect with our members to support our common union values and goals.
Being retired in the time of Covid-19
By Dennis Cox, Southern Vice President, Council of Retired Members
AFT retirees have contributed so much to American education, and are in line for well-deserved gratitude from their students, colleagues and communities. You warrant a heartfelt thanks for what you have done, and for staying home and keeping yourselves safe during this outbreak. You are extremely valuable citizens. So, thank you to all who have served, and are now staying safely sheltered in your homes! Please continue to do all you can to stay safe.
Retirees are leaving their mark on 2020 elections
Seniors work on local and statewide measures
For more than four decades, California corporations have evaded their fair share of commercial property taxes, leaving our schools with some of the most overcrowded classrooms and worst ratios of students to counselors, librarians, and nurses in the nation.
Schools and Communities First will close those property tax loopholes in 1978’s Proposition 13 — without affecting homeowners or renters — and channel more than $12 billion per year to local schools, community colleges and other vital services.