Don’t Take the Vote Away from Seniors
Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara Easterling wrote this at Huffington Post.
I don’t know Ruthelle Frank. But I do know that what is happening to her is enough to make my blood boil. Along with many other seniors, Ruthelle may lose the right to vote because she lacks a government-issued photo ID card.
Over the past year, GOP-controlled state houses have been passing what are known as Voter ID laws. Proponents say it is to cut down on voter fraud. Opponents say fraud of this nature is quite rare and that the true intent is to keep certain voters at home. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, nationally about 18 percent of seniors and 25 percent of African Americans do not have photo identification.
Seniors to Lawmakers: Protect Social Security, Medicare
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With Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid possibly on the budget cutting block, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans will celebrate the organization’s 10th anniversary this week by doing what they have done for a decade: fighting for for America’s seniors.
As part of the Alliance’s annual legislative conference which began this afternoon and runs through Sept. 9, hundreds of seniors will converge on Capitol Hill Sept. 8, just hours before President Obama’s address on jobs, to tell their representatives and senators to keep their hands off Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Retirees to Wisconsin: Thank You for Inspiring Us
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Barbara J. Easterling is president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. She was previously the secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America. For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org.
Speaking today in Madison, Wis., Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara J. Easterling praised the courage of Wisconsin activists:
I came to Madison today for one reason: to say thank you. Thank you for inspiring us. People of all ages—around the country and around the world—were reminded of why we do what we do, why we fight these fights.
Retirees Proud to Stand with Public Workers
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Barbara J. Easterling is president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. She was previously the secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America. For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org.
In these difficult times, retirees across the country are proud to support public-sector workers.
We value the work these men and women do every day. They keep us safe. They teach our grandkids. They care for us when we are sick. They don’t make shareholders wealthier; instead, they make our communities stronger.
I know times are tough, and my generation understands sacrifice. We were brought up to lend a hand for the greater good. But we draw the line when sacrifice is borne so unevenly. For all the attention given to public service workers, more should be paid to the tax breaks and sweetheart deals politicians give away and the perks they keep for themselves.
What Retirees Should Watch for in 2011
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Barbara J. Easterling is president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. She was previously the secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America. For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org or
call 1-800-333-7212.
I believe there are two issues retirees should pay attention to in 2011.
First, Social Security. Last year it celebrated 75 years of keeping seniors out of poverty, but some in Congress see it differently. John Boehner, the new House Speaker, wants us to raise the retirement age to 70. The new Budget Committee chair, Rep. Paul Ryan, wants to cut benefits and turn a privatized system over to Wall Street. Rep. Michele Bachmann, the tea party leader, says Social Security is a “tremendous fraud” and thinks we should “wean” current workers away from it. Even though Social Security has not added a penny to our budget deficit, many on Capitol Hill want to balance the budget on the backs of seniors.
Medicare at 45: Health Reform Means New Benefits for Seniors
Barbara Easterling is the president of the Alliance for Retired Americans and former secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the AFL-CIO. She began her union career 36 years ago as a telephone operator and local union officer in Akron, Ohio.
July 30 is the 45th anniversary of Medicare, a milestone for a true American success story that has helped reduce senior poverty by two-thirds.
This year is an especially happy birthday for Medicare, because the new health care reform law makes it easier for seniors to afford to see a doctor, fill a prescription and receive free preventive screenings and tests for serious diseases.
But as the president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, I am concerned that too many retirees remain skeptical and unaware of these new benefits. This is the shameful legacy of sustained scare tactics and falsehoods aimed at older Americans during the health care debate.
Atlanta-Area Residents Demand Big Banks Help Struggling Homeowners
In Atlanta—one of the areas hardest hit by foreclosures—residents who are about to lose their homes today demanded that Big Banks like Wachovia/Wells Fargo reform their policies and protect homeowners on the brink of homelessness.(See video here.)
More than 200 people, including community groups, clergy and labor and government leaders, attended a hearing at an Atlanta church and listened to area residents about to lose their homes explain the Big Banks’ role in the foreclosure crisis. The hearing was sponsored by the Atlanta Fighting Foreclosure Coalition and the AFL-CIO.
In often moving testimony, several Atlanta residents told how they had worked hard to build a life for themselves and their families only to have their dream dashed by losing their homes to foreclosure.
One witness testified his bank told him he was so far behind on his mortgage that he would need to win the lottery to catch up. An Atlanta Legal Aid worker said all the biggest banks jumped in with both feet into the subprime mortgage business.
Alliance for Retired Americans Re-Elects Easterling, Burks
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Alliance for Retired Americans President Barbara Easterling and Secretary-Treasurer Ruben Burks were re-elected during the Alliance’s national convention in Las Vegas last week.
Easterling has served as president of the Alliance since February 2009. Prior to joining the Alliance, she was secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) for 16 years. In 1995, she took a leave of absence to serve as secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, becoming the first woman to hold that position.
Easterling told the delegates:
You have helped improve the lives of millions of current and future retirees. We have more work to do. I know none of you will rest, and neither will I.
Burks, who has been secretary-treasurer of the 4-million member Alliance since it was launched in 2001, said:
Thank you for re-electing me. I will do everything I can do to help this unique and wonderful organization.
Burks is a former secretary-treasurer of the UAW.
The more than 400 Alliance members at the convention also passed several resolutions, including calls to better address elder abuse and report incidents of abuse nationwide, raise awareness for the annual tax credit or reimbursement for employers for prescription drug costs under Medicare Part D, pursue federal legislation outlawing the advertising of prescription drugs in both electronic and print media, and to reduce health care fraud.
Retirement Security Is Matter of Dignity
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For more than 70 years, the three-legged stool of Social Security, pensions and personal savings have guaranteed retirement security for millions of retirees. It ensured that the promise of America—-if you work hard and play by the rules you will live in a comfortable and secure retirement—is fulfilled.
But now that stool is broken and many retirees are suffering from the fall. Once guaranteed pensions are being tossed aside for insecure 401(k) plans or junked altogether.
Today, the AFL-CIO Convention adopted a resolution reaffirming the federation’s commitment to strengthen and improve existing public and private defined-benefit pension plans and 401(k)s.
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George summed up the issue this way:
We need to develop a bold new initiative for those without pensions, based upon the principle of mutual responsibility—with government, employers and individuals all contributing. This, together with Social Security, must provide a universal, secure and adequate income for retirees in the 21st century.
Obama to Address AFL-CIO Convention
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President Barack Obama will address our AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh on Sept. 15, marking a major shift in the relationship between the union movement and the White House. For the past eight years, the Bush administration waged war on America’s workers, and union members took a big step toward taking back America by playing a major role in electing Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
Obama will address a convention that will make history by electing a new leadership team. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is retiring after 14 years at the helm.
Along with Obama, the Sept. 13-17 convention will hear from many prominent political and union leaders, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Caroline Kennedy and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
