"I'm Mad and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore"

Jeanette Spoor could be living a life of leisure in retirement. Instead she’s at rallies, on picket lines, meeting with allies to build coalitions of activists and, most recently, helping lead protests against a New York congresswoman who wants to kill Medicare.

“I just don’t think I could go to sleep at night without giving it my best shot,” says Spoor, the president of CWA Local 1103’s Retired Members’ Chapter. “I have stamina and energy and I’m going to fight for what I believe in.”

During labor’s “August Accountability Month,” Spoor protested with other CWA members, retirees and allies outside Rep. Nan Hayworth’s offices in New York state. Swept into office in 2010 by the Tea Party, Hayworth voted for the Paul Ryan budget scheme that calls for privatizing and eliminating Medicare.

Spoor and other CWA retirees who are fighting the same battle in their states and congressional districts say they can’t take their retirement security, or their employers’ benefits, for granted. Spoor said: “I retired from Verizon in December 2001, just after 9-11 and the Enron debacle. I saw what happened to Enron’s retirees, and today, it doesn’t matter if you work for Verizon or you’re a public worker, retirees’ benefits are the first thing employers go after.”

And she’s had enough of that. “I’m mad, and I’m not going to take it anymore. I’m not the ‘bad guy.’ I worked hard for what I have and I’m damn proud of it.”

Across the country in August, CWA retirees joined members and allies to send a strong “Hands Off Medicare!” message to all lawmakers. In California, CWA Retired Members’ Council leaders organized bus trips to Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein’s offices, as well as protests at GOP offices.

Fueling their anger is the idea that Medicare and Social Security are “entitlements,” instead of hard-earned benefits. Ray Kramer, of Local 6201’s Retired Members Chapter, wants anyone who’d slash those “entitlements” to think about people like his parents, the kind of Americans that politicians hold up as role models.

“My father, a World War II veteran, owned a service station, then a hamburger joint, where my mother worked with him. Later she worked in a department store. They paid off their mortgage, put money in savings and never lived beyond their means. For many years now my mother has lived with Medicare as her only insurance and a small Social Security check as her only income. Recently, she fell and had to move to a nursing home, meaning she’ll need to use Medicaid.

“Now my mother is entirely dependent on so-called ‘entitlements.’ My mother and father paid all their working lives into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. You’re darn right my mother is entitled to them.”

It’s far more than self-interest that motivates CWA’s retiree-activists. They’re fighting for future generations and for the union that fought for them. Spoor says: “I’m very grateful to CWA. I had a very good job, well paying, excellent benefits, and that’s because of my union.”