CWA Ready for the Future: Expanding Retiree Network Key to CWA's Future

Imagine tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of retirees connected by what the CWA Executive Board is calling a "RetireE-Activist" e-mail network.

Imagine them turning out to fight in huge numbers to save pension plans and retiree health care, or to join active members on picket lines and other job actions.

It's one of the board's key goals in its "Ready for the Future" plan, which calls for doubling the number of active CWA retirees within three years — to at least 50,000 — expanding the number of Retired Members' Chapters and greatly expanding their communication by e-mail.

"Our retired members not only fight for the causes important to them, they are willing to do anything to help their locals," CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling said. "They are already a powerful voice in the labor movement and anything we can do to build their numbers will only increase their clout, and ours."

Currently, the union has more than 20,000 active retirees in 123 local chapters, eight that are district-wide and one for retirees from CWA's merger partners. With 1,500 CWA locals and scores of active members retiring every month, RMC leaders say there are hundreds of potential new chapters and countless opportunities for new members.

For instance, Mike Vivirito, president of the District 2 RMC, recently met with retired members of Local 2001, who had let their affiliation with the council lapse. He explained how the council would keep them updated about their former employer — Verizon — and about important state and federal legislation.

"When I started talking about medical caps, they really sat up and took notice," Vivirito said. By the end of the meeting, the group had reactivated its charter and signed up 37 new members. Everyone with    e-mail became an E-Activist.

Under the Executive Board's proposal, CWA would reach out though RetireE-Activist to expand on an activist base that currently numbers 11,000 retired members. As an example of how retiree action can be mobilized effectively, Vice President Ralph Maly, Communications and Technologies, noted that thousands of retirees have sent letters to members of Congress regarding the Lucent pension fund surplus. CWA and Lucent are both seeking a change in the law to allow surpluses above 125 percent of pension liabilities to be put toward retiree health care. The issue is still pending, but is part of the Senate pension bill.

"Their letters really kept the ball moving," Maly said. "It got to the point where one legislator said, 'If we help you with this, will your retirees stop sending me letters?'"

In recent years, CWA retirees have played a visible and important role in supporting strikes and rallies to defend benefits at companies like Verizon, United Airlines, GE, SBC, Delphi and others.

As CWA expands its outreach to retired members, "It's exciting to imagine an army of retired activists and what they can contribute to our bargaining power through action on every side of the CWA Triangle," Easterling said.