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Retirees’ Alliance Making Its Voice Heard on Senior Issues
A newly launched AFL-CIO alliance of senior citizens is quickly living up to its slogan: “A Strong New Voice for Retired Americans.”
Thousands of members of the Alliance for Retired Americans spoke out at rallies in Washington, D.C., New York City and other communities nationwide in May to call for a Medicare prescription drug plan.
It’s the first in what alliance leaders promise will be many campaigns to fight for seniors’ needs and rights.
“We intend to be a powerful new voice for retired workers and their families, and we’re going to start by raising it on behalf of voluntary, affordable, comprehensive prescription drug coverage for all Medicare recipients,” Alliance Executive Director Ed Coyle said.
All retired members of CWA and other AFL-CIO-affiliated unions automatically are alliance members, with dues paid by their national unions. Other seniors are able to join for $10 a year. Presently there are 2.5 million members.
“This is the largest group in the country by and for retired workers,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “The issues that concern seniors concern all of us, and the alliance’s strength in numbers and dedication to its cause will force politicians to pay attention.”
Speaking at rallies in Washington and New York, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the alliance stands for “all the things retired union members and other workers have earned and deserve — a secure retirement income, good housing and good nutrition, affordable fuel and electricity, and most of all, low-cost, high-quality health care for every retired American.”
Sweeney said there are two critical issues that leave no room for debate. “We will be holding all our elected officials accountable,” he said. “We want them to know there is only one acceptable position on Medicare, and that position is: No cuts. And we want them to know there is only one acceptable position on Social Security: No privatization, no private accounts and no cuts in benefits.”
With regard to drug coverage, the alliance kicked off its campaign by releasing a study, “The Profit in Pills: A Primer on Prescription Drug Profits.” The study found that pharmaceutical companies made median profits of 18.6 percent in 2000, nearly four times the profit level of other Fortune 500 companies.
Retirees speaking at the May 23 rallies described the personal hardship of high drug costs, which more than doubled between 1996 and 2000. In 1996, average annual costs were $674 a year; last year they reached $1,539. By 2010, annual costs could average more than $3,700, Coyle said.
Dorothy Brooks, 61, of Pittsburgh told of suffering from diabetes and arthritis. She pays more than $350 a month for prescriptions, yet she and her disabled husband have a combined income of just $1,283 a month. “You try to make the medicines stretch, make a one-month supply into three by taking just one pill a day instead of three,” shåe said.
Some of the alliance’s strongest supporters in Congress joined in the rallies, including House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Rep. David Bonier (D-Mich.), the House Democratic whip.
Bonier criticized the Bush administration for pushing a tax cut for the wealthy while doing nothing to help seniors cope with skyrocketing drug prices. “The pharmaceutical industry is laughing all the way to the bank,” he said.
Gephardt said drug coverage “should not be a partisan issue. This is an issue of doing what’s right for the seniors of this country.”
Read more about the alliance, events in your community and seniors’ issues, including the full prescription drug report, at www.retiredamericans.org.
Thousands of members of the Alliance for Retired Americans spoke out at rallies in Washington, D.C., New York City and other communities nationwide in May to call for a Medicare prescription drug plan.
It’s the first in what alliance leaders promise will be many campaigns to fight for seniors’ needs and rights.
“We intend to be a powerful new voice for retired workers and their families, and we’re going to start by raising it on behalf of voluntary, affordable, comprehensive prescription drug coverage for all Medicare recipients,” Alliance Executive Director Ed Coyle said.
All retired members of CWA and other AFL-CIO-affiliated unions automatically are alliance members, with dues paid by their national unions. Other seniors are able to join for $10 a year. Presently there are 2.5 million members.
“This is the largest group in the country by and for retired workers,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “The issues that concern seniors concern all of us, and the alliance’s strength in numbers and dedication to its cause will force politicians to pay attention.”
Speaking at rallies in Washington and New York, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the alliance stands for “all the things retired union members and other workers have earned and deserve — a secure retirement income, good housing and good nutrition, affordable fuel and electricity, and most of all, low-cost, high-quality health care for every retired American.”
Sweeney said there are two critical issues that leave no room for debate. “We will be holding all our elected officials accountable,” he said. “We want them to know there is only one acceptable position on Medicare, and that position is: No cuts. And we want them to know there is only one acceptable position on Social Security: No privatization, no private accounts and no cuts in benefits.”
With regard to drug coverage, the alliance kicked off its campaign by releasing a study, “The Profit in Pills: A Primer on Prescription Drug Profits.” The study found that pharmaceutical companies made median profits of 18.6 percent in 2000, nearly four times the profit level of other Fortune 500 companies.
Retirees speaking at the May 23 rallies described the personal hardship of high drug costs, which more than doubled between 1996 and 2000. In 1996, average annual costs were $674 a year; last year they reached $1,539. By 2010, annual costs could average more than $3,700, Coyle said.
Dorothy Brooks, 61, of Pittsburgh told of suffering from diabetes and arthritis. She pays more than $350 a month for prescriptions, yet she and her disabled husband have a combined income of just $1,283 a month. “You try to make the medicines stretch, make a one-month supply into three by taking just one pill a day instead of three,” shåe said.
Some of the alliance’s strongest supporters in Congress joined in the rallies, including House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Rep. David Bonier (D-Mich.), the House Democratic whip.
Bonier criticized the Bush administration for pushing a tax cut for the wealthy while doing nothing to help seniors cope with skyrocketing drug prices. “The pharmaceutical industry is laughing all the way to the bank,” he said.
Gephardt said drug coverage “should not be a partisan issue. This is an issue of doing what’s right for the seniors of this country.”
Read more about the alliance, events in your community and seniors’ issues, including the full prescription drug report, at www.retiredamericans.org.