In January, history was made when two long-dreaded federal provisions, that unfairly slashed Social Security payments for millions of public employees, were finally eliminated. The law rescinding the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) was a moment of triumph for the grassroots activists who have spent decades advocating for their repeal. Among them were countless active and retired members of AFT Connecticut-affiliated unions committed to justice for their labor siblings and themselves.
For decades, activists seeking to repeal the WEP and GPO heard the same dismissals: “Social Security reform is untouchable,” “no one wants to expand benefits,” and “it’ll never happen.” Our members, along with countless grassroots advocates across the nation, refused to back down.
They weren’t asking for extra benefits for anyone – just the rightful return of the system thatteachers and public employees in 15 states had already paid into.
Click here for our previous report on members’ advocacy prior to the Social Security Fairness Act’s passage.
Starting last summer, active and retired union members from across the country stepped up to advocate for parallel proposals in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Collectively they sent countless email messages, made untold numbers of phone calls and traveled frequently to the nation’s Capital to lobby in support of the Social Security Fairness Act.
One of those retirees to visit lawmakers in Washington, DC was former West Haven Federation of Teachers President Mary Moninger (at right in graphic, above). She was in the U.S. House of Representatives’ gallery last November when the lower chamber took up and passed with overwhelming bipartisan support their version of the legislation.
“This was certainly the most intense, exhilarating and important mission that I’ve ever been engaged in,” Moninger said at a press conference in December. “It became devastatingly personal two years ago when my husband died and I got nothing from all the money he put into Social Security.”
Click here for press reporting on the final passage of the bill quoting Moninger.
AFT Connecticut Retirees-at-Large Council President Walter O’Connor, RN (left) was one of the many labor leaders who coordinated efforts back home. He spearheaded our state federation’s member mobilization in the months that led up to Congress taking action.
“We needed to act collectively to move our representatives and senators in Washington to ‘repeal the steal,'” said O’Connor, who previously served as leader of our New Milford Hospital RNs. “We had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make life better for retirees here in Connecticut.”
Members still actively teaching in classrooms across the state played an equally important role in moving the needle, particularly since the latest re-introduction of the legislation two years ago. New Haven Federation of Teachers leaders Marianne Maloney (second from left) and Jane Roth (second from right) were two of our most visible and vocal advocates for fairness in retirement security.
Click here for a post at our national union’s Medium blog featuring Roth and Maloney.
“I still feel like I need to be pinched,” said Roth, who previously served on the local union’s executive board. “We did this. A grassroots group of people actually changed a federal law. There was no magic, no money – just relentless determination.”
Maloney, the local union’s chief steward added, “for years, WEP/GPO blocked recruitment. We have a lot of teachers who are second-career educators, and to find out that they will now actually be able to depend on that money as they get older is huge.”
For aspiring future educators, repeal of the WEP and GPO will be nothing more than a footnote in history – a decades-long struggle overcome before they entered the profession. They have many labor activists like O’Connor, Moninger, Roth and Maloney to thank for assuring they’ll fully benefit from the contributions they or their spouse will make to Social Security.
Click here for reporting on the retroactive payments due next month to impacted public employees.
Editor’s note: contributions from Adrienne Coles, AFT.
