News & Views March 2010_1 3/19/10 2:03 PM Page 2
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news & views
A PUBLICATION OF LOCAL 237 RETIREE DIVISION
H
ealth care reform legislation is in its
last stages. The Alliance for Retired
Americans, calling for passage of
the legislation now before Congress, said
the proposal contains provisions that will
be of particular benefit for retireess:
• Eliminates co-payments for preventive care services such as diabetes and cancer screenings;
• Eliminates pre-existing conditions exclusions by insurance companies and forbids insurance companies from dropping
coverage when someone becomes sick;
• Increases payments to primary care doctors and improves the coordination and quality of care for people with chronic illnesses;
• Closes the doughnut hole coverage
gap in the Part D prescription drug plan;
• Creates a reinsurance fund so preMedicare retirees can afford health care premiums;
• Extends the solvency of the Medicare
Trust Fund and avoids cuts in benefits by
eliminating waste and fraud as well as
overpayments to private Medicare Advantage insurance companies;
• Creates a voluntary, affordable, longterm supports and services fund, known as
the CLASS Act, which will make long-term
care coverage more affordable.
In a letter to House members, the Alliance said, “Not enacting health care will only
increase the financial burden on retirees.
Medicare premiums have doubled during the
past 8 years and will double again in the next 8
Senate Defeats $250 Payment
to Social Security Recipients
T
he U.S. Senate voted down a proposal introducred by Senator
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for a $250
one-time payment to Social Security recipients to offset the elimination of the
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for
2010. Funds for the payment are included in President Obama’s budget.
Sanders said that the fight for the
measure would continue.
The proposal needed 60 votes to pass
instead of a simple majority, because of a
Republican filibuster threat. It failed by a
vote of 47-50. Every Republican except for
one, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and 13
Democrats, voted against the proposal.
• VOL. 15 NO. 3 • MARCH 2010
Health Care
Reform Almost
Here
years unless Congress acts to control health care
costs. In addition, Americans pay the highest
prescription drugs prices in the world. Retirees
cannot afford to wait anymore. All Americans
need comprehensive health care reform.”
Republicans, desperate for last-minute
ways to defeat health reform, are claiming
that the bill would increase taxes now but
won't produce benefits until later. While it's
true that major changes won't take effect until
2014, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee lists ten immediate benefits:
• Prohibits pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
• Provides immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are
uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
• Prohibits dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
• Ends lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
• Requires premium rebates to enrollees
from insurers with high administrative expenditures and public disclosure of the per-
cent of premiums applied to overhead costs;
• Ensures consumers have access to an
effective internal and external appeals process
to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
• Requires plans to cover an enrollee's
dependent children until age 26;
• Requires new plans to cover preventative services and immunizations without
copayments;
• Begins to close the prescription drug
doughnut hole.
As for taxes, only singles earning at least
$200,000 and families earning more than
$250,000 will pay a slightly higher Medicare
tax, and small businesses will immediately
receive $40 billion in tax CUTS to purchase
coverage.
After the House passes the bill, there will
be a “reconciliation” bill to win a simple majority in both the House and the Senate. When
President Barack Obama signs both bills,
health insurance reform will become law.
Yale Professor Jacob Hacker, author of
“Health Care for America,” a proposal for
guaranteed, affordable healthcare for all
Americans and co-editor of "Health at Risk:
America's Ailing Health System—and How
To Heal It," said the legislation “won’t cure
all, but it will begin addressing problems
that have gone untreated for far too long. . . .
Without action, Americans will remain at the
mercy of insurance companies when they
seek to obtain or switch coverage, costs will
continue to rise unabated, and the reach of
insurance will continue to decline.“
Return Your Census Form
T
he U.S. Constitution requires that a census of the population be taken every 10 years. The 2010 Census
questionnaire has only ten questions, one of the shortest questionnaires in history.
The census is more than just counting people. Census results determine the number of seats each state will have in
the U.S. House of Representatives and help determine the allocation of federal funds for
critically needed services such as school lunch programs, senior citizen centers, highway
construction, and hospitals. More important, every year the federal government distributes more than $400 billion to local, state, and tribal governments based on census data.
In 2000, only 55 percent of New York City households mailed back the forms, compared to 67 percent nationwide. State officials estimate that some 200,000 people were not
counted, costing the state about $3.6 billion in federal funds during the last nine years. Census
workers will visit households that do not return the questionnaires.
By law, the Census Bureau cannot share an individual’s census questionnaire responses.
An interesting Census Bureau finding: 20% of the U.S. population in 2050 will be 65
and older.
News & Views March 2010_1 3/19/10 2:03 PM Page 3
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G
ood news! Our demonstrations
and lobbying have paid off. The
Housing Authority will receive
$400 million in federal stimulus funds immediately and $75 million in federal funds
every year. This will go a long way toward
closing the Housing Authority’s budget
gap. Many Local 237 retirees are public
housing residents and former NYCHA employees. Many of you demonstrated with
the union at City Hall and in Albany. This is
a great day for all of us.
This victory reaffirms the importance of
political action, even when we’re feeling
frustrated and discouraged, which is easy
to feel these days.
On another note, I want to take the opportunity of Women’s History Month to
salute Local 237’s retired women. You
made a special contribution to our union
during your working years, and continue
to do so in retirement. I have seen that
many of the retirees who do voter registration, make phone calls at election time, join
Local 237’s contingent on Labor Day, and
come to demonstrations and rallies are
M
arch is Women’s History Month.
As we prepare for activities to
celebrate the Retiree Divison’s
30th anniversary, I’ve been thinking about
the contributions retired women of Local
237 made during their working years to
the City of New York and to the union,
and, in their retirement years, to our Retiree Division.
I’ve been reflecting on the many challenges women faced on the job in the early
days and the role of civil service, the
union, and the women’s movement in
helping working women achieve a better
life both on and off the job. The women’s
movement helped focus attention on not
only the inequities in hiring, promotions,
and pay, but also the extraordinary demands placed on working mothers.
Many of our older retirees, recalling
their work lives, have said that while they
faced challenges on the job, their greatest
stress came from having to balance work
RETIREE NEWS & VIEWS
Published monthly, except for July/August combined, by the Retiree Division of Local 237, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (USPS 013028)
Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY.
Postmaster: Send address changes to Retiree News
& Views, 216 West 14 St., NY, NY 10011 • 212-8070555 • [email protected] • www.local237.org
GREGORY FLOYD
RICHARD HENDERSHOT
President
Vice President
RUBEN TORRES
Secretary-Treasurer
PATRICIA STRYKER
Recording Secretary
Nancy B. True
Managing Editor
Donna Ristorucci
Editor
A Message
from the
President
women. I am proud that Local 237 has
played a role in providing you with financial security and outstanding benefits in
your retirement.
Local 237 women, along with other
working women, have made great strides in
the fight for equality, but much still needs to
be done. Today, working women make up
more than half the nation’s workforce. Twothirds of mothers are bringing home at least
a quarter of the family's earnings, and 4 in
10 mothers are either single or are bringing
home as much or more than their spouse.
A new report from the Center for
American Progress, “How Working
Women Are Reshaping America's Families
and Economy and What It Means for Poli-
Women’s History Month
Honoring
Our Own
By Nancy B. True
Director, Retiree Division
with family and childcare responsibilities.
Some, like Carmen Rodriguez, were able to
rely on family or neighbors for childcare,
but others did not have childcare available
and their children were left to their own devices after school. All worried about children getting sick, or about receiving a call
at work from their child’s school. Then,
when they got home after a hard day at
work, they cooked, cleaned, and fulfilled
other household responsibilities.
But they coped. They did their jobs.
Many participated with the union, attending meetings and even serving on negotiating committees, such as Irma Rabinowitz,
the first woman, and for years the only
woman, on the Housing negotiating committee. Today, many women serve on the
union’s negotiating committees and participate in union activities.
For many years, the city’s higher paid,
more skilled, and supervisory job titles
were the domain of men. Women need not
apply! But New York City’s civil service
merit system set objective criteria for hiring
and promotion that made it possible for
women to advance. Local 237 women,
March 2010
cymakers,” called the movement of women
out of the home and into paid employment
“one of the most important transformations” of the 20th century.
The authors of the report, Heather
Boushey and Ann O'Leary, say that laws
like the Family and Medical Leave Act ,
which provides unpaid, job-protected leave,
and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting sex discrimination, don't fully meet
the needs of today's workers, especially
lower-income workers. Government, business, educational, and other social institutions are not keeping pace with the transformation of families and the workplace. For
example, schools still let out long before the
workday ends and close for three months
during the summer; doctors, day care centers, and government agencies have no
evening or weekend hours; and there is no
one home for emergency home repairs or
to pick up sick children from school.
This, the report says, is one of the most
significant policy challenges of the 21st century. It is part of our continuing struggle for
equality for women.
with support and encouragement from the
union, took advantage of these opportunities. Anne Sabatino Guidice, now retired,
studied to become the first female superintendent at NYCHA and inspired Doris
Welch, now also retired, and others, to follow in her footsteps. Now it is no longer
uncommon to see women at NYCHA, and
in every city agency, in job titles once
dominated by men.
Today, women make up a large percentage of the city workforce and Local 237 and
Retiree Division membership. Many are activists in the union and in their communities.
In preparing for our 30th anniversary
celebrations, we’ve come across photographs of early members who have contributed so much to the Retiree Division.
Many are women. There’s the late Maggie
Feinstein, the beloved founding director of
the Retiree Division; Irma, a founding member of both the union and the Retiree Division who, at 91, continues to be active in her
community; the late Ruth Walcott who for
years headed the Sunshine Club, was the cochair of Senior Summer, and was active with
the NAACP, and Molly Seif, a cherished
charter member. There’s Barbara Hazelwood, Grace Klein, Bernice Judge, Pauline
Rosenbaum, Barbara Baker, Marilee Leacock, Ruth Friedman, and so many more.
Women’s History Month is a time to
honor the contributions women have
made. We salute the retired women of
Local 237!
News & Views March 2010_1 3/19/10 2:03 PM Page 4
March 2010
Women’s
History
Month
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90th Anniversary of 39 Words
T
his year marks the 90th anniversary
of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the amendment that grants voting
rights to women.
These 39 words changed the course of
history: “The right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or by any State on account of
sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this
article by appropriate legislation.”
The passage of the 19th Amendment
was the end result of a long, difficult struggle that began at a tea party in 1848. Five
women in Waterloo, New York, were discussing the indignities and hardships
placed on women, such as not having the
right to vote, own property or enter a profession. By the end of the afternoon, Jane
Hunt, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia
Mott, Mary Ann McClintock and Martha
Wright had organized the first women’s
rights convention. They sent a notice to the
Seneca County Courier that invited all
women to attend the event.
Six days later, a two-day convention took
place at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls,
New York, with more than 300 participants,
including 42 men. For the next 72 years,
women fighting for their right to vote were
harassed, arrested, beaten, and shunned by
friends, family and their churches for making the choice to be a “suffragette.”
A Constitutional amendment allowing
women to vote was introduced in Congress
every year for 42 years before gaining the
two-thirds majority needed to pass it; 35
states had ratified the amendment to the
Constitution, but 36 were needed.
Tennessee was to be the 36th state to
vote on ratification. The vote was on August
18. Going into the third round, the vote was
dead-locked at 48-48. The last to vote was
Harry Burn, at 24, the youngest member in
the legislature and an opponent of the
amendment. He stood up—and voted for
the amendment. The chamber went wild.
The anti-suffrage members chased him
from the room and up three floors screaming about his betrayal. He had to climb out
a third floor window, walk a ledge and
crawl into the Capitol attic and hide to save
himself. Later he explained that he received
a telegram from his mother just as he was
38
The percent black union
workers earn more than
their nonunion peers
about to vote. It urged him to do the right
thing and vote for the amendment.
So after decades of work, patience, and
courage, the last scene was a battle of conscience
between a man and his mother. She won.
Her name was Febb Ensminger Burn.
Adapted and abridged from “Thirty-nine
Words,” E-Dispatch, electronic newsletter of the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Black History Month
Honoring
Heroes & Sheroes,
Past & Present
T
he Retiree Division’s annual Black
History Month Celebration was different from what was on the flyer,
and very different from previous programs.
The speaker from the African Burial
Ground National Monument was unable to
make the new date of the program, which
was postponed because of a snow storm. So
instead, retirees participated, through music
and spoken word, in a traditional African
Ceremony of Remembrance, honoring their
ancestors and leaders of today. They were
led by Makakuvu Ali El Bey and Heri Khafra
Hem Netcher Tepi,
musicians and leaders of the Kemetic religion, which originated in ancient
Egypt and is the oldest religion in the
world.
Makaduvu is
also a board member of the African
American Media
Retiree James Jeffers
Network and is
sang a Negro spiritual,
working on a docu- “Deep River,” about the
struggle for freedom.
mentary on the
struggle to save the African burial ground
after it was first discovered in 1989 during
the excavation for a new office building in
downtown Manhattan, and make it a national monument.
Retiree Division
Director Nancy True
said, “Local 237 has
members from many
different backgrounds;
we honor all of them.”
Page 3
10M
More women
voted than men
in the 2008 election. Women have voted at a higher rate
than men in every presidential election
since 1960.
The number of female legislators in Albany, out of
212.
Cents is what women earn
for every dollar their male
counterparts make.
52
77
Retire Division Deputy
Director Winston
George, wearing a
traditional Kente, said,
“Black history is world
history. Every human
group had its origin on
the continent of Africa.
They branched out to
Asia, Europe, and
beyond, and because of
climate and other
conditions, people look
different, but we are all
people of color, WE ARE ALL ONE.” He also
read the legendary “Ain’t I a Woman” speech by
Soujourner Truth, in honor of Women’s History
Month.
Led by Makakuvu Ali El Bey (left) and Heri Khafra
Hem Netcher Tepi (right), retirees recited a
Remembrance and drink a Libation (apple juice)
honoring “our Ancestors, who through great
suffering and struggles brought us freedom” and
today’s heroes and sheroes: the men and women
of Local 237, U.S. President Barack Obama, and
Local 237 President Gregory Floyd
Singer Rudel Drears, with pianist Marjorie Eliot, led
the audience in singing “Lift Every Voice” and “This
Little Light of Mine,” and sang other songs, as well.
Eliot hosts Parlor Entertainment—Jazz Sundays—
in Harlem, featuring jazz and blues musicians.
News & Views March 2010_1 3/19/10 2:03 PM Page 1
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Contribute to Our 30th
Anniversary Memory Journal
C
ontributions for the 30th
anniversary journal are
pouring in.
Retired NYCHA Assistant Superintendent James
(Goody) Goodridge enclosed
photographs of him and his wife, writes,
”Since retiring, my wife, Yolaine, and I
have moved to Palm Coast, Florida. We
are involved in acting with a theater
group and modeling for social and church
affairs. We are looking forward to attending the 2010 retiree conference in Lake
Buena Vista, Florida. God bless Teamsters
Local 237 for preserving the quality of life
for seniors.”
Please fill out the form you received in the
mail asking for an anecdote, recollection, or
short statement about your retirement, experiences with the Retiree Division (participation
in classes, trips, community groups, out-ofstate meetings), your continuing role as an activist since you retired (rallies, marches, parades, voter registration, political campaigns),
for the journal. Send it to 30th Anniversary,
Local 237 Retiree Division, 216 W. 14 Street,
New York NY 10011. Or, you can e-mail your
statement to [email protected]. Don’t forget to include your name, year and job title
when you retired, your address, phone number,
and e-mail address.
Visit Local 237’s web site
ww.local237.org
See the Retiree Division page, Retiree News
& Views, Oral History Project interviews,
and current information about the union
In honor of
INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN’S DAY
and
March 2010
Retiree Personal Notes
Congratulations to Pauline Rosenbaum on her 91st birthday, celebrated March 22 . . . Condolences to the family of retired SSA Lorraine Grooms, who passed away February 19 . . . Birthday greetings to Doris Welch, who finally turns 60 on March 17.
* * *
Evangelista Fabian, a native of the Dominican Republic, received an award from Dominican
President Leoneol Fernandez Reyna on December 30, along with nearly 200 others, all former
Frogmen in the Dominican Marines, for
the sacrifices they made in the revolution of April 24, 1965. The men also received promotions to the rank of lieutenant. Following the ceremony, they
had lunch at the Presidential Palace
with the president and the Dominican
Ambassador to Colombia, Angel Lockward, who suggested the award. In the
photo here, Fabian is standing to the
right of President Reyna (with the
white shirt and tie). Fabian came to the United States in 1967 and has been back to the Dominican Republic on vacations.
If you would like to share am activity or special event in your life in the Retiree Personal Notes
column, call, mail, or e-mail the information to Retiree News & Views, Teamsters Local 237, 216 W.
14 St., New York, NY 10011; 212-807-0555; retirees@local237. org.
IBT Features Local 237 Retiree Doris Welch
for Women’s History Month in E-Newsletter
L
ocal 237 retiree Doris Welch is featured in the Teamsters E-Dispatch this month in honor of Women’s History Month. In the
article, “Teamster Trades in ‘High Heels for Work Boots,”
Welch is interviewed about her trailblazing move from secretary at
the Housing Authority into the male-dominated world of heating
plant technician and then superintendent. The article also highlights Welch’s life as a
retiree activist. “Our retirees group is 8,000 strong now and there are many females.
We don’t have to stay at home and watch TV. There is a life after your career is over,
and the women have to come together.”
The interview is part of an entire section of the E-Dispatch devoted to Women’s History Month. To see the full interview and other articles, go to http://www.teamster.
org/content/teamsters-celebrate-womens-history-month
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216 West 14 Street
New York, NY 10011
Periodicals postage
paid at New York, NY
WOMEN’S HISTORY
MONTH
we salute the
RETIRED WOMEN
OF TEAMSTERS
LOCAL 237
AFFILIATE OF THE
Alliance
for Retired
Americans
March 2010