Union for life

As the 2022 race for governor roared down to the wire, NYSUT retirees penned 57,000 hand-written post cards in the union’s successful effort to elect scores of pro-labor candidates. That was nothing new for the union’s “daytime army.” They cut their teeth during the union’s formative days and they’re not about to stop now.

Union pioneer Jeanette DiLorenzo was once asked if she planned to pursue a hobby in retirement; she was not amused. “Hobby?” retorted the United Federation of Teachers retiree leader. “My hobby is organizing!”

“I have what in-service teachers don’t have — time, flexibility and the freedom to choose how I spend my time,” said retired Schroon Lake teacher Jeanette Stapley in 2015. “Being a union activist is my priority.”

Retiree members number 250,000 strong as the union marks its 50th anniversary. Liberated from full-time employment, they remain enthusiastic volunteers for lobbying, phone banks, community outreach and dozens of behind-the-scenes efforts that contribute to the union’s success. They are widely respected as the union’s daytime warriors.

Arriving by the busload from every corner of the state, retirees have turned out in record numbers for everything from Committee of 100 lobbying to solidarity pickets to walks to fight breast cancer.

A perennial retiree priority — a permanent Cost-of-Living increase in pensions — became law in 2000 thanks to concerted effort by in-service and retired unionists. The victory, decades in the making, was fueled in no small part by retirees’ staying power. COLA success built on earlier advances. The pattern over 50 years charts NYSUT’s track record of incremental improvements through legislation on early retirement incentives and tier restorations and improvements.

Four years after its founding, NYSUT established a program of Retiree Services that expanded exponentially as new retiree chapters were organized. Through chapters affiliated with their locals or as at-large members, retirees can take part in Member Benefits and participate in union lobbying, conferences and social events. A network of retiree service consultants helps connect retiree councils, chapters and members.

In 2021, NYSUT celebrated the 30th anniversary of the creation of retiree councils, which are organized geographically to align with NYSUT election districts. Forty-three retiree councils were established — one for each election district in the state, one at-large and one in Florida. In 1991, for the first time ever, Retiree Councils sent elected delegates to the NYSUT Representative Assembly.

At an exuberant gathering of more than 100 retiree leaders after the changes went into effect, retiree Loretta Donlon of Syracuse declared: “This event is a great example of representative democracy, and that’s what NYSUT is all about.”

William Cea, a retired Clarkstown teacher and longtime president of NYSUT’s Teachers Retired in Florida chapter, noted: “Our people down here, whether they are teachers or SRPs, remain concerned about the state of education — in Florida where they now live, in New York where they used to work and in the nation as a whole.”

As DiLorenzo presciently noted more than two decades ago: “Times change, but the issues remain more or less the same.” The big issues she identified — safeguarding health benefits, pensions and Social Security — remain at the forefront of NYSUT’s agenda. Retirees pay it forward as they join in union advocacy for in-service members. They are as committed to fixing Tiers 5 and 6 as they are to safeguarding Social Security.

NYSUT Vice President Ron Gross, who oversees retiree services and served as a trustee on the New York State Teachers’ Retirement Board, has worked to strengthen bonds between in-service members and retirees. In 2022, he announced the creation of the NYSUT Legacy Fund to honor and celebrate longtime union activists.

“It’s an opportunity for members to receive recognition for their dedication to their union by their peers — and to honor those who have come before us,” Gross said. “We are union for life and we must maintain our solidarity at all stages of our lives.”