LABOR'S VITAL INTEREST IN ORGANIZING UNION RETIREES

WHEREAS, over the next 50 years, improvements in life expectancy and the retirement of the baby boom generation will increase the number of Americans age 65 and over by more than 20 million--enlarging the size of that age group by two-thirds; and

WHEREAS, the workforce is aging rapidly. By 2005, 37 percent of all workers will be age 45 and older; and

WHEREAS, the segment of union membership that is age 45 to 54 has grown over the last 15 years from 20 percent to 30 percent, while the membership age 25-34 has declined from 30 percent to 20 percent; and

WHEREAS, 3 million union members are expected to retire between 2003 and 2020, a huge loss that could eventually result in a seriously weakened labor movement; and

WHEREAS, the highest ratios of older union members to younger members occur in many of the states that are most critical in determining the outcome of U.S. presidential elections, such as Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California; and

WHEREAS, some 225,000 AFT members are expected to retire between 2000 and 2010 and an even larger number in the decade to follow; and

WHEREAS, the AFT retiree program has grown from 32,000 members to more than 150,000 in the last 10 years; and

WHEREAS, only a handful of other unions have developed their own retiree organizations, leaving the vast majority of retired union members with no opportunity to maintain affiliation with the labor movement:

RESOLVED, that AFT continue to encourage, support and assist state and local affiliates in reporting retirees and expanding programs and creating organizations for retired members; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT encourage, support and assist all AFL-CIO unions in building organizations for retired members; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT continue to encourage the AFL-CIO to develop programs for union retirees, an effort already under way with the 1999 appointment of the first retiree coordinator in the AFL-CIO Department of Field Mobilization; and

RESOLVED, that the delegates to this AFT convention endorse the 1999 AFL-CIO Convention Resolution 13, which states labor's vital interest in organizing union retirees and the AFL-CIO's effort to create a stronger affiliated organization for union retirees and those who share their values and beliefs.