PRESERVATION OF 403(b) TAX-DEFERRED ANNUITY PLANS

WHEREAS, the Congress of the U.S. is considering reductions in the benefits currently provided to public employees and employees of nonprofit organizations under the terms of the 403(b) Tax-Deferred Annuity program; and

WHEREAS, the special benefits of the 403(b) TDA program were initially enacted in part to compensate for the reduced opportunities teachers and other public employees have to build the financial resources required to provide for a dignified retirement; and

WHEREAS, our nation faces a pressing need to strengthen the incentives and rewards, including the financial ones, that would attract and retain high caliber teachers rather than to weaken those incentives and rewards; and

WHEREAS, many teachers and other public employees have depended on and now depend on current 403(b) TDA plans as needed future income supplements to provide for a secure retirement:

RESOLVED, that the AFT and the AFL-CIO working together redouble their efforts to see that benefits under the present 403(b) TDA program are unimpaired; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT urge its locals and its membership to write to the Congress to urge preservation of the 403(b) TDA program in its present form.