SOCIAL SECURITY SURVIVORS' BENEFITS

WHEREAS, social security contributions that include survivors' benefits have been paid by many of our members and/or their spouses; and

WHEREAS, our members are contributors to public employee pension funds; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has enacted a law that will deny the social security survivors' benefits to individuals who are the recipients of public employee pensions; and

WHEREAS, this law denies survivor's benefits to public pension recipients while it continues to provide them to private pension recipients and thereby creating second class citizens of public employees as of January, 1981; and

WHEREAS, many of our members and/or their spouses continue to contribute survivors' benefits under social security while being told that no survivors' benefits will be forthcoming as long as the survivor receives a public pension:

RESOLVED, that the AFT work toward the repeal of the law that denies survivors' benefits under social security to recipients of public employee pensions; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT call upon the AFL-CIO to join forces with us in this effort.