Retirees Information

WHAT IS THE CWA RETIRED MEMBERS COUNCIL?

When we were active members of the Communications Workers of America, we enjoyed the protections and benefits of a strong union committed to negotiating good contracts with safe working conditions, quality benefits and good compensation in exchange for our work.  Each one of us stood shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters, to get the best contracts we could bargain.

Over the last fifty years, we fought for the right to high quality retirement benefits, included in the contracts our union negotiated.  Those contracts promised to deliver both financial security with pensions and savings plans and health security with quality retiree health coverage.

When some workers retire, they think they can put their union card away, just sit back and reap the rewards and benefits of a long career.

But CWA retirees know that those benefits weren’t given to us by kind hearted employers. And in recent years, many people have lost those benefits they thought they could rely on.  It has become clear that union activists – even the retired ones – must be ready to fight to protect those benefits and even expand them, if need be. 

Now, more than ever, our commitment to our union is critical, both to protect ourselves as retirees and to support those still working.  CWA retirees played a critically important role in winning retirement security and health care coverage.  Now we need to join together to protect those achievements and expand them to meet the needs of all retired Americans.

Simply put, being retired does not mean that that we can let others take care of our business for us.  We need a voice in negotiations and discussions with our former employers, a voice on retiree issues when those employers try to ignore us and change our benefits to fit their profit projections and a voice in the political arena to protect our benefits and broaden our impact.

The Retired Members Council of the Communications Workers of America is that voice.

WHAT DOES THE RMC DO FOR ME?

It is the RMC-CWA that ensures that retirees continue to have the protections of collective action – the protections of our union.  It is the RMC-CWA that works in concert with active members of CWA and other unions, with the AFL-CIO and its state and local councils and organizations like the Alliance of Retired Americans with its state and local affiliates.

It is the RMC’s relationships with active CWA members and their leaders that ensure that we have a voice when our former employers try to change our benefits.

It is the RMC-CWA’s connection to the rest of the labor movement that gets us a seat at the table when political leaders in Washington and across the nation try to put critical programs like Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block. 

We know that no one alone can protect him- or herself from the ravages of political and economic change.  It’s by working together that we are strong anywhere that retirees’ interests hang in the balance.

Please join the Retired Members Council of the Communications Workers of America and help us build a movement to protect all retired workers.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME TO JOIN THE RMC?

We encourage you to join with us as a Lifetime member of the RMC, for a special one-time only membership fee of $25.00.  As a Lifetime member of the RMC-CWA you:

• will stay connected through the CWA News and our weekly e-mail newsletter. 
• will be able to take part in CWA’s mobilization in support members bargaining new contracts. 
• are linked to CWA’s ongoing legislative programs 
• are part of the union’s work to elect representatives committed to a Working Families agenda – of which your retiree benefits are a critical element.

We also encourage you to join one of more than 225 RMC Chapters all across the United States. Being part of a local RMC chapter puts you in the middle of the fight to protect retiree benefits.  Chapter members participate in electoral work, support active contract bargaining and enjoy the company of fellow retirees while they’re at it. 

In addition:

• RMC members are entitled to participate in the Union Plus program providing dozens of popular services and discounts for retirees.
• Lifetime members receive a 15% discount on AT&T Wireless services.
• RMC members can use CWA’s popular life-long learning program CWA/NETT Academy.
• RMC members can get discounted hearing aids as a ARA member.

Its up to US to make CWA Retirees Strong

As it gets harder to negotiate the kind of contracts we have won in the past, CWAers have taken to saying       “When we fight, we win” 

There is no reason to accept the idea that Retirement Security is a thing of the past.  Instead, there is every reason to believe that if workers and retirees, fighting together, can win the retirement we deserve.

That is why the Retired Members’ Council of CWA wants you to join in the fight to keep what we have already earned, to help our active brothers and sisters to continue earning those same benefits for their futures and to guarantee a dignified retirement for all Americans.

Join the RMC-CWA today.

Go to www.CWAretirees.org.