Supporting the Work of the Alliance for Retired Americans and Establishing the 'Preserving Union Values Charitable Foundation'
July 28, 2009
Silver Spring, MD
AFL-CIO Executive Council statement
Educating, mobilizing, and energizing soon-to-be-retired union workers and union retirees has never been more important than it is today. In 2010, between 30 and 50 percent of the voting age population in almost every congressional district will be over 65 years old. In some congressional districts, retirees may soon outnumber active workers.
Several proposals for enhancing our efforts to mobilize older workers have been under consideration. These proposals include the development of an electronic organizing manual so that unions that do not already have a union retiree program may be able to build one; providing additional benefits for union retirees; and improving communications between unions and their active workers and retirees about retirement planning. None of these proposals is sufficient by itself, however.
There is no question that additional resources will be required to improve our efforts to mobilize older workers and retirees. Specifically, additional sources of funding must be found for the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), which has consistently excelled with the quality and effectiveness of its field work.
Funding for the Alliance has been held absolutely flat since 2001, when its contribution cap was raised from $100,000 to $110,000 per union. In the next year or so, the level of funding for the ARA will be half its original level in real terms, factoring in rising costs.
We propose two new initiatives that would help support the work of the ARA—one with a short-term focus and the other oriented towards the long term.
For the long term, we propose the creation of a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable foundation to which active and retired union members could make tax-exempt contributions for the purpose of preserving and carrying forward the proud heritage of the union movement. We believe many people associated with the labor movement would choose to leave a legacy in this way if given the opportunity.
Many union workers are concerned that their children and grandchildren may not be able to experience and cherish the richness of a life of involvement with the labor movement. The proposed charitable foundation would ensure that current and future generations of Americans have an opportunity to benefit from the values that made the labor movement a defining force in American history.
Many of us are familiar with this kind of foundation. We have had experience with such foundations in our work with charities, colleges and universities, and religious organizations. But until now there has been no such charitable organization for the benefit of the entire labor movement.
We propose that this foundation be called the “Preserving Union Values Charitable Foundation.” John Sweeney has agreed to lead the Foundation following his retirement as President of the AFL-CIO. The board of the Foundation would be composed of members selected from participating unions, along with one representative each from the ARA and the National Labor College (NLC). Funds would be divided equally between the Alliance and the NLC.
The cooperation of individual unions in making their members aware of the Foundation will be crucial to the Foundation’s success. It will be especially important for union publications and communications from central labor councils to encourage and publicize bequests to the Foundation.
It may be a number of years before we have a good idea how successful the Preserving Union Values Charitable Foundation will be, so in the short term we must identify more immediate solutions to the ARA’s funding problems. We recommend the following measures to increase funding for the Alliance:
- Increase the cap from $110,000 to $125,000 per union.
- Encourage 100 percent participation by all unions, and encourage all unions to update their membership lists with the Alliance. By our estimate, there are more than 500,000 retirees whose unions are not yet affiliated with the ARA.
- Increase the per member contribution from $2 to $3 for unions that do not reach the new cap.
The mission of the ARA has never been more urgent, nor its work more valued. Although individual unions and the labor movement generally are now coping with the most trying economic circumstances in a generation, these proposals are a fair and appropriate way to raise indispensable revenue for the ARA in the short term. And creation of the Foundation is an innovative landmark proposal that will not only support the work of the Alliance over the long term, but will also help nurture and sustain the values of the labor movement for the benefit of the next generation of Americans.