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Texas retirees are making plans to get this state organized.
The UAW Area Council meeting in Arlington on May 27 enthusiastically
embraced the convention that is set for July 12 at the Texas AFL-CIO building
in downtown Austin. The first bus will depart Grand Prairie at 7 AM that morning,
then stop at the Alliance/AFT hall in Dallas to pick up another load of retired
school workers before proceeding to Austin in time for the convention start
at 11:30 AM. They will depart at the convention's end and make it home by 8:30
that evening. Austin is the only major city offering the thousands of North
Texas organized retirees the option of carrying out the entire experience within
a single day.
At their monthly retiree luncheons, UAW Local 870 and Local 276 both committed to getting their members to the convention. Financial Secretary Bob Felzke (pictured at right with the new UAW 276 Retiree President Lonnie Morgan) made a motion for funding, then started signing up the participants for the convention. Felzke has been a supporter of Texas Alliance for Retired Americans since its founding meeting.
On the other side of Dallas, UAW Local 870 also welcomed the news that Texas retirees are going to get organized.
One of the most remarkable of 870's activists is 97-year-old S.E. Foster, who was President of the Local from 1946 to 1951, during some of the most exciting years of American unionism. He had begun working at the plant even before the UAW-CIO established itself legally there in 1941.
Foster
is pictured as he told a joke to the June 3 retiree luncheon group.
Texas Alliance for Retired Americans President Victor Pauly wrote both a policy statement and a monthly report from his home in Victoria. He cleared up any confusion that might have existed about the upcoming convention and called for people to put their hearts and minds into the project of organizing Texas retirees.
He said, "I ask now, as I have asked several times in past, for the following; Local contact information for political leaders, people of influence in the community, as well as for organizations which you may have shared a common cause with in the past. (2)Assistance in obtaining information regarding your Union or group membership, so that our Communication Director can build a viable database.(3) Your suggestions and ideas for Alliance activities in your community. (4) Your ideas regarding fund raising for our Alliance. (5) Your suggestions on membership in our "Texas Action Team" that I hope to lead to Austin and the new Legislature next year.
'I hope to send out convention specifics during the next month, culminating with election procedures and sample ballot. There will be specific proposals for your consideration, as well as the election for Board membership and all three Officers positions. You will receive a form which will enable you submit proposals, Bylaw revisions, and names of potential Officers.... In closing, let me repeat, I will accept any and all, constructive ideas for the advancement of communications between members. I hope the regular report at the end of a month is a helpful tool for acquainting the Board with the activities of their Officers. We need to work together to advance our agenda of advocacy for retirees and all who labor. We must be a team, not adversaries, in those efforts."
President Pauly received a note on June 3 from Alliance for Retired Americans Field Organizer Dani Pere in Washington. She said, "Thank you for including me. Again, please always lets me know if I can do anything to assist."
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