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Affiliation fees for the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans (TARA) are figured for calendar years; thus January is the time to affiliate or to renew past affiliations. Here is the payment schedule for organizations:
15-40 members $5/year
41-100 $10
101-200 $15
201-400 $20
401-600 $25
600 or more $30
Make checks to "Texas Alliance for Retired Americans" and send to PO Box 12757, Austin, TX, 78711
Most Texas union retirees are already members of the National Alliance for Retired Americans. Your non-union retiree friends will benefit by sending $10 to Alliance for Retired Americans, 888 16th Street NW, Suite 520, Washington DC, 2006-4103. Computer users can join the ARA on-line from the "about us" tab at www.retiredamericans.org. For information, call them at 1-800-333-7212.
TARA Treasurer Elaine Jones reports that at least three important new groups signed up since the last newsletter:
*Texas Building and Construction Trades Council, Austin
*Lone Star Branch No. 132, National Association of Letter Carriers, Dallas
*Retired Firefighters & Widows Association, Corpus Christi
At least two labor councils: Victoria and Dallas, are in the process of sending their annual affiliation fees.
Non-union individuals have also sent their $10 affiliation fee, which Sister Jones forwards directly to National ARA.
If Texas retirees expect to hold on to our pensions, Social Security, and health care, we have to prepare for a fight. Hardly a day goes by without news of company takeaways or new threats from government officials.
For example, the nation's leading economist, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, told reporters on January 18 that America faces a fiscal crisis because of retirees. He directly blamed Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for the government's financial problems. Military spending, trade deficits, corruption, and the cost of maintaining high-price government bureaucrats like himself were not even mentioned!
The good news is that we can fight and win. By organizing and informing retirees, the Alliance for Retired Americans was able to achieve substantial results in last November's elections. Not only was retiree turnout much bigger, it was also much better! Retirees voted for the side that promised to save and extend their benefits, and they voted against the takeaway artists on the other side.
There is a lot more organizing and informing to be done. Write to your Texas Alliance for Retired Americans or go to our web page, www.txsenior.org, and click on "contact us!"
Other union-related organizations also conduct membership drives in January.
The Coalition for Black Trade Unionists, the Coalition for Labor Union Women,
the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Labor Committee for Latin American Advancement,
and Jobs with Justice are all looking
for members. Dues are low or nonexistent.
--Gene Lantz, TARA Communications Director