Do Our Elected Officials Protect Retirees?

Here's what you need to know this week:

May is Older Americans Month, and the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), the official AFL-CIO retiree organization, has just released their 2018 congressional scorecard for how our elected representatives voted on retiree issues. The ARA has taken key votes from 2018 concerning retirees, including increased healthcare costs and Medicare treatment, and scored Florida's congresspeople and senators based on how well they voted to protect our retirees. Here are some highlights from our area (a higher score is more favorable for retirees):

- Congressman Charlie Crist (Dem, Dist 13) earned a score of 80% in 2018 with a lifetime score of 90%

- Congresswoman Kathy Castor (Dem, Dist 14) earned a score of 100% in 2018 with a lifetime score of 100%

- Congressman Daniel Webster (Rep, Dist 11) earned a score of 10% in 2018 with a lifetime core of 11%

- Congressman Gus Bilirakis (Rep, Dist 12) earned a score of 10% in 2018 with a lifetime score of 12%

- Congressman Vern Buchanan (Rep, Dist 16) earned a score 11% in 2018 with lifetime score of 21%

The ARA works to protect and expand Social Security and Medicare and advocates for the rights of retired Americans around the country. Retiree issues today will be our issues tomorrow, and these scores for our elected officials provide us with a reminder that these programs that are so often taken for granted are in danger of being stripped away. The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans (FLARA) is working to establish teams of retirees to visit these elected officials once a month to discuss these issues. If you'd like to get involved with FLARA, please reach out to us for details!

To read the full scorecard, CLICK HERE.

Here's what's coming up:

- On Tuesday (6/4), our monthly Central Labor Council meeting will be held at IBEW 824 (6603 E Chelsea St, Tampa) at 7PM. Come out and hear everything going on in our CLC!

Note: For confirmed delegates, be sure to attend this meeting to vote in CLC officer elections!

Keep in Mind:

Custodians in Hillsborough County public schools have been fighting for months against a plan to privatize in the name of cost savings. Hillsborough School Employees Federation, the union that represents these employees, and their allies have been working to raise awareness of how disastrous and short-sighted this proposal actually is. At the May 7th school board meeting, workers and community allies spoke and rallied outside against the plan. CLICK HERE to check out the video by the Florida Education Association on this event, and visit the HSEF website to learn more.

That's all for this week! Follow us on Facebook andTwitter for more updates. If you would like to receive text message alerts from the Florida AFL-CIO (Msg & data rates may apply), text FLUNION to 235246!

In Solidarity,

West Central Florida Labor Council

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