Strength In Numbers

Yesterday, I joined a union for the first time in my life. At one time here in south Florida, between the 1960s and 1970s, we nurses tried to form a union and were threatened with the loss of our jobs if we continued to pursue it, so it never got off the ground.

Last week I sent around an email asking friends and family to call the 26 members of the House Appropriations Committee and tell them to vote No on HB7011, which would take our Florida retirement trust fund out of the Florida Retirement System and put it into the hands of Wall Street speculators.

I called all 26 members, and left voicemails for 25 of them, and at midnight, my last call was to House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, from Ft. Lauderdale. To his credit, Representative Thurston was in his office at that hour and answered his phone rather than letting it go to voicemail. He assured me he was voting against the bill, that he knew how important it was to keep our pensions and retiree health insurance subsidy in the hands of the Florida Retirement System and out of the hands of Wall Street.

Unfortunately, but certainly coming as no surprise, the majority of the committee voted in favor of sending the bill to the House, where it is currently. And since the Republican majority rules both the Florida House and Senate, it’s a pretty safe bet the bill is going to become law, leaving no recourse except litigation.

That is why, yesterday, I joined Chapter 79 of AFSCME, the Florida Retired Public Employee Council, a retiree chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. It only cost me $15 to join, but I think it will be one of the best things I’ve done since I retired in 2002.

I’d neglected working on my novel writing during the last campaign to re-elect the president and elect good new people to Congress, so I vowed I was through and would concentrate upon my own work. However, Florida legislators are messing with my livelihood and that of my fellow Floridians who are retired from state, county, and city employment, and those of you who are still working hard for less money than your counterparts in the private sector to earn that pension. I could not stand by and do nothing.

Bad enough Washington wants to mess with our Social Security and Medicare; now their counterparts in Tallahassee are trying to dismantle our state retirement, also.

We have to take a stand. I’ve taken mine. How about you? Please call AFSCME at 800-234-6997 to tell them you, too, want to join the Florida Retired Public employee Council.

We need to stand as one and show them all that we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it, anymore!