POINTS TO PONDER
Issue 02-24
From Your Federation President
NARFE Members of California:
A LITTLE HISTORY OF GPO/WEP - While visiting a chapter recently,
and discussing the three top NARFE Legislative Priorities, I was asked a question,
"Why didn't NARFE stop GPO and WEP when it was first introduced?" Not having
the answer readily available I sent an e-mail to Judy Park, and here is her response:
NARFE did oppose and fight both the GPO and the WEP proposals in 1977 and 1983,
respectively when they were being enacted.
However, since in both instances there was a 5 (GPO) or 3 (WEP) year grace period
before the provisions became effective, there was really no constituency to support our
opposition. Current retirees were not affected (most NARFE members) and employees
who were already eligible for retirement (although still working) or those who were within
several years of retirement were not affected, so the ones who would be affected--and
now are--weren't really interested and did nothing.
I can show you article after article in Retirement Life warning about these provisions,
but since our own members didn't care because they wouldn't be affected, our audience
was limited. As you know, few people worry or pay attention to retirement issues until
they are affected by them and that's just what happened with GPO & WEP. In that sense,
Congress was smart to delay the effective dates of the provisions. Later on, NARFE was
the organziation who did get both provisions modified--having the dollar for dollar offset
of the original GPO bill reduced to two-thirds and having a phased in schedule of the
WEP formula ( for those with between 20 and 30 years of substantial earnings) instead
of the full reduction until after 30 years.
But that was yesterday, and now that more and more people continue to be affected,
everyone wants something done. That's what we are trying to do now. The person who
asked the question, could be asked whether or not he was interested in those issues 26
years ago (GPO) or 20 years ago (WEP). I would guess that, at that time, his last thought
was of retirement.
Till Next Time....
Lea D. Zajac,
Your California Federation President
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