Public Employee Press

Retiree group re-elects Leibowitz

DC 37 Retirees Association President Stuart Leibowitz was sworn in Nov. 19 to his third term as chair of the New York City chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans.

The chapter represents some 400,000 retirees from the New York City Central Labor Council and community organizations.

Supported by the AFL-CIO, the ARA has more than 4 million members nationwide.

Top officers who were elected with Leibowitz included Co-chair George Altomare, of the United Federation of Teachers, Secretary Francine Brewer, of the Professional Staff Congress, and Treasurer Jaycee Holden, of Unite-HERE.

The election took place at the group’s 2008 convention, which was held at the headquarters of the UFT.

“One of the missions of the ARA is to try to educate the ­active workforce that they have a stake in the ­issues we are fighting for since, after all, they are future retirees,” Leibowitz said. “The benefits we enjoy today, such asSocial Security, a dignified pension and health care, are benefits that active workers will need in the future.”

He said strong unions are the key to protecting employer and government benefits for workers and retirees and pointed out that ARA is pressing hard for the passage of the federal Employee Free Choice Act, which would make union organizing easier.

“Unions are very important to the standard of living in our country,” Leibowitz said. “It’s a tragedy that only 7 percent of the private-sector workforce is represented by unions.”