The Real Grand Bargain
Posted February 18, 2009 at 1:24 pm, in From the News By Robert L. Borosage Co-Director Campaign for America’s Future Will President Obama defend Social Security from the folks who want to plunder it? That’s the question Bill Grieder poses in a critically important article in the Nation Magazine. We’ll get an early indication this ...... more

Al Becco Appointed SOAR Western Vice-President
USW International President Leo W. Gerard appointed District 12 Coordinator Al Becco, SOAR Western Region Vice-President. This is a new position on the Board created to better serve our membership in the Western United States. Al began his union career shortly after he graduated from high school at Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I). In 1952, ...... more

Bill Gibbons Appointed to SOAR Executive Board
USW International President Leo W. Gerard appointed Bill Gibbons to the SOAR Executive Board as the PACE Division Representative. He recently retired from the Union as Co-Director of District 7. Prior to the merger in 2005, Bill served as Vice-President and Regional Director of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International ...... more

Steelworker Retirees Set to Receive New Health Care Benefit
Kaiser Aluminum retirees to get help from innovative union program Nearly 9,000 retirees, spouses and surviving spouses will be eligible to apply for lump sum payments of up to $600 in 2007 from a novel benefit trust fund established for former United Steelworkers (USW) and other union-represented employees of Kaiser Aluminum. The benefit payments will ...... more

United Steelworker Retirees to Receive Additional Benefits in 2007
As many as 60,000 USW-represented retirees and spouses will be eligible to receive an additional $300 cash payment later this year to help offset the cost of their monthly Medicare Part B premiums. Eligible beneficiaries include retirees, spouses and surviving spouses who lost health care coverage as a result of the bankruptcies of Bethlehem Steel, ...... more

USW Retirees Reimbursed for Medicare Part B Premiums
Reimbursement checks for Medicare Part B premiums go in the mail next week to some 41,000 United Steelworker retirees and spouses who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies. The payments are being made by an innovative trust fund, the Mittal Steel USW Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), set up to help retirees ...... more

Innovative Trust Fund Makes Payment to 40,000 USW Retirees and Spouses
More than 40,000 United Steelworker retirees and spouses who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies are getting financial help with their Medicare Part B premiums from an innovative trust fund bargained by the USW to assist them. Checks will be mailed during the first week of December to 40,476 USW-represented retirees ...... more

Mittal Steel VEBA Expands Benefits
The trust fund set up to benefit retirees who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies – Bethlehem, LTV, Acme Metals and Georgetown Steel – has announced a new benefit. A portion of the assets of the trust, now known as the Mittal Steel USA Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA), will be used this year to reimburse ...... more

Retirement Finances Damaged By LTV, Bethlehem Bankruptcies, Kaiser Family Foundation Finds In New Survey Of USW Retirees
When an auto accident forced Stephen Skvara to retire from LTV Steel, the electrical repairman did not anticipate financial hardship. After all, he had 34 years of service at the Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago. Then two blows came. His retirement payments were cut by one-third, to $12,000 annually, when bankrupt LTV shifted its obligations to ...... more

Retirees Seek Legislation
By: R Matheny (USPA) (l -r): Larry LaCorte, Bob Blare, Delegate Dale Martin, and Jim Picarella. Charleston, WV, Feb 8, 2006 - A rally was held today at the West Virginia State Capital to bring attention to the State Legislature the many years of retirees being pushed aside. Among those in attendance were several hundred retired state employees, school ...... more

Steelworker SOAR Chapter Endorses HR 676 - Single Payer Health Care Legislation
Aliquippa, PA Chapter 20-20 of the Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) has endorsed HR 676 a bill that would legislate Single Payer health care in the U.S. The chapter made its endorsement January 12th at its regular monthly meeting.Many of the chapters 1,272 members have fathers and grandfathers who worked and organized the giant Jones ...... more

USW International President Presented with Meritorious Service from Retirees
Getting together for a show of friendship and solidarity that evening is left to right Charlie Averill SOAR Secretary Treasurer, Steve Skvara District 7 SOAR Executive Board Member, Ed Sadlowski SOAR Chapter 31-9 President and former District 7 Director, Leo Gerard USW President, and Scott Marshall District 7 SOAR Coordinator. USW International President ...... more

What You Need To Know about Medicare Part D Medicare's Rx Drug Benefit
The Medicare's Rx drug benefit will begin January 2006. The drug plan, a centerpiece of the controversial 2003 Medicare law, is an intricate web of private insurance companies providing coverage to Medicare's 40 million beneficiaries. What is it? Insurance companies and private plans will work with Medicare to offer prescription drug coverage to people ...... more

Should I Enroll in the New Medicare Prescription Drug Program Medicare Part D
Whether or not you should enroll in the new Medicare drug benefit depends on whether you have drug coverage now and the quality of your current benefits.If you currently have drug coverage, you need to find out whether your current plan is “creditable” (as good as or better than Medicare’s drug benefit). If you have drug coverage that is as at least ...... more

SOAR Charters First PACE Chapter
The retirees from former PACE Local 0113 in Marion, Indiana in District 7 are the first to join the ranks of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR). Left to right: Steve Skvara, District 7 SOAR Executive Board Member; Ron Lucas, Vice President; Bobby Cole, President; Jon Foy, Financial Secretary; John Ayres, Trustee; Denny Thornsburry, ...... more

SOAR is Growing
In the last eighteen months SOAR dues paying memberships have grown by over 17,000. A total of seventeen new SOAR chapters have been chartered and several more are close to completion. Districts Nine and Eight have led the way in chartering new SOAR chapters. At the International SOAR Conference two SOAR coordinators were honored for their achievements ...... more

New Alliance for Retired Americans
Steelworker retirees who presently have the strength of tens of thousands through membership in SOAR will soon have the strength of millions through membership in a new national organization for all union retirees. While remaining active in SOAR, the members will automatically become affiliated with the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), an AFL-CIO ...... more