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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 sponsored organization to unite retirees of all unions. The ARA is to replace the National Council of Senior Citizens (NCSC), which is to be folded into the new Alliance.

The pending birth of the ARA was described to SOAR conference delegates by George Kourpias, retired president of the International Association of Machinists and current president of the NCSC.

"I feel sad," Kourpias told the delegates, noting that he has been a board member of the NCSC since 1966. "But I also feel excited. The trade union movement in America is finally going to have a national organization for retirees."

Kourpias said the ARA will start with about 2.5 million members and is expected to grow to as many as 4 million within five years.

"We're going to be doing a lot of wonderful things," he added.

The NCSC will bring a proud history to the ARA, Kourpias noted.

Former USW President I.W. Abel was a leader in founding the NCSC 39 years ago to give a voice to union retirees of that era.

"The NCSC was responsible for creation of the Medicare program in 1965," Kourpias said. "It has protected the Social Security program, and helped win the Older Americans Act. It's been involved in every labor battle there has been."

The NCSC membership is made up of dues-paying individuals, and over the last five years its ranks have dwindled to less than 200,000, making it difficult to maintain staff and programs, Kourpias said.

Facing this crisis, Kourpias sought the counsel of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who set up a planning committee headed by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka. USW President George Becker is a committee member, and SOAR Director Bob Rootes has been a regular participant in committee meetings.

Rather than tinker with the NCSC, the committee took the bold step of designing the much larger organization that will incorporate the NCSC and multiply its strength many-fold.

NCSC members endorsed the plan at the council's convention in June in Las Vegas. On August 1, the AFL-CIO Executive Council added its approval. Final details of the ARA are now being worked out prior to launching the new organization, Kourpias said.

"I ask for your support," Kourpias told the SOAR delegates, "and I guarantee that we'll be doing some great things."