Powerful new alliance formed Over the past year, the AFL-CIO has launched the Alliance for Retired Americans. This national organization is comprised of 2.5 million union retirees and progressive community-based retirees, as well as senior organizations. And the NYS Alliance of Retired Americans (NYSARA) has been formed at the state level. Fred Nauman is interim president and Mary True, vice-president. I was among those appointed to the Interim Board by Dennis Hughes, president of NYS AFL-CIO. The board met for the first time in New York City in April. Nineteen board members, representing more than 300,000 union retirees, attended this historic meeting. Because of this organization, we will be working with the unions. The alliance will provide a strong new voice for retired workers. According to Gov. George Pataki, 24 percent of all New Yorkers will be retirees by the year 2012. On the national scene, there are presently 35 million retirees age 65 and older who are on Medicare. These figures show why we must remain a potent force to maintain and gain benefits which we have labored all our lives to achieve. We are attracting attention of both state legislatures and Congress because of our greatly increasing numbers. Unity among retirees is imperative. Say, “Yes!” when you are asked to ride the bus to a rally or other event, or to contact lawmakers on issues. 1Chapter News Our PEF Retirees chapter in Syracuse meets at noon June 14 at the PEF office, The Long Island Chapter meets at 11:30 a.m. June 26 at the NYS Institute of Technology.