The CBTU Retiree Committee is a group of senior advocates who act as the conscience of the senior movement from a black and minority perspective.

Officers:

• Co-Chairs
  Oliver Montgomery
  (412) 241-4766 /ofc: (412) 371-6784/fax
  Bill Simons
  (202) 526-4869/res.; (202) 832-0892/fax
• Secretary
  Geraldine Cross Bennet (Baltimore)
• Treasurer
  James Jackson (New Jersey)

Objectives

• Guarantee the integrity of the Social Security program by denying the right to use the Social Security Trust funds for any other purpose.
• Oppose raising the age requirement for social security, because it is unfair to African Americans and other minorities.
• Use the social security surplus to preserve the Social Security Trust Fund.
  
• Oppose any form of privatizing social security, but fight for raising the earning cap.
• Push for a strong patients bill of rights law.
• Expose the culturally biased age decisions of social security, Medicare, managed care and congressional officials, because they are based on information from mostly middle class, European-American healthy males. CBTU/retiree committee

Actions

• Contact your U.S. senator or House representative at (202) 225-3131, and urge them to protect older workers in the new cash balance pension plans.
• Urge your members of Congress to act now to prevent drastic cuts in affordable housing for seniors and low income families.
• Urge support for Clinton/Gore Medicare plan, which includes the new prescription drug benefit.
• Urge support for Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-Mass.) bill - S.731 - the Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act.
• Call your lawmakers in Congress (202) 225-3131, and urge them to vote for reauthorization of the Older Americans' Act, which has been languishing in Congress since 1995.

Leadership
CBTU Retiree Committee members serve as officers, board members, directors and advisors to many local, national and international organizations.

• Brother Simons and Brother Montgomery serve as members of the senior advisory committee of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
• Sister Hildred Drew Dale, assistant secretary of the CBTU Retiree Committee, serves on the General Policy Board of the National Council of Senior Citizens.
• Sister Mae Dickinson is a member of the Indiana State legislature.
• Brother Montgomery attended a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1999, where he was a consultant on establishing social security systems on the Sub-Sahara African continent.
• Many CBTU retiree committee members serve on the National Policy Committee of the NCSC and on the regional, state and local boards.

Women's Committee | Youth Committee | Retiree Committee
International Affairs Committee | Environmental Justice Committee