Break the ‘Chained’ CPI!

The APWU is urging union members and retirees to participate in rallies across the country on Tuesday, July 2, to protest a proposal that would put retirement benefits for millions of workers on the chopping block.

The threat is from a proposal to use a new method to calculate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for postal and federal retirees and Social Security recipients. “The new method — known as the ‘chained CPI’ — would result in much smaller cost-of-living increases than the current formula establishes,” APWU President Cliff Guffey and Retirees Department Director Judy Beard said in a mailing to APWU retirees.

“Many members have heard about the threat to Social Security, and have asked how postal retirees would be affected,” the letter says. “Simply put, postal retirees’ annual cost-of-living increases are based on the same index used for Social Security,” they said. “If the chained CPI is adopted, cost-of-living increases would be much lower for Social Security recipients AND for postal and federal retirees. The losses would compound over time.”

Click here for a fact sheet provided by the Alliance for Retired Americans for more information. The statements about cuts in future Social Security benefits also apply to CSRS and FERS.

Nationwide Protests Planned for July 2

The APWU is calling on union members and retirees to join other workers and seniors on July 2 to help form a human chain in front of federal buildings, congressional offices and other key sites.

Coordinated by the Alliance for Retired Americans, the rallies will take place in dozens of cities across the country to send a clear message: Break the chained CPI! No cuts to cost-of-living adjustments!

To add your voice to the protest, sign and return the petition to Congress.