OCAW local union leaders can play a key role in educating our members about the issues in the Social Security debate. While respecting workers' anxieties, it's critical to point out that Social Security is not in danger of going "bankrupt." Instead:

1. Give members the facts to understand that protecting, reforming, and strengthening Social Security for future generations is a safe, workable alternative to proposals that would scrap Social Security and replace it with a radical, untested alternative.

2. Highlight the risk inherent in any system that would rely substantially on privatized investment accounts, and emphasize the importance of a guaranteed monthly income that can never be lost as the foundation of a secure retirement.

3. Point out that all privatization plans call for substantial increases in the payroll tax (to pay for transition costs). Tax increases must occur only to shore up the solvency of Social Security for everyone, and any participation in private accounts must be voluntary.

4. Recognize that Social Security will not provide an adequate income for most retired workers, and call for strengthening the other two "legs" of the three-legged retirement stool: better pension coverage from employers and expanded opportunities for tax-advantaged private savings.

5. Discuss how a public policy package that strengthens the long-term finances of the system takes time, and should include reform measures that prevent fraud and misappropriation of funds.

Looking past the scare tactics, it's clear there's a lot right with Social Security. Use the information below in your education efforts with union members and friends:

Social Security is a social insurance program that provides millions of Americans with benefits.

Some 43 million Americans received benefits in 1995 under
Social Security's Old-Age, Survivor, and Disability
Insurance programs. This group includes 26 million
elderly retirees, 6 million spouses and children, 7
million survivors of deceased workers, and 4 million
disabled workers.

Social Security benefits save many retirees from poverty.

In 1995, the benefits paid by Social Security exceeded
$340 billion. These benefits, in combination with
Medicare health insurance, have dramatically reduced
poverty for the elderly. In 1959, the U.S. Census Bureau
estimated that more than 35 percent of elderly Americans
were poor. By 1994, in large part because of changes in
the Social Security system, the poverty rate among senior
citizens was 11.7 percent.

Only 13 percent of women 65 and older receive a private pension, compared with 33 percent of men.

Thirty-seven percent of older women living alone rely on
Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income. 

Social Security benefits to survivors and to the disabled would be difficult to match through private policies.

Social Security provides the equivalent of a $201,000
disability insurance policy and a $322,000 life insurance
policy for an average worker with a spouse and two
children.

Younger workers are least likely to have jobs that provide adequate life insurance or to be able to afford to purchase such insurance themselves.

Social Security provides $12.1 trillion in life insurance
protection, an amount that exceeded by $1.3 trillion the
combined value of all private life insurance policies in
the United States in 1993.

Social Security benefits are work-related.

Because Social Security is a social insurance program, it
is structured so that workers with very low wages are
guaranteed a minimum benefit. This progressive feature of
Social Security helps give all workers in America a
chance at a decent retirement, even if their type of
work, or personal circumstances, do not enable them to
accumulate wealth or become eligible for private pension
plans.

There is little waste in the system.

Administrative costs for Social Security are about 1
percent of benefits. According to the American Council of
Life Insurance, administrative costs for private
insurance are between 12 and 14 percent of annual benefit
amounts.

Social Security has enjoyed broad public support since its creation.

Recent studies show that about 90 percent of Americans
favor the continuation of Social Security, and most would
be willing to pay higher taxes to maintain the Social
Security system.

OCAW Research and Education Department