History of the New England Association of Labor Retirees

“Helping One Another For A Better Tomorrow”

NEALR, Inc.
341 Simmonsville Ave
Suite # 310
Johnston, RI 02919

History of NEALR [ Page 2 ]

The New England Teamsters Coalition

In December of 1992 Several Teamsters Retiree Chapters representing all six New England States convened to form the New England Coalition of Teamsters Retirees. The goal of the new Coalition was to provide a forum for representatives of member chapters to meet and discuss common retiree issues and concerns. The New England Coalition of Teamsters Retiree Chapters, under the leadership of Mr. Pernorio, has pursued the New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund Trustees to improve the living standards for older retirees. They have organized petition signings, letters from pensioners, meeting with pension fund representatives and a peaceful march at the pension fund headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts that was attended by 1000 retirees from all over New England. The Coalition’s persistence has had some benefits. Given Coalition activities, some older retirees were given raises of 1% for each year they have been retired. Retirees were also given bonus Christmas checks, in some cases retirees received a double Christmas check and in other cases they received a check and one half.

For the first time what had been the initiative of one specific Teamsters Retiree Chapter had now evolved into a Coalition of Teamsters Retiree chapters with a New England base of operation. Also in 1994, the Rhode Island Alliance of AFL-CIO retiree chapters was formed and modeled after the Teamsters Retiree programs. The goal was to make services available to Teamster retirees also available to all labor union retiree chapters affiliated with the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. This was part of an effort to broaden the base of retiree advocacy.

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