Union Built Strength as Retirees Rallies to Return to the CSA Fold
by Anne Silverstein
CSA turns 50 on Jan. 30, 2012. Each month, the CSA News is highlighting a milestone in the union’s history, and the union will sponsor special events culminating with a gala dinner-dance on April 27 at the Waldorf Astoria®. This month: The Retiree Chapter.
The CSA Retiree Chapter is a relatively new entity in CSA’s history, formed in May 2004. Its success was immediate. For three months, the telephone did not stop ringing as retirees called the union to find out about the benefits of joining and how to sign up. I know because I sat about 20 feet from George Fener, a retiree and staff member assigned
to handle membership inquiries, as he worked that summer. He fielded hundreds of telephone calls, and made hundreds more, explaining the importance of unionism and supplemental health benefits.
Although the Retiree Chapter is new entity, retirees had an affiliation with CSA through the Retired School Supervisors Association (RSSA), a fraternal organization that was not a union although it did arrange for associate membership with the American Federation of School Administrators, CSA’s national union. Here’s a brief history:
Soon after CSA President Walter Degnan took leave as Principal of DeWitt Clinton High School to become the union’s first full-time President in 1970, he formed a committee comprised of Irwin Shanes, Tom Ferrignio and John McGreevey to study the formation of a retiree unit. One hundred and fifty-nine retirees plus 109 spouses joined the fledgling group; RSSA’s first membership meeting was held on Nov. 18, 1971 under the leadership of Ben Mandel, the first RSSA President.
The group was not affiliated with CSA. CSA Historian Jack Zuckerman explained why in an article from the CSA News September 2005: “Why a separate unit from CSA? The reason given at the time was that retirees comprised a much smaller and older group of people with different needs than active members.”
That separation continued for years although the relationship was a good one. CSA rented space to RSSA, RSSA had several pages in the CSA News. CSA had a paternal relationship with RSSA. RSSA had its independence but its members were not union members.
Things went pretty smoothly until the early 2000s. Under CSA President Jill Levy, the union was growing by leaps and bounds; the staff doubled, then tripled. She saw a place for retirees within the union. Some of RSSA’s leaders, however, did not want to see RSSA subsumed by CSA. Without dwelling on the details, friction between the groups grew. In 2004, Ms. Levy, supported by a number of retirees including Mr. Shanes, Mr. Zuckerman, current RC Chair Neil Lefkowitz and others, formed the Retiree Chapter.
A fight for the future of RSSA broke out. With the elections of its officer coming up in the winter of 2004 – the first contested election of RSSA – the sides were clear. Candidate and former CSA President Donald Singer called for RSSA to remain independent. His opponent and Welfare Fund Administrator Irwin Shanes called for a merger. The Shanes slate won 2,691 votes to 861.
Mr. Shanes immediately entered into discussions with CSA’s leadership to unite CSA and RSSA and soon brought it to the RSSA Executive Board for approval that spring. A vote by RSSA’s membership soon followed. When the ballots were counted on June 27, 2005, 95 percent of the members who voted said, “Yes” to the merger, a testament to their faith in Mr. Shanes and Ms. Levy. On July 1, the merger became official.
