From Paul Fong
Completing my first two-year term has been exciting to me as your president. I was very fortunate to have Walt Soellner as vice president and Ron Levesque as the treasurer. Their service on the Executive Board is greatly appreciated by me and members of the AFT 6157R. Both Walter and Ron have decided to retire from the board at this fall’s membership meeting.
We will be looking for members to replace both Walt and Ron on our Executive Board this fall. If you are interested in becoming an officer of the Retiree Chapter of AFT- 6157, please contact me by email at paulfong@gmail.com
This has been an eventful year for the officers of the Retiree Chapter.
Kathy Jasper attended the bi-annual CFT convention held this year in San Francisco. Look for her article on the convention held in March 2023.
Ron Levesque has been supporting the work of RBOA on behalf of retirees under with the capable leadership of Pat Butler and David Yancey and Jessica Breheny to advocate for increased funding in health benefits for those who started in this district prior to 1982.
Walt Soellner provided his classical home for our last membership meeting held in early May 2023. His generous hosting us there has been a great asset for our chapter for many years.
Kathy Jasper and I bowled with members of the AFT 6157 in South Bay Labor Council’s (SBLC) Bowling for Change on May 20th at the 4th Street Bowl. We had a good time with our brothers and sisters from AFT 6157 and all the other unions supporting the COPE of the SBLC.
I am also an elected trustee to the executive board of the SBLC and am still connected to the larger labor movement in Santa Clara and San Benito counties. This keeps our retiree chapter in play for politics in our district, and assists AFT 6157 in their continued advocacy for our union brothers and sisters that are still working.
We will be honoring our founders during the fall membership meeting: Bill Jacobs, Walt Soellner, Alice Gosak, and George Forrester. We as a retiree chapter are greatly indebted to our founders for starting the Retiree Chapter of AFT 6157 in 2007.
Have a great summer and see you all this Fall 2023.