USW Canada: SOAR: Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees

A Message From Ken Neumann,
Steelworkers' National Directo r
Retirement from the United Steelworkers does not mean an end to union involvement. In fact, it could actually be a whole new beginning. A new beginning that will make your life in retirement the special time that you deserve.

Since the inception of the United Steelworkers, we have realized the importance of planning ahead for Steelworkers when they retire. SOAR is your personal link to the United Steelworkers. It allows you to work with the union, and the union to work with you.

I encourage each and every one of you to become involved in SOAR. SOAR can be the unified body that the Steelworkers' retired members need to ensure that government policies do not harm senior citizens - to protect the labour rights that you gave your working life to obtain - and to improve the communities in which you live. I am confident that with your support SOAR can make a difference.

A retired Steelworker is not a retired union member. Through SOAR, you will always be an active member of the union family.

What is SOAR?

SOAR is the United Steelworkers' way of proving that important work remains after retirement. Work that gives meaning to the word "active" in Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees.

SOAR is an organization directly affiliated with the United Steelworkers. It keeps the ties that bind you to the union as strong as when you were a working member.

SOAR was established on May 3, 1985, by the Steelworkers' International Executive Board to address the escalating social, economic and political concerns of Steelworker retirees and their families. SOAR is open to all Steelworkers holding honourary United Steelworkers' retiree membership cards, their spouses, widows or widowers.

SOAR is composed of local chapters, district and provincial level units as determined by the union's executive board. Officers will be elected to two-year terms at SOAR conventions.

The purpose of SOAR is threefold:

to better the communities in which you live;
to advance the policies of the United Steelworkers;
to engage in political and legislative action safeguarding and enhancing the economic security and general well being of all its members and older and retired persons.

Above all else, SOAR has been established to serve you and make you an active retiree.

Why SOAR?

Thousands of Steelworkers' retirees have said they want to continue to be actively involved with their union. Now the United Steelworkers has created a way for you to remain active through SOAR - a special associate membership organization for retirees and their spouses.

You'll be inside the Union, not outside looking in.
You'll know what is happening at the provincial and federal levels of government, and in the various government agencies that administer laws for retirees, and you'll know what's in the works for senior citizens long before others do.
We'll advise you on where you or your local chapter can turn for provincial or federal assistance.
Your voice, joined with thousands of other retirees, will have a thundering impact in places where decisions affecting retirees are made.
Your concerns will also be raised at our union's district, national and international conferences.

In other words, we intend to make your voice and your concerns heard.

The possibilities are endless. None of us can afford to stand back and simply watch events unfold. SOAR will be a major force for justice and fellowship as it grows and expands. We urge you to join.

You can become a member of SOAR by simply mailing a $12.00 cheque or money order to: SOAR, 234 Eglinton Ave. E., 8th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M4P 1K7. The spouse of a SOAR member can join at a reduced annual dues rate of $3. This dues fee will cover your membership for one year. You will also receive a SOAR membership card and a decorative pin. You will also be advised of the SOAR chapter in you area.

To become a SOAR member, you need only complete this online application form .

Have Your Voice
Heard in Ottawa, and
in Your Province...

You have worked hard so that you can live your retirement years in comfort. Yet federal budget cuts or changes in federal or provincial programs can often jeopardize your retirement security.

SOAR is the organization you need to speak out for you and ensure that government policies protect your rights.

Again and again during the past half-century, the United Steelworkers has pioneered landmark economic and social change to help Canadian and US workers and their families.

If you have a pension plan, it is because the Steelworkers won that right for you. Now, the United Steelworkers is leading the fight to protect precious health insurance, life insurance, and pension benefits from being lost as companies shut down. Today, when change sometimes seems to be the only sure thing in our lives, the important support that comes to SOAR members from the United Steelworkers is more valuable than ever.

SOAR Can
Make a Difference

SOAR serves as your voice in the political arena. SOAR is the retirees' tool for action to make needed legislative changes.

Quality medical care and improved working and living conditions have increased our life expectancy. Therefore, senior citizens have become a growing and powerful political force. Seniors have unique legislative concerns that must be heard. And politicians will listen... because seniors vote.

And changes can occur through active and organized participation. However, nothing happens without action. Seniors cannot sit back and hope that others rally for their concerns. It is a united voice reaching the people in government and in our communities that make the difference.

SOAR is really an extension of your involvement as an active union member. Working together, union members have always been able to achieve remarkable results. The same results can hold true for SOAR members.