Florence McCue wants to create a union culture that values its retirees
Early in her teaching career, Florence McCue recognized the value of her more experienced colleagues and her union. That’s why when she retired from teaching for 33 years in Yonkers, N.Y., she carried on her union activism.
McCue served the Yonkers Federation of Teachers in numerous positions.
Still, it was her first role in the union that was the catalyst for her activism. As a building rep at her school, McCue started a buddy system that partnered new teachers with veterans who not only mentored them but also showed them the value of the union. McCue would often have the teachers lend a hand, stuffing mailboxes or collecting donations.
Her goal was to show members how to be activists.
“Any one of them could have gone on to be a union rep in a building or become a union officer — and many have. The buddy system showed them the connection between the union and the work that they do,” says McCue.
Being a single parent looking for a second income led her to law school. She enrolled in a four-year evening division law school just 10 minutes from her home. After earning her law degree, she taught during the day and practiced law at night and on weekends while still helping with union work.
With so much on her plate and reaching retirement age, McCue knew something had to give. “I couldn’t continue teaching and performing all of the increasing work of my union,” she says. McCue decided her passion was with the union, so she retired in 2004 and devoted her time to being a union activist.
In retirement, McCue has continued her work as grievance chair and was elected the retiree rep for the Yonkers Federation of Teachers. She also serves as the executive vice president of the New York State United Teachers Retiree Council of Westchester and Putnam counties and is a member of the NYSUT Retiree Advisory Committee. McCue is also the elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO Central Labor Body of Westchester and Putnam counties. In addition to that work, she is the retiree at-large director on the New York State United Teachers board, representing more than 240,000 retirees in New York and Florida. McCue is also a member of the AFTs Retirees program and policy council.
McCue remains involved because she knows that everything she and her fellow union activists have worked for over the years could disappear tomorrow. “Fear is a fabulous motivator,” she says.
It’s also important to her to strengthen connections among unions representing various working people and the relationship between in-service and retired union members — wherever they may work or live. Ultimately, McCue wants to see retirees more involved, which is why she encourages in-service leaders to embrace their retirees and tap into their knowledge and experience.
“Most of the issues we face are not solved on the retiree level; they are solved at the in-service level. But if you create a culture of valuing retirees and having them be a continuing part of the union, the problems can be worked on from the bottom up,” she says.
“People who are in service should remember that someday they will also be retirees. They should take time and learn from retirees how solid the benefits that are negotiated really are, and how they translate into the real world,” she says.
“This is what keeps people in the union — knowing that you are there to help with real-life issues.”
In May 2021, McCue was honored for activism with the “Not for Ourselves Alone: The Sandy Feldman Outstanding Leadership Award” at the NYSUT Representative Assembly. “I’m so proud to be honored by my peers,” says McCue. “My dad always said to me, ‘No one is better than you, but always remember that you are not better than anyone else either,’” she says. “I’ve always done my best to treat people as equal because we are all in this together.”
This article was written by AFT communications specialist, Adrienne Coles.
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