By George Fishman

People's Weekly World

www.pww.org

HARTFORD, Conn. - The newly-formed Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), part of the AFL-CIO, was launched last week by regional conferences and rallies across the country.

It rolled out in Connecticut at a rally and press conference at the state capitol here.

ARA is a merger of the 40-year-old National Council of Senior Citizens with the AFL-CIO and its retirees in all internationals. It has two million members nationally and 30,000 in Connecticut.

Chairing the event here was Shavonne Perpena, AFL-CIO director for Connecticut. John Olsen, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, pledged his support for the ARA and tobuilding ARA chapters in unions and communities.

Charlene Block, an auto worker union activist, denounced the Bush tax cut for the rich, with 43 percent of the cut going to the richest 1 percent. It is doubly harmful to workers, she said, because it attacks funds earmarked for Medicare and Social Security.

She also raised the demand for new benefits under Medicare, starting with a universal prescription drug benefit. The need for this benefit was backed up by retirees who testified they have to pay as much as $5,000 a year for prescriptions.

U.S. Rep. John Larson, who represents Hartford - the insurance capital of the world - criticzed Bush and Congress for not keeping campaign promises to enact a prescription benefit.

Bush is catering to the drug and insurance companies rather than supporting a drug benefit under Medicare, he said.

Like Marie Antoinette telling her starving French subjects: "Let them eat cake," Bush is telling the U.S. people without health coverage, "Let them take out insurance policies," Larson said.

Seniors shouldn't have to travel to Canada to take advantage of cheaper drugs under their national health service, he said. Larson called for the immediate enactment of a prescription drug benefit under Medicare. He called for mass action to demand such a benefit and for bringing the price of prescriptions down.

Veteran members from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers and other unions unfurled a huge banner saying, "A Strong, New Voice for Retired Workers - The Alliance for Retired Americans."