CSR Board hikes dues for top retirees

Retirees who receive $4,000 or more in their monthly retirement warrants will see a $2 hike in their CSR dues payment beginning Jan. 1, 2013.

 Dues will stay the same for CSR members who make less than $4,000 a month. It has been more than a decade since CSR raised dues for any of its members.

Currently, members pay between $1 and $10 a month to CSR, depending on the amount of their pay warrants. The CSR Board of Directors voted in favor of adding the additional dues tier to the dues structure at its Delegate Assembly meeting in Los Angeles Aug. 31. The new tier is set at $12, now making the dues range between $1 to $12 a month.

About 5,000 of CSR’s 33,000 who have retirement warrants of  more than $4,000 a month will be affected.

“Our dues structure is still a tremendous bargain for members who need us to represent them before the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the Legislature,” said CSR President Susan Sears. “We also provide our members with a monthly 16-page newspaper, a website, discounted benefits and services and much more.”

She points out that retiree dues are still much less than what people paid while they were still working in one of CSEA’s affiliates, where dues can run as high as $100 a month.  

CSR’s current dues structure has not kept pace with changes in the economy and the expanding needs of the organization’s growing membership, members of the CSR board said. The additional funds raised by the increased dues will help to expand programs that chapter presidents, board members and members at large believe add value to the non-profit organization.

The dues rate table on Page 15 of the California State Retiree will be updated to reflect the new tier in the January edition after the raise goes into effect.