BOSTON – American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts President Jessica Tang released the following statement in response to the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82) by the U.S. House of Representatives, which repeals two unfair provisions of the Social Security law that unfairly penalizes Massachusetts public sector retirees, including teachers, the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO):
“No one who pays into the Social Security system should see the benefits they’ve earned cut or eliminated – especially those who dedicated their careers to public service.
“Last night’s vote is a critical step forward to correct two injustices millions of retired public sector workers across the country currently face, including public school retirees throughout the Commonwealth.
“Both of these provisions disproportionately impact low-income retirees – including tens of thousands in Massachusetts alone. It’s set up so public school teachers and paraprofessionals end up being penalized for working a second or third job in the private sector, which many have to do to get by.
“Not only do these penalties hurt the economic security of those who have dedicated their lives to serving their communities, but they disenfranchise many from becoming educators as a second career – at a time when we’re facing a national teacher shortage.
“In addition to fair wages, reasonable benefits and safe working conditions, everyone deserves a secure and dignified retirement and our collective efforts are required to ensure all workers have access to these benefits.”
About the Social Security Fairness Act
H.R. 82, which had bipartisan support, repeals two unfair provisions of the Social Security law that greatly impact Massachusetts public sector workers, including public school teachers. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) slashes or eliminates Social Security benefits public sector workers earned through second jobs or during other points in their careers. These WEP changes would impact approximately 2 million Social Security beneficiaries. In Massachusetts, nearly 93,000 Social Security Beneficiaries are impacted including retirees, disabled workers, and spouses/children.
The GPO affects the spousal benefits of nearly 800,000 retirees who work as federal, state, or local government employees — including teachers — if the job is not covered by Social Security. The GPO reduces by two-thirds the Social Security benefit received by surviving spouses who also collect a government pension — often offsetting benefits entirely. In Massachusetts, over 42,000 Social Security beneficiaries are affected by GPO — with nearly 29,000 seeing their benefits completely offset.
The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate for action.
About the AFT Massachusetts
The AFT Massachusetts, a strong voice for collaborative education reform that is good for students and fair to educators, represents more than 25,000 public school employees, higher education faculty and staff, and public librarians. At their annual convention in 2023, AFT Massachusetts members adopted a resolution in support legislative efforts to fully repeal the WEP and GPO.
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