Although she retired from Bic Corp. in 2023, Tammie Botelho had no intention of stepping away from the labor battles she spent a lifetime waging.
Instead, she doubled down on them.
Botelho used her newfound free time to help found Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 4-21—a chapter open to retirees from multiple Connecticut locals—in February 2024.
Then she lobbied members of Congress during the USW’s Rapid Response, Legislative and Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., walked the picket line in solidarity with striking hotel workers in New Haven, Conn., and turned out to support USW Local 12160 members during a dispute with the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority.
Botelho views retirement as the “next level” of USW activism—exactly the mindset that SOAR has worked to foster across the union since the last convention.
SOAR works to create a seamless continuum of advocacy.
Inspiring Lifetime Advocacy
SOAR works alongside locals, districts and the Next Generation program to create a seamless continuum of advocacy, with the aim of catalyzing new members when they join the union, sustaining workers’ activism throughout their careers and then harnessing the time, skills and experiences that retirees bring to the table.
Botelho, for example, has much knowledge to offer union members. As the former president and business agent for Local 134L, she knows how to negotiate contracts, hold employers accountable and leverage workers’ seat at the table.
As a veteran of the USW’s Rapid Response and Women of Steel programs, she also understands how to build bridges and network with others.
With so much experience on the front lines of labor, she is the ideal ally when local unions need a hand during a labor dispute, community outreach effort or service project.
Fortunately, Botelho is one of numerous longtime union activists who committed to SOAR since the last convention.
Others include Ruben Garza, who joined SOAR’s executive board after stepping down as the union’s District 13 director; Dave Waters, who agreed to lead a new chapter in Upstate New York while still serving as treasurer of Local 4-2; and Lou Luckhardt, former president of Local 9487, who helped to found a new chapter in Dallas.
Over the past few years, dedicated retirees also founded chapters in Duluth, Minn.; Norco, La.; Fort Edward, N.Y.; and Elk Valley, British Columbia. Retirees in Central and Northern New Jersey joined forces to start another chapter, further expanding USW members’ access to retiree expertise and support.
This growth comes on the heels of a resolution, passed at the 2022 convention, in which delegates not only reaffirmed support for SOAR but encouraged the union to find new and inventive ways to include retirees in all aspects of the union’s work.
Tom Conway, the late international president, noted that the union “can’t afford to leave people on the sideline when we need to fight.”
Whatever the battle, SOAR members show up and stay the course.
Repealing “Right to Work”
Jay McMurran, SOAR’s legislative director and an activist from Michigan, spent years working with union members, retirees and allies to repeal that state’s falsely named “right-to-work” (RTW) law.
He and other advocates steadily built up pro-worker majorities in the state legislature. They flipped the Legislature in 2022, securing the last of the votes they needed, and then celebrated months later when lawmakers rescinded RTW.
It was the first repeal of an anti-worker, union-gutting RTW law anywhere in the country in 60 years.
The USW battled for fair trade and other support that saved McMurran’s steelmaking job during the 1980s recession, leaving him forever grateful for union power and worker solidarity.
His battle to eliminate RTW helps to ensure that current and future workers will have a strong union, too.
Advancing the Worker and Retiree Agenda
SOAR members regularly advocate for pro-worker legislation and support candidates for public office who vow to protect retirement benefits and strengthen labor rights.
Our members formed a large part of the veritable army of volunteers the USW fielded ahead of the 2024 elections, an effort that resulted in thousands of postcards and door-knocking shifts to support worker-friendly candidates at all levels of government.
District 4 activists Al Polk and Denny Mitchell spent weeks away from their homes, spearheading the union’s political work in New Hampshire. And Dave Harvey, a SOAR activist from Pittsburgh, coordinated the work of the union’s political casuals from the “war room” at International Headquarters.
Dozens of SOAR members also attended the union’s Rapid Response, Legislative and Policy conferences the past two years to sharpen their skills, share their knowhow and meet with members of Congress.
Among many other issues commanding the organization’s attention, SOAR remains perpetually vigilant for retirement security.
In 2023, numerous chapters passed resolutions opposing cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as the Republicans in Congress threatened these hard-won benefits during debate over the debt ceiling. The same year, Dave McLimans, a SOAR executive board member from Pennsylvania, delivered powerful testimony about these programs to the Senate Committee on Aging.
“I didn’t serve my country to work and pay taxes for 44 years as an active Steelworker just to let my voice fade away and see younger generations lose benefits that I fought for,” declared McLimans, a Vietnam veteran who suffered exposure to Agent Orange.
“We are the richest democracy in the world,” he added. “And you know, we can afford to allow workers to relax, retire in dignity.”
Answering the Call
OAR members turn out wherever and whenever needed.
Luckhardt, a former probation officer who works for the Dallas AFL-CIO Council, helped lead a successful effort last year to relocate Dallas city workers, many of them USW members, from an office building with dozens of fire code violations.
Also last year, activists from Chapter 4-23 in New Jersey walked the picket line with USW Local 6129 members waging an unfair labor practice strike against Silgan Containers.
And in July 2023, members of SOAR Chapter 31-9 showed up to support Starbucks workers during the Chicago stop on their “Union is Calling” bus tour. A photographer captured then-104-year-old SOAR activist Bea Lumpkin, bullhorn in hand, as she demanded fair treatment for the baristas.
Numerous SOAR chapters donate time or money to veterans, homeless shelters and service projects, happy that their good-paying union jobs and secure retirements enable them to lend a hand to others.
Honoring Labor’s Past
Celebrating labor history helps to build appreciation for unions and lay a foundation for growth.
As this report went to press, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago was preparing to open a 5,000- square-foot exhibit on steelmaking and the workers who forged the industry.
SOAR Chapter 31-9 came up with the idea and spent about two years developing the project with the museum and community groups.
The 5,000-square-foot exhibit, planned for one of the museum’s major spaces, is to include artifacts from closed mills and detail the industry’s rich history in Chicago. But plans also included a look at current steelmaking—at places like the USW-represented Burns Harbor, Ind., mill—and an exploration of the industry’s future.
There’s also another labor history project generating interest in Illinois.
The late Dave Dowling, a SOAR member who formerly served as a local union leader, staff representative and sub-district director, compiled a two-volume scrapbook on steelmaking in the Granite City, Ill., area.
Activists circulated Dowling’s scrapbooks at the district’s SOAR Summer Institute last year. Now, they intend to reproduce the scrapbooks and distribute them.
Building SOAR’s Ranks
Since the last convention, SOAR bid goodbye to key activists, including McLimans, who died in October 2024, shortly after publishing a column supporting Bob Casey’s reelection campaign for U.S. Senate.
We also mourned the passing of Ken Yatsko, an indefatigable political campaigner from Kouts, Ind.; Al Becco, of Pueblo, Colo., one of the longest serving chapter presidents in SOAR history; and Dan McNeil, a founding member of SOAR from Ontario, Canada.
Losses like these remind us of how important it is to build our ranks and continue SOAR’s transformative work.
We begin recruiting USW members into SOAR as soon as they turn 45. We encourage local unions to pay the first year of SOAR dues for new retirees.
But a person needn’t belong to the USW or any other union to join SOAR. Our open-door policy offers membership to any person sharing our values.
Individual chapters rely on their own recruitment techniques.
Chapter 7-34-2 in Granite City, Ill., funds a scholarship program that not only helps local students fund post-secondary education but raises awareness of SOAR and attracts a handful of new members each year.
Rick Lewis, president of SOAR Chapter 3-12 in Trail, British Columbia, persuaded a local newspaper to write an article about the organization’s work and desire to enroll newcomers.
By walking a picket line or supporting a community project, SOAR members serve as ambassadors for the organization. These activists set inspiring examples and encourage others to join the union.
Meeting Challenges to Come
Support for unions hit record levels in the wake of the pandemic, meaning more and more workers will need SOAR’s support during organizing and bargaining campaigns in the years to come.
SOAR intends to find new ways to meet this need and grow the USW. As McLimans explained to the Aging Committee, “SOAR is an integral part to the union’s mission.”