Meetings
The Retiree Chapter meets quarterly on the first monday of March, June, and December. The September meeting is held on the second monday of the month due to Labor Day. Meetings are held at the AFSCME Council 65 office in Nashwauk (and can be attended virtaully via Zoom); 11:00 am lunch & noon business meeting. As we gain members, we hope to be able to have meetings periodically around the state.
Upcoming Meetings:
- Tuesday, September 5th, 2023
- Monday, December 4th, 2023
Click on the specific meeting date for more information and to RSVP to the meeting.
Membership & Dues
Join the Retiree Chapter by filling out a membership card 
Retiree Chapter Member Card and submitting to the Council 65 office at 3335 West St. Germain Street, Suite 107 St. Cloud, MN 56301 or [email protected].
Dues are $24.00 per year, deducted from PERA pension checks in June & December ($12.00 each time). Retirees who do not receive a PERA pension pay the full $24.00 of dues up front. Locals of private employers (whose employees do not receive PERA pensions), should contact the Council office with information about the retiree – name, address, phone, email, etc.
PERA sends us a monthly list of recent retirees, and we send an invitation to those to join the Retiree Chapter. If a retiree wants to join and has not received an invitation, they should contact Tim Hoshal, Retiree Vice President, at [email protected] or call 218-259-9203.
CLICK HERE TO UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION
History
One of the oldest retiree chapters of AFSCME, the Council 65 Retiree Chapter was founded in 1987 by our AFSCME Brother, Paul Schroetter. Currently there are 43 retiree chapters nationwide with more than 260 sub-chapters. AFSCME retirees are 230,000+ members strong and make up 15% of AFSCME’s total 1.6 million members. Half of AFSCME’s working members will retire in the next 10 years.
Our retiree chapter represents retirees in Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota who worked for employers in Council 65’s jurisdiction, even though there may not have been a union in place. A retiree does not have to have been a union member to join the retiree chapter.
Activites
The Chapter President sits on AFSCME Council 65's Executive Board and also attends the annual AFSCME International Retiree Convention. We encourage retirees to attend Day on the Hill (lobbying at the MN Capitol), AFSCME Council 65's Annual Convention, and other events/rallies, etc. We are active in the Iron Range Labor Assembly & MN AFL-CIO retiree council. We work closely with Alliance for Retired Americans & other retiree groups. The AFSCME International Retiree Department and our Chapter monitors legislation at the Minnesota State Capitol & in Washington DC on pensions and other issues important to those who are retired.
