Opinion: It's Labor Day, Is Grandma at Work?

(Sept. 6) -- This Labor Day, more of our grandparents may be working a cashier's line, waiting tables or preparing lessons for the first day of school. Remember those happy TV commercials of seniors having the time of their lives, retiring in comfort and dignity after a lifetime of work? They're a dying dream for most older Americans. And that's something we can't let happen.

With the average retirement age at 65 and increasing, Americans are already working longer than their counterparts in other developed countries. Over a third of workers now plan to retire later than age 65, compared with just 12 percent in 1995.

For decades, millions of workers were able to achieve retirement security through a combination of Social Security benefits, employer-provided pensions and personal savings -- a three-legged stool. Now two of the three legs have been hobbled. Companies have steadily chipped away at private pensions, and now public sector employees are being attacked for still having something to lean on when they retire.

Over the past 30 years, corporate and public policies have stunted personal savings by driving down wages, and our recent Wall Street binge shrunk retirement accounts virtually overnight. Thirty-six percent of American workers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings. With the continuing jobs crisis, that will not change anytime soon.

As a result, 76 million baby boomers face waning prospects for a secure retirement, and even young Americans express concerns about retirement security.

In this bleak landscape, Social Security stands out as the one feature of our retirement system that works for all Americans. Seniors use Social Security to buy groceries, prescription drugs and -- let's hope -- to take their grandkids to a ballgame this Labor Day instead of having to work the concession stand at the stadium.

Yet Wall Street and congressional Republicans are trying to kick out the stool's final leg by pushing for Social Security benefit cuts, floating every idea from reducing the inflation adjustment to raising the retirement age.

In this insecure environment, it's no surprise that many people wonder if Social Security will be there when they retire. One thing is clear: Americans don't want to see Social Security cut -- and they can't afford it. In fact, 65 percent of Americans oppose raising the Social Security retirement age. And 68 percent say that even with deficits we should not be cutting Social Security benefits. It's not surprising that Americans resoundingly rejected the Social Security privatization plan put forward by President George W. Bush.

Since its creation 75 years ago in August, Social Security has been our country's most important family-protection program -- improving the quality of life for all Americans and reducing disparities. And it is our most effective anti-poverty program. Without it, the poverty rate among seniors would rise from 9 percent to 46 percent. Social Security reflects the best in American values. It's a model for how we as a society can solve our most intractable problems if we have the courage and the commitment to do so.

Yet the myths continue. Social Security did not cause the current federal deficit and is not a main contributor to long-term deficits. The economic downturn caused by Wall Street, along with Bush-era policies like tax cuts for the very wealthy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been the key drivers of our nation's short-term financial woes. Meanwhile, health care costs drive the long-term deficit, which is why it's imperative that we continue to bring down the cost of health care.

If Social Security detractors want to tackle a real problem, they need to look no further than the looming retirement-security crisis crashing down on the heads of our seniors and future generations. And if we truly want to fix what's broken, let's look ahead to designing an employer-based retirement system for future generations while strengthening Social Security.

Retirement should be secure and achievable for all working people. And American values -- reward for work, compassion, fairness, foresight and fiscal responsibility -- will lead us there.

This Labor Day, let's honor older Americans as grandfather and grandmother of the year, rather than employee of the month.

Richard Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO.