WASHINGTON, D. C. - Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper's 15,000 members spent decades urging their Congress members to repeal a pair of laws that docked the Social Security benefits they'd earned because they also got pensions from their work as public employees.
On Jan. 5, the persistence of her members and others paid off when President Joe Biden signed legislation called the Social Security Fairness Act into law. Cropper attended the White House ceremony, along with union leaders and Congress members from around the country, including former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat who introduced the bill in the Senate and bird-dogged its passage.
It passed the Senate last month by a 76 to 20 margin. Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Cincinnati - who is about to become Donald Trump's vice-president - was one of four senators who missed the vote.
As he urged bill passage in a Senate floor speech, Brown cited the case of a school bus driver who drove 200 miles a day over 40 years for a district along Ohio's border with West Virginia.
He said Fairland Local Schools driver Barbara Ward received her husband's $2,100 monthly Social Security survivor's benefits after he passed away 10 years ago, but those payments were cut to $500 monthly after she retired with her own pension because of one of the provisions Brown's measure repealed.
"They earned that Social Security, they paid into it," said Brown. "Over and over, Americans like that bus driver have watched corporations get tax cuts and Wall Street get bailouts. All these workers are asking for is what they have earned. It's an issue that has a huge impact on a worker's life, but it doesn't get enough attention in Washington."
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill in November in a 327-75 vote, with support from all Ohio's legislators.
"In a time of severe partisanship, I am pleased to note the hundreds of bipartisan co-sponsors of this legislation and overwhelming bipartisan passage of this bill in both chambers," said a statement that Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur released after attending the bill signing ceremony. "I hope we can use this as an example of collaboration and the success we can find when working to find the Big Middle to help the American people."
In an interview after she returned to Ohio from Washington, Cropper described the legislation's passage as "huge within our membership.
"For years, members were bringing this up and and asking for it to be changed, because it had such an impact, especially on our lower paid employees, like our paraprofessionals, who often are living paycheck to paycheck and working multiple jobs," said Cropper, who also serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO.
Nationwide, the repeal of the two laws will affect around 2.5 million public sector workers, including, firefighters, teachers, bus drivers, corrections officers and others whose earned Social Security benefits were cut because they also collected pensions from jobs where they hadn't paid into Social Security. The Congressional Research Service estimates more than 230,000 Ohioans are in that group.
When he signed the bill, Biden estimated it will increase the Social Security payments of affected workers by an average of $360 per month. He said that more than 2.5 million Americans will also get lump sum payments of thousands of dollars to make up for their 2024 shortfall in benefits.
"That's a big deal in middle-class households like the one I grew up in and many of you did," said Biden, who thanked Brown for his advocacy.
Ohio Fraternal Order of Police president Jay McDonald said most of his 24,000-member union's retirees will benefit from the change. He said many of them paid into Social Security while working second jobs and serving in the military. He estimated it will increase the benefits of his union's qualifying retirees by $350 per month, on average.
"I've been to DC banging on doors for decades," said McDonald, a Marion police officer who was in the House of Representatives chamber when the legislation passed. "Public employee retirees were extremely organized and active, calling and emailing and sending letters, not just my members, but all those who were impacted. They played a major role in getting this unfair law overturned."
Max Richtman, President & CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare called the bill signing "historic," and said it rights a longtime wrong.
"These outdated rules denied over two million retired public service workers their hard-earned Social Security benefits," said a statement from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees President Lee Saunders, who attended the bill signing.
Saunders said AFSCME members, both on the job and already retired, along with fellow public service workers nationwide, organized petitions, letter-writing campaigns, called representatives in Congress and visited Washington for face-to face meetings with their representatives.
"Millions of retirees devoted themselves to protecting our communities, teaching our children, and delivering essential services," said a statement from International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) General President Edward A. Kelly "They kept their promise to the American people. And by restoring these Social Security benefits, Congress has finally done the same."
"We thank President Biden and Sherrod Brown who has championed this cause in Congress for more than a decade and got the bill over the finish line for the president to sign it," added a statement from Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga, who also attended the bill signing.
The bill repealed two laws.
The first was the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) enacted in 1983, which reduced the earned Social Security benefits of individuals who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security, such as a teacher who did not earn Social Security from teaching in a public school system, but who also worked part-time or in other jobs during their career.
The second repealed law was the Government Pension Offset (GPO), enacted in 1977, which docked the survivor and spousal benefits of people who work as federal, state, or local government employees if their job is not covered by Social Security, reducing their benefits even if their spouse paid into Social Security for their entire career.
"The theory was that they were getting a full pension, so this was to offset that amount of because they were already getting a full pension," says Cropper. "I think the counter argument to that is, they were also working two jobs, and they paid into two systems."
Nancy Grabski of Westlake, who retired as an executive assistant with the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department in 2020 after more than 29 years on the job, and was flabbergasted that she couldn't collect the Social Security survivor benefits for her husband, who passed away in 2012, except for $250 when he first died, because she had a Public Employee Retirement System pension. She notes that if he was alive today, he'd be receiving those benefits.
"I can't tell you how much I appreciate the work of those who phoned, wrote letters, or took to social media to bring awareness and help repeal WEP and GPO," she said in an email. "To Senator Brown and all those who voted - you have made a difference in my life and many others."
Cropper says her many members who will benefit from the change include a retired Cleveland Heights teacher who taught for 38 years and worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. He paid into Social Security in those outside jobs but wasn't able to collect the benefits he earned in them.
As another example, she cites a Toledo teacher who paid into the Social Security system for 23 years before becoming a teacher and was only allowed to collect 55% of the Social Security benefits she earned before her career switch because she also had a public employees' pension.
She also cites the case of a retired 30-year teacher in Cincinnati's public schools, who previously taught for 10 years in a South Carolina school system where she had paid into the Social Security system. The now-repealed laws kept her from receiving the Social Security benefits she'd earned in South Carolina, or from getting the survivor benefits of her husband who had paid into Social Security and died at age 54.
Attending the bill signing ceremony was "a wonderful opportunity to actually see the conclusion of a long battle, making sure that our people who have paid in Social Security and a public pension system get what they fully deserve," she said.
"For years, our members were bringing this up and and asking for it to be changed, because it had such an impact," said Cropper.