March 5, 2025 — My fellow Retirees and Union Siblings, we are in uncharted times! I have just returned from Washington, D.C., where I attended an AFT Retirees Program & Policy Council as PEF’s Representative. We had a three-day meeting where we discussed all the chaos and confusion coming out of the newly elected administration. We all want a better future for ourselves regardless of how we voted in the last election! I for one didn’t vote for gutting and slashing government programs under the broad pretense of cutting waste and fraud. The American people didn’t vote for chaotic and reckless attacks on federal workers, unions, kids, blue states, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a reduction in research funding for cancer, S.N.A.P. for kids or Pell grants for education, and the list goes on and on! Our focus was on what we can do in our local chapter. The first thing I’m doing is sharing the information below about a lawsuit AFT filed last month.
SUIT FILED: In New Challenge, Retirees, Unions Seek to Block DOGE’s Unprecedented, Unlawful Social Security Data, Power Grab
AFSCME, Alliance for Retired Americans, AFT Challenge DOGE’s Access, Executed by Unconfirmed, Acting Official, to Confidential, Private Data of Hundreds of Millions of Americans
Suit filed on heels of SSA Acting Head’s Departure Amid Concerns about DOGE Access to Data
Baltimore, MD — In a lawsuit filed on Feb. 21, 2025, retirees and unions sued to halt DOGE’s unprecedented, unlawful seizure of personal, confidential, private and sensitive data from the Social Security Administration, without any express authority. Such access has been granted by an unlawful acting official, installed at SSA with disregard for the rules governing such appointments.
The Social Security Administration maintains the financial data, employment information, medical data, and personal addresses of millions of Americans. The lawsuit alleges that such seizure by DOGE is prohibited by and in violation of the many protections Congress and the Executive Branch have in place to protect against such data mining and misuse. These include the Internal Revenue Code, the Privacy Act, the Federal Information Systems Modernization Act, the E-Government Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.
“The Social Security Administration holds the financial future of millions of Americans within its doors,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Elon Musk is an unelected billionaire who has no right to access the benefits working people have paid into. We won’t allow him to undermine the promise that we can all retire with dignity one day; that if we ever get hurt on the job and are unable to work, we won’t go hungry. Social Security insurance belongs to taxpayers, not Musk — no matter how rich he is. We must stop him from gaining unfettered access to our future.”
“Social Security is a sacred trust between the American people and the government.,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, a national grassroots advocacy organization. “Seniors must be able to trust that the Social Security Administration will protect and safeguard their most personal financial and health data. We urge the court to act and ensure the American people’s data is not misused. We cannot risk the catastrophic consequences should this very personal data fall into the wrong hands.”
“Social Security is based on the promise that if you work hard and play by the rules you can retire with dignity and grace,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Everyone who receives Social Security has contributed to it, and they expect the government to uphold its end of the bargain. Elon Musk is breaking that basic bond of trust by illegally raiding people’s private data for his own ends. The financial future of hundreds of millions of Americans has essentially been hijacked by an addled and unelected billionaire intent on laying waste to the accounts working people have spent their lives building up. We’re suing to stop him in his tracks.”
“Americans across the country should be able to have confidence that the government safeguards their data. Yet, over the course of the last month, we have seen a group of unappointed and unvetted individuals disregard the privacy of hundreds of millions of Americans,” said Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman. “We are honored to represent retirees and worker representatives to protect the privacy and security of such critical data.”
You can read the full complaint here. Please continue to stay engaged and informed as the federal government continues to act in unprecedented ways. Also, a reminder that it is State budget negotiating season and PEF has a packet of digital letters you can send to your local lawmakers to support the union’s priorities, including another attempt to cease paying the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount to some retirees.