WHEREAS:

            The United States is an aging nation, with our over-65 population expected to be 21.8% in the year 2030, up from 12.7% today; and

WHEREAS:

            This 21st century age explosion will have powerful implications for all aspects of society, from employment and recreation to pensions, health care, and housing; and

WHEREAS:

            The U.S. has barely begun to tap the great natural resource of our older population, whose experience, talents, knowledge, wisdom and energy can make enormous contributions to our national life; and

WHEREAS:

            In every decade since Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House, a President has recognized the need to examine how the U.S. can best serve its senior citizens, and how seniors can best serve the country and themselves, by calling for a White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA); and

WHEREAS:

            President Bill Clinton has carried on this tradition by recently calling for a 1995 White House Conference on Aging that will consider America's aging policy for the next decade — a decade that will bridge the centuries.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

            That this 31st AFSCME International Convention offer its strong support of the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, which will place special emphasis on the interdependence of generations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME will participate whenever possible in WHCOA activities at the local, state and national levels.

SUBMITTED BY:

Joseph E. McDermott, President and Delegate 
Mary K Saxon, Secretary and Delegate 
AFSCME/CSEA Local 1000 
New York