Public Employees Can Have Their Voices Heard Through State Organization
By BILL MURPHY
Executive Director, RIPEA
A state organization for Indiana’s working and retired public employees has kicked off a membership drive to raise awareness and to attract more people. To assist with the effort, its board of directors has identified membership coordinators in four key regions in the state.
RIPEA — Retired Indiana Public Employees Association — is a non-profit agency created to improve the quality of life for its members as they prepare for and enter retirement. One key area of RIPEA’s work is to protect retirement benefits by monitoring legislation in the state government.
Due to RIPEA’s efforts, since 1991 all retired public employees receive what’s known as a “13th check,” a one-time payment based on years of service, as well as a cost-of-living adjustment to their retirement benefits.
RIPEA also provides resources, services and information for its members to guide them through retirement. Its 42,000 members have access to additional benefits such as special insurance and travel discounts.
“We know that our retired public employees need a voice in our state legislation. It’s why we were created—to protect and enhance retirement benefits,” says Bill Murphy, executive director of RIPEA.
“We also know that there are a lot of working public employees who have never heard of RIPEA and don’t know all that we can do for them. We offer more than just travel discounts and special insurance rates. The more people we have in our membership, the more powerful we will be in protecting their benefits. There’s strength in numbers.”
The four key regions and leaders are: Indianapolis – Bob Soel, South Bend/Michigan City – Frank Flanagan, Lake County – Clem Allen and Kokomo – Jim Hunter. Six additional chapters of RIPEA are located throughout the state.
Any public employee active or retired can be a member of RIPEA. Membership is $15 per year. To find out more about RIPEA and how to become a member or to find the nearest chapter, visit RIPEA.org or call (800) 345-9214.
About RIPEA
The Retired Indiana Public Employees Associationis a not-for-profit organization created in 1972 by the Indiana Legislature and is governed by a board of directors comprised of retirees and active employee members of the Public Employees Retirement Fund. RIPEA sponsors legislation to improve retirement benefits of active employees and retirees. There are over 42,000 RIPEA members. For more information, visit www.RIPEA.org.
