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AT&T "Legacy T" Bargaining Report #27

Today's questioning of the Company's "final offer' continues to reveal more retrogressions.  In discussing their proposal to cut Alliance funding by millions in 2010, the Company revealed that they are refusing to even fulfill their commitment to fully fund 2009.  In further discussions of their proposal to eliminate the Health Care Cost Containment Committee (HCCCC) and "replace" it with a letter to work with us on health care legislation, it became clear that the letter doesn't provide the Union with any of the input that we have with the HCCCC.  None of the parts of the HCCCC letter that allow us to monitor the program and actually work to maintain our benefits while holding down costs are in the "replacement" letter.  In fact, their whole proposal takes away not only our rights to protect our benefits in the committee, but also in the grievance and arbitration procedure.  Under their plan, they could change elements of our benefits and we would have NO RECOURSE.

As if their refusal to give a reasonable pension increase weren't bad enough, they even want to take language out of the Contract in which we bargain the interest rate for Cash Balance Accounts.  This can have a devastating effect on the growth of those benefits for the future.

In another discussion about their removal of "successorship" language, the Company says the language might be a "detriment" to their future attempts to try to sell off parts of the business.  This language is crucial to us in just that situation.  It protects us if the Company does decide to sell us off.  Most of us have been through that at least once in our careers.

Again and again, the Company's explanation of why they want to remove things or change language either makes no sense at all or has consequences that could negatively impact us during this agreement or when we try to bargain in the future.  We are no closer to an agreement today than we were on April 4th.  If anything, our differences have just become clearer.