CWA - Avaya Bargaining Report #3

Greetings:

At today’s session the company presented proposals on Supplementary Life and Accidental Death and Disability Insurance Plans, and Proposals for the  401K Savings Plan.  The Life Insurance Proposal included additional Supplementary Insurance options at the employee expense. The Savings Plan changes were additional options with mandatory payment of fees by our members regardless of whether or not they used the options. In addition there were some changes proposed that the company stated were required by the IRS. The Union acknowledged the proposals and will respond at a later date.

We again challenged Avaya on the data presented yesterday on the Pension Plan. The change in the funding of the Plan from 108% in 2003 to the Companies current 83.6% funding is of great concern to the Unions. Although Avaya stated the reduction in the funding percentage was not a result of mismanagement, they have provided no supporting documentation related to the $114 million drop in pension fund assets from January 2004 to January 2006.

Tomorrow the company plans to present proposals on Active  Employee Benefits. We can hardly wait for their latest take-back proposals to pay for the mismanagement of the company!

Updates will be posted at the end of the session.

Mobilize----Mobilize---Mobilize---Mobilize---Mobilize---Mobilize---Mobilize

In Unity,

CWA-Avaya Bargaining Team