Embarq Locals Protest Retiree Health Care Cuts

Embarq members and retirees in nine states held demonstrations in late August to protest the company's termination of retiree health benefits for Medicare-eligible pensioners.

CWA also is looking into filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board contending that Embarq violated workers' collective bargaining rights by unilaterally dropping retiree health care for workers hired or rehired after Jan. 1, 2008.

The cuts average more than $2,000 per year for every retiree and dependent affected and will "have an even greater impact on families with acute medical problems who rely on expensive prescriptions," Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus said.

"This will be devastating to many people, especially longer-term retirees who haven't seen a pension increase in years and are struggling on meager fixed incomes," he said.

Embarq — a former Sprint local phone operation that was spun off last year — said it will drop its $500 annual subsidy for Medicare premiums as well as coverage that pays partial costs when Medicare payments are below 80 percent of treatment expenses.

Embarq also is capping life insurance for retirees at $10,000, a substantial cut for many.

At Aug. 25 demonstrations in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington Embarq retirees — joined by local politicians and labor leaders in many locations — said the cuts would make it impossible for many of them to afford badly needed drugs and treatments.

They share the concerns of Sandra Muntis of Elida, Ohio, who wrote to her local describing her husband's multiple sclerosis and her own struggle with diabetes and ulcers.  Without supplemental health care from Embarq, "we could not afford procedures requested by physicians to keep us in good health," such as colonoscopies, tests for prostate cancer and others, she said.

By slashing coverage for 14,500 retirees and dependents — union and management — Embarq says it will save $30 million a year.

"We all understand that medical costs are soaring, but abandoning commitments to our most vulnerable seniors is not the answer," Gurganus said. "We invite Embarq to join us in pushing for a national solution to this national problem rather than joining the low-road employers that are adding to the ranks of Americans who can't afford good health care."