Open enrollment for Alcatel-Lucent retirees

Dear Active and Retired Members of Alcatel-Lucent,

Open enrollment for Alcatel-Lucent retirees will begin shortly. While things are not perfect I am proud of the fact that the Union members of the Joint Retiree Healthcare Committee were able to actually lower the premiums for the post 65 retirees and hold steady the premiums for the pre-65 retirees instead of increasing them the ½ percent the contract calls for.  As we saw last year, left to their own devices, Alcatel-Lucent would have continued on their relentless path to impoverish our retirees. 

If you will recall the 2004 Collective Bargaining Agreement established a Taft Hartley Trust to help offset some of the retiree healthcare expenses.  Alcatel-Lucent has an obligation to pay $400 million into the Trust over the life of the Agreement.  Alcatel-Lucent has chosen to fund the Trust at the minimum requirement of $25 million a year.  To date the Trust has been utilized, to the extent possible, to offset the burden imposed on our retirees by the Company. 

As I have stated numerous times in the past this is not an issue that can be resolved at the bargaining tables.  It is an issue that can be resolved at the election polls.  If we, as a nation, do not push for elected officials in all levels of government to provide universal healthcare for all, protection of the rights of all working Americans, and hold corporate America responsible things will not improve.  As a matter of fact we will only have ourselves to blame as things get decidedly worse.

CWA is currently working on several legislative initiates that if passed could protect the rights of our retirees as well as stop the misuse by corporations, like Alcatel-Lucent, of the Medicare Part D reimbursements.   We will be asking our active and retired members for their continued support in our on going fight to protect the rights of all. 

On another subject, recently some of our retirees received a letter from the Lucent Technologies Inc. Pension Plan administer regarding letters sent on the medical increases issued by Lucent in the 2007 plan year. Lucent converted those letters to a claim and then denied the claim stating that what they did was within the law and did not violate section 420 of the code and the pension plan. Several retirees have raised concerns thinking the company was going to impact their pensions or change healthcare coverage as a result of their appeal. Nothing will change as a result of the letter from the Pension Plan Administrator. The letter was just a notification that the Administrator was denying your appeal and that you could, if you choose, appeal that decision as well.   

I hope this helps to answer some of your concerns.

In Solidarity,

Ralph Maly Jr.

Vice President - C&T