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Retirees Matter
Welcome to the first edition of Retirees Matter. Thanks to President Morton Bahr, Executive Vice President Larry Cohen and our retiree mentor and RMC founder, Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, this will be the first article in the CWA News strictly relating to retiree concerns.
Retirees Matter will be a regular feature, appearing in every other issue. Our main objective will be not only to keep retirees informed of the issues affecting them but also to keep active members informed of retiree concerns. It is critical that retirees and active members understand the problems affecting each other.
Never before in our history have retirees and active members needed each other more than they do now. If benefits for current retirees are reduced or eliminated, it will diminish the security of active members who are, after all, future retirees. Without the support of the union, pensions could remain frozen forever and medical costs could exceed pensions. Retirees are committed to keeping the union strong and effective. In return for our support, our union has and will continue to support us. Our union needs us and we need our union.
How can retirees and active members help each other? We could not have a better example than what has occurred in the recent past concerning bargaining with several major employers including BellSouth, SBC, and Verizon, and today at Lucent.
When Verizon notified CWA that they were going to apply a medical benefit cost cap as of January 2004, the retiree leadership made it clear to our union bargaining committees and leadership that we could not live with that position. The union then informed the company that their position was unacceptable. That cap would have imposed an immediate out-of-pocket cost of over $1,400 a year for single retirees and over $2,000 a year for married retirees. The cost would have increased significantly every year and the retirees would have had to pay the entire cost of all future medical increases. The union was not only successful in postponing the caps for the 5-year life of the contract but actually got the caps increased by more than $10,000.
At SBC, retirees were advised by the company of huge cost shifting of their health care beginning in 2005. This would have included premiums of several hundred dollars a month and increased co-pays and deductibles. Also, the company intended to force every retiree, by 2007, into a PPO that provided substandard benefits.
The union was determined to beat back this disastrous proposal. Because of the importance of protecting retiree health care, bargaining on all other issues virtually stopped for a 30-day period. In the end, the union successfully avoided any premiums for the life of the contact. Although co-pays and deductibles were increased, these were largely offset by the $1,250 bonuses scheduled for December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2005. Included in the agreement was a stipulation that entering into a PPO would be totally voluntary.
BellSouth continued the trend to attack retiree health care, but CWA was able to protect retirees from paying premiums for the five-year life of the contact.
As this is being written, the union is in very tough negotiations with Lucent, and retiree health is a major concern. To support the bargaining team, retirees joined with active members on Oct. 7 at opening day rallies around the country. At the New Jersey rally sponsored by local 1060, for instance, retirees from locals 1104, 1106 and 1108 took a bus from Long Island and were a major part of the crowd that marched around Lucent headquarters. It was clearly a perfect example of retirees supporting active members and active members supporting us.
Retirees Matter will be a regular feature, appearing in every other issue. Our main objective will be not only to keep retirees informed of the issues affecting them but also to keep active members informed of retiree concerns. It is critical that retirees and active members understand the problems affecting each other.
Never before in our history have retirees and active members needed each other more than they do now. If benefits for current retirees are reduced or eliminated, it will diminish the security of active members who are, after all, future retirees. Without the support of the union, pensions could remain frozen forever and medical costs could exceed pensions. Retirees are committed to keeping the union strong and effective. In return for our support, our union has and will continue to support us. Our union needs us and we need our union.
How can retirees and active members help each other? We could not have a better example than what has occurred in the recent past concerning bargaining with several major employers including BellSouth, SBC, and Verizon, and today at Lucent.
When Verizon notified CWA that they were going to apply a medical benefit cost cap as of January 2004, the retiree leadership made it clear to our union bargaining committees and leadership that we could not live with that position. The union then informed the company that their position was unacceptable. That cap would have imposed an immediate out-of-pocket cost of over $1,400 a year for single retirees and over $2,000 a year for married retirees. The cost would have increased significantly every year and the retirees would have had to pay the entire cost of all future medical increases. The union was not only successful in postponing the caps for the 5-year life of the contract but actually got the caps increased by more than $10,000.
At SBC, retirees were advised by the company of huge cost shifting of their health care beginning in 2005. This would have included premiums of several hundred dollars a month and increased co-pays and deductibles. Also, the company intended to force every retiree, by 2007, into a PPO that provided substandard benefits.
The union was determined to beat back this disastrous proposal. Because of the importance of protecting retiree health care, bargaining on all other issues virtually stopped for a 30-day period. In the end, the union successfully avoided any premiums for the life of the contact. Although co-pays and deductibles were increased, these were largely offset by the $1,250 bonuses scheduled for December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2005. Included in the agreement was a stipulation that entering into a PPO would be totally voluntary.
BellSouth continued the trend to attack retiree health care, but CWA was able to protect retirees from paying premiums for the five-year life of the contact.
As this is being written, the union is in very tough negotiations with Lucent, and retiree health is a major concern. To support the bargaining team, retirees joined with active members on Oct. 7 at opening day rallies around the country. At the New Jersey rally sponsored by local 1060, for instance, retirees from locals 1104, 1106 and 1108 took a bus from Long Island and were a major part of the crowd that marched around Lucent headquarters. It was clearly a perfect example of retirees supporting active members and active members supporting us.