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WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY 2010 April 28, 12 - 1:30 PM Nile Hall, Preservation Park 668 - 13th Street, Oakland Please join us for an annual event to remember workers who have been injured, made ill, or killed on the job and to fight for the workers whose lives
are still on the line. A light lunch will be served. Please RSVP to Sophie Noero at (510)302-1027 or snoero@worksafe.org. If you know of someone who should be remembered, let us know. Sponsored By - Labor Donated - - Labor Donated -
Click the link below to see District Nine website:
Link to District Nine
March 31, 2010 To: All Telecom Locals Subject:
Retiree Health Care & New Reform Legislation Dear
Brothers and Sisters: You probably have
many questions about the recent news stories about retiree health care and charges that companies took on their financial
statements in response to the health care reform legislation recently signed into law. As these are somewhat complicated issues, I've attached a detailed fact sheet which lays out the policy issues and an explanation. I have also included an article by Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times. Here
are the key items you should know: 1. CWA bargaining unit members are protected by
their collective bargaining agreements. CWA has a written commitment from AT&T that
there will be no changes in the retiree health care plan through 2012. 2. The issue is the reversal of a "windfall" that AT&T, Verizon
and Qwest, among other employers, enjoyed as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. That law allowed employers to deduct as a business expense 100
percent of retiree drug plan costs, even though they received a rebate for 28 percent of the expenses. The new law means
that employers will now pay taxes on the subsidy that they receive. 3. When tax law is changed, a company must report the impact of the change immediately, within the quarter that
it is enacted. 4. For example,
in company filings, AT&T reported that it expected to receive a total subsidy of $1.6 billion between 2010 and 2019 under
the terms of the 2003 law. Under the terms of the new law, AT&T has reduced that estimate by $1
billion. That charge is what is being reported in the media.
5. There are many other changes
in the health care legislation which will help contain future cost increases, including: A. A $5 billion
reinsurance program for pre-Medicare retirees. B.
Reduction of the number of uninsured which is estimated to reduce the costs to our plans $1,000 person. C. Reforms which the Business Roundtable
estimates could reduce costs by $3,000 per person in 2020. D. In 2020, the Medicare Part
D drug benefit "donut" hole will be completely filled, incremental changes will begin immediately.
Currently we bargain a standalone drug plan. We could instead rely on Medicare Part D and then bargain with our employers
a "wrap-around" policy, one that provides a higher level of benefits than Medicare Part D. This approach could
match our level of benefits while reducing the employers' FASB obligation (long-term retiree health
care liability).
6. In
the absence of health care reform, health care costs were slated to rise between 7 percent and 8 percent on average annually
or higher.
These changes in health
care legislation will improve the bargaining climate on retiree health. Over the last two decades our bargaining on
health care and retiree health care has been extremely contentious. We negotiate in an environment where only 7 percent
of Americans in the private sector have bargaining rights, and the numbers who have retiree health care have dwindled.
Although the legislation is not as we would have written it, it makes our bargaining position better. In Unity,
Bob Schwager
President CWA Local
9417 Attachments
1. CWA Fact Sheet http://files.cwa-union.org/Leaders/HCMedicareFS.pdf
2. NY Times Article http://files.cwa-union.org/Leaders/HCATTArticle.pdf |
HELLO MEN, AFTER
YESTERDAYS MEETING AND DISCUSSION ABOUT SUBCONTRACTING. I WAS NOT HAPPY. WE HAVE MEMBERS THAT ARE LET GO AND SOME WHO HAVE
LITTLE IF NO WORK. THE COMPANY CONTINUES TO SUBCONTRACT. WHAT A SLAP ON OUR COLLECTIVE FACES. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING
ABOUT THIS!. WE NEED TO GO FORWARD AND UP THE LADDER TO PUT A STOP TO THIS. LET US NOT LET THE MATTER NOT BE ADDRESSED.
STAND UNITED MEMBERS. STEVEN GARCIA
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CWA Recommendations for Voting Your Proxies at AT&T Shareholders Meeting April 30, 2010 – Chattanooga, Tennessee Item 1: Vote for Directors: If individuals
have a beef about an individual director, they should
vote against him or her. Personally, I think the board does not pass the test of good governance and is
top heavy in retirees. This means management does not have an independent board. I recommend a vote ABSTAIN. Item 2: Auditor: No reason to vote against. Ernst & Young has done nothing egregious. Shareholders should vote ABSTAIN if they do not like voting with the
company. Item 3: Cumulate Voting: This is a proposal that good governance activists are pushing. AT&T has 12 directors. If this proposal were to pass,
each shareholder would have 12 votes to allocate as he/she wants. For instance, none for candidates 1-11,
but 12 votes for candidate 12. People like this because it offers more competition in the election
of directors. So, alliances can be created to elect a director outside the mainstream. I recommend a vote
FOR. Item 4: Pension Credits: CWA has long championed this proposal at IBM and other companies. Companies use pension surpluses to beef up their
net profits. When incentive compensation is based on net profits (without subtraction of pension surpluses), then executives are being partially compensated on umbers that have nothing to
do with how the company performed. To be honest, this was more relevant five years ago when pension surpluses
were big in some companies. Since then, several companies, such as GE in response to a CWA proposal, have
agreed to exclude pension numbers from net profit when calculating compensation. The financial
crisis blew a hole through most pension plans and surpluses are wishful thinking for the time being. I
recommend a vote FOR. Item 5: Shareholder
Advisory Vote on Compensation or "Say on Pay”: This proposal says that, if
passed and the company changes policy, each year the company will offer as a management proposal (therefore,
supported by management) the opportunity to vote up or down on the pay of top executives and the method
used (the narrative disclosure) to pay them. This is the system in Britain, Australia, and Sweden.
It appeared at one time in Barney Frank's financial reform legislation. This is the proposal we passed
in 2007 at Verizon. Roughly 50 companies have voluntarily adopted Say on Pay. Companies receiving TARP
funds had to implement this proposal. I recommend a vote FOR. Item 6: Right to Call Special Shareholders Meeting for Holders of 10
Percent of the Company's Stock: On one hand,
it is always good to give shareholders more rights over management. And, the AFL-CIO in its proxy voting guidelines recommends voting for proposals
that strengthen shareholder rights through the ability to call special meetings. On the other hand, I am
suspicious of lowering the threshold further because it would offer private equity the opportunity to push
management in directions we would disapprove. Currently, the company has a 15 percent threshold to call
a special shareholders meeting. Note that last year this proposal received 49 percent of
the vote. I recommend a vote FOR if shareholder wants to force defeat on the company or ABSTAIN on the merits of the
proposal.
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