Webmaster:
I know you are very busy. I like your site and I find it very informative on a daily basis. As a retiree I try to keep up with the current fight with Verizon. This has to be the most important contract in my 44 years of work.
In that time I have spent with my union brothers and sisters about a year and a half on strike to get the benefits that we have. Some of our members do not realize that benefits end or are reduced when members retire. Verizon is now reducing the one year insurance 10% between the ages of 66 to 70 years old, members end up with 50%.
The active members will all be retirees at some point. I hope Washington D.C. will step in and protect labor and the hard working middle class. The people vote not the greedy corporations…
I hope our members are ready to make the sacrifices that may be needed to win a fair contract. Seven months in 1971 got us an agency shop and great contracts and four months in 1989 kept our medical benefits.
I hope we can kick their corporate butt across the nation.
Thanks for giving us a web site, take care.
2011 Verizon Contract Proposals for Retirees
From: cwalocal1103rmc.org
The Company has proposed to terminate the major health benefit plans that CWA has negotiated over decades.
The company is demanding premium contributions for both the medical plan and the dental plan.
The company wants to impose premiums for retirees. For pre-Medicare retirees, a single retiree could pay somewhere between $290 and $1,320 depending on they plan they choose. A pre-Medicare retiree with a family could pay between $1,280 and $3,710 depending on the plan they choose.
Medicare retirees could pay between $145 and $960 a year depending on the plan they enroll in if they are single, and between $640 and $2,155 a year depending on the plan they choose.
Premiums for the dental plan would be up to $185 per year for a single employee and up to $435 per year for a family, depending on the plan they choose.
Retirees would also have to pay for dental coverage, the same rates as active employees.
The most drastic changes are proposed in the medical plan. The company proposed to eliminate the PPOs and network plans that have been in place for decades and replace them with high deductible health plans.
Before the plan would begin to pay any benefits, a single employee would have to pay $1,000 and a family would have to pay $3,000.
In other words, the company is proposing to shift thousands of dollars in health costs to retirees, without offering any improvements in health care quality or any support for retirees to navigate the health care system. They are saying “You’re On Your Own” to retirees and their families who need quality, affordable health care.