Looking Back on 25 Years of Impact

We are looking back on 25 years of impact with the Association of BellTel Retirees, and with this 100th issue of your Association’s newsletter, we reflect on a quarter-century of results and a true never-ending persistence in the fight for economic protections for our fellow retirees and surviving spouses.

It is what has defined our organization and what has driven us for so many years. This journey constantly reminds everyone at the Association of our early beginnings at the company – in many different jobs – and the key milestones that molded us and the company to what we all are today.

To celebrate the incredible milestones, lets’ look back at that journey, including some of the marquee events and people in our retiree community who are making things happen, making news and helping to build your Association into a lasting retiree advocacy powerhouse.

• 1996 — Seven NYNEX retirees begin collaborating as the company stopped retiree COLA increases, with none in the prior five years. These founders were: Bill Jones, Bob Rehm, Ed Ward, Don Eltharp, Mike Kucklinca, Joe Ristuccia, and John Parente. They began traveling to retiree and Pioneer gatherings across New York, addressing the issues and listening to what retirees had to say. They decided to act and incorporate when NYNEX CEO Ivan Seidenberg refused to respond to a letter on behalf of 3,000 retirees. The seven contributed $250 each to incorporate the non-profit Association of NYNEX Retirees.
• Spring 1997 — The first Association newsletter, “The Retiree Advocate,” is printed, and mailed out, as membership exceeds 10,000 after just 14 months. In May 1997, the Association hosts its 1st annual member meeting on Long Island, NY, with over 500 in attendance!
• Summer 1997 — The Association launches its first proxy efforts, looking to harness the firepower of the 80% of retirees who are shareowners.
• Winter 1998 — The rapidly growing Association meets with the U.S. Department of Labor and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials, while proposing its first two proxies to limit excessive senior executive severance agreements and requiring independent board directors.
• Summer 1998 — Following the merger of NYNEX and Bell Atlantic, our new name is the Association of BellTel Retirees, with membership continuing to climb, reaching 35,000.
• 1999 — Our latest proxy seeks to halt pension fund surpluses and “shadow profits” from enriching senior executives. Membership soars to 65,000 and we begin collaborating with other national retiree groups.
• 2000 — The Association wins an unprecedented lump sum COLA payment for retirees, ranging from $4,900 to $20,000 for defined benefit pensioners, plus three consecutive annual COLA increases in 2001, 2002 and 2003 for retirees existing on minimum company pensions. The raises will increase these minimum checks to $700 in 2001 with COLA increases continuing. The Association drafts federal legislation to prevent corporations from canceling and reducing retiree health benefits. The bill, the Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act (HR 1322), is introduced in Congress and gained 58 sponsors.
• 2003 — The Association wins two shareowner proxies vs. Verizon. Golden parachutes get 59% of votes, and it’s the first time any Bell System company has lost a proxy vote in a century of existence. And retirees stop shadow profits proxy was accepted and added to the bylaws by the Verizon board.
• 2004 — Luther and Margaret Beecraft of Virginia become our 100,000th members. Verizon agreed to implement the Association proxy to stop executive severance agreements more than 2.99 times an executive’s base salary and bonus.
• 2005 — The Association is awarded the prestigious National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare’s Salute to Aging Award, recognizing America’s top retiree activists. James Roosevelt Jr., grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt presents the award to BellTel leaders.
• 2006 — Verizon hears us coming again on proxy and agrees to change its corporate by-laws to mandate an independent Verizon board of directors and shed directors with conflicts of interest.
• 2007 — BellTel’s “Say on Pay” proxy proposal wins with 50.18% of shareholder votes.
• 2008 — Association President C. William Jones, supported by dozens of our retirees, testifies before the U.S. Congressional Committee on Education and Labor on the Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act (HR 1322) to stop the erosion of retiree earned employer-sponsored health benefits.
• 2009 — The Association files a lawsuit on behalf of Directory Operations retirees against Verizon and Idearc over the company’s 2006 transfer of 3,000 pensions to Idearc, an undernourished spin-off. Idearc files for bankruptcy in 2009 and 2013.
• 2012 — 41,000 Verizon management retirees’ pensions are transferred to Prudential in an $8.5 billion deal, converting pensions to a group annuity. Those retirees all immediately lose federal ERISA and PBGC protections. In response, your Association initiated a federal class-action lawsuit. The resulting litigation, Pundt v. Verizon, eventually rises to the United States Supreme Court�a rarity for any litigation. The case is led by attorney Curtis Kennedy.
• 2013 — Your Association leadership scored yet another shareholder proxy win, with 53.2% of the vote, to allow regular shareholders to nominate board director candidates.
• 2015 — Thanks to advocacy efforts, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy signs a new retiree pension de-risking law, restoring creditor protections to retirees whose pensions were derisked.
• 2016 — The Pension Rights Center in Washington, DC files an amicus brief in support of BellTel retirees in our U.S. Supreme Court case. It argues that retirees have a right to complain (and have legal standing) related to mismanagement of their pension assets and seek civil penalties, in this case against Verizon, under the ERISA law. In May, the High Court vacates the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision in favor of the employer. It grants the BellTel Retirees’ petition ordering the lower court to throw out its ruling and reevaluate the case law.
• 2017 — The federal pension derisking transfer litigation, now identified by the case name, Pundt/Lee v. Verizon, returns to the U.S. Supreme Court for a second review. Because the High Court has only eight Justices – Associate Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, leaving a vacant seat – retirees were unable to achieve a majority and consensus in our case. This sent the matter back to the 5th Circuit, allowing its pro-employer decision to stand.
• 2020 — As a result of the COVID19 pandemic, the Association hosts its first-ever virtual annual membership meeting with over 8,000 participating online.
• 2021 — Throughout its 25-year history, your Association of BellTel Retirees has continued to achieve significant results and it could not be possible without the power of our membership, made up of magnificent and devoted retirees. Our sincerest thanks go out to each and every member who has been there to share this success.

A happy 25th anniversary to all our members!