It is an honor to write this chairman’s report to you, my fellow retirees.
I have been an active member of this great retiree advocacy association five years before I retired. 2022 marks my tenth year of service on the BellTel board.
Why did I get involved so early?
Simply put I could see the writing on the wall. Senior corporate leadership at companies everywhere were more focused on rewarding and praising themselves than honoring the loyal workforce and retirees who built our companies to greatness. And now as plainly seen, 2021 was not a kind year to retirees throughout America.
Loss of Life Insurance & Death Benefits:
Our brethren from AT&T were decimated with the loss of “guaranteed” life and death benefits that they worked decades to earn. How is it fair for them to get the rug pulled out from under them, long after they already traded their labor for such assurances?
Our brethren that retired from DuPont in 2021 also had their earned and guaranteed pension and retirement plan offloaded to a new and undernourished agricultural company named Corteva.
Soon afterward, Corteva engaged in a “study” of the life insurance benefits of DuPont retirees. It determined these earned benefits were too generous, so they cancelled them, unscrupulously adding nearly $1 billion to its balance sheet–on the backs of retirees.
DuPont and AT&T retirees both lost these benefits on January 1, 2022.
Proxy 2022:
Within the first few weeks of become Association Chair, a fellow retiree exclaimed frustration with why we engage in annual shareowner proxy efforts. Wasn’t it pointless?
The answer is: Absolutely not. In January 2022 your Association was victorious with its 12th proxy win since 2003. There is not another group, even professionally on Wall Street, with such a record of success.
Why does it matter? The executives making decisions about the future of retiree benefits – such as those at AT&T, DuPont and Corteva – all report to their Boards of Directors. Each year when we arrive at Verizon’s annual shareholder meeting, with our record of success, we are warmly greeted by the board and senior executive leadership.
They know who we are. They understand our concerns. They recognize we are the voice of retiree-shareowners and know how to win. They also recognize that while we are challenging concerning policy issues, we want the company to thrive. They also respect that we know how to turn out national media attention to our cause.
Register & Protect Yourself:
I want to remind the many of you that there is still time to register for the federal health and compensation program if you were affected by the 9/11 attacks. Did you work there for a few days in the following nine months or so? Did you do a walk-through, visit, or inspect damage to 140 West Street after the towers collapsed? If you did, as did countless employees and consultants to Verizon and AT&T, take action.
I was recently briefed that more than 650 of our BellTel Retirees have registered for the 9/11 Compensation and Health Fund, but I would venture thousands more were within the toxic containment zone below Canal Street in Lower Manhattan from 9/11/2001 to 5-31-2002, when the clean-up operation was concluded. Don’t wait.
Pioneers:
The Board is anticipating that our partnership with the Pioneers will grown in 2022. In many ways, this great organization, founded in 1911, is in the same boat as us. Their members are aging, and younger folks are proving to be less inclined to join. Like theirs, your Association runs on people power, and an organization is only as good and as deep as the players ready and willing to get out there and give it their all. If we do not stick up for each other, then realistically who will?
If you are looking for something dynamic in 2022, consider giving back to either the Association of BellTel Retirees or the Pioneers.
By: Thomas Steed, Association Chairman
This Chairman’s Report was first published in the Spring 2022 Newsletter.
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