AT&T Reduces Insurance for Retirees

AT&T retirees recently saw life insurance that was long guaranteed to them drastically cut back on Dec. 31, 2021.

It comes as no surprise that major corporations are continuing to walk back and turn away from their commitments to their loyal retirees. This is something that all our members can clearly understand.

In early 2021, AT&T announced a plan to cut management retirees’ life insurance benefits at the start of 2022 to just $15,000 and cap the death benefit at $25,000, effective at the start of this year. Retirees were initially promised benefits dependent on their final year’s compensation.

Retired AT&T union members, who had life insurance also based on their pay, will now be capped at $25,000 for their life insurance and death benefit, respectively.

This change affects an astonishing 220,000 AT&T retirees enrolled within life insurance and death benefits program.

In a December 26 Wall Street Journal article, the details of this harmful action to retirees were laid out. The article addresses the harsh life insurance reduction retirees’ families would be dealt in the new year.

Your Association of BellTel Retirees board leaders and Retirees for Justice conducted multiple news briefings for the Wall Street Journal’s telecom reporters, helping give them greater context and insights about how harmful the switch was.

Much like the case of Verizon suddenly announcing the transfer of 41,000 pensions in 2012, retirees and their families are cast aside even as senior executives reap outsized rewards. It’s notable and ironic that their benefits still include significant company subsidized life insurance, all at the final expense of those who gave decades of devotion and sacrifice to the company.

Despite months of protest from fellow retirees, AT&T refused to change course and opted into what it calls “challenging” decisions to purportedly balance the needs of its business.

Meanwhile, those “challenging” decisions AT&T made are clearly contradicted by the life insurance benefits that will be received upon retirement, including about $1.5 million alone for CEO John Stankey.

Decades ago, AT&T prided itself on its quality retirement and benefits so much, that executives used this to defend the company’s lower wages compared to competitor’s packages, citing that sticking with AT&T meant a more substantial retirement for all.

That “cradle-to-grave” way of thinking meant something very significant to workers and their families, with certain expectations they would always be well taken care of in the future.

By winter 2021, AT&T forgot this ethos and made its choice to harm its loyal retirees who built the company.

Many are questioning how can anyone continue to trust AT&T leadership, especially while executives are the beneficiaries of a double standard and getting VIP treatment? Simply put, retirees and the workforce already traded our labor and cannot go back in time to make different arrangements for the future.

Ultimately, retirees are now at the mercy of AT&T’s top executives. It illustrates why we need to stick together now to protect the pensions and benefits we earned over 20, 30, 40 years of work, and are fully entitled to!

 

This article was originally published in the 2022 Spring Newsletter.