The Association of BellTel Retirees, Inc. has elected Thomas Steed, a board member since 2012, as the national non-profit advocacy organization’s new Board Chairman. Mr. Steed, a resident of Orange County, NY, began his career with the New York Telephone Company, then a part of AT&T, in 1971 as a cable splicer working in Bronx construction.
Mr. Steed will be succeeding Lionel Brandon, who served in the role on an interim basis to fill out the term of the late Association Chairman Jack Cohen, who passed away in October.
“The entire board wants to thank Lionel Brandon for his poise, leadership, and volunteer service to our retiree community,” said Mr. Steed. “Retirees across the nation have so much in jeopardy. In most cases, top corporate executives look at their loyal retirees as sitting ducks to pick off. We need to change that perception, push back, fight back and defend our economic security. If we don’t protect ourselves, who will?” he asked.
Throughout his career, Mr. Steed was a member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and worked on a multitude of major construction and recovery projects across New York City and the Hudson Valley, including the February 1975 Telephone Company Fire, which knocked out both local and long-distance service that routed through New York. The recovery from that single incident – a five-alarm fire – took months of work and was a national priority for the corporation.
Later in his career, Mr. Steed would be selected to serve as a part-time organizer for his union, Local 1120, based in Poughkeepsie, NY, where he worked on national recruitment and organizing matters, including the recruitment of the International Business Machines (IBM) workforce into the union.
“My request to my fellow retirees is that they double down on their focus and worries of our issues – the protection of our earned benefits and pensions – before it is too late and they might, through some technical sleight of hand, be lost.”
Under his role with the CWA, Mr. Steed went from being a technician working on major construction jobs to earning an Associate of Applied Science from Dutchess Community College 1999, Bachelor of Arts from the National Labor College 2000, Master of Science from the University of Baltimore 2003, and a Financial Planning Graduate Certificate from Mount Saint Mary College 2005. His interactions included working with then CWA International Union President Morton Bahr and his successor President Larry Cohen.
“As a trained organizer, when I joined the BellTel Retirees five years before my retirement, I said ‘This organization is really going someplace,’ said Mr. Steed, citing the nonprofit’s impact bringing its litigations to protect pensions to the U.S. Supreme Court and it’s12-shareowner proxy campaign wins versus Verizon, along with its advocacy in successfully interacting with company officers on behalf of retirees.
“This is a very sophisticated organizing drive here, where everyone who once had a career in the company from management and craft, can be together under one umbrella.”
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