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RETIREES TO PROTEST APRIL 20TH @ GE GATE
Following
hundreds of GE retirees pouring out for the March 20th
Local 201 Membership.jpg)
Meeting, the retirees are taking their momentum to the
GE Fairchild Street
Gate
on
Friday, April 20.
The Local 201 Retirees Council has scheduled a protest from 11:15 am
to 12:30 pm, highlighting their needs for a
pension increase,
pension COLA,
and relief from
increasing medical costs.
Local 201 is asking that
members punch out and join our retirees for a few minutes to show
support.
March Membership Meeting Highlights Retirees’ Plight
At the
March Membership Meeting, many retirees viewed the Helen Quirini/Kevin
Mahar video, which clearly outlined the plight of the GE Retirees.
The Pension Fund is $11
billion
to $15 billion
over funded (depending on which GE figures you use), “yet many GE
retirees are trying to get by with pensions ranging from $500 to
$1000 a month” said Retirees Council President
Kevin Mahar.
Meanwhile, the retirees “Hall of Shame” flyer lists former CEO Jack
Welch’s monthly pension
at
$800,000!
Vice President
Alex Brown
outlined to members and retirees at the meeting that a Post-65 GE
retiree and spouse have to pay out “almost $400 a month just in
medical contributions alone.....never mind co-pays, deductibles,
etc. For many of them, it eats up 50% of 80% of their pension
check”.
Retirees and members met in groups, discussing the horrible
situation and what their needs were.
201 Business Agent
Ric Casilli
(and member of the Union’s National Negotiating Committee),
explained the Union’s plan of approach to retirees’ issues, both pre
65 and post 65. Casilli said “The Union’s demands are good—they
address our retirees’ needs for pension increases, automatic pension
adjustments, and relief from medical costs.” “The problem is not
our demands” said Casilli, “The problem is having sufficient power
behind them to get GE to do the right thing.” National Negotiations
open up in New York City on May 21.
Retirees Collection Also April 20TH
And Shareholders Meeting April 24-25
Local 201
will also be holding a plant wide collection for the Local 201
Retirees Council on Friday, April 20 (same day as lunchtime protest)
at the morning and afternoon shift change times. All monies
collected are deposited in a Local 201 retirees account and used for
activities and items approved by vote of the membership of the
Retirees Council. These activities include fighting for pension,
medical, and insurance plan improvements for retirees, where most
are saddled with living on fixed incomes. The Council incurs
expenses for travel and lodging to things like the GE Shareholders
Meetings, IUE-CWA Conference Board Meetings, and Retiree’s GE
Contract Negotiations day. The Council also uses funds to pay for
their web-site, hold their annual Christmas/Holiday Dinner, and to
make donations to various groups fighting for senior’s issues.
Local 201 helps the Council out by providing them an office
at the Union Hall, paying for their phone, and assists them from
time to time with other smaller expenses. However, the annual plant
wide collection is their main source of income and, due to schedule
conflicts, a collection did not take place last year. Thus, Local
201 is asking our members to once and again give generously to our
retirees’ cause, as you have done so often in the past. Remember,
you will be a retiree yourself one day.
Some of the money will be used next week to send a group of
Local 201 Retirees to the GE Shareholders meeting in Greenville,
South Carolina on April 24 and 25 where, once again, they will
protest and lobby for their issues.
201
PENSION PRESENTATION DRAWS CROWD
In Local 201’s continuing contract education campaign, the
February 27th combined Stewards/Membership Meeting
again drew a large number of members to hear about the upcoming
GE Contract and the
Pension Plan.
Local 201 Business Agent
Ric Casilli
“walked” members through the complicated GE pension plan,
attempting to simplify and explain its key elements –
(1) The Regular
Pension
with its career annuity formula and the Pension Update Formula
(best consecutive 3 years out of a 6 year specified period); (2)
The Guaranteed
Pension
with its tables (best consecutive 3 out of last 10); (3) The
Pension Supplements that apply to both types of pensions above;
(4) The lack of a Pension “COLA”; (5) Survivorship Option
Reductions; and (6) Personal Pension Accounts (PPA) and
Voluntary Pension Accounts (VPA).
Casilli, also a member of the IUE-CWA GE National
Negotiating Committee, explained that “The Union has desired to
simplify the plan to make it more understand-able. However, GE
has previously resisted such Union proposals, saying the Union’s
proposals were ‘too rich’.” Casilli said “Union proposals to
simplify the plan necessarily have to be high, because the
current structure of the plan creates large gaps between
‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pensions based on wage and service
differentials.”
As the Business Agent discussed the 6 areas of
the Pension Plan, he pointed out its good points and its
deficiencies. “It’s these deficiencies that your Negotiating
Committee would like to address in the upcoming negotiations.
We have good proposals…that’s not the issue. The issue is how
solid is membership support and solidarity behind those
demands.”
Following the 50 minute presentation, members
asked questions, made comments and had a general discussion
about the entire plan.
A number of members commented that they now
understood the current plan much better and now knew what the
Union was attempting to do to fix its inadequacies.
This Local 201 Pension Presentation comes on top of a big
Membership turnout at the January meeting on Medical
Benefits, and precedes this month’s (March 20) presentation
at the Connery Post on retirees’ issues on both
medical and pensions.
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