Retiree Club Meeting Minutes

Retired Members Club Meeting Minutes

RMC Meeting, 10-23-08

Macayo’s Restaurant

Prescott AZ

Peggy called the meeting to order at 12:39pm.

Roll Call of Officers: Peggy Dewey, Jill Krenitz-Dvir, Nicki Jones, Linda Glass was excused.

Previous meeting minutes: Nicki handed out copies of the previous meeting minutes.

President: Peggy stated the Retired Members Chapter is a statewide organization that belongs to Local 70003 . Some of the locals did not have enough members to form their own chapters; so the meetings travel around the state to Tucson, Lake Havasu, Yuma, Prescott, Flagstaff and around Phoenix. The November 18^th meeting will be at LaPerla Restaurant in Glendale at 6:30pm. December 16^th meeting location to be determined.

Peggy handed out the Member Free-choice postcards to be mailed in.

Peggy gave copies of the AFL-CIO Election recommendations list for the 2008 elections. It is important to endorse candidates who support Healthcare for everyone and CWA endorses candidates who support working family issues.

Membership: We have 152 members. The cost is $25.00 the first year which is paid to the national and then $12.00 to the local every year after that. Peggy said she has received calls from non-members asking about the contract – she has referred them to Qwest. The member list and email list will be purged this month.

Vice President: We are holding a raffle to raise funds to send delegates to the CWA National Convention in Washington DC. Tickets are available at each meeting.

Treasurer: Jill reported a balance of $1700.00 in the treasury and ticket sales have brought in $300.00.

Committee Reports:

Mobilization: Peggy said there is an opening for our Mobilization committee.

Alliance for Retired Americans: When a member joins the Retired Member Chapter, they automatically become a member of this alliance. They work on retiree issues: Divided We Fail and they work with AARP on issues like keeping Social Security from being privatized and getting healthcare for everyone.

Old Business: A thank you plaque was given to Jim Weeks for printing all of our 2008 flyers and office stationery.

Qwest Contract: Peggy explained the changes in the second tentative agreement that will be voted on. It is now a 4 year contract and any healthcare amounts for 2012 will be the same for 2011. And that both CWA and Qwest hired financial experts to go over the books. A question was asked about whether retirees get paid for picketing – no, since we don’t pay into the defense fund. Peggy answered another question about what happens to retiree healthcare if the new tentative agreement is not ratified and members go on strike – it depends on what the company wants to give the retirees.

AT&T contract: AT&T’s contract is due in 2009.

ByLaws: The RMC needs someone who is good at re-writing bylaws to volunteer for re-writing our bylaws.

Good and Welfare: Linda Glass’s mother is in Mayo hospital.

Wayne Doty won the gift certificate to Krogers (Fry’s Food Store).

Meeting adjourned at 1:45pm

Respectfully submitted,

Nicki Jones

Secretary

CWA-RMC Business Meeting

Manuel’s Mexican Restaurant

Phoenix AZ

Sept 24, 2008 6:30pm

Officers in Attendance: Peggy Dewey, Linda Glass, Jill Krenitz-Dvir, Nicki Jones

Peggy called the meeting to order at 6:35pm. She announced that Pepper Garcia had information about job openings at Encore Staffing. They have a new call center at 48^th St and McDowell Rd. It pays $11.50 per hour. She suggested going to Careerbuilder.com and submitting a resume. Or you can check their website www.encorejobs.com .

A motion was made to suspend the regular order of business to hear our speaker, Bob Lucca from Principal Financial. It was seconded and carried.

Bob Lucca started by giving a history of benefits that companies paid for when their employees retired. 8-10 years ago, GM, Ford and other auto makers started making their retirees pay for benefits. Other companies followed – and the current trend is to not provide any retiree benefits for new hires.

The retirees who retire early have a harder time managing their financial benefits in terms of health care than those who are within a year or two of being Medicare eligible. These retirees need to plan for increased medical premiums going up 15% or more per year.

He explained that if a retiree is shopping for an individual health plan; how your current health conditions are considered by these plans. For example you could be accepted but a rider could be added excluding care for a certain condition like high blood pressure or heart disease. You should thoroughly check out the different plans before signing with one.

Retiree parents or grandparents with a child/grandchild dependent could find it less expensive to keep the Qwest health plan for the couple and find an independent plan for the child – again depending on the dependent’s health.

A retiree with no health conditions might find it less expensive to go with the High Deductible plan. Again, be sure to read all the fine print and understand what your coverage will be. These plans usually don’t include a prescription drug plan. A High Deductible plan does not have to be tied into a health savings account.

He explained Medicare, how it works, when you become eligible, the different parts-A, B, D. One thing to watch for – when you turn 65 – you have 6 months to purchase a supplementary policy (usually for about $100 or $150 per month) without having to qualify medically. For those retirees in the 50-65 range – it is better to stay with your former employer’s health plan, get on a spouse’s plan or return to work for benefits.

The meeting was reconvened; Peggy handed out the Member Free Choice post cards to those who haven’t fill them out yet.

The CWA 7019 Local convention will he held on Saturday Sept 27^th at the IBEW hall. Peggy asked for retirees to volunteer that day help with the registration desk,, food and raffle tickets . She will call the volunteers about the time, location etc.

The October business meeting will be in Prescott. Jill Krenitz-Dvir volunteered to check for a meeting place, possibly at the restaurant at Lynx lake.

The November meeting will be at LaPerla Restaurant near 59^th and Grand Ave in Glendale at 6:30pm. The date has not been set at this time.

The December meeting is usually a social event. We are looking at either a dinner at a midtown restaurant or possibly a potluck..

A survey will be sent out asking member’s preference for which date of the month is best for meetings in 2009. It has been on the 3^rd Tuesday of the month for this year.

January’s meeting will be in Yuma and February’s will be in West Phoenix.

Membership: In 2008 we have 152 members.

Treasurer: Jill gave the treasurer’s report and asked members to contact other retirees and ask them to join; and they must have been a CWA member when they retired. The cost is $25.00 for the first year and $12.00 after that.

Linda has flyers available and tickets for the raffle to raise money to send our delegates to the CWA National Convention in Washington DC next year. 1^st prize is a Garmin GPS Navigation system, 2^nd prize is a $50.00 gift certificate to Best Buy. The tickets are $5.00 each, 3 for $10.00 or 6 for $20.00. These will be sold at the local’s convention and future meetings.

Legislative: Linda had flyers for the “Working Families – United For Change” Event.

This will be on Saturday Oct 4^th, from 11:00am to 12:00pm at Phoenix Community College. There will be food, fun and entertainment. Governor Janet Napolitano, Harry Mitchell and Ed Pastor have been invited to attend.

With the November elections approaching, the AFL-CIO will need support with door to door (union members houses – not general public) contact or if you can’t walk, they can provide you with a list of 25 names and numbers to call and provide a script for you. We’re hoping that the door to door lists will be for the area you live in to save fuel costs.

Old Business: Linda has the Appreciation plaque for Jim Weeks who has done all of our printing for flyers and stationary.

New business: AT& T Contract will be up in 2009.

The ratification ballets for the Qwest contract are due back next week., it may not be ratified.

Good and Welfare: Health insurance, Linda was on a conference call with Louise Caddell and others to cover the retiree groups. This is the first time we will have monthly premiums and if ‘In Network’, after the co-pay the plan will pay 90%, we get to pay the other 10% (but there is a $1000. out of pocket maximum for this).

For those on Medicare, the company will no longer pay a $48.10 reimbursement to retirees.

The ERO (pre 1990 retirees) will not have to pay premiums and they will still get the Medicare reimbursement of $48.10 each month. They are grandfathered.

Linda had some questions from members who could not attend this meeting.

1. If I went out on long term disability, what category am I in? Linda said it looks like they will be considered as active since they didn’t actually retire.

2. How will the premiums be collected? If you took the annuity, it will come out of your pension check. For those who took the lump sum – they are looking at setting up Electronic Funds Transfer (like how your phone bill is paid). Or send a bill each month.

3. What about HMO costs? HMO’s set their own rates – they are not negotiated by the company or union. They would be in the “Out of Network” category.

4. Can we get the dental without the health care? No, it is a packaged deal.

Linda mentioned that CWA looked at 65 different plans but the company refused to look at any of them. She also mentioned that the pension plan is funded at 108%.

Meeting adjourned at 8:40pm

Respectfully Submitted

Nicki Jones, Secretary

RMC Meeting Minutes

La Perla Restaurant, Glendale, AZ

August 19, 2008 @ 6:30 pm

Officers in Attendance:

Peggy Dewey, President

Linda Glass, VP

Peggy Dewey started by asking every one to fill out the Employee Free Choice Act cards. CWA has committed to filling out 1 million cards.

Since we had so many new members, we introduced ourselves.

Peggy shared that the next RMC convention and CWA International Convention will be in Washington, DC next year. It is very expensive to go to Washington, so in order to send our delegates we would like, under new business, a motion to purchase a GPS system to raffle off to raise additional money since our dues are only $12.00 a year. Dee Cantoni will check with the company that she works for to see if we could purchase a GPS system through them at a discount. Jill Krenitz-Dvir also suggested we have a poker rally when the weather cools off. She explained how it works and agreed to help coordinate it.

Peggy explained that COPE (Committee on Political Education) at the International is changing and we will be able to do monthly Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) to give money to support candidates that support our retiree issues.

Due to the large number of changes in the Qwest/CWA healthcare plan (tentative) we will hold the September meeting in Phoenix, rather than northern AZ. Rosemary Ghirardi offered her back yard. She lives at 64^th St and McDowell. Bob Lucca, from Lucca Insurance Services will be there to discuss healthcare options. We discussed having a pot luck. Information will be sent out when the date is set.

We now have 139 paid members, with new ones coming in the mail on a daily basis. We explained, again, the $25.00 vs the $12.00 dues. If you do not pay your dues, you will be dropped from our email list. We also explained you can still be a dues paying member of your local if you want. Many retirees were dropped out of the International’s database, so we trying to help rebuild it.

Also, at 7019, if you do not pay your dues, you no longer receive the local’s newsletter. Linda told the group the local was considering not mailing a newsletter any more, but sending it via email. There was a lot of concern from the members that many people still don’t have emails or don’t check them on a regular basis. This will be an issue at the local’s convention.

Peggy told everyone we still are looking for a S/T. All the work falls to her and Linda right now. Nicki Jones volunteered for Secretary and Jill Krenitz-Dvir volunteered for Treasurer. YEAH!!

NEW BUSINESS:

Nicki Jones moved to buy a GPS system, to be raffled off next year to raise money to send our delegates to the RMC and International convention in Washington, DC. Cost not to exceed $500.00. Second. Carried.

Linda Glass introduced Keith Peters, who is part of the CWA Retiree Committee that was put together after 2005 bargaining to address the issues of retiree health care. He also was one of our health care coordinators before retiring from Qwest. Keith was on a conference call last night that gave an overview of the health care changes. He asked that we not hold him to all things as they were not given a chance to ask questions and have nothing in writing so it is all based on what he could capture in notes. We handed out the excerpt from his September 2006 of the healthcare crisis at Qwest. Keith also explained the caps that we had in the contract regarding retiree healthcare and what they meant.

To the best of his knowledge, this is what he thinks the new benefits will have, but there could be other things, so don’t hold him to this being all there was!

Active-

Premiums monthly-Single=$75.00, E+1=$150.00, Family=? Didn’t catch the amt

Retirees:

Under 65

S=$75.00, Retiree+1=$150.00, Family=$408.00 (about 20% have dependents)

Over 65/on medicare

There are differences in whether you are both on medicare or only 1 is on medicare and if you are single and over or under 65.

The medicare reimbursement of $48.10 has been eliminated.

We do not know how you will be billed--taken out of your pension check, EFT or what.

Co-pays went up $5.00. A Dr’s visit went from $20.00 to $25.oo and a specialist from $25.00 to $30.00.

The RX drugs are going up depending on the tiers 1, 2 or 3.

Keith believes the deductibles will remain the same.

There is also an Alternative High Deductible Plan that will have an 80/20 split. Individual=$3,000 and Family=$6,000.

October will be the open enrollment where people will be able to choose what plan they would like to be on. It was clarified that is you have another job with healthcare, that is your primary and Qwest is the secondary. The same applies with Medicare, it is your primary and Qwest is your secondary.

We have a question that Linda will attempt to get answered: Can I stop my Qwest healthcare plan and then come back? For example some people have other jobs where they now have healthcare, but if they quit the job, then can they pick their health care back up at Qwest.

Thank you, Keith for sharing the information!! We have several members share that we knew this was coming. We had been talking about it at our meetings since the last contract in 2005. We just didn’t know how bad it would be. The bargaining committee did the best they could and we thank them for their efforts. It had to be grueling.

Rosemary Ghirardi, a member of the 7019 Multi Media Committee and also very involved in the legislative process was asked to speak on the issues that face us in November and how it all ties in with our bargaining process.

Rosemary started by stating she heard Rossie state at the countdown rally that…. If you don’t vote for Obama, unions will be gone. The right to organize will be gone.

Rosemary went on to say, in a most matter of fact way, if we do not elect Obama and a Congress that supports our issues: You will not see health care addressed, there will be no unions and no more pensions. We will be torn down with another republican administration. We are not a one issue group, for example gun control. As Dee Cantoni stated-if we don’t have relief from healthcare costs and have good union wages, you won’t be able to afford a gun! Rosemary went on to state that we not only need to vote for Obama, but we need to give him a Congress that supports our issues and his issues. Then we must turn to the state level and elect those officials that support our issues as retirees. Rosemary said as a state employee now she can not “politic” at the job site, but she does have a bulletin board that she has a quote that says “If you don’t vote-You don’t count.” This is our most important election ever. You need to know who your state legislators are and your senators. She shared her fear of the Supreme Court Justices that could be appointed (yes-for their life time) by another Republican administration. We can’t afford any more conservative appointments. It will not only affect us, but our children and our grandchildren. John McCain has already voted no to a national health care plan. He has voted no on the paycheck protection act. He continues to try to portray us as the thugs, the old union bosses that go out and bang heads.

The choices we make now, will make tremendous differences in the future!

We and those that came before us stood out on the picket lines for the healthcare we have today and now because we still have no national healthcare we are faced with paying premiums and higher deductibles as Keith has told us. It’s not the fault of our Bargaining Team. They did the best they could. We have lost our power as unions and we must gain that back by electing officials like Obama that supports labor and national health care.

THANK YOU, Rosemary!

Penny Kuche said the Pioneers need help with materials to make their Hugga Bears for the children that the police fire and hospitals help. The Pioneers have volunteers that do this. If you are interested, contact Penny, Peggy or Linda.

Penny also raised the issue about 7019 selling the hall and her opinion that it should have been done before now. Now we can’t afford a small hall??? We not only have problems with having to pay for our health care, but also with our own local.

Dee Cantoni said that Michael Moore the documentary movie maker will be on Larry King this Friday night. His latest movie was called “Sicko.” It was great. The RMC showed it at one of the meetings that was held at Linda’s house.

We will send out the notice for the September meeting as soon as we have the details and confirmation with Bob Lucca.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully,

Linda Glass

Vice President

AZ RMC Meeting Minutes

July 31, 2008 @ 12:30 pm

Sizzler in Flagstaff, AZ

Officers In Attendance:

President-Peggy Dewey

VP-Linda Glass

Peggy requested that everyone please fill out the form regarding Health Care For ALL. This is a critical issue for everyone and especially for those at Qwest that are just entering bargaining in a few weeks. She also requested that we fill out the Employee Free Choice Act form. In order for unions and workers to survive, we must have laws that support organizing without retribution.

The next national convention will be in Washington, DC. It is a very expensive place and in order to send our delegates we want to hold a raffle. We would like to raffle a GPS system off.

Our next meeting will be August 19, 2008 at La Perla Restaurant in Glendale, AZ.

We now have 97 members. We have forms and money coming in regularly since we resent the letter and forms back out after they failed to reach everyone the first time.

The minutes from the previous meeting is on the back table for everyone.

We continue to look for members that are willing to take on the Secretary/Treasurer’s role.

We want to thank Area Vice President, Angel Garcia for coming to the meeting. He discussed the injunction that Qwest has on CWA and how this has hindered our mobilization efforts. He also talked about the North Dakota 9 that were fired for the mobilization activities.

We want to coordinate picket lines against Qwest in various cities around the state that will be held by the retirees. We know that Qwest is going to attack our health care so it is critical that everyone comes out and participates.

Peggy will give the password for District 7 website to receive the bargaining reports for Qwest, if anyone wants them. She also said that Verizon’s contract is up on August 1. Peggy and Angel both discussed the options that we will have at contract expiration-Strike, Working without a contract, extend the contract or stop the clock. We have to take into consideration what the public will support. Many people that do not have healthcare or as good as we may have at Qwest, will not be as sympathetic to a strike, over paying nothing for healthcare. We will be looking for a retiree spokesperson, for the media, in various towns around the state that will be willing to talk about negotiations in regards to healthcare.

Angel thanked the retirees for their sacrifices over the years to get us what we have today. He stated the younger workers don’t understand these sacrifices and he has made it a point to educate as many as possible on where we have come from and the fights we have endured over the years to get us and them the benefits, working conditions, etc that we all have had in years past. Angel plans to invite any of the retirees that would like to attend his Unit Meetings in northern.

Peggy said the ARA is looking for volunteers in Coconino County to help with Labor 2008 (elections in November). They need Retiree Zone Coordinators. It is a 4 month commitment of 10-15 hours a week. Mileage and a stipend will be paid. Contact Peggy if anyone is interested.

Peggy attended the National Convention in Las Vegas, along with Dee Cantoni. Our new National officers are: Larry Cohen-President, Jeff Rechenbach-S/T, Annie Hill, EVP and our new District 7 Vice President is Louise Caddell. Congratulations to them all.

You may now contribute to COPE (Committee on Political Education) via EFT for $4, $6, $8, $10, etc a month. Contact Peggy on how you apply for this.

New Business:

Gloria Bradshaw moved that we pay for a roll of 100 stamps to be used for various letters, etc that Peggy or Linda need to send out for the RMC. Second. Carried.

Respectfully Submitted,

Linda Glass

Retirees Meeting Minutes for March 24, 2004

The meeting was called to order by Bryce at 7:30 pm with 9 members present.

John gave updates on the ARA.

Dave talked about the new retirement community in Peoria for retired union members, followed by a discussion on the new employee concession plan.

Sue talked about a rally at the Biltmore in support of the HERE members of the Coronado Hotel in San Diego. It will be held April 7th from 11 am to noon. For more information call Sue Hemphill at the hall.

Sue also mentioned the the local will be renting out meeting rooms at the hall.

At the September meeting there will be nominations for new officers.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Our next meeting will be held April 21st at 7:30 pm.

Respectfully,

Linda Starkson

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Retirees Meeting Minutes for February 18, 2004

The meeting was called to order by Bryce at 7:30 pm with 6 members present.

There was discussion on current and past membership and the prescription drug plan.

A motion was made to change the March meeting to the 24th.

John talked about the ARA.

The meeting was adjourned approximately 8 pm.

Our next meeting will be March 24th at 7:30 pm.

Respectfully,

Linda Starkson
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Retirees Meeting Minutes for January 21, 2004

The meeting was called to order by Bryce at 7:30 with 9 members attending.
Guest speaker Louisa Kaufman, President of the ARA discussed issues affecting our members.
Linda gave the treasurers report.
Dave talked about the prescription drug plan and the discount phone plan with Qwest.
Bryce talked about the power of senior citizens politically.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30.

Respectfully,
Linda Starkson