AT&T Legacy T - Bargaining Report # 3

Our Bargaining committee made several proposals yesterday on Quota Relief, Flexible EW days, vacations and holidays that had been submitted by Legacy T members That was followed by what turned into a 2 day presentation of the Company proposals on Benefits, Medical, Dental, Vision, Care Plus- A Supplemental Program, Consolidated Long Term Care, and Health Care Reimbursement. It was even worse than we had predicted after their presentation on March 1st. Their claims of fairness and their commitment to good, middle class jobs is as false as we expected it to be.

As VP Ralph Maly said as we ended today’s session “We will never agree to this … we will fight, and do whatever it takes. We came to bargain. We were willing to understand the company’s concerns but this is beyond need. It is just greed. Those who sit in Headquarters; they will not be impacted. They could pay for this with one days salary. This is a disgrace.”

The Company has proposed to categorize employees in 3 groups; “Current Employees”- hired/rehired before 8-9-2009, “2009 New Hires”- hired/rehired after 8-8-2009 and on or before 4-7-2009 and 2012 New Hires”- hired/rehired after 4-7-2012.

The reason for the different groups of employees is to provide very different benefits to each.

This was a 14 page proposal and we cannot share it all with you in this report but here are some typical examples.

New Hires choosing family coverage who make less than $50,000 a year, who take a plan with a $2400 deductible and a $6050 out of pocket maximum would pay premiums of $315 a month.

The current employees premiums would double to $70 for an individual and $150 for a family with the deductibles increasing from $350 for an individual to $1600, and from $700 for a family to $3200.

They want to change the short term disability program to max out at 26 weeks for 15 years or more service (instead of 52). They also will deny your disability if you can perform ANY job within the company that they have for you to do. (Under the current plan you have to be cleared to perform your own job.)

People who retire after Jan. 1, 2013 would stay on the active plan until the end of this agreement. That plan is currently more costly than the current retiree plan.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of their new plans. Their intent is to have employees pay 32% of the total cost of the plan, up from the current 18%.

As VP Maly said, this is a disgrace. AT&T’s long term plan for their employees is to push them out of the middle class. We have titles making significantly less than $30,000 a year who will be paying so much in benefits, that they will be pushed to the breaking point.

Your bargaining team slammed their proposals at the table .You should slam them back at work. This is the time for everyone to fight back. It is our very futures that are at stake. We say we are Fighting FOR the American Dream. We are Fighting AGAINST a Corporate nightmare.

The Legacy T Bargaining Team.