The Association of BellTel Retirees, Inc. advocates for more than 205,000

Bell Atlantic A bell Help:IPA/English, /ˈbɛl/ () is a struck idiophone, directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficien ...

, NYNEX,

GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

, MCI, Idearc Media, Idearc/SuperMedia, and

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

union and management

retirees A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

. The association represents active Verizon employees regarding retiree issues such as

cash balance plan A cash balance plan is a defined benefit retirement plan that maintains hypothetical individual employee accounts like a defined contribution plan. The hypothetical nature of the individual accounts was crucial in the early adoption of such pla ...

conversions and termination of management

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

and healthcare benefits. Corporations have been cutting back on retiree pensions and healthcare coverage. The Association’s

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

works to its goal to prevent widespread cuts for Verizon and SuperMedia retirees. The 134,000 members of the Association of BellTel Retirees have banded together to fight for the protection of retirees. The association believes that with all retirees acting together they can achieve pension inflation protection and, through congressional action, restore and protect the healthcare benefits that have been chiseled away through passage of federal retiree healthcare protection

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

. In a class federal action lawsuit, participants in Verizon’s (VZ) pension plans who were involuntarily transferred to Idearc’s pension plans in November 2006 have pending claims of ERISA violations including: * Breach of fiduciary duty for failure to comply with pension plan document rules; and * Other ERISA violations justifying that the federal court order declaratory, injunctive and other equitable relief, and restore the retirees into Verizon’s sponsored employee benefit plans. The Association of BellTel Retirees can be found on Facebook. Proxy campaign success wins elimination of Verizon executive

golden parachute A golden parachute is an agreement between a company and an employee (usually an upper executive) specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. These may include severance pay, cash bonuses, ...

s and bloated executive bonuses in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. The 2003 win was the first time any

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the AT&T Corporation, American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America fo ...

Company was ever defeated in a

proxy vote Proxy voting is a form of voting whereby a member of a decision-making body may delegate their voting power to a representative, to enable a vote in absence. The representative may be another member of the same body, or external. A person so ...

in its 125-year history. The association won the Say on Pay proxy by a 50.18% vote in 2007.

ProtectSeniors.org

ProtectSeniors.Org is a

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

-based

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

group founded in 2006 to advocate for retired Americans. It was founded by Verizon retiree members of the Association of BellTel Retirees. ProtectSeniors.Org is dedicated to the interests of corporate retirees in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The group represents 14.3 million retirees from 392 companies, 45 labor union locals, 98 municipal, state and federal retiree groups and 16 associations.

References

Fortune Magazine - We Won't Be Ignored - August 13, 2001

* ttps://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2006-01-16-pension-funds_x.htm USA Today - Pension Funds Fall Short of Guarantees - January 16, 2006br> Pittsburgh Tribune – Review - Verizon Retirees Seek Say on Pay - May 3, 2007
* ttps://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/19/technology/19verizon.html New York Times – Say On Pay Gets Support at Verizon – May 19, 2007
New York Times – Verizon to Put Executive Pay to Shareholder Vote – November 2, 2007 Reuters - Verizon Retirees to Shareowners: Vote Nay on Pay- April 9, 2009
* ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/31/ivan-seidenberg-pay-share_n_181210.html Huffington Post - Retirees Group To Vote Against Verizon CEO’s Pay – March 31, 2009br>Verizon Shareholders Approve Executive pay – May 7, 2009
* ttp://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100328/SUB/303289971 Crain's New York Business - Putting Verizon CEO's Pay Through The Wringer - March 28, 2010(subscription required)
Crain's New York Business - Facing the Music on Boss Pay - June 20, 2010 Bergen Record - Retirees Seek To Limit Verizon Executive Bonuses -March 31, 2011 Star Ledger -Retirees Seek To Limi Verizon Executive Bonuses - March 31, 2011

Bloomberg News - Verizon Retiree Group Proposes Performance Share Payout Limits- March 29, 2011Long Island Business News - Verizon retirees sue to protect their pensions - June 17, 2011
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122710/http://antonnews.com/syossetjerichotribune/news/17536-fighting-for-retiree-benefits-for-15-years.html/ Syosset Jericho Tribune - Fighting for Retiree Benefits for 15 Years - September 2, 2011]
The Ocean Star - Resident works with retiree group to protect pensions - October 7, 2011
{dead link, date=October 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes

* ttp://www.stardem.com/business/article_b5cc0167-bf97-53c7-bffe-5b6e7fddb2dc.html Star Democrat - Easton resident continues fight for retiree benefits - December 1, 2011br>Courier News and Home News Tribune - N.J. must protect benefits of those already retired - December 6, 2011Daily Record - N.J. must protect benefits of those already retired - December 6, 2011

External links

Official website
Retirement in the United States