Association of BellTel Retirees

The Association of BellTel Retirees, Inc. advocates for more than 205,000 Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, GTE, MCI, Idearc/SuperMedia, and Verizon union and management retirees. The association also represents active Verizon employees regarding retiree issues, such as cash balance plan conversions and termination of management pension and healthcare benefits.

Official logo of the Association of BellTel Retirees

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

In 2006, Verizon retirees from the association founded ProtectSeniors.Org, which lobbies for retiree-friendly legislation, specifically the Employee Benefits Protection Act (H. R. 2578).

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.

Successe
  • Three increases to the minimum pension for retirees of the former Bell Atlantic were won in 1999, 2000, and 2001.
  • Proxy campaign success wins elimination of Verizon executive golden parachutes and bloated executive bonuses in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. The 2003 win was the first time any Bell System Company was ever defeated in a proxy vote in its 125-year history. The association won the Say on Pay proxy by a 50.18% vote in 2007.
  • Securing a lump sum pension payment of up to $20,000 for approximately 91,000 retirees in 2000.
  • More than a dozen Annual Retiree Meetings held throughout the United States, attended by thousands of retirees.

Press releases from the Association of BellTel Retirees

News articles on the Association of BellTel Retirees

 
*New York Times – Verizon to Put Executive Pay to Shareholder Vote – November 2, 2007
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