Newsletter

Our November meeting was wide ranging in scope and encompassed many areas of concern to Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell retirees. Uppermost is the continuation of promised health and pension benefits, the ongoing association with NRLN, plans and programs of the AT&T Retiree Coalition and other emerging issues of consequence that could impact our quality of life.

Mr. Jack Land, Vice President and Mrs. O. Lee Williams, Director, tendered their resignations which were reluctantly accepted by our Board of Directors. We thank them both for their volunteer service to the Association and extend our very best wishes upon their "second" retirements.

The Directors approved the election of Mr. Charles E. Gilbert for the position of Vice President. Mr. Gilbert brings a wealth of experience to our Association, including assignments in Marketing, Commercial, Training, Accounting, Regulatory, and AT&T. He also brings to us extensive experience in both community and outside business activities. Chuck retired with 29 years of Bell System service.

The Directors also approved the election of Mrs. Jeanne Brady as a member of our Board of Directors. Jeanne retired with 24 years of Bell System service. Her career encompassed service with the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company (Washington, D.C.) and extensive assignments in Pacific Telephone primarily within Engineering departments. We have long sought a Director from Nevada Bell and are delighted to welcome Jeanne to our Board of Directors.

The TelCo Association has also been seeking a retiree living in the Central Valley of California to serve as a member of our Board of Directors. If you or someone you know living in Central Valley would like to be a candidate for membership on our Board of Directors, please forward a resume’ to our Association at P.O. Box 600067, San Diego, CA 92160-0067.

Thanks to the prudent management of our finances by "Treasurer Bob," the Association is pleased to report corporate expenses are being held to a minimum and "surplus" monies are being wisely invested in AT&T common stock, $5,851, (for proxy purposes) a Money Market account of $20,000 and a total CD balance in excess of $57,000, all adding to a strong balance sheet. We currently await final legal billing for our second Proxy Statement.

In view of the many uncertainties surrounding corporate and federal interests in Medicare, pensions, and health benefits, your Association believes a strong balance sheet is mandatory for the protection of our benefits should legal action become a necessity.

At this writing, the Class Action lawsuit brought against AT&T for their discriminatory actions in depriving retirees of their telephone concession service continues to progress in federal court. At the plaintiff’s request, the court has certified the following classes:

(1) Retirees of an SBC company (including but not limited to Ameritech, Pacific Telesis, Southern New England Telephone, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, and any predecessor ) receiving a telephone concession after they retired, anytime from January 1, 2002 to the present and who lives outside the SBC service area or (2) current or former employees with any SBC participating company with more than five years of service with an SBC participating company as of June 1, 2005, who were eligible or might become eligible to receive an out-of-service area telephone concession after they retired; or (3) members of the immediate family of any person in group 1 or group 2, including surviving spouses and the retiree dependents (including registered domestic partners of Pacific Telesis employees and retirees) during the time that SBC had a policy to provide employees of such SBC participating companies with a telephone concession after retirement.

All participants and beneficiaries of SBC’s telephone concession plan at anytime from January 31, 2003 to October 1, 2005.

Cingular now offers lower rates and discounts to all AT&T employees and retirees on their personal wireless service. The lower rates apply to existing as well as new accounts.

You can check out these offers and sign up by visiting the following website: https://www.cingularbusinessonline.com - or - From home, go to http://access.AT &T. com*.(Your SSN and home zip code are required to enter the site) Select the Cingular link in the left hand column.

If you have problems with the above websites, you may call these phone numbers to activate or upgrade service, or order accessories, call 1-800-356-9752. To contact Cingular Customer Care, get technical support, add discounts or change your account, call 1-866-CINGULAR.

The Association frequently receives calls from members stating they are not receiving Newsletters. We find they have changed their residence address or their email address without informing the Association. Please include us in your future notification plans. (In addition, we are receiving frequent notices of failure to deliver our messages because: "mailbox unavailable", "over quota", "does not accept email from TelCo Retirees Association address," "mailbox full".) The Association makes every attempt to "deliver" our Newsletters but without your assistance, we are not able to do so.

Membership Chairman Lee Brown reported our total membership of Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell retirees continues to linger at the 2,000 level . This is unacceptable since there are approximately 30,000 Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell retirees. A recent review of "new members" indicates the majority have been recruited by members of our Association who have forwarded copies of our Newsletters or membership applications.

Because "it‘s always the numbers that count," the Association will soon embark upon a major "recruiting effort" offering a "gift" to members who personally recruit a new TelCo Retiree Association member . (LOOK FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT IN YOUR MAIL BOX SOON!!!).

At this writing, both TelCo Retirees Association proxies have been delivered to AT&T and are being reviewed for legal acceptability. If approved, we will receive a copy of the finalized proxy statements from AT&T within 30 days. As a reminder, the first proxy amends the company’s governance documents to provide that Director Nominees shall be elected by the affirmative vote of the majority of votes cast at an annual meeting of stockholders. The second proxy would amend the company bylaws to require that the Board of Directors seek shareholder approval for severance agreements with senior executives, including any future, renewed or modified "Golden Parachute" and "Golden Good-By" severance plans which provide benefits with a total value exceeding 2.99 times the sum of the executive’s base salary plus bonus.

Assuming AT&T and SEC approve these 2 proxies, the Association requests your personal support by voting yes when you receive your AT&T annual report to stockholders. We also encourage you to seek support for the passage of these proxies from your family, friends and associates.

Vice President Charles Gilbert will submit the email addresses of our membership (excluding members who requested not to have them forwarded) to the National Retiree Legislative Network. This will enable the NRLN to forward legislative matters impacting retirees. Also, where a California or Nevada Congressperson is supporting legislation for retirees’ benefits, or opposing such legislation, members of our Association living within these Congressional Districts are to receive specific information from the NRLN requesting their personal involvement. (The following link will provide any member the information they would need to communicate with their appropriate representative: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ )

Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell pensioners failed to receive their October pension check on Friday, September 29^th (the last business day of the month) because October 1^st fell on Sunday (many of our members did not receive the actual deposit of their pension checks until the following Tuesday).

Our Association took umbrage with this critical pension issue and immediately brought the matter to the attention of senior AT&T management. A follow up conference call between AT&T Health Benefit officials and the AT&T Retiree Coalition brought to light the fact that Fidelity Investments had failed to follow the required protocol. The issue has been corrected and there should not be a repeat of delayed direct deposits. ("Makes one wonder the amount of interest that accrued in delaying AT&T pension checks for even one day!")

Over the past years through numerous joint meetings, conference calls and one-on-one telephone contacts, the Presidents of the AT&T Retiree Coalition has established a beneficial relationship with officers and directors of the AT&T Health Benefit organization. This relationship is founded upon mutual respect and confidentiality, and has enabled our individual retiree organizations to obtain benefit information not readily available in AT&T’s published documents.

The following questions and responses were developed during one such conference call and I felt the importance of the issues should be shared with our membership.

A. No changes for 2007 other than deductible and out of pocket maximum adjustments

Q. What is the status of the UHC pilot to implement Medicare crossover for Part A?

A. UHC will implement Medicare crossover for Part A claims effective with any claim

A. A mail-out to retirees inviting them to receive news electronically will occur in 1^st Qtr.2007.

Q. What is the plan for ongoing review and analysis of an ad hoc pension increase?

A. Annually we review the status of our retirees’ pensions as they relate to the cost of

Q. What is the difference between our past practice of granting ad hoc increases every 3 years or so and now?

A. It is a different company, in an ever evolving business, facing different issues of

business competition, market pressures, revenue generation and cost containment.

A. Retirement dates are associated with certain written corporate commitments that may have been made in communications to employees at the time of their retirements.

Certain communications at that time did not contain adequate "reservation of rights"

language and, therefore, people retiring prior to those dates have differing obligations

Q. How many AT&T retirees could be affected by the high deductible medical plan?

A. We are involved in a complex pension administration transition. Like all pension

administrators, Fidelity has certain types of calculations that won’t be mechanized

and are, therefore, performed manually. Fidelity has added significant work force to

address these issues. AT&T and Fidelity are working together to increase the number

The Coalition continues to challenge AT&T’s responses to some of these questions. We believe our retirees have "earned" their benefits through years of dedicated and loyal service to the company, its subscribers and stockholders. The decisions made by employees at the time they accepted retirement from Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell were based upon documented statements attesting to their pensions, medical, death benefits and telephone concession services.

We are the Bell System’s "greatest asset" and refuse to be considered a "liability" on the basis of our retirements!!!

The AT&T Vice President of Benefits issued the following statement to me in response to a letter challenging a reduction in Directory Advertising Sales death benefits to a maximum of $15,000: (Not to be confused with payroll deduction life insurance)

"This issue resulted from recent Directory bargaining for future retirees. Following that contract, Yellow Page management elected to apply this same change to current retirees (formerly bargained-for employees) as well. This decision was not an arbitrary one but was a deliberate and strategic decision made by Yellow Page management consistent with their business goals and direction."

The TelCo Retirees Association, in conjunction with IBEW leadership, is challenging this decision by AT&T.

The Pacific Telesis Group Benefits 90’s Summary Plan Description (July 1996) for Non-Salaried and Salaried retired before 1987 clearly defines the death benefits for Directory Sales to include "Basic annual pay, incentive compensation, area differentials, Team Awards, commission and bonuses."

In a statement from the leadership of the IBEW, "In all circumstances related to collective bargaining for the Life Insurance Package, the spirit and meaning was not to be retroactive, but to include only those employees that were going to retire during the life of the contract."

Your Association will work closely with the IBEW to overturn this disingenuous ruling by AT&T’s Health Benefit group.

The TelCo Retirees Association, Inc. will hold its Annual Meeting at the LA MESA WOMEN’S CLUB, 5220 WILSON STREET, LA MESA, CA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2007. The meeting will commence at 9:30 A.M. and adjourn promptly at 12:30 P.M.

The Annual Meeting agenda will include the election of Directors/Officers, approval of the budget, membership plans and programs, AT&T stockholder meetings, and other items as brought forward by members of the Association in attendance. We look forward to seeing you there.

…As our Association "closes the books" upon our fourth year representing Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell retirees, your Officers and Directors would like to extend our very warmest holiday wishes to all members and their families.…May you enjoy good health, the continuation of your well earned benefits and, hopefully, some improvement in your pensions in the coming year!

Your suggestions and recommendations for the future growth of our membership will be greatly appreciated by your Officers and Directors. (TelCo Retirees Association, Inc., P.O. Box 600067,
San Diego, CA 92160-0067) email Info@telcoretirees.org