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March 2009
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AT&T Management Compensation Changes for 2009
Team,
I want to share with you decisions our Board of Directors approved today on management compensation and the reasons behind them.
We expect the difficult economy we face today will continue through 2009. Given that outlook, we've made the difficult decision to forego 2009 base salary increases for our management and officer team. As you know, we've already taken several steps to reduce costs, including reducing our workforce. I'm committed to doing all we can to help preserve and protect jobs, and this is one way to do it. It was not an easy decision, but I hope you'll agree it was the right one given the environment.
Concerning the 2008 Annual Bonus, all business units fell well short of their specific bonus targets, primarily due to the economy. However, the Board recognized all of your many accomplishments in advancing AT&T's market position, in enhancing our network capabilities, and managing through a challenging 2008 — including many of you relocating with the corporate headquarters to Dallas. As a result, the Board approved management Annual Bonus payouts based on each business unit's overall achievements. Your group's leadership will share specific payout percentages with you later today.
Lastly, I asked the board not to pay me a bonus for 2008, and they approved that request. Given the economic environment, the workforce reductions, and our earnings outlook for 2009, I felt it was the right thing to do. We are a company that expects the highest performance and accountability, and that starts at the top.
Hitting our 2009 targets will require hard work, focus and execution, but that is nothing new for you. Unlike many companies, we expect to actually grow revenues in 2009 because the demand for connectivity remains strong and AT&T is best positioned to meet that demand.
You are the best management team in telecommunications, and I am confident in our ability to continue delivering for our customers and our shareowners. My commitment to you is this: when our shareowners do well, we will all do well.
Thank you for your leadership. You make a difference.
Randall Stephenson, CEO, AT&T |
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Click Here for a PDF of the
U.S. District Court Western District of Texas
Notice of Pendency of Class Action
(A FEDERAL TRIAL DATE FOR PHASE 2 IS NOW SET FOR EARLY DECEMBER OF THIS YEAR. 2009. IT IS THE HOPE OF THE LAW FIRM PROSECUTING THE CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT A SETTLEMENT WILL BE REACHED BEFORE THIS DATE.)
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Attention ALL Retirees in ALL States
There's a new number for AT&T Employee/Retiree Discounts
and Offers Sales and Service Center.
The new toll-free number for the customer care centers that support employee and retiree discounts for wireline voice, DSL and U-verse is
877-377-9010.
Call this number between the hours of
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. central time zone Monday through Friday.
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ANNOUNCEMENT OF
NEW DIRECTOR
Mr. Arnold Rose was elected as a director of the Telco Retirees during the February meeting.
Mr. Rose began his career as a station installer in 1941. Following a military assignment during WWII, he returned to the plant department and was assigned as a PBX installer, deskman, and switchman, while earning an Electrical Engineering degree at USC.
He has had management assignments in the Chief Engineers Department, Accounting, Commercial, and Marketing. He retired in 1982 as a Division Staff Manager after 41 years service.
Welcome aboard, Mr. Rose!
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AT&T California Rate Case Placed On Hold
"The CPUC recently voted to deregulate basic phone rates over TURN's (Toward Utility Rate Normalization...original title) strenuous objections. The CPUC allowed rate hikes for basic service of up to 60% during the next two years, with no limits on increases after that! AT&T has already announced basic service will go from $10.94 to $13.50 per month on January 1st. The CPUC made no exemption for low-income Lifeline consumers from the increases,"
The CPUC stated, "Competition from cell and internet companies will keep phone rates reasonable."
TURN successfully appealed this CPUC decision and the rate hikes and forced the CPUC to develop an affordability study and to schedule public hearings on the issue. (1700 consumers signed the TURN petition to stop the AT&T service agreement...and large numbers of the association attended the Commission hearings.)
This issue should receive the support of all Pacific Bell retirees since its approval by the CPUC would have a fiscal impact upon AT&T's earnings...and...help ensure the continuation of our pensions and health benefits.
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2009 Proposed Budget
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A Reminder to Members:
To assure that you continue to receive messages and
Newsletters from our Association, please
Notify us promptly if you change your email address
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The following letter was sent on January 21, 2009
January 21, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D. C. 20500
Dear President Obama,
As a founder and former Chief Executive of the TelCo Retirees Association, Inc. (representing thousands of Pacific Bell Telephone Company retirees - living throughout the United States), I view with increasing alarm the financial meltdown of our pension assets…as well as the growing threats to our corporate promised health benefits. Aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision on March 24, 2008 to let stand a federal policy that allows employers to reduce their health insurance expenses for retired workers once they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare. (The justices turned down this appeal by the 39 million members AARP to undo a rule that essentially allows employers to treat retirees differently depending on their age.)
Our telephone company retirees are also well informed of the enormous indebtedness the United States is accumulating to "bail out General Motors and the Chrysler Corporation through the use of TARP Dollars!" The redundant evidence that "no good deed goes unpunished" is glaringly exposed by the onerous "bail outs!"
Further, the House and Senate agreement to also "fund" home mortgage corporations, as well as numerous Wall Street financial institutions, without concomitant controls over Chief Executives’ bonuses does not give America’s retirees a feeling of confidence.
The primary concerns of our TelCo retirees are the financial "contracts" the employees entered into at the time of their retirement. These corporate agreements specifically outlined the pension and health benefits for the retiree and their dependents throughout the remaining years of their lives. Indeed, these pension documents contain the approving signatures of corporate senior officers.
It is the hope of our association that you and the newly elected U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will expeditiously resolve the United States’ current financial Armageddon. You may count upon the support of the TelCo Retirees Association, Inc. and the thousands of our members as you go forward in resolving this monumental financial crisis.
I should like to close this letter with the following quotation from Sir Winston Churchill:
"To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour."
Very Sincerely,
Sumner K. Emery
6168 Capri Dr.
San Diego, CA 92120
cc: Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO AT&T
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