From the Presidents Desk

Welcome to the new AT&T (your world consumed)!

It’s a great place to work if the salaries and benefits we fought so many years to acquire are unimportant to you. With the e-link conversion, everything we knew and, if not loved, tolerated went by the wayside. BellSouth’s merger partner, as they so fondly referred to this entire fiasco, obviously cares little about the people who work for them.

The first sign of trouble came when our members didn’t get their paycheck or were shorted all overtime and/or holiday pay. Once that was somewhat resolved, then the benefits issues started to surface. I have spent more time in the month of January talking with retirees than with active members. All surviving spouses insurance was cancelled. Anybody attempting to retire had major issues…the company was telling them they were retired and Hewitt said they didn’t think they were.

Apparently, it takes AT&T 8-10 weeks (or so says Hewitt) to mail a separation notice to ready takers who are trying to retire and save jobs for the younger people. God forbid these were young people who truly needed unemployment benefits. The bragging rights to being messed with no longer only apply to legacy B employees and retirees. Legacy T retirees also received termination of coverage notices that were sent to Aetna in error (so the company says). All I can tell you is that it has been quite a ride…..keep calling the union hall as issues arise and we will handle as quickly as possible.

At the beginning of this article, I made it sound like your pay and benefits were a thing of the past. The e-link conversion was only a bump in the road compared to what is going to take place at bargaining next year. I encourage all of you to save your money as if you already know there is going to be a strike in 2009; if we get lucky and there’s not, then you can take a great vacation!

In unity,

Debbie Helsley

Tyler’s Tirade

Oh, where do we start? It seems like we are spending every waking moment fighting with the company to protect those rights that we took for granted under Bellsouth. We continue to have issues with the company when it comes to panel meetings, paychecks, benefits, and the list goes on and on.

I am sure that each and every one of you has been touched by all these problems in one way or another over the past few months. I can only ask that we all keep our heads up, stand together, and keep fighting. Surely you are all aware that our contract is up next year and you can take it to the bank that the problems and battles we are undertaking right now are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we will face over the next year and a half. It is time, now more than ever, for each and every one of us to step up and do our part when it comes to the work we have to do going into next contract. First and foremost, we all need to strive to put ourselves in a financial position to be able to bear the burden of a strike if it happens.

Secondly, we need help in the steward ranks. The lack of active stewards in our local has become a burden on those who are actively performing steward’s work. As the company continues to push more and more upon us, I am sure this burden will eventually become too great. If you are interested in becoming a steward contact either a job steward you know or call the union hall for more information at (865)546-0204.

Finally, as ESM and other processes the company has imposed upon us make it harder for us to talk amongst ourselves on the job, the ability to disseminate vital information to our members has become increasingly difficult. The easiest way to remedy this is for our members to start attending our monthly meetings. They are held on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 P.M. at the Union Hall. Please make an effort to get here if you have not been coming, those who have, I would like to extend my thanks. Remember, keep your head up and stand together and we will make it through these tough times.

In Unity, Tyler Ott

Ray’s Remarks,

I would like to welcome everyone to another year under AT&T and the “San Antonio Mafia”. As we start a new year I like to think about how blessed we are to have the pay and benefits that most Americans do not have and our managers don’t have for that matter. The New Year has brought us a new Tennessee legislative session and we need to contact our legislators and let them know we want a competitive video services bill to pass. I know ATT gave us a deplorable offer with the premises tech positions, but we still need this bill to pass so we can try to ensure ourselves a better future. I have been hearing from different members that ATT management is disseminating information that is not true, such as the rumor that the pension buyout is going away. I want everyone to know that our pension buyout is part of the contract and cannot be cancelled. ATT has to honor our contract. Do not let management tell you that any part of our contract is not in effect. Please let us know when management is disseminating misinformation. We have had the panel meetings suspended for the last few months due to the fact that the company’s panel meeting members are being controlled by upper management. We have resumed the panel meetings and we will have to wait and see if things have improved. Please let us know when technicians are not being provided with the tools or the training they need to do their jobs. I have been informed that some technicians are not getting the training they need to do their jobs while management is being sent to the training that the technicians need. Once again I would like to reiterate that we are only a year and a half away from the end of the contract. I expect that we will be on strike and everyone needs to save enough money to meet their financial obligations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Unity, Ray Mehaffey

Retiree News

In December, our club held their annual Christmas luncheon which was enjoyed by all those attending. This was a special gathering as we celebrated the 25th year anniversary of our club. We remembered our past officers who worked so hard organizing our club and continuing its’ progress over the years. We also remembered those retired CWA members we lost in 2007.

We installed the new officers for the 2008 – 2009 term at our January meeting. Those officers are:

President Sue Stewart

Vice-president Jack Hays

Secretary/Treasurer Barbara Roberts

Our special thanks to the past officers, Sylvia Ward-Pres, Frank Schingle, Vice-pres and Eunice Buffaloe, Sec/Treas. for the great job they have done with our club for the past years.

We are hoping to build our club membership and attendance so we can continue working to protect the security of our retirement and the benefits we as Union members worked so hard to obtain during our working career. One thing we have to remember even though we worked hard as active members to obtain the benefits, the fight is never over and we must continue to be vigilant, stay informed and be visible to the Companies we retired from and our political leaders.

We would like to invite all of our retired members to come to our meetings, listen to us, give us advice and hopefully join with us.

For those of you who were grandfathered into the National Council, I have mailed your lifetime membership card and you should have already received it. This lifetime membership is ONLY for the Council and in order to remain or become a member of our local Chapter, we have a dues structure of $12.00 per year due in January. If you want to renew your membership or join our club, you can bring your dues to the next meeting on February 14th, 1:30pm at the Local Union Hall, or you can mail your check payable to Retired Members Chapter-Local 3805 to:

CWA 3805 RMC

1415 Elm Street

Knoxville, TN 37921

Attn: Sue Stewart, Pres.

Again, we hope to see you on February 14th, Valentine’s Day, for our meeting. Don’t forget; 1:30pm at the Union Hall.

In Unity, Sue Stewart, President-RMC

Partnership News

We have had some classes being taught as far away from the Local as Newport. I would like to stress again that I can have Partnership classes brought out to you at the work centers regardless of where you are, as long as I have enough people interested. If you are interested contact me by phone at 329-2640 or you can email me at VICKIE.WRIGHT2@BELLSOUTH.COM

In Unity, Vickie Wright

Sympathy

Please remember the following members and retirees who lost a loved one in the past months.

Penny Henson Father

Bob Henry Brother

Judy Bacari Mother

Phillip Ward Father-in-Law

Joann Myers Son

Lynn Hood Mother

David Julian Sister

Kathy Vandergriff Mother

Larry Halterman Mother

Gary Huffstetler Mother

Sherry Greenway Father-in-Law

Bette Witte Sister

Brent Hammonds Father-in-Law

Doyle Johnson Father

Jenny Phelps Father-in-Law

Steve Garrett Mother

Ryan Dalton Grandfather

Lance Dalton Grandfather

Kevin Greene Grandfather

James Lamb Brother

Margaret Thompson Husband

Eleanor Dinda Mother-in-Law

CJ Carver Mother

Sam Wilson Father

Michelle Bailey Grandfather

Scott Neloms Brother-in-Law

Gordon Rhyne Grandmother

Lawrence Welch Stepmother

We would also like to send our sympathies to the families of the following people who have passed away recently:

Linda Bailey

George Berry

Charlie Blasingame

Alma “Shorty” Hauther

Shirley Dyer

Lennis Evans Burkhardt

Dave Petree

Ray Pitner

Marian Thompson

Ray Pitner