AT&T and Cell Phones for Soldiers Surpass First-Year Goal, Raising Over $2 Million to Support U.S. Troops with Free Phone Cards

Recycling Program That Sends Phone Cards to U.S. Troops Has Helped Recycle More Than a Million Wireless Phones, Surpassing Initial $1.4 Million Goal

AT&T's Recycling Support to Continue Via 2,000-Plus Company Stores and Volunteer Efforts

San Antonio, Texas, July 2, 2008

Recycle wireless phones and help connect U.S. military families with free phone cards. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and military charity Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS) have been connecting those dots since July 2007 — by recycling cell phones in more than 2,000 AT&T stores across 1,100 U.S. cities. And, as Independence Day approaches, the company and the charity are celebrating that CPFS has now raised more than $2 million — including recycling proceeds and financial and in-kind donations — since the two joined forces.

To celebrate the one-year milestone, AT&T is now pledging another year of recycling support for the charity — in all company-owned stores.

CPFS collects and recycles wireless phones and uses the proceeds to buy free phone cards for U.S. military members and their families. The first-year results of the program have surpassed the 2007 goal of raising $1.4 million, enough to provide a free 20-minute phone card for all troops stationed in Iraq at that time.

Phones recycled through AT&T stores, community drives and online tools have added volume to the broader efforts of the CPFS recycling program, which has now collected more than a million total wireless phones since July 2007 — including 90,000 phones collected via AT&T channels in just the past three months.

The Retiree Association profiled this issue is the National Association of Prudential Retirees Inc. (NAPRI). Be sure to read the articles by Bob Foresta, NRLN Vice President - Legislative Affairs, and by Bob Martina, NRLN Vice President - Grassroots Networks. Among the other articles are profiles on two NRLN Board Members who are leaders in the Association of US WEST Retirees. They are Kathleen "Kitty" Kennedy, of Tucson, Arizona, President of Telephone Retirees Association of Arizona, Inc. (TRA-AZ) and Mary Ann Neuman, of New Hope, Minnesota, Chairwoman of the 5-state Northwestern Bell group of retirees

AT&T Corporate Headquarters to Move to Dallas

San Antonio, Texas, June 27, 2008

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), the world's largest telecom company, announced today that it will move its corporate headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas to gain better access to its customers and operations throughout the world, and to the key technology partners, suppliers, innovation and human resources needed as it continues to grow, domestically and internationally.

The move will begin in the coming weeks and is expected to be complete around yearend. It is expected to involve about 700 of the company's nearly 6,000 San Antonio-based employees.

"We're a growing global company with customers and operations around the world," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. "Being headquartered in Dallas will benefit our long-term growth prospects and human resources needs, and our ability to operate more efficiently, better serve customers and expand the business in the future.

"San Antonio is a great city with much to offer and it's been good for AT&T as we've grown from primarily a five-state local phone company to the world's largest telecom company," Stephenson said. "San Antonio will continue to be a major operations and employment center for us."

Following the move, AT&T will have about 1,700 more employees in San Antonio than before it relocated its corporate headquarters to the city from St. Louis in 1992. The company's Telecom Operations group, which serves residential and regional business customers in 22 U.S. states, will remain in San Antonio.

Senate Finance Committee Staff Withdraws Proposal

An extraordinary team effort has caused the Senate Finance Committee staff to withdraw consideration of a proposal to modify Section 420 of the IRS Code to allow the transfer of billions of dollars from traditional defined benefit pension plans to fund 401(h) healthcare accounts to pay the healthcare benefits of active employees.

Because the National Retiree Legislative Network's Washington, D.C. staff members Phyllis Borzi, Marta Bascom and Michael Calabrese learned that the Senate Finance Committee was giving serious consideration to the proposal, we were able to insert ourselves early on into the dialogue to provide a voice for retirees. Early this month, Marta, Michael and I prepared a "white paper" opposing the proposal under consideration and offering alternatives. The "white paper" served as a basis for a conference call with two Senate Finance Committee staff members.

Due to our concerns following the call that the staff might propose legislation to the 21 members of the Senate Finance Committee, the NRLN formed a coalition with the AFL-CIO and the Pension Rights Center to oppose the proposal under consideration. Next, the NRLN's Grassroots Advocates who live in the states that have a member on the Senate Finance Committee responded to our request to send emails to their Senators. Those letters from constituents got the attention of several Senators and the Finance Committee staff members.

On Wednesday, June 25, one of the Finance Committee staff members with whom we had communicated earlier this month requested a conference call with the NRLN. On the Thursday conference call with Marta, Michael and me, the staff member informed us that due to the high level of opposition to the proposal it would be withdrawn.

The withdrawn proposal, motivated by the opportunity to gain additional corporate tax revenues, would have had devastating consequences on the future pension security of 44 million present and future retirees. Heading off this potential legislation shows once gain how important it is for retirees to have a strong voice on Capitol Hill.

This is why we must continue to grow the NRLN's Grassroots Network, gain affiliation with additional Retiree Associations, and attract more Individual Members who will make an annual contribution to fund our legislative efforts. Association solicitation on behalf of the NRLN and encouraging family members and friends to sign up in the Grassroots Network at http://capwiz.com/abtr/mlm/signup/ and become an NRLN Individual Member are critical to our continuing success. Details are available at www.nrln.org.

Thanks again to the NRLN's Washington staff members, the AFL-CIO, the Pension Rights Center and NRLN Grassroots Advocates for coming together to say with one strong voice that it would be a mistake for the Senate Finance Committee to support legislation allowing Section 420 transfers from defined benefit pension plans to be used to pay for healthcare benefits for active employees.

Together we can make a difference in the lives of retirees.

Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network

The driver of a nearby car gave me a strange look and said,"Why don't you just put it in park?"

17,398 hourly workers take GM buyout

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp. will usher out 17,398 hourly workers through buyout offers and retirement incentives rolled out this spring, according to a final count of departing employees released today by the automaker.

GM last month said about 19,000 workers opted for one of the packages, which included 1,259 who had already retired and were eligible retroactively. Workers had a week to change their minds after taking an offer.

Most workers will be gone by July 1.

Nearly half those leaving -- about 8,500 -- are from Michigan factories. The Flint area alone is set to lose 1,800 workers.

GM extended the offers to all 74,000 United Auto Workers-represented employees in the U.S. as part of a plan to move out highly paid veterans and replace them with lower-wage new hires.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2001, alleged the mortality tables the pension plan used to calculate retirement benefits wrongly reduced payments to some workers. Linda Call, the employee who filed the initial lawsuit, said her $219, 312 in benefits were cut by about $36,000 due to a 1999 amendment to the company's plan.

A U.S. District Court in 2004 said the AT&T plan violated federal pension laws and awarded a class of approximately 2,000 retirees the $31.2 million judgment, which included $6.4 million in interest. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago affirmed that ruling.

The U.S. Solicitor General's office, in a court brief, said the high court should turn away the appeal. The case is AT&T Pension Benefit Plan v. Call, 06- 1398.

-By Mark H. Anderson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9254; mark.anderson@ dowjones.com

See article at http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200806091041DOWJONESDJONLINE000322_FORTUNE5.htm

Fat pensions spell doom for many cities

By Janice Revell, Money Magazine senior writer

Vallejo, Calif., took the extreme step of filing for bankruptcy to get out of generous obligations to public employees. Other cities and states are watching.

NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- The jig is up. For years, politicians have been playing what amounts to a multi-trillion-dollar shell game with state and local pensions. They've doled out lush retiree benefits to their heavily unionized workforces, knowing that they could shove the cost for those benefits onto future generations of taxpayers.

But a recent financial bombshell dropped by a San Francisco suburb shows why that shell game is now starting to unravel in a nasty way. And it's a cautionary tale that you can't afford to ignore.

Here's the skinny: In late May, Vallejo, Calif., became the largest city in California history to declare bankruptcy. Its financial demise was brought about partly by the real estate crash, which decimated home prices in the area and put a major dent in the city's tax revenues.

But the real nail in Vallejo's coffin was the city's labor costs. Under the current labor agreement, the average police officer walking the beat in Vallejo will be paid $122,000 this year before overtime, according to city documents. An average sergeant will make $151,000; a captain, $231,000. The average firefighter, meanwhile, will bring in $130,000 before overtime.

That's just the salaries, though. The final budget-crusher was the city's pension plan. Thanks to retroactive benefit enhancements approved by the city council in 2000, police officers and firefighters can now retire at age 50 and receive an annual pension equal to 90% of their final pay (assuming 30 years on the job), an amount that gets increased every year to help keep pace with inflation. The old plan had given the workers a pension equal to 60% of their final pay at age 50.

So a Vallejo police sergeant making $150,000 a year can now retire at age 50 and receive an annual pension of $135,000, increased each year for inflation. To put that amount in context, you would need to amass a retirement nest egg equal to about $3.5 million to produce a similar retirement income on your own.

It wasn't just police and firefighters who benefited from the city's largess. The annual pensions for rank-and-file city employees were jacked up from 60% of final pay at age 55 (after a 30-year career) to a whopping 80% of pay, increased each year for inflation.

Here's the scary part: What's going on Vallejo isn't unique.

Back at the turn of this century, when the stock market was still booming, public pension plans across the country were suddenly overflowing with surplus money. Politicians responded by handing out heavily sweetened pensions.

Then, even though the stock market collapsed, politicians couldn't stop the trend. In 2001 alone, pension benefits were increased in at least 17 state plans, as well as some major cities.

Read complete article at http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/02/pf/retirement/vallejo.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2008060305

The NRLN has submitted proposals to the Democratic and Republican Parties on retirement issues to be considered for inclusion in their National Platforms this 2008 Election Year.

The changing global economy, the NRLN noted in its proposals, has put added pressures on employers to become more competitive and they have been using the U.S. Courts, Federal Agencies and ambiguities in legislation to reduce or eliminate those earned retirement benefits they previously promised to employees and retirees.

Following the format of the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Platforms, the NRLN made a number of important recommendations, including:

· The use of "surplus" funds in pension plans must be for the original intended purpose of those plans to benefit retirees, not for corporate restructuring expenses.

· Older workers must be protected from unfair treatment when their Defined Benefit pension plans are converted to Cash Balance Plans.

· Assist American businesses to continue to provide health care programs by proper incentives and also to make available quality, affordable health care coverage for all Americans.

· Supports the five principles of health care reform as described by the National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC); 1) Health care coverage for all; 2) Improved cost management to eliminate waste; 3) Improvement of Health Care Quality and Safety; 4) Equitable Financing; and 5) Simplified Administration that established electronic record keeping networks and minimizes redundancies.

· Support a retiree health care Maintenance-of-Cost Payment (MCP) equal to the cost of an individual's earned health care benefits at the time of retirement or at a subsequent time, whichever is highest, when reduction or cancellation of coverage may occur.

· Provide tax credits to businesses that continue to provide health care benefits to retirees so they may maintain quality, reliable health care during their retirement years.

· Offer retirees under age 65 who do not have employer-provided health care coverage either tax credits or a Medicare buy-in program at the then current Medicare cost levels.

· In 1993, Congress, as part of a balanced budget initiative, implemented taxation on Social Security benefits aimed at upper income groups. The level of taxable benefits was not indexed to inflationary changes, resulting in injustices done to larger numbers of retirees than the intended legislation targeted. Support legislation that amends the tax codes to eliminate or reduce this unintended consequence and harm to lower income retirees.

In addition platform proposals, the NRLN has inquired of both Parties whether there would be an opportunity for an NRLN Washington, D.C. staff member to testify before any hearings held by the respective National Platform Committee.

To read the entire platform proposal to the Democratic Platform Committee on the NRLN website go to www.nrln.org/2008-Dem-platform.htm . To read the entire platform proposal to the Republican Platform Committee on the NRLN website got to www.nrln.org/2008-Rep-platform.htm . You may also want to look again at the 17 questions that have been asked of the presidential candidates and will be asked of all candidates for Senate and House seats. We posted the questions on April 12 and you can see them at http://www.nrln.org/BKLETTERS/NRLN%20Presidency%20Questions.htm .

Bob Foresta, NRLN Vice President - Legislative Affairs

Ed was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary and his wife was really angry.

She told him, 'Tomorrow morning I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in less then 6 Seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!!'

The next morning Ed got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, and brought the box back in the house. She opened it and found a brand new Bathroom Scale.

Ed has been missing since Friday. Please pray for him.

 Phony e-mails target child support cash

• - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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