Retirees picket EMBARQ because the company plans to discontinue paying for their health insurance

Bristol Herald Courier, Aug. 31, 2007

BRISTOL, Tenn. –- Glenn Ward said he spends $3,000 a month buying the prescription drugs needed to treat his wife's Parkinson’s disease. He and other EMBARQ retirees learned last month they will lose their company-paid health insurance on Jan. 1.

"It's a crying shame," Ward said Thursday morning. "You think you have health insurance and then you don't."

Ward joined about 30 other EMBARQ retirees in a Thursday morning informational picket outside the company's Bristol office on 6th Street. The group – mostly former Communications Workers of America Local 8371 members – wanted the rally to draw more attention to retirees' plight and bring pressure upon EMBARQ to leave the insurance coverage intact.

"We'd hoped to have more [people out here], but you know retirees have a lot of doctor's appointments," said Johnny Thompson, a former Local 8371 president who has been coordinating the retirees' efforts.

EMBARQ announced July 26 the company would stop providing health insurance to its Medicare-eligible retirees and their dependents.

EMBARQ spokesman Tom Matthews defended the action by saying it would save the company $30 million a year starting in 2008 and would remove $300 million in long-term liability from its balance sheet. He also said that only 19 percent of privately owned companies still provide health insurance to retirees.

Those affected by the switch still would be able to get Medicare and would be free to sign up for whatever supplemental coverage they chose.

Thompson said about 2,500 former EMBARQ retirees living in the Tri-Cities area and their dependents would be affected by the switch. CWA International estimates it would hit 14,500 people across the U.S.

Pickets have been held in North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Oregon, according to CWA International's Web site.

"It's everywhere," said Fred Feathers, who heard from his sister about a similar rally held by EMBARQ retirees in New Jersey. "They're trying to stop it everywhere."

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