According to the Naperville Sun, Lucent employs about 5,200 employees in Naperville and Lisle. Those jobs are now under threat with the planned Lucent-Alcatel merger that will ax 8,800 employees. According to the Taipei Times, Lucent’s worldwide work force was cut from 120,000 in 2000 to 30,200 now - and that’s before the 10 percent employee cut of the combined [Lucent-Alcatel] company’s 88,000 workers in next six to 12 months. That’s a lot of good jobs - possibly including local Naperville and Lisle jobs - that will be cut. Many people who lost their jobs in prior Lucent cuts locally have failed to find comparable new jobs.
Impact On Union Workers And Retirees
Wednesday’s Newark Star Ledger quoted Bruce Fabian, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1061 New Jersey, describing Lucent CEO Patricia Russo’s conference call with employees on Tuesday. On the conference call Russo said that the Lucent-Alcatel agreement would honor union contracts and pensions, but “she just sort of evaded the answer” about what would happen to health-care benefits for future retirees, according to Fabian. With many potential “future retirees” about to lose their jobs, that’s a big issue.
On March 30, Lucent Retiree Organization (LRO) sent out a press release where LRO president Ken Raschke pointed out that
“No one should want a foreign company to own a $34 billion pension fund - worth more than twice Lucent’s market value - unless safeguards are in place to protect the pension and benefits of 235,000 retirees and their dependents…. Lucent retirees come from a rich heritage of companies like AT&T, Western Electric, Bell Labs and Teletype where retiree benefits were earned through decades of their labor.”
Among other assurances of retirement security, Raschke said,
“We call upon Lucent and Alcatel to commit to publishing financial and actuarial data on the pension plan that shows the basis for current levels of funding. We also request their prompt action to bring the funding level to 100 percent on the management pension plan that is underfunded by more than $1 billion based on Financial Accounting Standards Board rules. This must be done prior to a merger closure date.”
LRO notes that Congress and federal agencies will review the merger that requires federal approval. They stressed that in addition to determining if the merger has “sufficient safeguards to protect the nation’s defense and communications infrastructures,” that “government leaders must hold Lucent and Alcatel accountable for the security of the pensions and benefits of Lucent’s retirees.” That’s the only fair and decent thing to do. Too many big businesses have shirked their retirement obligations. It’s long past time for our government to make retirement security a priority. You can help - demand retirement security from your local representative. And if your representative lacks a good record on the issue, getting 0% from the ARA on senior issues - then vote for the alternative. Send a message. Protect our future.
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