LOCAL 2911, UAW

DIPLOMAT PLAZA, P.O. BOX 6056

FORT WAYNE, IN 46896-0056

FAX: 260-461-7521

Chapter 305 & 2911 Retiree Bulletin January, 2006

Local 305 Officers: Local 2911 Officers:

Jeanette Gaffer Chairperson Sandra Poling

Barb Parrott Vice Chairperson

Hazel Sitko Recording Sec. Barb Gibson

Carol Davis Financial Sec. Dick Nartker

Dorothy Ward Sgt. of Arms

Insurance Dan Alter 461-1383 and/or 918-4094 (Ft. Wayne #)

Seasons Greetings to all Retirees and Spouses

We wish all of our retirees and families a Merry Christmas and Joyous and Healthy New Year.

Your Retiree Representatives recently attended a UAW Region 3 Retiree meeting in Indianapolis and our Regional Director Terry Thurman assured all in attendance that he and the UAW is and will do all in their power to keep benefits for UAW workers and Retirees. Below is a UAW wire message that the UAW sent out to those who are on their email lists and responded to the UAW’s urging to support legislation for UAW workers and retirees.

Many companies through various “legal” maneuvers declare bankruptcy and put our earned pension benefits costs in the hands of the taxpayers. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has recently picked up pensions of various companies and is now operating in the red. Current legislation is being discussed to fix this problem. Your UAW Legislative Team is working hard to protect our pensions.

Thanks to the fantastic grassroots pressure from UAW members, House GOP leaders have been forced to fix the provisions in the pension legislation that threatened pension accruals and benefits for hundreds of thousands of UAW active and retired members. Today, the GOP leaders agreed to change the provisions in the bill dealing with plant closing benefits and credit balances. With these changes, the pension bill will now allow well funded pension plans to continue to provide plant shutdown benefits to help cushion the impact of corporate downsizing on older workers. In addition, the pension bill will require employers to waive the portion of any credit balance necessary to protect workers and retirees from having their pension credits and benefits frozen. This will effectively prevent companies from being able to deliberately trigger freezes on pension benefits and credits, even in plans that are well funded. With these critically important changes, the UAW is now supporting the House pension bill (H.R. 2830). We expect the House to take up this bill on Thursday, December 15, and are urging representatives to vote for the bill.

The credit for this important victory belongs to the thousands of UAW activists who took the time to contact their representatives to insist that the pension legislation be changed. In the end, it was this grassroots pressure that got the GOP leaders to fix the provisions in the bill!

Many thanks for all of your efforts that produced this victory!

If an International Truck and Engine Corp. Retiree gets married and wants to add the new spouse for health care, life insurance, and survivor pension coverage:

1) Notify the Employee/Retiree Information Center (ERIC); toll free 1-877-353-5100, immediately after the marriage.

2) An ERIC Service Advisor will advise the retiree to send in a copy of the marriage certificate and birth certificate of the new spouse.

3) The new spouse will be eligible for the medical coverage the date of marriage, if the retiree calls ERIC within 31 days of the marriage. Otherwise, the spouse will be added the first of the month after  ERIC receives a completed  enrollment form. The enrollment forms are mailed to the retiree's home address on file within several days of the retiree's initial notification to ERIC. 

4)  If a retiree wants to change the beneficiary of the retiree life insurance coverage, they need to contact MetLife at 1-800-871-2435 toll free.

IMPORTANT new marriage information……THIS IS NOT AUTOMATIC:

5) Survivor pension benefit (55% of the lifetime pension amount, EXCLUDING any supplemental allowance).

The retiree must contact ERIC and ask for the “After Retirement Survivor Benefit Election”

(ARSBE) form.

The survivor benefit coverage is effective the first of the month following the 1 year anniversary date of their marriage.

Example: Married February 10, 2006 survivor benefit coverage becomes effective March 1, 2007 if the ARSBE form was completed and received by ERIC no later than February 1, 2007.

The ARSBE form must be  properly completed  and received by ERIC  no later than the  first day of the month in which the retired employee has been married one year.

Example: Retiree marries February 10, 2006; the   ARSBE Form MUST be properly completed and received by ERIC no later than February 1, 2007.

Depending on when  an employee retired and how close the relative ages of the retiree and his/her new spouse are, there may or may not be a reduction in pension  benefits required to provide the survivor benefit.  Please note that although most retirees are eligible for the ARSBE coverage, some are not. For example: deferred vested pensioners, surviving spouses, and retail level retirees are not eligible. 

ERIC will provide further information on request including eligibility for the ARSBE coverage.   

Several retirees each year lose this benefit for their new spouse because they don’t know or forget to fill out and return the  ARSBE  form within the  required timeframe. 

If an International Truck and Engine Corp. Surviving Spouse remarries:

The Surviving Spouse will continue to be eligible for Health Care benefits from International Truck and Engine Corp.

The NEW spouse will NOT be eligible for Health Care coverage.

If the Surviving Spouse is receiving survivor pension benefits, those payments will continue.