Apr 8, 2010
In an outrageous tactic, Windstream is suing dozens of retirees who objected to the company’s plans to cut back or eliminate their promised health care benefits. CWA represents more than 1,300 employees and 3,000 retirees at the company.
It was a set up. Windstream solicited retirees for comments about the cutbacks in a survey it mailed or distributed to them. Retirees were asked specifically whether they believed Windstream had the right to change, reduce, or eliminate promised benefits. Retirees who said “No” later were stunned to learn that they were named as defendants in a class action lawsuit that Windstream filed in U.S. District Court.
“This is one of the most ruthless actions I can ever recall a company taking against retirees or employees,” said Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus. “Imagine the shock each retiree experienced after receiving a summons with a warning that a lawsuit has been filed against them,” he said.
CWA Local 6171, which represents more than 500 Windstream workers in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, plus hundreds of retirees, did not receive advance notification about the cuts from Windstream. The local’s contract with Windstream requires prior notification of and negotiation over any proposed changes to retiree health care.
“We first heard about it from retirees and they were devastated,” said Local 6171 President Allen Whitaker. “It was adding insult to injury when they discovered they had been sued for stating that they didn’t think the company had the right to back out of providing long-promised benefits,” he said.
CWA District 6 received a notice about the cuts after the company informed retirees represented by Local 6171. CWA also represents Windstream employees who worked for the company in Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Florida, and New York, but it is not known yet how many of these retirees were contacted by the company.
Windstream has asked the court to uphold its right to change retiree benefits. Incredibly, the company’s class action also asks the court to require retirees to pay for the cost of its lawsuit.
