Dear NBC Local 31 Retirees and Friends;

Ray W. Taylor President Emeritus NABET-CWA Local 41

Please, review the information below (very bottom) regarding the Rocheleau Law Suit in connection with the recent cancellation of GE Retiree’s Insurance. National Retiree Coordinator Bill Freeda had been aware of the strong possibility of this law suit and has been doing research for a very long time on what legal direction NABET-CWA can pursue in connection with GE’s recent NABET-CWA Retiree’s Insurance cancellation. I will try to keep you informed as to what legal direction NABET- CWA will finally take in this situation. In the meantime, please call OneExchange's toll- free number, 1-855-873-0103. And be prepared to spend some significant time.

If you have not received any notice from GE or One Exchange about the new GE Insurance Program call the GE Pension Benefits Inquiry Center at 1-800 432-3450 hit the appropriate prompt number for medical benefits. Once you get to talk to a representative, write down the representative’s name and their work location. Ask the representative to give you the current “status” of your medical benefits for the year 2015. If you are told by the representative that you are losing your medical benefits, please tell the representative that you have not received any such written notification information about this benefit loss from GE. Your very next step is to call 1-855 873- 0103 please make an appointment with one of the licensed benefit Counselors so they can guide you in choosing a new Medigap and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan and also to be eligible for the $1,000.00 per person Retirement Reimbursement Account (RRA). A Plan that resemble the existing GE plan is the AARP United Healthcare Part F Plan and the Silver Script “Choice” plan. Of course, availability as well as cost will differ for each individual in each individual state. Medicare Part D plan will differ for each person based on the medications they are currently taking.

If however, you are told that you are NOT impacted by this insurance change at the end of 2014 and your retiree benefits will continue through 2015 you MUST make a note of the time you called, the name and location of the representative that you spoke too. Bill Freeda has been assured by GE personnel that if NABET-CWA members are given such assurance by the GE Representative such extension assurance will be honored. If you have any difficulty or problems with any of these procedures or programs I highly recommend that you call Bill Freeda’s new toll free number (800-928-5279) or e-mail him at ([email protected] and I am confident that he will attempt to resolve any conflict, or problem that you are confronted with in connection with this GE Insurance cancellation.

Sincerely, Ray W. Taylor President Emeritus NABET-CWA, Local 41

Rocheleau Law Suit General Electric Co.'s one-time chief labor negotiator sued his former employer over its decision to cancel supplemental health insurance benefits for tens of thousands of retirees. Dennis Rocheleau, a 36-year GE employee who retired in 2004, filed the lawsuit today in Milwaukee federal court in an attempt to maintain coverage for former salaried workers who are set to lose access to company-sponsored Medicare benefit plans on Jan. 1.

The move boosts the stakes in his battle with GE after Rocheleau lobbied top executives publicly and privately for more than a year. "I see this as a gross departure from their traditional conduct," Rocheleau, 72, said in an interview. "What GE is doing is unjustified by the facts of their health-care costs and it is unjustified against the standards of what should be their proper behavior." GE joined a growing list of large companies ending employer-sponsored health-care benefits for former workers in favor of private-market insurance as the Affordable Care Act accelerates a trend of shrinking retiree coverage. AT&T Inc. has said it would create a private exchange, following similar moves from companies such as International Business Machines Corp. In an employer survey this year, about one-third of respondents said their Medicare- eligible retirees receive coverage through a private exchange and another 39 percent are considering moving to that model in the next two years, according to Towers Watson & Co., a New York-based benefits consultant that has advised GE.

GE sent notices last month to former salaried employees informing them that certain company-sponsored benefits, which supplement Medicare coverage and help pay other health-care costs, would end by the beginning of 2015. The company said in 2012 it would cancel eligibility for employees under 65. Company Trends In a Sept. 8 letter from Susan Peters, GE's senior vice president of human resources, the company said it would provide access to OneExchange, a private insurance marketplace owned by Towers Watson. GE will give participants a $1,000 reimbursement account and a "pharmacy assistance fund," the company said. "The change in our program is consistent with trends among large companies," Seth Martin, a GE spokesman, said in an e- mailed statement. "It allows GE to offer greater choice in coverage while striking a balance among our obligations to employees, retirees and shareowners." About 65,000 people could be affected under last month's change, Martin said, while declining to comment on the lawsuit. The filing on behalf of Rocheleau and former GE employee Evelyn Kauffman claims the company violated federal retirement laws by ending the program without offering any explanation, and breached its fiduciary duty by terminating the benefits shortly after saying in a handbook that GE "expects and intends" to continue the plans indefinitely.

The plaintiffs acknowledge that GE also stated it "reserves the right to terminate, amend or replace the program" at any time and for any reason. Rocheleau's clash with GE comes after a career at the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company that included more than a decade as the lead negotiator taking on unions. Rocheleau, a Harvard Law School alumnus, has sent letters to the board and confronted GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt at the annual meeting last year, saying the company "defaulted on its obligations." Rocheleau said he expects his own costs to rise about $3,000 a year. – See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/former-ge-labor-chief- escalates-retiree-care-fight-with-lawsuit-1.1119902#sthash.3IX4nW6C.dpuf