THE EMPLOYEE MATTERS AGREEMENT DEFINES EMPLOYEE BENEFITS IN THE VERIZON/SPINCO/FRONTIER TRANSACTION, INCLUDING PENSION AND RETIREMENT BENEFITS. Read the agreement here.
There are some additions on this home page to assist our Verizon members in getting information on the Verizon/Frontier Transaction. Click on the links above to go to verizonfrontierfacts.org and to read the Verizon/Spinco/Frontier Employee Matters Agreement governing the transition of benefits and employees during the transaction. Verizon employees can access the new North Central Region Website at the Verizon Eweb address shown above. There is a good q&a piece at this site which I have reviewed and found to be accurate with respect to the employee matters agreement and very clearly states that any employee who retires prior to the effective date of the transaction will retire as a Verizon employee.
I learned today that the target date for employees and benefits to move to Spinco is April 1, 2010 and that the target date for the transaction to be effective is August 1, 2010, absent any delays resulting from regulatory or shareholder approval. For those retirement eligible members who are contemplating retirement in order to preserve their pension and retirement benefits with Verizon, it is recommended that they look at making that decision in June 2010 so that the commencement of pension benefits and health care benefits begin prior to the effective date of the transaction. We will continue to monitor these dates for changes and also monitor the rates utilized in the lump sum pension calculation, currently the treasury bond rate which is at 2.75 for pension distributions in November, December, and January. The rates are expected to remain stable or slightly lower over the next 6 months. If any members has questions or would like to discuss any of the previously mentioned items pleas feel free to call me or Assistant Business Manager Jules Csuhta.
Lastly, after reporting to the membership that Verizon was once again interested in finalizing a working retiree agreement I regretfully must report that the Company has once again gotten cold feet with respect this issue. My understanding is that this proposal was killed at an executive management level above the North Central Region leadership. Our hope was to create this agreement so that our retirement eligible members could preserve their pension and retiree welfare benefits with Verizon and continue working through the transaction.
