Association of Ameritech/SBC Retirees
Association of Ameritech/SBC Retirees Blue Bulletin - Vol. 2, No.2     Posted 3/29/07

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(March 28, 2007)
 
Proudly representing retirees from the new AT&T Midwest Region, SBC Midwest Region,
Ameritech, as well as the five Bell Companies in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
 
News from the National Retiree Legislative Network
 
As an AASBCR member, you are automatically a group NRLN member.  Many of us are also individual NRLN members.  To better serve its members the NRLN is surveying its membership, much like the AASBCR did late last year.  Many of us have taken the NRLN survey and it is harmless.  So far only 42 AASBCR members have taken this survey.  So if the NRLN doesn’t fully represent us, that would be our fault for not speaking up when we had the chance.  Please take a few minutes and complete this survey.
 
April 1st is the deadline for you to participate in the online National Retiree Legislative Network Opinion Survey. If you are not one of the 4,395 individuals who have already provided responses to the questionnaire, please click now on this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=792723330808.  If you are unable to reach the survey from this link, please go to the bottom of the NRLN website home page at http://www.nrln.org and click on the link to the survey there.
 
When completing the survey, note that a number of the questions have three, four or more sub-questions that require a response.  Questions with an asterisk require an answer before advancing to the next page.  
 
Your responses will be valuable to the NRLN Board and Retiree Association leaders in planning the future direction and priorities for the NRLN and the Retiree Associations. Results will be compiled in total and by retiree organization affiliation. Combined results will be posted on the NRLN website.
 
Thank you for your time and effort.
 
Jim Norby, NRLN, President
 
 
Following the NRLN’s considerable involvement in the passage of the Pension Reform Act of 2006, we will now devote most of our energies toward our 2007 Legislative Agenda aimed at protecting and funding retiree health care and securing more affordable prescription drugs. However, further strengthening of pension protections under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) will continue to be one of the NRLN’s primary objectives.
 
The NRLN’s Legislative Agenda will require all of its Grassroots Network Advocates to communicate to their elected representatives in Washington, DC the importance of the agenda issues for millions of America’s retirees and workers. NRLN members must impress upon our nation’s leaders that it is their duty to help protect what retirees have earned through years of labor.
 
The NRLN’s 2007 Legislative Agenda is attached.  This is a living document and will change as situations change in Congress and the Nation.  To have any hope of implementing this agenda, NRLN members will be called upon to let their elected representatives know how they feel about issues that affect our well-being as retirees.  This is why, in the first 2007 Blue Bulletin, we asked that you be enrolled in CAPWIZ.  CAPWIZ allows us to send a prepared letter to our Congresspeople - or craft our own letter – with a few mouse clicks.  As Sherlock Holmes would say:  “The game is afoot!” and, collectively, we have the opportunity to shape our future!