Lucent Special Shareholders Meeting - September 7, 2006

Updated - September 11, 2006 - Pictures added - click here

Greetings:

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the Local Officers, members and retirees who attended the special Lucent shareholders meeting in Wilmington, Delaware.  As I stated in my speech (see below) to the shareholders, it was a sea of red, of members and retirees who came to voice their concerns over the direction Lucent was taking with our jobs, healthcare, and pensions.

Close to one hundred members and retirees filled the Dupont Theater to call to the attention of the shareholders what Lucent was doing and to direct questions to the CEO of Lucent concerning the merger and the impact it may have on our members and retirees.  As has been the case all along, Lucent refused to answer the important questions, repeatedly stating they did not know or could not divulge the information.

Local officers, members and retirees, from all over the country, demonstrated before Lucent's senior leadership and the shareholders that they are united and committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect their jobs, healthcare and pensions.

It was a great mobilization effort by those CWA locals and everyone should be proud of the effort.  It proved once again - We Are Family, We Are Union, and We Are Proud.  

In Unity,

Ralph V. Maly, Jr.

CWA C&T Vice President

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Ralph Maly, Vice President

CWA- Communications & Technologies

Speech - Lucent Special Shareholders Meeting

Wilmington, Delaware

September 7, 2007

Good morning, Pat & Shareholders,

My name is Ralph Maly and I am the Vice President of the Communications Workers of America, and a shareholder.  CWA represents occupational employees at Lucent Technologies.

As you can see, by the sea of red, our members, and retirees have huge concerns with the direction Lucent is going and the future of our jobs, healthcare, and pensions.

Two years ago, I stated Labor Relations could not get any worse – I was wrong.  Labor Relations is worse today than at any time in our history.

As you may have read in our handbill, while the Unions were actively working to solve Lucents healthcare obligations, Lucent was privately negotiating approximately $101 million in savings from its prescription drug carriers and medical providers.  To put it simply, while Lucent was attempting to shift more cost on those who have the least ability to pay, they were secretly pocketing millions of dollars in savings without the Unions knowledge.

While Alcatel has had open dialogue with its Union partners including adding two Union members to the merger board, Lucent has avoided answering repeated questions from the Unions as we try to understand where our members and retirees futures lie.

Finally, over the past 18 months CWA, IBEW, Lucent and several key congressional representatives have worked tirelessly to enact legislation as part of the new pension bill.  This bill will allow Lucent to use money from the occupational pension plan for future healthcare obligations, thus relieving Lucent of millions of dollars in healthcare cost.  However, as we now reach the end of the journey and additional months are necessary to make the technical changes needed in this new law, Lucent has opted not to go the extra mile.  Instead, Lucent is choosing to walk away and put additional healthcare costs on those retirees who have the least ability to pay.  We are here today to ask Lucent to accept the Unions proposal to extend the deadline to January 1, 2007.

CWA, it’s members and retirees aren’t looking for outrageous windfalls.  We are looking for answers about the merger.  Our members and retirees are only looking to be part of the future and have Lucent or its merger partner do the right thing.  

We are here today to obtain answers we have not been able to get thus far.  Our members want no more than what the CEO of Lucent got, a job with a future, no more, no less.  Our members have earned the right to a better life and Lucent should not deny them that opportunity.

Thank you.