AGRE Identifies Positions

The Actions Committee of the recently formed Alliance of Grandfathered Retirees and Employees (AGRE) met on December 17, 2007 at the USW Union Hall. The newly developed AGRE Blog was reviewed by committee members, and e-mail notifications of this Blog will be sent to all the Grandfathered (GF) retirees and employees who have provided us with contact information.

The primary objectives of AGRE are to obtain and maintain pension and other benefits that are equivalent to those received by workers at Y-12 and ORNL and to safeguard the Pension Trust Fund. In brief, these positions are listed below:

• Integrate the BJC Grandfathered Employees Health and Welfare Administration with those of Y-12 and ORNL to obtain better pricing and cost savings in administration, custodial, and Trust fees for DOE, employees, and retirees.
• Integrate the BJC Health and Welfare Plans (i.e., medical and dental) with Y-12 and ORNL to dollar leverage pricing and administration fees to provide a more stable and secure benefits package for Grandfathered employees.
• Integrate the Pension Plan for Grandfathered Employees under the Master Group Trust with Y-12 and ORNL. This transition could save millions of dollars in administration fees, investment management fees, Trust fees, and custodial fees. It would also allow for assets to be leveraged to stabilize investment earings in the global economy.
• Amend the BJC Pension Plan for Grandfathered Employees by removing the 30-year-cap of retirement calculation and by adding the spouse option limit of 2 percent, thus allowing all Grandfathered employees to the same retirement benefits as Y-12 and ORNL employees.
• Investigate the BJC Grandfathered Employees Health and Welfare Trust Administration Premium Surplus Refunds to determine why participants and their beneficiaries have not been reimbursed or given premium surplus holidays over recent years. This surplus amounts to millions of dollars representing monies taken from employees for medical premiums that should have been returned to employees.

The Office of Inspector General issued an audit report dated May 2005 entitled "Contractor Post-Retirement Health Benefits at the Oak Ridge Reservation," DOE/IG-0690. This report identifies inconsistencies in how the Oak Ridge contractors (i.e., BWXT Y-12, Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC, and UT-Battelle LLC) were managing, and subsequently were being reimbursed, for post-retirement health benefits. The AGRE requests above support the IG recommendation to establish and implement a consistent corporate process for contractor post-retirement health benefits. The 17-page audit report can be found at the following web address: http://management.energy.gov/ig0690.pdf

AGRE monthly meetings are being held at the USW Union Hall in Oak Ridge on the third Thursday of each month. All Grandfathered retirees and current employees are encouraged to attend. The next meeting will be January 17, 2008, at 6:00 p.m.

Comments may be made by clicking on the "comments" link below. You may also submit questions or comments to the following e-mail address: gfemployee@yahoo.com