Friday, April 18, 2008

Fairness Hearing ~ VEBA~Goodyear~ USWA


As part of the required legal process to establish a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association trust (VEBA), a fairness hearing was held April 11 in U.S. District Court in Akron. A judgment was not announced by the court.The settlement agreement, which was filed October 29, 2007 and granted preliminary approval on December 14, reflects the terms of the agreement made between Goodyear and the United Steelworkers Union during 2006 contract negotiations. As required, after a judgment approving of the settlement agreement, the company will contribute $1 billion to the VEBA to provide health care benefits to current and future USW retirees. If the court approves the VEBA settlement, Goodyear’s obligations for retiree health care will be transferred to the trust. Creation of the VEBA will result in cost savings of approximately $110 million a year for the company. Once the required legal process is complete, Goodyear will eliminate approximately $1.2 billion liabilities for current and future post-employment health care benefits from its balance sheet.

Editorial : I feel another Big Bonu$ coming for good ole Bob Keegan CEO-Chairman of the Board and President of Goodyear ! Wow. Who`s gonna stop him... That's why he`s smiling !"roflmaon"...
"Oh The Blimp is flying High"

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Once More ~ It`s The VEBA ~ Volunteer Employee Benefits Association :

USW Lawsuit Results in Continental Tire Agreeing to Provide Retiree Health Care
Union Thwarts Attempt to Short-Change Workers

PITTSBURGH – The United Steelworkers said today that Continental Tire North America, (CTNA) has agreed to make $158 million in payments to a retiree health insurance fund. The settlement is in response to a lawsuit filed by the USW and a class of retirees when CTNA implemented a $3,000 cap on its payments for retiree health coverage, a change which forced many retirees to pay $1000 or more monthly for coverage. “This was an unconscionable attempt by an employer to strip away benefits from retirees who had already paid for them with a lifetime of work,” said USW President Leo W. Gerard. “We couldn’t let that happen, especially given the current shambles of our country’s health care system.” The lawsuit asserted that CTNA’s unilateral modification of retiree health care coverage in April 2007 violated federal law. Last July, Judge Jack Zouhary of the Northern District of Ohio agreed by ruling that the company had no right to reduce or terminate benefits.The settlement provides for a fund to provide retiree health benefits for a group of about 2,300 retirees as well as about 100 active employees who are eligible for coverage upon their retirement. When the settlement becomes effective, CTNA will make payments into a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association (VEBA) to be used for retiree health benefits, which are worth about $158 million in today’s dollars. The payments include:
$40 million immediately;
$3 million compensation to Class Members for the period in 2007 when Continental Tire’s $3,000 cap on its contributions for all Class Members was in effect;
$21 million paid in seven annual installments; and,
Retiree Medical Benefit Liability Payments paid over twenty years, with an approximate present value of $94 million.
CTNA’s corporate parent, Continental A.G., is providing a corporate guaranty for $65 million of the $94 million Retiree Medical Benefit Liability Payments. If the settlement is approved by the Court and becomes effective in 2008, retiree health benefits for this group will be provided through a new retiree health care plan that will be funded by the VEBA, on January 1, 2009. If the settlement becomes effective in 2009, the new plan will begin to provide benefits on January 1, 2010. Until the settlement is approved, CTNA is providing interim benefits for most Class Members’ households.The VEBA trust Committee will consist of five members, two of whom will be appointed by the United Steelworkers. CTNA will have no representatives. The Committee will have the power to establish benefit levels, including the ability to raise or lower benefits for plan participants.The USW represents 1.2 active and retired members in North America in a broad cross-section of industries, including, steel, aluminum, paper, forestry and oil. Some 70,000 active members are employed in the tire and rubber industry.

"Unions Trying To Save America"

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Heart-Transplant ~ Second Chance !




SECOND CHANCE
Taking heart on the highest mountains...

A jubilant Kelly Perkins, with husband Craig, in the Swiss Alps. The pair would go on to climb to the peak of the Matterhorn in a day-long ascent.
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Kelly Perkins accepted her donor heart while standing atop the world
Apr 01, 2008 04:30 AM Nancy J. White Living Reporter
At age 30, Kelly Perkins, an avid mountain climber, was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a chronic heart muscle disease. For more than three years, she lived in and out of hospital, so frail her husband Craig carried her up stairs. Then in 1995 she received a heart transplant and began reclaiming her life, one mountain top at a time. She's scaled some of the world's most famous peaks, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, to raise awareness for organ donation. The author of The Climb of My Life, Perkins is to speak in Toronto at LifeFest Saturday.
From her California home, Perkins talked to the Star about the need for success stories, nearly fainting astride an icy peak and finally accepting the heart as hers.
Q: Did you know anything about the donor?
A: I knew she was five years older than I was, and she was athletic and my size, petite. She'd fallen while horseback riding and been admitted to hospital. She developed an aneurysm and died in hospital.
Q: Any problems with rejection?
A: I had six months of severe rejection. None of the usual drugs worked. Then they tried an experimental procedure, basically sterilizing my white blood cells.
When they told me I was in rejection, I was shocked. It was like I'd been thrown a life raft and then I found a hole in it.
Q: No nerves are connected to your heart, so your brain can't tell it when to speed up or slow down. What's that like?
A: I'll start up the stairs but for my heart it's as if I'm still sitting in a chair. So I get really out of breath. (Eventually) adrenaline starts flowing ... I have to warm up before I get going and taper off at the end.
Q: Were you wary of exertion?
A: I was super cautious. I remember stepping off a curb and landing with more impact than usual. I panicked that my heart would come loose.... But soon the issue was to redefine my self image, to distance myself from being a patient.
Q: There are lots of ways not to be a patient. Why mountain climbing? The strenuous exercise, high altitudes, remote locations – it seems like the worst thing for a heart patient.
A: The purpose became bigger than the climb. Every time I did a mountain, it was like getting a clear biopsy. The bigger the mountain, the better the health report.
Q: Ten months after the transplant, you tackled the 4,100-foot ascent of Half Dome to an elevation of 8,842 feet in Yosemite. You ended up in hospital.
A: I admit now it was too soon. I ended up getting dehydrated. But I had to get to know my body again.
Q: Of your many mountains, what was your physically toughest climb?
A: Probably the Matterhorn in Switzerland. When you climb that, you stay in a hut and get an early – 4 a.m. – start. You go to the summit and back in the same day. There are a lot of other climbers. So speed is very important and because of my heart, speed is my biggest battle. I had to really keep it together for 12 hours.
Q: Scariest?
A: New Zealand. We were on a big snow peak at a 45-degree angle. We had to cross a traverse very exposed on both sides. There were three of us roped together with me in the centre and Craig behind me. For some reason I came to a stop and my blood pressure dropped. I went dark. Craig grabbed the back of me and pushed my head down (to keep from fainting). So there we were at a 45-degree angle with our crampons and ice axes. I came out of it and said I was fine.
Q: At some point, did you accept the heart as yours?
A: We'd just made it to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan, when Craig handed me a pouch containing my donor's ashes. It was quite a surprise.
He'd been in touch with the donor's daughter to ask if she had a wish she'd like us to make for her. We always made wishes once we reached a mountain top. She asked us to release the ashes. I felt the moment's gravity. But once I let the ashes go, it was so uplifting, as if she was free and I was free to accept my heart as my own.
For more information about Perkins, visit craigandkelly.com. Details about LifeFest at lifefest.ca.
"Give The Gift of Life, Be An Organ/Tissue Donor, Its The Masonic Thing to Do"!