A horrific example of corporate broken promises is General Motors’ cancellation of medical, dental, vision, hearing aid, prescription drug, extended care coverage and a $76 per month Medicare B premium payment, for over 190,000 salaried retirees age 65 and older, surviving spouses and dependents. In lieu of the healthcare benefits, GM will provide a monthly pre-tax pension increase of $300. This amount will only be a drop in the bucket for what it will cost retirees living on fixed incomes to purchase replacement insurance for the coverage lost.
It has reached the point where the best hope for retirement security is to gain federal legislation that ensures the fair treatment of retirees. Based in Washington, D.C., the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) is the only organization in the USA dedicated to a single mission—the protection of retirees’ pensions and benefits through the enactment of federal legislation.
Retiree Associations and Grassroots Advocates Create Strong Voice
The NRLN is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose strength comes from a grassroots alliance of management and union retiree associations and individual members. Retirees from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, AT&T, PAC/Nevada Bell, Ameritech, Southern New England Tel, US WEST/Qwest, Lucent, IBM, Boeing, Aetna, Prudential, Detroit Edison, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Raytheon, and others are among the current members. The NRLN Board of Directors, its Washington staff and tens of thousands Grassroots Advocates in all 50 states are dedicated to gaining passage of a legislative agenda to protect employer-sponsored pensions and benefits, plus keep Social Security and Medicare strong.
The NRLN’s lobbying on Capital Hill is based on the merits of its proposals. The NRLN does not spend one cent on wooing members of Congress or their staffs—no campaign contributions, lunches, trips, etc. The NRLN’s lobbying is performed by its staff and Grassroots Advocates, the constituents who write and speak to their U.S. Senators and Representatives about retirement issues. The NRLN does not contact or talk with member association companies (GM) or otherwise engage in association business.
How GM Retirees Can Help Make A Difference
It is the individuals who sign up to be NRLN Grassroots Advocates who deliver the messages that have the best chance of influencing their elected representatives. Further, as grassroots members they get NRLN’s timely messages about what is happening that could affect them and what is going on inside the NRLN. When you enter your name, email address and U.S. Mail address in the Capwiz database by signing up at http://capwiz.com/abtr/mlm/signup/ you are joining a special group who want to make a difference in the lives of retirees.
The reason that email addresses are required for the Grassroots Network is so that the NRLN staff can send you email messages and progress reports on important retirement issues. Your contact information in the NRLN's secure database will only be used to send NRLN messages to you. Your U.S. Mail address, including 9-digit Zip Code, is important because there are times when we need to identify the constituents of particular U.S. Senators and Representatives who should hear the views of retirees and future retirees from "back home" on bills before their committees.
Capwiz uses Zip Codes to identify them by State, District and name.
With help from GM retirees, the NRLN can advance its mission of gaining federal legislation that provides for fair treatment of retirees. For more information about the NRLN, go to its website at www.nrln.org .
OverTheHillCarPeople Organization Gets Stronger but Does Not Change
Like all other 22 NRLN retiree associations, OverTheHillCarPeople will retain its’ independence, mission, website and all member services. Our local GM clubs are encouraged to sign up individually as an NRLN association and individuals may become individual members. We will add strength to a nationwide retiree lobby.
Click here to access OverTheHillCarPeople.