CORRE Board Meeting Minutes

April 20, 2005

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Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees

Minutes of Board Meeting on April 20, 2005

2:00 p.m.

Oak Ridge Senior Center

Present: Mike Bradshaw, Ken Cowser, Sandy Dean, Joe Dykstra, Dean Eyman, Ben Gaylor, Bob Keil, Marigrace Kirstowsky, Charlie Kuykendall, Tom Lemons, Pete Lotts, Dave Reichle, Mary Helen Rose, Joe Setaro, Troy Trotter, Bill Wilcox, Don Wood, Bob Worrell

Opening Remarks. President Dave Reichle mentioned that all our efforts are presently being spent in preparing for a meeting in Knoxville on April 28 with congressional staff members. He noted that the State-of-the-Lab address will be hosted by F-ORNL this Thursday at 7:30 at Pollard Conference Center, with a birthday reception for Alvin Weinberg to be held at 6:00.

Charlie Kuykendall noted that he felt we should fill the vacant Second Vice President position prior to issuing a 2005 Position Paper. He made a motion to nominate Bob Keil to fill the position (he has Keil’s permission to do so). The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Secretary & Treasurer’s Report. Mary Helen Rose highlighted her Treasurer’s report for March, copies of which had been distributed to board members. Balance on hand March 31, 2005, was $47,551.32, with a total of about 2,422 Active Members.

Communications. Sandy Dean stated that the article that Reichle wrote for BWXT Y-12 Retiree News will appear just as it was submitted.

Website. No report in John Gray’s absence.

Nominating Committee. Reichle noted that it is his function to appoint a committee for approval by the Board. He proposed the following seven members:

Bob Worrell, Chairman

Mary Helen Rose

Mike Bradshaw

Troy Trotter

Bob Keil

Don Wood

Charlie Kuykendall

Motion passed to approve the committee as proposed. Bob Worrell stated that he will soon be scheduling a meeting. He asked all Board members to let him know if they do not wish to serve again.

Meeting at ORNL. Charlie Kuykendall reported on a meeting he and Dave Reichle had recently at ORNL with Jim Roberto (ORNL’s Deputy Director). During the one-hour meeting, Roberto listened well and responded to questions with a very friendly demeanor. ORNL management is still hoping to split off pension/benefit programs from BWXT Y-12.

Kuykendall stated that he has a one-on-one meeting with Dennis Ruddy scheduled for Tuesday, April 26, at 3:00 p.m.

Meeting at ORO. Reichle stated that the scheduled meeting with Gerald Boyd, Manager of ORO, had to be postponed until May 2 at 1:30.

Meeting with Wackenhut Services. See Attachment 1 for Mike Bradshaw’s report of the meeting.

ORNL Benefits Advisory Committee. Joe Setaro reported that the committee met on Monday, April 18. ORNL continues to work on the "Benefits for the Workforce of the Future" project, and is considering an employee benefits survey in the future. The recent benefits report comparing ORNL with other Research Laboratories and Universities has been revised to more properly reflect the vacation program at ORNL. The company that compiled this report will meet with the Benefits Advisory Group and with ORNL management on Thursday, April 28, 2005. Setaro will attend this meeting, and thus will be unavailable to meet with the Congressional Aides on that date.

Legislative Committee/Strategy. Ken Cowser stated that the committee has a meeting scheduled with legislative staff on April 28. Dean Rice of Rep. Duncan’s office is pulling the meeting together. CORRE attendees will be Reichle, Eyman, Lotts, and Worrell. They will leave several handouts with the legislative staff, including briefing notes, the 2005 Position Paper, copies of resolutions by city/county/state governments, and a draft letter for the Tennessee delegation to send to the Secretary of Energy.

Approval of 2005 Position Paper. Reichle noted that various drafts of the paper have been reviewed by Board members, and some suggested changes have been made. He referred to input from Bill Wilcox. The Legislative Committee recommended in its meeting prior to the Board meeting that Wilcox’s seven suggested points be inserted as a Preamble after the cover page of the paper (before the 2005 proposed actions). Motion passed unanimously to approve the 2005 Position Paper as drafted, after insertion of Wilcox’s seven items as a Preamble. It was also decided that we will use "about 12,000" as the number of pension recipients.

Proposal by Tom Lemons on National Pension Legislation. Lemons summarized his ideas on CORRE’s working for changes in pension plans on a national level to allow workers to invest their individual pensions (somewhat like President Bush is proposing for Social Security). Reichle suggested that Lemons might be put on the agenda for a later meeting, if enough Board members express to him an interest in discussing the subject further.

Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m.

Mary Helen Rose, CORRE Secretary

Next Board Meeting: Wednesday, May 18, 2005, 2:00 p.m., OR Senior Center

 

 

Attachment 1 to CORRE-Min-04-20-2005

Report by Mike Bradshaw of

CORRE Meeting with Wackenhut Services, Inc.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Representing CORRE: Dave Reichle, President; and Mike Bradshaw, Board Member

Representing Wackenhut Services, Inc., Oak Ridge, (WSI-OR): John F. Burleson, Senior Vice-President and General Manager; and Lee Brooks, Vice-President and Deputy General Manager.

The primary purpose of this meeting was to meet and become acquainted with WSI-OR officials and to relate the history, current activities, and future endeavors of CORRE. As a part of his presentation, Dave Reichle distributed handout materials that had been used in similar discussions with ORNL and Y-12 officials. Mike Bradshaw discussed how he had become involved with CORRE, having been asked to join the Board of Directors to represent WSI-OR retirees. In addition, Bradshaw related how he had been contacted in his capacity as a CORRE board member by two separate officials of the International Guard Union of America, (IGUA). The bargaining unit officials were looking for advice on enhancing their benefits package, especially the retirement portion. In this regard, John Burleson indicated that he had encouraged the bargaining unit to contact CORRE.

The meeting was very relaxed, open, informative and positive. The following were major points of discussion:

The pension plan liability that was transferred to WSI-OR when they were awarded the security contract in 2001 did not include any surplus.

WSI-OR is in the final year of a five-year contract. A new contract will be awarded at the end of this calendar year, and WSI-OR is planning to bid.

WSI-OR was successful in lowering their retirement points to 81 as a part of a union contract settlement. The 81 points applies to all WSI-OR payrolls.

WSI-OR inquired as to how CORRE was perceived by DOE-ORO and NNSA. Are we seen as radical and/or adversarial? Dave Reichle did an outstanding job of addressing these questions, which appeared to satisfy the WSI-OR officials.

WSI-OR stated they are willing to allow CORRE to utilize their monthly newsletter for informative articles, announcements, etc. The contacts for WSI-OR are Lee Brooks, phone: 276-9232, email: brookslg@wsi-or.net and/or Shelia Stanford, phone: 276-9225, email: stanfordse@wsi-or.net.

WSI-OR officials are very receptive to being included in group meetings with DOE-ORO, NNSA, and legislative officials.

WSI-OR has at least one union contract opening for renegotiation in the near future. This may be another reason the IGUA officials are contacting CORRE.

WSI-OR officials stated the spousal reduction to 2% has not come up as an issue either from the bargaining units or the salaried employees.

My personal sensing is that WSI-OR wants to be supportive of CORRE and its objectives, but will be cautious and low-key between now and the WSI-OR contract rebid and award. The reasons are obvious! Somewhat in support of this, I have been contacted by Lee Brooks since our meeting with WSI-OR. Brooks stated that he appreciated our meeting and is looking forward to working with us.

 

Working for Fair, Equitable, and Competitive Benefits for 13,000 Former K-25, Y-12, and ORNL Employees

 

Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees Oak Ridge, Tennessee


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