CORRE President's Report for 2008
President-Elect's Challenge

An estimated 400 people were in attendance at the meeting.  Copies of the final agenda were handed to attendees at the door.   Attached to the agenda and treasurer’s report were biosketches of current and nominated Board members.

1. Call to Order and Welcome.  President Dave Reichle welcomed those present, and copy of his remarks is attached.

2. Treasurer’s Report.  Paula Wright, Treasurer, highlighted her Summary Report, which was printed on back of the agenda.  Total income since CORRE startup has been $77,329.06 ($69,754.88 contributions and $7,574.18 interest), expenses $36,569.54, leaving cash on hand 08-31-08 of $40,759.52.  Total Active Members at end of August was approximately 3,130.  Wright noted that signup of Active Members has fallen off year after B&W Y-12 stopped publishing Retirement News.  She urged attendees to take copies of CORRE’s brochure and give one to any retiree they know who is not a member.  She recognized and thanked retiree Jackie Sims for her excellent letter to the editor of Knoxville News Sentinel a few days ago, and urged other retirees to write letters. 

3. Report of Nominating Committee.   Lou Dunlap, Chair, introduced and thanked other members of the Committee, Mike Bradshaw, Joyce Conner, Keith Kibbe, Charlie Kuykendall, and Paula Wright.  She asked the following nominees to stand as she called their names:  Officers, Dub Shults, President; and Keith Kibbe, First Vice President.  Nominees for Board member:  Julie Dorsey, Ron Honeycutt, Judy Kibbe, and John Napier.  Dunlapasked Officers and Board members who were continuing terms to stand as she called their names.  She then moved for approval of the slate of nominees.

4. Election of Board Members and Officers.  President Reichle asked whether there was a second to Lou Dunlap’s motion, and there were several, after which the slate was unanimously elected by acclamation.   Reichle expressed appreciation to Charlie Kuykendall, Tom Lemons, and Joe Setaro, who were going off the Board after many years of service

5. Introduction of Special Guests.  On behalf of the Government Relations Committee, Keith Kibbe introduced representatives of offices of the Tennessee Congressional delegation as follows:  Beth Hickman, Office of Congressman Lincoln Davis; Jonathan Griswold, Office of Congressman John Duncan; and Gina McMahan, Office of Congressman Zach Wamp.  State representatives Dennis Ferguson and Jim Hackworth were present, and some other candidates for state offices were present, among them Ken Yager and Beck Ruppe, candidates for State Senate.   Kibbe also introduced Clyde Hopkins and Gordon Fee, retired contractor presidents; retired officials Murray Rosenthal, Alex Zucker, and Bill Wilcox. 

6. 2008 Highlights.  Copy of Dave Reichle’s report is attached.

7. It Can Be Done.  A copy of Dub Shults’ talk, which was warmly received, is attached.  In keeping with his theme, lapel buttons with the words, “Together - It Can Be Done” had been distributed to retirees at the door. 

8. Adjournment.  Dave Reichle urged retirees to come down front and ask Board members questions after adjournment at 3:05 p.m.

Several reporters were present for the meeting:  Frank Munger, the Knoxville News Sentinel; Beverly Majors, The Oak Ridger; and Stan Mitchell, the Oak Ridge Observer.  All had very good coverage in the next couple of days. 
       

 



Good afternoon.  I am Dave Reichle, your President of the Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees. Welcome to CORRE’s Eighth Annual Meeting.  I am pleased to see such great attendance, and appreciate the effort that each of you has made to be here this afternoon.

First, I must point out to you the signage and fire exists at the rear and sides of the auditorium in case of emergency.  Please turn off your cells phones.

I extend a special welcome to our invited guests who will be introduced later.  And, also a welcome to the media – I see Frank Munger of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Stan Mitchell from the The Oak Ridge Observer, and a representative of BBB Cable 12. Thank you all for coming.

You should have received a copy of today’s program as you came in.  We have some important business to conduct in accordance with our By-laws – financial reporting, election of new board members and officers for the coming year, but we also want to talk with you about accomplishments during the past year and future plans for your approval.

But this is a good time for me, as your out-going President for the past five years, to acknowledge your CORRE board of directors and advisors (listed on the program).  They are the hardest working and most persistent group of volunteers that I have ever worked with. Each spends many hours each week working on tasks that are very important, but often aren’t visible to everyone.  There is much behind-the-scenes activity on retirement issues that is constantly on-going.  There are too many individuals to thank personally now, but Fred Postma, our web master, deserves special recognition for his hard work in keeping our web site.  I appreciate all the work of the Board and the support that they have given to me – and I hope that you will show them your appreciation, too.

We have made only one change in the agenda from previous years.  While questions from the membership after any of the presentations is always welcomed, because of time constraints we have eliminated the general question and answer session at the end of the program.  Instead, members of the Board of Directors will all be down front after adjournment, and we encourage each of you with questions and issues to come forward then and share your concerns with us.

So, let’s set the stage for today’s meeting.  No one needs to tell you how increased costs of living are chewing up our pension benefits.  How increased medical costs aren’t matched by any pension adjustments, while the contractors improved their retirement benefits. And, you don’t need me to remind you how DOE has not made any contributions to the Pension Fund for the last 24 years, funding the pensions of new employees off Pension Fund earnings that could have gone to retirees as pension adjustments.

But, I’ll bet you didn’t know that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been running an experimental study from 1982 to 2007 on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) used as a basis for SS adjustments.  It was assumed that the CPI-U, for the general population, was higher than the CPI-W used for SS adjustments. (And maybe our current administration thought that they could justify lowering the annual SS COLA.)  It turns out that the CPI-E (experimental study) for retirees aged 62 and older, is actually considerably higher – mainly because of higher health costs.  So, we retirees are even worse off than anyone has thought – except we knew that all along, didn’t we?

And in response to our requests for fair pension treatment, DOE in Washington has distorted the facts, hidden behind misinformation, intimidated their contractors, and blown off the Tennessee Congressional Delegation.

As an editorial in the September 11 edition of the The Oak Ridger  illustrated, a pension adjustment would not only benefit retirees, it also would be the largest economic benefit, on a short-list of economic priorities, to stabilize the local economy.

Our issues are real and our demands are fair.  We will not go away!
 
So let’s get on with business.  Let me introduce Paula Wright, our Treasurer, for her financial report.



 



I want you to know how much we appreciate your presence here this afternoon.  While it is good to see you all, it is also a shame that we must come together to protect our pension rights – that the Department of Energy cares so little about our welfare.  All we have ever wanted is to be treated fairly.

The story of pensions for DOE contractor retirees in Oak Ridge is one of complete disregard by the Department of Energy in Washington. That’s a polite way of saying they have blocked all attempts at improvements in pension benefits during the last five years. Not only do retirees suffer, but the economy of E. TN is deprived of over $75 million in economic impact annually.  And adequate monies exist in the Pension Funds to meet CORRE’s requests.

Let me remind you that, since CORRE was formed in 2000 when the contractors attempted to raid the pension fund to build buildings, DOE has made no voluntary pension benefit improvements – CORRE has had to fight for all the improvements that we have received.  If DOE would only do the right thing, there would be no need for CORRE.  But, such is not the case.  Let me clarify:



So, where do we stand and what has CORRE accomplished?


What have we been denied by DOE?

What has happened during the past year?

You all know that the CORRE website, www.corre.info , provides monthly updates to our activities.  But, let me touch on the highlights:


Our problem lies in Washington.  But, we are going to be around long after the political appointees in DOE are gone.  As we meet today, the Government Accounting Office has filed its seconc report on DOE mismanagement of its pension program, and the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is about to begin hearings on DOE’s administration of its contractor’s pension programs.  DOE’s shame is now receiving national recognition.

What we need locally is not to give up.  We have many supporters at all levels of elected government.  Local contractors understand our situation and are not unsympathetic.  We will prevail.

It has been my privilege to have worked for you since 2001, and to have served for the past five years as your President.  I will continue on the Board as Past President. You have elected a strong and dedicated board of directors and leaders who will be successful.  It has been a pleasure to have worked with them.

And now it’s time for your new President Dub Shults to tell you what CORRE will be doing next.
 



Let me begin with a little story.  It is about a retired farmer who lives on a small farm near here.  He had cleaned a little pond on his property and planted some fruit trees around it, and made it into a pretty nice little swimming hole. One evening he decided to go down and admire his pond and get some fruit, so he got a bucket and started walking down to the pond.   As he got close he heard a bunch of girls talking and laughing.  They were skinny dipping in his pond.  When they saw him approaching, they moved to the far side of the pond, scrunched down in the water, and shouted: “We’re not coming out while you are here.”  The farmer held up his bucket and said: “I didn’t come down here to see you naked girls—I just came down to feed the alligator.”

There is a message here for us CORRE members:  We may be retired, but there is a lot of life in us still.

I was raised in a railroad family.  My dad worked 43 years for the Southern Railway, and he loved it.  He would have done anything for the railroad, and he felt the railroad would do anything for him, which was pretty close to the truth in those days.  It was a good environment for a kid to grown up in.  I got to ride engines and go to derailments and eat with the men and hang out at the shops.  I will always have a little railroad blood in me.

I don’t remember seeing signs around the railroad about the company’s vision or its mission statement or its regulations.  What I do remember is a simple four-word sign that seemed to be posted everywhere.  It simply said “It Can’t Be Done” with a big red line drawn through the apostrophe and little “t” so the real message came through as “It Can Be Done.”  It was a constant reminder that no matter how hard or difficult or impossible a job might seem, it should be undertaken with the thought that one way or another it could be done.  It was a message to think positive.  That is the way I feel about CORRE and its quest for improvements in our retirement benefits. 

Often, when someone learns that I am a member of the CORRE Board, I am asked two questions:  “What is CORRE doing these days?”  and “Are we making any progress?”The short answers are Lots and Yes.  It has been a good year, albeit the progress has not been as much or as fast as we would like or as we deserve.

Before I answer those two questions, I need to mention our dilemma.  On one hand, we are proud of our former employers and our association with them.  We appreciate and respect them and wish them much continued success.  On the other hand, we are forced to struggle with them to get benefits that we earned and deserve.  So, we are caught in a dilemma...somewhat like having a confrontation with a good friend or a family member.  We’ll fight if we have to, but we would rather work it out.

Now, to the first question, and let me answer that question by listing six major functions of the organization and give an example of each.  When I say “CORRE,” I include the Board and its advisors and all 12,000 of us retirees.

What is CORRE doing these days? 

1.  Maintains Awareness.  CORRE has to be aware of policies and activities that relate to our goals.  These may come from DOE, the contractors, the congress, or even from retiree organizations at other sites.  A good example of this function is that CORRE discovered that contractors at other sites are sharing their Medicare Part D incentive money with their retirees, but that practice has not been permitted in Oak Ridge.  CORRE brought that discrepancy to the attention of local contractors, and they agreed to explore that option. 

2.  Identifies Issues and Develops Potential Solutions.  Inherent in this function is a great deal of study and debate within the Board and with its advisors.  A huge amount of work went into development of our proposal to restore 75% of the lost purchasing power of our pensions.

3.  Works with the Contractors and DOE.  This function entails lots of personal communication, correspondence, e-mails, and meetings.  A prime example of this is CORRE’s action when told that it was impossible to calculate the cost of the pension adjustment that we proposed...that there just wasn’t enough data to do that.  CORRE developed a method for making that calculation and provided it to the contractors and to our congressional representatives...and it proved to be acceptable.

4.  Works with our Congressional Representatives.  The thrust of this function is to assure that our representatives have clear and accurate understanding of CORRE’s issues and proposals, and to provide them with any information that they request or need.  During the past year, our representatives asked CORRE to help get agreement among the contractors as to the estimated cost of our pension adjustment.  We did, and there is now agreement on those estimates.

5.  Communicates and Informs.  This is a critical function.  The organization wants to maintain good communication not only with the membership, but also with the contractors and DOE, with the media, and with the general public.  Thus, we maintain an extensive website and a blog, publish newsletters and position papers, produce brochures and DVDs, and we encourage open discussion of our program in the print media using both letters to the editor and submitted articles from the membership.

6.  Acts with Integrity.  The organization must conduct itself in a highly professional manner.  This means our work must be accurate and honest and rational.  We want our work to be unquestionable in any and every way.

So, you see, CORRE is doing lots of things...all the time.  Let me say it the JFK way: “Let the word go forth.  We will pursue any lead, respond to any request, answer any question, attend any meeting, supply any information, write any document, and overcome any obstacle...in our quest for fair and just treatment of contractor retirees of DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities.”

Now, to the second question: Are we making any progress?  My answer to that is Absolutely!

Are we making any progress? 

1.  We now know for a fact that our representatives clearly understand the issues and what we have requested and what is at stake.

2.  We know for a fact that they not only support us, but they will work for us...and they have...and they are.

3.  We know for a fact that there are fewer differences of opinion between us and the benefit managers this year than last year.

4.  We know for a fact that we brought forth two new issues this year:  sharing the Medicare Part D incentive money and the need to raise the cap on health insurance claims.

5.  We know that communication with the contractors has been good this year.

6.  And finally, we know that some things that were in the Can’t Be Done category last year are in the Can Be Done category this year.

The bottom line is that CORRE really has made significant progress during the past year!

Now, I want to make a pitch for your help and participation.  To do this, I will use Mother Theresa’s “anyway” approach.  She challenged the way people think and act, and she did it with simple admonitions like these:

    “If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
            Be honest and frank...anyway.”

    “The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
            Do good...anyway.”

So, here are some admonitions for us to think about and act on:

    If you write to the media, your words may seem self-serving;
            Write to the media...anyway

    If you contact your representatives, your message may get lost in the system;
            Contact them...anyway.

    If you recruit members for CORRE, people may pooh pooh your invitation;
            Recruit members...anyway.

    If you offer suggestions, they may appear ignored;
            Offer suggestions...anyway.

    If you think “It Can Be Done,” people may think you overly optimistic;
            Think it....anyway.

    When we succeed, some will be envious and other dissatisfied;
            We will succeed...anyway.


So, write, contact, recruit, suggest, think success.  I can’t overstate how important this is.  Anything we do along these lines will help CORRE’s programs move forward.  Here are the reasons:
    - More active members in CORRE will mean a stronger voice.
    - More letters and articles in the media will mean more public support.
    - More contacts with representatives will mean more clout in high places.

I just can’t overstate how important this is!

So, to summarize.  my message is simple:

    1.  CORRE has requested improvements in our benefits that are
         reasonable, straightforward, and just!

    2.  We earned them,and we deserve them!

    3.  We are working hard to get them!

    4.  We are making progress!

    5.  We will succeed...if we work together!

TOGETHER...IT CAN BE DONE
   
Thanks to each of you for coming today and thanks for your support of CORRE.

My name is Dub Shults and I approve this message.