THE GREAT LIE

Desperation is in the air. The more ACRE feels threatened about an issue, the more misinformation is circulated by the organization. The ACRE Newsletter currently posted on their website is the latest example.

In a section of this testament of how to lie to members, ACRE asserts that the pension would not have been gained through collective bargaining on Metro-North, except for the efforts of ACRE. This is far from the truth.

When Bottalico and Doyle were still UTU and BLE General Chairman, an opportunity to obtain the pension occurred during the 1999 round of contract negotiations. The UTU on the LIRR had settled their contract, obtaining the 50% Tier Two Offset in their deal. The MTA pension was on the table for Bottalico and Doyle to accept. The then UTU and BLE officers had distributed a-cards in December of 1998. BLE GCT Local Chairman Richard Engel had informed Doyle that he would not surrender his Vanguard Account because he wanted it for his retirement the following year. He informed Doyle if he accepted the MTA pension and Richie had to forfeit his Vanguard Account, he would not support the formation of the Association of Commuter Rail Employees. Engle had influence over approximately 100-125 votes. The desire of Bottalico and Doyle to form ACRE took precedent over the needs of their membership. At that time, the pension could have been attained by surrendering the employees Vanguard Accounts only. Just as Metro-North management employees had done. There was no one or two zeros, no 3% employee contributions, no co-payment of health and welfare payments for new hires, no surrender of the $100,000 tax free life insurance policy, no holiday swaps, no choice holiday giveback, or any other givebacks. Not one concession like the ACRE provided to the MTA with the signing of their 2004 “historic” deal. To make matters worse, these two company men signed an agreement in 1999 for 2% less of a total package than the LIRR accepted in their contract negotiations with the MTA.

Attention all ACRE supporters (if anyone will actually admit to this designation) especially those that have been here since the 1999 contract. Use your calculator to determine how much money Bottalico and Doyle cost you by not accepting the MTA pension in 1999. Factor in a zero, the 3% employee contribution, trading Veterans Day for the Day after Thanksgiving, etc., over the remainder of your railroad career. The numbers are staggering. Subtract the amount in your Vanguard account in 1999. That balance should have been the cost of the pension plan for the membership.

The MTA pension was obtained by the UTU on the LIRR, not ACRE. The LIRR took two years of contract negotiations to get the MTA pension. The LIRR deal was initialed in November of 2003 and ratified on 12/05/03, by a 17 to 1 margin. ACRE's “historic” deal took a few weeks to negotiate.

Bottalico and Doyle kept resisting the LIRR agreement. As late as the first week of January 2004, at the ACRE Division 1 monthly meeting, Bottalico swore to the ACRE members present, that he would not accept a zero or surrender the Vanguard. Please explain how less than two weeks later, the two company men signed a contract offer with a zero and obtained the MTA pension. The difference between the LIRR agreement and the ACRE deal was Bottalico and Doyle accepted the Company's agreement offer without performing any research or due diligence. For example, ask Bottalico or Doyle for the actuarial study that was done in 1999 for the contract negotiations in determining the costs towards the MTA and membership in determining the pension plan costs and benefits verses the two tier Vanguard plan costs and benefits.

What did ACRE state in their contract ratification package in December of 2004? “ACRE hired the Segal Company, one of the most respected accounting companies in the world, to run an actuarial study and compare the Pension to the Vanguard accounts. So there would be no question of the results, we had the numbers run for each and every individual who is a current agreement employee. Right down the line, the Pension provided a much greater overall return than the Vanguard accounts ever will.

To date, ACRE has never released this actuarial study to their membership. ACRE has never released the individual's numbers that the Segal Group ran for each individual employee to each individual ACRE member. ACRE never mailed out this critical information with their ratification package to the individual employee, or presented it to them while they were campaigning for their “historic” deal. Not one letter from the Segal Group was produced. All that any ACRE officer could do concerning these numbers was to write down on a piece of scrap paper what an ACRE employee would receive at his retirement based on the ACRE officer projections. The reason being is that this particular study was never done, nor were the numbers ran for each individual ACRE employee. If they were, then ACRE officers would have been more than happy to provide it to you. Since ACRE officers cannot and have not provided the study or your individual numbers to you, one must conclude that this actuarial study by the Segal Group does not exist. Whatever study was done by the Segal Group was paid for with ACRE members dues monies. Every ACRE member has a right to see this report from the Segal Group.

The group of ACRE members that is affected in the most negative manner is the ACRE members that hired out after the ACRE “historic” contract was ratified.