Retiree Section

9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of Raytheon Retirees

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 02:59 | Written by Websteward |

Tucson, Arizona - September 8, 2010 - In an opinion released yesterday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, upheld the lower court's ruling that Raytheon retirees and their spouses have a vested right to no-cost health insurance until they reach age 65.

The ruling by the Ninth Circuit cited the collective bargaining agreements between 1990 and 1999 provided the retirees' claim to company-paid medical benefits was a vested right. As a vested benefit, the Court ruled that Raytheon could not unilaterally take away that right, regardless of what the company had written and included in plan documents.

Class Action Member Dave Lilly states , “ It takes a great load off of our shoulder knowing that the 9th Circuit has ruled in favor of our retirees, we can finally start to enjoy our retirement without worrying about sky-rocketing medical costs and how we are going to pay for them.”

Directing Business Representative James Watson added, “It has taken six long years to see this issue finally come to a positive ending. It’s a tragedy that some retirees did not live long enough to see this decision, many more of our retirees and their families still are frustrated and disappointed that Raytheon did not honor their promise made to them when they retired.”

GVP Allen applauded the ruling, saying “It is sad to think that a company can sign a contract with its’ employees, and have no intention of honoring their promise. These benefits were part of the overall compensation that the IAM negotiated with the Raytheon Company, on behalf of these workers. There was no confusion as to what the language meant. I congratulate Brother Watson, and everyone involved, for staying in this fight and demanding the fairness that our retirees have earned. This is a wonderful example of why it pays to belong to the IAM – our contracts are the finest in the industry, and our representatives are supremely dedicated to enforcing our agreements.“

Old Pueblo Lodge 933 has represented the hourly workforce at Raytheon Missile Systems/Hughes Aircraft since 1952. The IAM was founded in 1888, and represents more than 700,000 active and retired workers in North America.

Link to Associated Press Article on KOLD

Last Updated (Wednesday, 08 September 2010 03:26)

Local Lodge 933 Retirees - San Francisco

Tuesday, 23 February 2010 22:53 | Written by Websteward |

Fellow Retirees,
Well, we’ve had our day in court. By the way, a great big thanks to our local for funding this trip. It would have been very difficult without their help. We went out to San Francisco on Feb. 9, 2010. I say we, meaning myself, Clair, Ron, Mark and our DBR, Jimbo Watson, and of course, our attorney, Robert Gregory.
There was a court time change from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It had us worried about getting to the airport in time for our 6:00 p.m. flight home. We made it with a few minutes to spare!
I believe everyone left the court with a very optimistic view. The 3 judges were very thorough with their questions, especially the two female judges, McKeown and Berzon. The third judge, Thompson, the sole male judge, didn’t say a word. Although, every time a CBA#, page#, or paragraph# was referred to, he would turn to the correct place and he took a lot of notes. I believe this judge was an appointment of President Reagan. The other two were appointments of President Clinton. Anyhow, the two Clinton appointees had done their homework and questioned the Raytheon attorney at great lengths.
In your representative’s opinions, we believe the two Clinton appointees were definitely leaning towards our side. That is that the Raytheon appeal would not be honored. We should know for sure in the next couple of weeks.
For those of you that care to listen to the proceedings, go to your internet server and type in http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/ and Click on “Advanced Search” and enter case number 08-16984. Hit search, then click on either one of the two, Francis Alday vs Raytheon listings, you may download the .wma file to listen to or you may download the plugin at the site. That should get you to the proceedings with Raytheon’s’ attorney starting his brief. The entire proceeding is about 45 minutes long. Once the official judgment is made on this part of the lawsuit (premiums), then we’ll know where to go from there.
Dave Lillie

Last Updated (Tuesday, 23 February 2010 23:24)

Local Lodge 933 Retiree Club

Wednesday, 02 September 2009 03:03 | Written by Websteward |

All retirees of Raytheon/Hughes and other LL 933 retirees are welcome. Come for our breakfast and see old friends and meet new ones. We've had over 60 people at our last few breakfasts, and we're growing fast! Join the gang!

Meetings: 8:00 AM 2nd Tuesday Every Month

Meeetings take place at Country Folk Restaurant 1015 E Benson Hwy, Tucson - (520) 622-8844 Here's the website - http://www.countryfolksrestaurant.com/

Last Updated (Wednesday, 02 September 2009 03:19)

Retiree Club Officers

Wednesday, 02 September 2009 02:55 | Written by Websteward |

Dave Lillie - President

Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Ron Geuder - Vice President

Last Updated (Wednesday, 02 September 2009 03:18)

Retirees Take On Raytheon

Wednesday, 02 September 2009 02:52 | Written by Websteward |

Last Updated (Wednesday, 02 September 2009 03:18)