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Officers | Board Members | Regional Leaders | Financial Matters | Lucent Proxy Votes

We have gotten a lot accomplished in the last two weeks including, becoming incorporated and electing officers.  The Lucent Retirees Organization is now OFFICIAL. We were incorporated last week in the state of New York. The LRO operates under the terms of the bylaws drafted by our Board of Directors.  We are continuing to refine and amend our bylaws as our organization evolves.  As outlined in our existing bylaws, modifications to our bylaws must be approved by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.

The LRO Directors are:

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The LRO’s Board of Directors consists of all officers plus

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The Regional Organization Leaders are:

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The LRO is an organization inclusive of all BENEFICIARIES UNDER THE LUCENT PENSION PLAN. This includes entities such as TTY, Sandia, etc.

Dawn Truax has volunteered to coordinate and edit our Newsletter and News Updates. Please contact Dawn with any items you would like included in future issues of the LRO Newsletter or News Updates. Dawn is establishing a new email address. In the meantime, you can reach Dawn at 303 948-0949.

We have just received confirmation of our Tax Identification Number.  We are now able to officially open a bank account in the name of the “Lucent Retirees Organization". This account will be used to support the operation of the LRO.  The account will primarily be a vehicle for the receipt of income (dues, contributions, etc) and the disbursement of funds for payment of invoices, reimbursement of expenses, purchase of necessary administrative items, and payment for appropriate contracted professional services.  We currently have obligations for legal fees and web site charges. Other expenses are on the horizon. Prudent business practices dictate that we pursue indemnification insurance for the LRO.  Unfortunately the litigious nature of our society has made this kind of insurance a requirement for organizations like theLRO.

Internal controls will be established to verify the authenticity and appropriateness of all disbursements. We are working with a Public Accounting firm in Chicago, through the assistance of Matt Carr, for handling the necessary auditing requirements in accordance with generally accepted accounting practices and IRS regulations. Bob Janish, located in New Jersey, has volunteered to spearhead this overall effort and temporarily act as LRO Treasurer. By now, you should have all received the request for dues payment. Please note that there are two (2) two payment options:

$25.00 a year annual dues
$350.00 lifetime membership

We would like all of you who can, to consider the $350.00 lifetime membership option. This will help us “kick start” the LRO. As mentioned earlier, the LRO has already incurred several bills in the course of establishing our organization.

Currently checks are the only payment method we are set-up to accept. We are investigating the use of credit cards and will advise you about this option if and when it becomes available.

Make your checks payable to: Lucent Retiree Organization.

Mail your payment to:

LRO
Attn: Bob Janish
208 RICHARD ST.
CRANFORD N.J., 07016-2546.
rajanish@worldnet.att.net

Our future is dependent on our size. The more members we have, the stronger we are as an organization. Please help us get the word out! We are working to increase retiree awareness and membership in the LRO. Make sure every retiree you know is aware of the organization, our mission, and how to join. Also, help others without email access to register and by copying the newsletter and giving them hard copies to read. Eventually, we hope to have the funding and manpower to support printing and mailing hard copies of our communications. Unfortunately, this is not something we are able to do at this time.

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Eight of our nine (9) Regions now have volunteer leaders who are working to establish their groups and define the role the regions will play in our national organization. In addition, we have someone in place to coordinate all of our volunteer activities. If you would like to volunteer please contact Nick Finamore at: NickFin@att.net.

We need all of computer savvy members help us to reach out to the many Lucent Retirees who do not own computers. We are planning on putting a printable application on our website that can be downloaded and provided to those without computers. We are working with the regions to coordinate this effort. More to follow when we get the details worked out.

Pete Peterson is collecting copies of letters and e-mails that retirees have written to both Lucent and their elected representatives. The idea is to identify the issues that are of greatest concern to our membership. We are also endeavoring to stay apprised of any responses that may be received and/or any actions that may be taken with regard to these issues.

Additionally, Pete will attempt to answer retiree’s questions or refer them to some of the subject matter expert volunteers. Pete can be contacted at: correspondence@lucentretirees.org

Last week The National Retirees Legislative Network (NRLN), see links on our web site, met in Washington DC. We were fortunate to be invited and had one of our Maryland volunteers attend. We will be sharing his notes and views on this organization in a subsequent update or newsletter.

As requested, we will soon post ”biographies” for each member our LRO Board of Directors on our website.

Lucent Proxy for Shareholder Meeting

All of us still owning Lucent stock will be receiving a proxy statement either in the mail or on line in the next few days. Also, some of you who have stock with the 401K plan or various IRA plans will want to be sure you vote you proxy. This is very important, it is our first opportunity to voice our collective opinions and start having an impact! The LRO recommends the following: 

• A NO vote on the two directors up for reelection. Lucent’s board is rated one of the worst in corporate America and we need fresh blood that take fiduciary and oversight responsibilities seriously!

• A NO for the stock split. The stock is over the $1 minimum and the market is picking up. Other companies have used this as a guise to force smaller investors to sell at huge losses.  Other companies, which have done reverse splits, also have seen reduction in the overall value of the investment.
  

• A NO vote for the Management Compensation Plan. We want to send a message that they don’t deserve the compensation till they do a better job.

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