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To represent ourselves Alliance@IBM is made up of career-minded IBM employees who are concerned about our future. We are concerned about recent actions which undermined the retirement security of tens of thousands of IBM's most devoted employees. Over the last several years, we watched as management made reductions in other benefits. They sharply increased our healthcare costs and excluded many of us from getting paid for overtime. We formed Alliance@IBM to restore policies that value us for our contributions. We are committed to IBM's success, but we are also stakeholders in IBM and we deserve a voice in shaping policies that affect our pensions, healthcare benefits, and livelihood. We have affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, which is supporting our cause. Our leaders will be elected by IBM employees who belong to the Alliance. to advocate pension protections, Dramatic changes are being made to employees' retirement security at IBM and other U.S. corporations without employee input. As a result of these actions, a number of pension-reform measures have been introduced in Congress. The Alliance will provide a vehicle for IBM employees to advocate legislation and participate in the debates which will shape future corporate pension law. CWA's legislative experience and political network will lend clout to our first-hand testimony about what is taking place at our company. to build support for collective bargaining, The Alliance @IBM will work to build majority employee support throughout IBM. By winning support from employees in IBM occupational groups around the country, we can obtain collective bargaining rights and negotiate legally-binding contracts. Your involvement in the Alliance is essential in building a strong and effective organization at IBM. It is also the key to negotiating contracts that provide industry-leading pay, benefits, and workplace protections. Good contracts are our best guarantee for job security. and to gain professional assistance, Alliance@IBM will assist IBM employees by utilizing CWA's organizational resources. CWA's professional staff has experience with legal, workplace, and regulatory issues concerning pensions, compensation, healthcare, and overtime practices. These resources will help us carry out effective campaign strategies to curb corporate abuse -- media campaigns to raise public awareness, legal challenges of overtime violations, and shareholder resolutions and actions. CWA has waged successful campaigns at many of the nation's leading technology employers, including ABC/Disney, AT&T, Dow Jones, Lucent, Microsoft, and the University of California. because collective action works. We need an Alliance@IBM because collective action works. The outcry that was voiced by thousands of us in meetings across the country persuaded IBM to step back from some of its worst abuses to our pension plan. Thanks to employees who raised their voices, some of the pension benefits that IBM took away were restored. This shows that collective action works. It also shows that we will have better protections if we stick together.
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