For 43 years, Emanuel Leventhal put up with his low salary at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union because he liked its commitment to helping immigrant workers and its promise of financial security when he retired.þþBut now, Mr. Leventhal feels so betrayed that he is leading a retirees' rebellion against the union that many dedicated their working lives to. The retirees have been seething since the union, which played a major role in fighting New York's sweatshops, cut their life insurance policies to $5,000 earlier this year, down from the $100,000 to $250,000 promised to many union officials.þþÿHistorically, the I.L.G. did not pay their officers what other unions paid them,ÿ said Mr. Leventhal, 71, a former associate director of the union's New Jersey operations and now chairman of the Retired Officers of the I.L.G.W.U. ÿThey said, `Maybe we don't give you great wages, but your widows will have security.' They always promised us that our insurance would not be taken away.ÿþþBut now, he says, the union has all but taken away his $150,000 life insurance policy, money he thought would ultimately go to his wife, Betty, to pay off the mortgage on their home in New Jersey.þþÿI think they've handled it as any anti-union, anti-staff employer would,ÿ Mr. Leventhal said recently of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. It is known as Unite and was formed when the nation's two largest clothing unions — the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union — merged in 1995. þþBut Unite is anything but united in this fight. Mr. Leventhal and 150 other retirees from the garment workers' union plan to file a lawsuit accusing Unite of breaching their trust and federal retirement laws. The retirees want a judge to order the union to restore their old life insurance policies.þþOfficials at Unite's headquarters in Midtown Manhattan say the last thing they had in mind was to betray retirees who gave so much to the union. Rather, these officials say, the union, confronted with a $10 million deficit, needed to take drastic steps to stay afloat. þþÿI believe a majority of our staff understands they have a stake in the survival and health of the union,ÿ said Susan Cowell, the union's staff director. ÿOur pensions would be at risk if the union went down financially. I understand that some people might genuinely feel angry, but I think most of them understand that the union is in tough shape. It's hard for me to believe they don't understand what led us to this.ÿþþThe old life insurance policies were extremely generous, Ms. Cowell said, and the union saved a significant amount — $2 million a year — by cutting their value. She said that current Unite officials also had their life insurance policies cut to $5,000. Ms. Cowell said scaling back the policies was part of an effort to steer more money into organizing efforts. þþMany retirees criticize Bruce Raynor, Unite's president, for negotiating an agreement that did not protect retirees. ÿHere is a man who makes speeches about wanting to organize people into the union, and at the same time he's cutting our benefits after we worked so many years to build the union,ÿ said Douglas Levin, 81, the former vice president for organizing.þþMs. Cowell, who said she was speaking on behalf of Mr. Raynor, said the union had revamped life insurance, health coverage and many other areas to cut its deficit. þþAlfred Sigman, the retirees' lawyer, said the life insurance policies were vested employee benefits that could not be eliminated without violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. þþThe union's lawyers say the life insurance was not a vested benefit and that the union reserved the right to change the policies.þþMs. Cowell said a sizable life insurance policy was unnecessary because the union maintained a generous pension plan that provides a sizable pension for life to the spouse after the retiree dies. Referring to life insurance, she said: ÿWe don't think it's a benefit our employees need to have.ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
