The non-profit Association of BellTel Retirees, Inc. has selected the City of Stamford, CT as the location for its 30th anniversary membership meeting, to take place on Wednesday, May 20 beginning at 10:30 am in the Ann Sexton Board Room of the Ferguson Library, located at 1 Public Library Plaza (Intersection Broad & Bedford Streets).
Members that wish to attend must RSVP using the following link or by contacting the Association of BellTel Retirees office by email at association@belltelretirees.org or by phone at (631) 367-3067.
Keynote speakers will include John Rowley, Sr, Business Manager, IBEW Local 2324 and Attorney Edward Stone, Executive Director of Retirees for Justice. Leaders of the nonprofit association will address retirees’ concerns about the safety and security of retiree pensions being offloaded to insurers, annuity providers and private equity firms, and about the dramatic cost increase for retiree healthcare benefits. The event promises to be an opportunity for retirees to obtain critical information about the protection of their earned benefits and connect with former co-workers.
Founded in 1996 by Bell System retirees, the organization seeks to protect the retirement and health benefits for all communication industry retirees, surviving spouses and current employees. In January, Frontier Communications, which was long based in Fairfield County and built upon the Southern New England Telephone (SNET) network, was acquired by Verizon for $20 billion. In the weeks leading up to the completion of the merger, Verizon laid off 13,000 of its workers,
Much of Connecticut was historically in the SNET coverage area, but with mergers, that company’s assets and employee network became Frontier Communications in 2014. In several transactions, including in 2010 and 2016, Verizon sold off regional communication assets to Frontier, including those across 17 states. By bringing its annual meeting to Stamford, retirees and union leaders seek to build a bridge between retirees of both companies who share a common heritage and now a common fight to preserve their retirement security.
Among the event speakers:
John Rowley, Sr, is Business Manager, IBEW L-2324 in Western Massachusetts. Rowley recently led a landmark Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) study of toxic lead sediments in manholes and the extremely dangerous workplace exposures from environmental-lead toxicity, impacting the lives of tens-of-thousands of industry workers and countless retirees previously exposed over the decades.
Edward Stone is a Fairfield County-based legal expert working to protect retirees’ earned pension benefits from Pension Risk Transfers (PRT). A PRT occurs when corporations walk away from their fiduciary responsibility for retiree pensions, transferring those to investors, including insurers, annuity firms and private equity firms. Stone is currently counsel for several litigations related to the December 2025 collapse of Connecticut insurer PHL Variable, causing thousands of policyholders and families with annuities to be left with pennies on the dollar. Stone will discuss the recent developments of this and other cases relating to pension risk transfers from the retirees’ perspective.
An RSVP is necessary to attend the event. Members can RSVP through the following link or by contacting the Association of BellTel Retirees office by email at association@belltelretirees.org or by phone at (631) 367-3067.