If you're one of those people in Farmington or even down south who've been disconnected, blacked out or generally ignored by the state's primary internet and phone service provider, just be thankful you're not really getting screwed by the company. If ever there were a company that has consistently represented the worst of American corporate mentality and behavior and disregard for the working class employee, it is Qwest.
A pox on your house Qwest. A pox on your house. May your corporate jets be grounded, your books audited, your reserved parking moved across town, your country club's grass turn to sand so that no shot may be good, your flat panel tv's fall from the walls, your McMansions become infested by termites and may all your children need braces, retainors, fancy clothes, shoes, cars and therapists...and your stockings be stuffed with coal you heartless greedy pricks.
DenverPost.com - Qwest cuts retiree benefits:
Despite posting two straight quarterly profits and initiating a stock buyback of up to $2 billion, Qwest plans to cut health-care and life-insurance benefits for thousands of retirees.
The Denver-based company also told retirees this month that there will be no future cost-of- living increases in their pensions, said Nelson Phelps, executive director of the Association of US West Retirees. The last increase was in 1996, he said.
Qwest, which acquired US West in 2000, said Tuesday the company is merely responding to market conditions.
"Health-care costs are rising at an alarming rate for all industries," said Qwest spokesman Bob Toevs. "The change is simply a response to market conditions - conditions that are affecting every business and its employees."
The cuts are "heartless" and are "the most significant any retiree has seen," Phelps said. The retirees association is reviewing options to see whether it can fight the changes in court, he said.
Starting in January, Qwest will require any former management employee or nonunion employee who retired after 1990 to pay any future increase in health- care costs. Last year, Qwest pushed a portion of premium increases onto the retirees. Toevs said the company will still cover a majority of retiree health-care premiums after the latest change.
The company also is capping life-insurance benefits for all retirees at $10,000. Retirees were previously given the equivalent of one year's annual salary in life-insurance benefits.