The Reno/Sparks chapter of IBEW Local 1245 Retirees’ Club took out a full page ad in the Aug. 11 Reno Gazette-Journal inviting NV Energy Chairman Philip Satre to meet with them to discuss the company’s decision to slash health benefits for retirees.
“As first responders, we have dedicated our lives to our communities and to NV Energy,” the retirees wrote in an open letter to Satre. “Many of us risked life and limb to provide Nevada with safe and reliable power, doing dangerous work on gas and electric lines in the heat of summer and dead of winter. We were there for Nevada, and we believed NV Energy’s promise that the company would always be there for us.
“Mr. Satre, our hope is that as Chairman of NV Energy you will call upon your management to keep their word and restore health care benefits.”
In the fall of 2009, NV Energy’s management decided to break its promise to retirees and stopped covering health care costs they had agreed to cover. This left hundreds of retirees, many on fixed incomes, to cover soaring costs they had never anticipated.
“The claim that NV Energy can no longer afford to honor its commitments falls flat – top executives have been given 42% raises over the past two years, and your CEO made over $5 million dollars last year alone,” the retirees wrote.
The retirees have invited Satre to join them at their monthly breakfast meeting.
WHO: IBEW Local 1245 Retirees’ Club, and, hopefully, Philip G. Satre, Chairman of the Board of NV Energy
WHAT: Breakfast and discussion of management’s decision to slash agreed-upon health care benefits for retirees
WHEN: 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, August 17
WHERE: Denny’s, 205 Nugget Avenue in Sparks