Save these phone numbers if you have pension, medical or prescription problems as a BJ retiree!!!

I had to spend a couple of hours wading through the English maze garden of red tape to handle my bungled prescriptions.

Since I am among 50 who won the healthcare lawsuit against the BJ when it was owned by Black Press, among a zillion owners of the BJ, I get ANY prescription for $2 for 30 days and $4 for 90 days.

Even two prescriptions I get that cost $1,300 and $1,200, respectively. So $4 per 90 days is a major savings. By my calculations the Chanda-handled lawsuit has saved me $40,000 -- $3,000 to $5,000 a year so it will continue to grow and $16,000 and change reimbursement when the lawsuit was settled.

Anyway, the Walgreens Pharmacy on Howe Avenue shut down months ago. Some of their customers, including me, were transferred to the Walgreens on Brittain Road.

In doing this, they unintentionally and automatically blocked SAVRX, which handles BJ prescriptions.

Even having my daughter show them Judge David Dowd’s court decision for BJ retirees between 1978 and 2002 specifying $4 for ANY 90-day prescriptions didn’t sway Walgreens.

They believe us but they couldn’t get their computer to believe us.

After talking to Chandra Law Firm, the Cleveland geniuses who won the healthcare lawsuit against Black Press for 50 ITU retirees and 5 Guild retirees; Black Press human resources generalist Kaili McIlvenna, the name several of you provided to me and others via BJ newsroom Facebook page; Rebel Tavaris, who handles medical claims for BJ retirees; and Sarah at SAVRX in Nebraska, my problem should be solved by Monday, Walgreens told SAVRX.

But I want to pass along contact numbers that you should save and print out in case you have to deal with pension, medical or prescription problems as a BJ retiree.

Don’t lose the contacts. It will make your life easier, believe me.

Contacts by BJ retirees for pension or medical or prescriptions

Black Press Media

Human Resources

#210 15288 54A Avenue

Surrey, British Columbia

Canada V3S 6T4

 

Phone (604) 851-4431

Fax: (604) 575-2073

Email: benefits@blackpress.ca

 

For pensions:

Kaili McIlvenna

Human Resources Generalist

Black Press Group Ltd.

At (604) 851-4431

 

For prescriptions:

SAVRX

(800) 228-3108

Located in Nebraska.

Anyone who answers phone can help you.

Called me back from (402) 753-2800 but you should start with the 800 number.

 

For Medical and BJ Pensions under Black Press (Sound Publishing):

 

 Rebel Tavaris
(253) 872-6730
1010 S. 336th Street Suite 330
Federal Way, WA 98003 

Here's the contact I made to inquire about the $14,000 life insurance for Guild retirees in effect at my 1996 retirement. In case it might help other BJ retirees: For Medical including BJ pensions: Sound Publishing Rebel Tavaris (253) 872-6730 1010 S. 336th Street Suite 330 Federal Way, WA 98003 Hope this helps you.

 

I'm 87 and hibernating during the coronavirus pandemic so I have PLENTY of time to deal with such things and a 43-year newspaper career and Englehart who taught me how to pursue information relentlessly.

Others are not as fortunate.

I hope my legwork will help you.

Stay safe during the pandemic.

If you do have inter-action with any of the phone contacts I provided please share any information you get with the rest of us, either on the BJ Newsroom Facebook page or by emailing me at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com  and I will spread the word via this blog.

We're in this together. A hundred straws are much stronger than one straw!

 

The PD viciously pounded the final nail in the coffin.

After more than 80 years, the Northeast Ohio’s Local 1, at the Plain Dealer, is dead.

The PD Guild statement said that unit will be dissolved Sunday, May 17. A "They is done" taps as a funeral dirge in the background with a white cross planted at 1801 Superior Avenue would be appropriate.

The PD on Friday, May 15 will lay off the 4 remaining reporters, who have been offered jobs at the non-union Cleveland.com scab organization that will put out what’s left of the PD.

The Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild claims it has “about 130” members at the BJ, the Canton Repository and the Massillon Independent but that number seems as inflated as Trump crowd math.

The PD went from 340 journalists to NONE in 20 years.

PD Guild members included retired rock and roll reporter Jane Scott, in the Cleveland Press Hall of Fame; former Cleveland mayor and Congressman Dennis Kucinich; and Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (“Basic Instinct,” “Flashdance”), whose net worth is $18 million, not bad for a guy born in the village of Csakanydoroszlo, Hungary (total’s population: 1,757) as Jozsef Eszterhas. He is listed as the ONLY “notable people” ever born there, in 1944 in Joe’s case. It’s on the western border of Hungary

For another painful look at the PD situation by the Columbia Journalism Review, click on https://www.cjr.org/analysis/advance-local-one-cleveland-plain-dealer-layoffs.php?fbclid=IwAR2bV7z6zYwRdc0dxibrDeRTu8SFixmda21pqsxpMhvGV9sEB81mF2vdu-c