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Tower completed the sale to Cerberus July 31, 2007

Kathleen Ligocki is stepping down after being CEO for four years and taking a consulting job with Cerberus, with an announcement coming at the end of the week according to "Tower spokesman Joe Kirik".

Tower emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today, 185 pension fund intact - according to the PBGC.

"PBGC Interim Director Charles E.F.Millard said in a news release. Tower Automotive and its asset purchaser, Cerberus Capital Management, are to be commended for keeping this commitment to their workers' retirement security."

If we get any news of any up coming changes in addresses or suppliers of benefits we will forwarding to you.

Please remember that if you move - please supply them with a correct address and a means to be able to get ahold of you.

Total.Compensation@towerautomotive.com

616-802-1656
fax 616-802-1527

You can also use this email address for: Human Resource Inquiries, Address Changes, Employment Verifications.

Donald Schrauth

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June 30, 2007

BANKRUPTCY COURT APPROVES AMENDED SETTLEMENT

The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the Amended Settlement between Tower Automotive and its subsidiaries, TA Acquisition which is purchasing Tower's Assets ("Purchaser"), the Milwaukee Unions and the Smith Steel Workers DALU 19806 Litigation Trust, after a hearing in New York on Thursday June 28, 2007. The Court noted there were no objections to the Amended Settlements. 
 
The Amended Settlement was important because it provided that the Purchaser will assume the pension plan and will not amend the Milwaukee pension benefits.  The Purchaser also agreed to maintain retiree life insurance benefits.  It will fund the VEBA, but only through 2008. Our website posting of June 20, 2007 has further details on the Amended Settlement.

The Court also ordered that the Smith Steel Workers DALU 19806 Litigation Trust is the authorized representative of retirees who were represented by Smith Steel Workers DALU 19806 "in accordance with 1114 of the Bankruptcy Code".

Under the Amended Settlement Tower will be distributing the NLRB Transmarine remedy payments which were negotiated a year ago to employees who worked under the 2003-2009 labor agreement between Tower and Local 19806. These employees were affected by Tower's refusal to bargain over the effects of the shutdown of the Dodge Ram work after the 2003-2009 agreement was negotiated.  We expect checks will be mailed out by certified mail next week.

Any questions please call me at 414-871-2460.

Donald Schrauth

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June 20, 2007

NOTICE OF AMENDED AGREEMENT

Most of you will receive, over the next few days a Notice of Motion for Entry of an Order Approving Amended Agreements with the Milwaukee Unions, other Unions and the Retiree Committee which represents Non-Union Retirees.  Provisions of each agreement are summarized in the Motion. The provisions of the Milwaukee Agreement are summarized on pages 11 and 14 of the Motion.

Tower intends to sell most of its assets. The Milwaukee Unions entered an Amended Agreement to protect employee' and retirees' most important rights with the purchasing company. This is particularly important because the proposed sale price will not provide the resources for continued benefits or for payment of amounts owed by Tower.  The Amended Agreement is with Tower and with Tower Automotive Acquisition Company, LLC ("TAAC") which intends to purchase Tower's assets. The agreement will not become effective unless TAAC purchases Tower or another purchaser accepts the terms of the agreement.

THE KEY POINTS IN THE AMENDED AGREEMENT ARE:

  1. TAAC agrees to assume the pension and not "amend or modify the pension plan...in a manner which would reduce any benefits.
  2. TAAC has also agreed to continue life insurance benefits at their current level which was reduced under the prior agreement to the "lowest level of coverage for which each individual would ever be eligible."
  3. TAAC will continue to contribute to the Milwaukee VEBA and to provide the Medicare Part B supplement payments through the end of 2008.
  4. TAAC however will not provide funding for the Milwaukee VEBA or pay the Medicare Part B supplement after December 31, 2008.

The Milwaukee Unions shall have a general unsecured claim for the reduction and retiree benefits. That claim is in the amount of $133,265,000 of which $12 million is a general unsecured claim to settle claims concerning reduction of retiree benefits which was the subject of grievances and the federal court litigation before the bankruptcy. It is unlikely that this general unsecured claim will provide a substantial recovery. The Disclosure Statement which many of you received (which looks like a phone book about an inch thick) states on page 5 that "R. J. Tower general unsecured claims" will recover only .4% of the amount of the claim. That is .4 cents on the dollar. Other general unsecured claims of Tower U.S. subsidiaries will recover less than .1 cents per dollar on the claim.

The claim floor and back end payment have been removed from the settlement agreement.

The Milwaukee Unions have agreed to these additional modifications first to obtain the purchaser's agreement to assume and not modify the pension plan, secondly to continue the life insurance benefit and thirdly to continue health insurance through 2008.

If there are any questions any of you have, feel free to give me a call at the State AFL-CIO building, 6333 West Bluemound Road, or call me at 414-871-2460.  I will try to answer your questions or try to find them for you.

Donald Schrauth

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This photograph hung in Executive Boardroom of the 19806 Memorial Hall for many years. It was taken in 1959 when Senator John F. Kennedy was running for President. Also in the photo is William Proxmire and Clemet Zablocki. We don’t have a record of who the other people in the photo are.

If you’d like a copy of the photograph, you can download a copy of it here.
It is a large file so I reduced it into a “zip file” which will be faster for you to download. You will need an “unzipping” utility to open up the photo. Then you can print it.
(if you don’t have an unzipping utility, you can get one here for free)

Kennedy at A.O. Smith
(this is just a thumbnail of the photograph)

June 27, 2006
NEW Important Insurance Information

Click Below To Read:

Tower Automotive Milwaukee Union Retiree Benefits Trust
(TAMU)

also

TAMU Questions and Answers

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