Whose Pensions Are Underfunded?

• Report this Comment On July 26, 2008, at 4:35 PM, urw2ks4us wrote:

  I particularly enjoyed this article due to eleven words. I found them to be a breath of fresh air in a stagnating air of denial by corporate smokescreens and legal garbage of Forward Looking Statements fumigated under the guise of Global competition.

  Thank you Selena, for these eleven words... "Well,companies "OWE" traditional pension benefits to many of their employees"... too bad people don't want to know the reality of those the corporations "cut and gut" because the working class was just a little to inept to get that it really wasn't like a contract when they hired on, more like a promise that could be broken, no ,not a promise...eh...no taking someone for their word...eh no that isn't quite right either. You just do your thirty in such as like the plants of Goodyear, breathing in carbon black and rubber and it embedded in your skin ,walking concrete,loading,pushing your body to extremes, hearing loss,etc and maybe you will be told it was just a joke.

  And where are the great journalists who sought great answers ? Like why if Global competition is so much pressure on the corporations such as Goodyear that they cannot afford the pensions and healthcare of of retired blue collar or now salaried workers...wouldn't it save millions more to cut those retirement costs of those such as Sam Gibara and other corporate retired deadweight? And still in light of all of this competition...instead of layoffs and shutdowns of those who produce and contribute to the making of the actual product of TIRES... why just not stop hiring or creating new titles or juggling around another 21 or so Vice Presidents,Officers, Directors ,etc, in the past 19 mo. alone that announcements could be found on to create those executive packages and bonuses to have to pay out.... in such a time of hardship, especially when so many seem to have been with the company only 5 yrs. or less from such as TRW,ArvinMeritor,Delphi,Gm and most are financial and do they know how to make a tire? Some of the Job titles are good though.

  But , I forgot, it is just about money and we should just plan ahead from here and go on. The investors are happy and it doesn't bother them that the only business brought before them was yet another bonus and compensation package with pretty much a pass this one or else to it (as if it wouldn't pass, who has the voting power?) As long as the law will protect our 401k's ,I guess all is well... its not like we won't take care of mom and dad ( 30 yrs. Goodyear retiree, salaried. most likely will lose their home) and guess we will see about this VEBA as my husband almost has his 30 in ....or are we out?

• Report this Comment On August 04, 2008, at 2:05 PM, PensionRights wrote:

  Thanks for including a link to the Pension Rights Center’s fact sheet on how to determine if your pension plan is underfunded.

  Depending on how underfunded a pension plan is, law requires certain “underfunded” pension plans to reduce benefits and notify workers of any potential cutbacks. The Pension Rights Center has two fact sheets that help workers understand what benefits may be cut back if they receive a notice that their pension plan is underfunded. “Benefit Cutbacks in Single-Employer Pension Plans” and “Benefit Cutbacks in Multiemployer Pension Plans" are both available in the Fact Sheets section of our web site: http://www.pensionrights.org/pubs/facts.html.

  Joellen Leavelle, Pension Rights Center, www.pensionrights.org

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