OT: update on IBM pension screw-job

F. George McDuffee · 2006-08-09T18:30:36+00:00

I apologize for yet another OT posting, but this is an update ofan earlier thread about IBM's efforts to "welsh" on the pensionagreement it had with its long term employees.For a while this had been blocked because of age discriminationclaims as the long-term employees were older. IBM found a judge[what this cost was not announced] to rule that thediscrimination was not age related, which is prohibited, butrather length-of service related, which is allowed. In otherwords, because IBM would treat employees that started working forIBM when they were 10 years old, the same as they were treatingworkers that started when they were 25 or 30 years old, there wasno age discrimination. This is a unilateral revision of explicit written agreementchanging the pension plan from a defined benefit plan based onyears of service with IBM to a cash-balance plan, and there wasno offer by IBM to refund the wages foregone by the affectedemployees on the assumption of later pension payments.In total this will result in cutting the long-term IBM employeepensions by 20 to 50%, which is the other way of saying it willsave IBM 1.4 billion dollars. It is not at all clear what willhappen to the 1.4 billion dollars hijacked from the pensionfunds.It should be noted under this latest decision, there is nothingto stop IBM and the other corporations from reducing oreliminating their pension plans, as long as they screw all theemployees equally.This yet another warning to our younger workers that acorporation's or company's (or government's) promises meannothing, even if these are in writing and signed by an officer ofthe corporation. As in the old joke, you will *NOT* be respectedin the morning. Get the money up front, keep it in your name andunder your control. Attaboys and certificates of appreciation donot put beans on the table or gas in the tank.Unka George(George McDuffee)...and at the end of the fight is a tombstone whitewith the name of the late deceased, andthe epitaph drear: ?A Fool...

Aug 09, 2006 20 Replies

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David R Brooks 20 years ago

Joseph Gwinn wrote: ...

Close, in some points, to what we have in Australia (it's independent of the employer, & you can move it around - "portable" as we say).

*Except* that the govt. got greedy (so what's new), & taxes it. Three times, to be exact: when you put money in, any earnings, and again when you take it out.

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