Lucent retirees await ruling on pension assets

[Omaha Steve]

By Russell Hubbard / World-Herald staff writer 2 hrs ago

Retirees from the once-bustling Western Electric plant in Millard are still waiting to hear if their pension plan is going to be tapped by the new corporate custodian of their retirement fund.

The unions that represented the retired workers filed a lawsuit more than a year ago in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, saying the company, Alcatel-Lucent, was improperly transferring $1.2 billion from the fund for hourly retirees to the one for management retirees.

The issue, according to the union: Money from the retirement fund of the hourly workers was being used to shore up a retirement fund for management. That fund is underfunded. The company says it isn’t doing anything wrong and that the money is essentially in one big pot, anyway — not in separate tranches for hourly and salaried employees.

But the judge in the case threw the suit out late last year, in a ruling that left open the chance to refile it once the attorneys for the unions made certain changes. That was done and the suit was refiled in December.

FULL story: http://www.omaha.com/money/lucent-retirees-await-ruling-on-pension-assets/article_8535d7ab-bab3-5a6c-b370-2adac138b4be.html

[Mc Mike]

1. We need a general strike. rec, nt.

[Sherman A1]

9. You may be right

I se the pension as a sacred trust and I believe those who violate that trust as less than the lowest of life forms. Just as those who cheat their workers out of their pay.

[Mc Mike]

10. And transferring the money from the workers' fund to the managers'

is the supreme insult. Reminds me of the '08 financial melt down, where all kinds of labor agreements were abrogated due to the crisis, then the bailed out financial institutions gave out bonuses to management -- their excuse was the managers had contracts, and the institutions 'didn't want to get taken to court' for abrogating contractual obligations. Heads swines win, tails Americans lose.

Alcatel Lucent was another one of the companies that genius manager Fiorina crashed, through her CEO genius expertise.

If A L is in financial trouble, the people who don't deserve their pension are the managers. They don't deserve their own pensions, let alone getting the pensions of the people who were actually doing all the work. Because if a worker wasn't performing their job well enough at A L, they got cashiered.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. So many pensions have been eviscerated.

I'm one of those. I'm getting a third of what I should be getting. Lucky for me, because I worked for this company from 1969 to 1979. I always assumed my pension would be trivial. I'm actually collecting a bit more than I'd always thought, but for those who did everything right, who worked there 25 or 35 years, who included that pension in their retirement calculation, they're screwed. As are so many others whose pensions are simply disappearing.

What a shame that our legislatures aren't facing the same horror.

[mdbl]

3. And pensions were supposed to be guaranteed by the federal govt

What a joke. Of course, I feel bad for the new hourly poor workers, most of whom will never see one.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. My pension comes to me thanks to the

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which I understand is expected to run out of money in a few years. Jesus H Christ. I'm luckier than most, as if I lose my trivial pension, I'll be okay. But those who thought their pension would be half of their retirement, are well and truly fucked. Oh, and if those currently in power get to cut our Social Security, we will all be hurting.

[mdbl]

5. From the what you said I thought about the PBGC

I remember when you didn't have to take 40%. Sad how this country doesn't keep it's commitments to people, it just waters them down until they are diluted into nothing. Good thing you saved for your retirement. People are now being pushed to save/invest in their own retirement. The only problem I have with 401K/IRA retirement plans is if the market dumps, so does your retirement, unless it's in bonds. Of course, 4 to 8 years of repuglican rule could screw those up too.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. In many ways a 401k is vastly better than being totally fucked over

because your company didn't fund their pension plan in the first place, or decided to declare bankruptcy (my case) and simply blow off their pension obligation.

The truly scary thing is that the PBGC is looking at running out of money entirely in the very near future. As I said, I'll be a bit better off than most, since I never expected this pension to be more than $100/month -- it's a bit more than that at this point -- and so if it went away I could manage. But a lot of people with my company worked for decades, assuming their pension was a reliable thing, and now they're fucked.

And of course we're not the only ones. Recently municipal employees are learning that their pensions are at risk, mainly because of underfunding. I can tell you that I was reading as long ago as the 1970s that city, county, and state pensions were being underfunded, and that at some point that would be an issue. Meanwhile, those in charge don't seem to be in any danger of losing their pensions. The bastards.

[mdbl]

7. Again, your 401K can screw you worse is you have it invested in risky funds

How many people are watching out for themselves or are they just trusting those who run the investment funds. But I get your point.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. If you pay attention, and depending on what your 401k offers as investments,

you can do better than a pension fund that suddenly fucks you over and gives you one third of what you'd been promised.

I have a Roth IRA, which has been vastly more dependable than that company pension. Plus my own personal savings (and I saved various windfall amounts which most people would have spent) and of course Social Security.

Here's the kicker: My SS income is exactly 1/3 of my income, which is EXACTLY what it should be. Back when SS came into being, it was seen as one leg of a three legged stool: SS, a pension, and savings. And now the fuckers who are running things are proposing cutting Social Security.