[ACTION ALERT] From the Pension Rights Center -- pension bill

[antigop]

The news in Washington is that the Conference Committee has agreed on almost all
of the key points of the pension legislation and may release the final bill as
early as tomorrow -- this means there could be a vote next week before Congress
leaves for the August recess. This article --
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-20-pensions_x.htm --provides
details about what to expect in the final legislation.

It's critical to act fast to put pressure on members of the Conference Committee
and your Members of Congress to let them know your concerns on the legislation.

What You Can Do
Tell the Conference Committee members to keep worker protections in the bill,
especially with regard to the cash balance and Red Zone provisions.

Tell them that the final legislation should include the Senate cash balance
provisions and should not include the Red Zone 'anti-cutback' provisions, both
of which are described below.

Cash Balance Provisions
The Conferees are using the damaging House language as the basis for the final
bill. We need to make sure that the conferees adopt the good provisions of the
Senate bill and eliminate the age-discriminatory language of the House bill.

Tell the Conferees that, by adopting the House cash balance provisions, they are
ignoring the House-passed 'Motion to Instruct' that passed on April 7th by a
vote of 248-178. The Motion directed the Conferees to adopt the Senate bill's
provisions on cash balance plans.

Message Points
The House cash balance provisions legalize age discrimination by allowing
companies to pay younger workers more than older workers. The Senate provisions
on cash balance plans provide critical protections to older workers and should
be included in the Conference Report that is reported out of the committee.

The House bill provides NO transition protections for older employees in cash
balance conversions. This means that older employees could lose expected
benefits in future cash balance conversions. Tell the conferees and your
Members of Congress that any cash balance legislation must include transition
benefits for older employees.

The House bill allows for the practice of 'wearaway,' which allows companies
that convert to cash balance plans to effectively freeze the benefits of older
employees so they stop earning new benefits while younger workers are allowed to
continue accumulating retirement benefits. Tell the conferees and your own
Members of Congress that wearaway must be prohibited.

The Pension Rights Center, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security
and Medicare and the National Retiree Legislative Network sent a joint letter to
members of the Conference Committee on the cash balance provisions in the
legislation. You can use this letter for additional message points on cash
balance plans:
http://www.pensionrights.org/PRC%20NCPSSM%20NRLN%20Letter%20to%20Conferees.pdf

Red Zone 'Anti-Cutback' Provisions
Despite the efforts of activists across the country, the Red Zone 'anti-cutback'
provisions are likely to be contained in the final bill that comes out of the
Conference Committee. These unfair provisions will dramatically reduce the
already-earned subsidized early retirement benefits that have been earned by
truck drivers, brick layers, construction workers and others who are covered by
certain multiemployer plans. The Pension Rights Center has drafted a fact sheet
on these harmful provisions:
http://www.pensionrights.org/pubs/facts/red_zone.html

Members to Focus On
It is important to focus on the following members of the Conference Committee
when calling about the cash balance and Red Zone 'anti-cutback' provisions: Rep.
John A. Boehner (R OH-8), Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH), Senator Charles E.
Grassley (R-IA), Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME), Senator Max S. Baucus (D-MT)
and (R-OH) and Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA).

It's very important that you contact your own Member of Congress, in addition to
the conferees, to tell them that if your concerns are not met, they should vote
against the final bill.

You can find their contact information by visiting
http://www.pensionrights.org/policy/legislation/alerts/conference_committee.html\
.

Other Provisions in the Legislation
The Pension Rights Center has prepared message points on several other key
provisions in the legislation:
http://www.pensionrights.org/action/message_points.html
You can use these as you draft your message to members of the Conference
Committee.

[Monkeyman]

1. Brothers and Sisters they are going to pass this outrage

[brokensymmetry]

2. Yeah, I know.

Those who planned on a pension are screwed.

Hardly surprising, anymore.

The New Deal is in the past. I doubt we'll see
its like again.