What We Are Fighting For?
- Details
- Updated Thursday March 29 2012 20:04 EDT
- Published Thursday August 26 2010 21:35 EDT
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Charts That Say It All: (click each chart to view) |
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We are fighting to restore the full pensions we earned and are entitled to, including any supplement and complete reimbursement of the amounts our pensions have been reduced.
The pension treatment we received in the Federal Government's GM bankruptcy was unjust, unfair, and inequitable:
- Unjust (illegal) – We had no representation in the closed-door negotiations; legal protections normally available to retirees were skirted; liens on Delphi property that could have protected our pensions were surrendered for minimal value; and, while the PBGC claimed our pension plan was “severely underfunded,” an independent study by the respected actuarial firm Watson Wyatt said it was 85.6% funded at the time it was terminated. After reviewing the Watson Wyatt report, a second actuarial firm, Wells Fargo Company’s BPS&M, noted that this 86% funding level was not only a healthy funding level, but was actually better than the average of the largest private pension plans in the United States.
- Unfair – Our hourly counterparts represented by the most powerful unions were chosen to be made whole on their pensions and will receive monthly "top-ups" from GM (funded by TARP dollars). No similar pension treatment was extended to us; and,
- Inequitable – We are the ONLY auto retirees, hourly or salaried, to have worked two-thirds or more of our careers for a Big Three company to have lost part of our pensions – in our case 30-70% - AND 100% of our health care coverage, AND 100% of our life insurance.
