Since my first full day in charge of your union, the issue of "pensions" has been first and foremost on my mind. It was the Friday after my first Executive Board Meeting that I received the news that our pension had taken some serious losses. From that day forward Jeff Anderson and I have worked (with the help of the UFCW International Benefits Department) to ensure that we take the right actions in dealing with our corner of this national crisis.
On February 26, I spoke with a member who wanted to know what was going on with her pension. She asked why she hadn’t heard any more information from Jeff or myself. I explained that there isn’t a lot of solid information out there and then I explained the following:
In each of my articles to this point I have discussed pension funding problems generally, but I haven’t gone into great detail. The reason is that there are many more questions than answers.
Here are the facts: Your pension plan lost about 26% in the past year. The Trustees will be making changes to plan to ensure that there will be enough money in the plan to pay out pensions going forward. No one can say definitely what those changes are going be. We have some ideas, but even those seem to change from day to day.
I asked Jeff Anderson to write his article this month on our pension problem and he did a great job. No one else at Local 555 has the depth of knowledge regarding your benefits that Jeff possesses. He sent the article to the newspaper last Monday, but by Thursday the facts had changed. Jeff’s article suggested that early retirement benefits may be in jeopardy due to rules put in place by the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Thursday we received information that early retirement benefits may not be affected after all. While we are cautiously optimistic, neither Jeff nor I feel that this matter is 100% settled.
As the entire pension benefit community struggles to get their hands around this problem, we will also continue to work to ensure that the pension benefits you have worked for remain in place for you.
As I said before, there really isn’t much definite information to give you and we are very concerned about rumors causing our members to make decisions based on bad information instead of solid information. As we get facts nailed down, we will be getting you solid information which you can use to make good decisions about your future.
Currently there have been no changes to your pension plan. On March 9, your Union pension Trustees will meet with the Employer Trustees and the Trust Consultants to decide what will be best for the participants of the OREPT. While it is possible that changes will be made at this meeting, it is also possible that the Trustees will decide to wait.
Below you will find a link to an article by Jeff Anderson which will be published in this month's 555 Leader. I encourage you to take the time to read it. Things have changed since the article was originally written. When Jeff first wrote his article we believed that the Pension Protection Act would call for the elimination of early retirement benefits, however on Thursday, February 26, 2009 we received notice from legal counsel suggesting that this may not be the case. After the meeting on March 9th, we will update you on any changes and what the future may hold.
I cannot say that early retirement benefits will definitely be affected. I also cannot say that they definitely won’t be affected. From the President of the United States to the person at the trust who will print your pension checks there is only one constant: Nobody really knows. But there is one thing I do know, when facts become available, we will make sure you get them.
Please take the time to read Jeff’s article.
On February 26, I spoke with a member who wanted to know what was going on with her pension. She asked why she hadn’t heard any more information from Jeff or myself. I explained that there isn’t a lot of solid information out there and then I explained the following:
In each of my articles to this point I have discussed pension funding problems generally, but I haven’t gone into great detail. The reason is that there are many more questions than answers.
Here are the facts: Your pension plan lost about 26% in the past year. The Trustees will be making changes to plan to ensure that there will be enough money in the plan to pay out pensions going forward. No one can say definitely what those changes are going be. We have some ideas, but even those seem to change from day to day.
I asked Jeff Anderson to write his article this month on our pension problem and he did a great job. No one else at Local 555 has the depth of knowledge regarding your benefits that Jeff possesses. He sent the article to the newspaper last Monday, but by Thursday the facts had changed. Jeff’s article suggested that early retirement benefits may be in jeopardy due to rules put in place by the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Thursday we received information that early retirement benefits may not be affected after all. While we are cautiously optimistic, neither Jeff nor I feel that this matter is 100% settled.
As the entire pension benefit community struggles to get their hands around this problem, we will also continue to work to ensure that the pension benefits you have worked for remain in place for you.
As I said before, there really isn’t much definite information to give you and we are very concerned about rumors causing our members to make decisions based on bad information instead of solid information. As we get facts nailed down, we will be getting you solid information which you can use to make good decisions about your future.
Currently there have been no changes to your pension plan. On March 9, your Union pension Trustees will meet with the Employer Trustees and the Trust Consultants to decide what will be best for the participants of the OREPT. While it is possible that changes will be made at this meeting, it is also possible that the Trustees will decide to wait.
Below you will find a link to an article by Jeff Anderson which will be published in this month's 555 Leader. I encourage you to take the time to read it. Things have changed since the article was originally written. When Jeff first wrote his article we believed that the Pension Protection Act would call for the elimination of early retirement benefits, however on Thursday, February 26, 2009 we received notice from legal counsel suggesting that this may not be the case. After the meeting on March 9th, we will update you on any changes and what the future may hold.
I cannot say that early retirement benefits will definitely be affected. I also cannot say that they definitely won’t be affected. From the President of the United States to the person at the trust who will print your pension checks there is only one constant: Nobody really knows. But there is one thing I do know, when facts become available, we will make sure you get them.
Please take the time to read Jeff’s article.
