IBM, ENRON, ATT, VERIZON PENSION LOSS VICTIMS AND POLICY LEADERS AT "DISINTEGRATING PENSIONS NATIONAL CRISIS: CALL TO ACTION" PEPPER FOUNDATION NEWS CONFERENCE, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB:

SEEKING CHANGES TO COMBAT NATIONAL TREND OF HUNDREDS OF PLANS REDUCED, MILLIONS OF SENIORS THREATENED

A news forum held at the National Press Club Monday, February 27 on "Disintegrating Private Pensions National Crisis: Call to Action", sponsored by the Claude Pepper Foundation and Center, included a panel of pension loss victims from across the country currently or recently employed by IBM, Enron, ATT, and Verizon, and a panel of policy experts from the AFL-CIO, the Pension Rights Center, Ernst and Young, Ameriprise, and the Claude Pepper Center at Florida State University.

The first panel was comprised of policy experts, including William Arnone, Human Capital Practice Partner for financial services giant Ernst and Young, New York City, and co-author of Ernst and Young’s Retirement Planning Guide;  Shaun O’Brien, Assistant Director, AFL-CIO Public Policy Department and pension policy expert, Washington, DC;  Karen Friedman, Policy Director of the Pension Rights Center, Washington, DC; Awad Morgan, Financial Advisor, Ameriprise Financial Services, Vienna, VA; and David Macpherson, Director, Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy, Claude Pepper Center, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL.  

The second panel was made up of pension loss victims who described heart-wrenching personal experiences of the impact of losses in their expected and promised pensions on their lives and their families. Some of the victims lead pension loss groups. The members of this panel were; Earl Mongeon (Westford, VT), National Vice President, Alliance@IBM / CWA Local 1701; Charles Prestwood (Conroe, TX), Enron Employees for Real Retirement Reform (Had $1.3million savings in Enron stock and walked away with $8,000); Margo Bryerton (Syracuse, NY), Verizon (Lost $300,000) and Larry Cutrone (Bigfork, MT), AT&T Retirees Association, President (Receiving $23,000 annually instead of $47,000 promised, and lost health insurance).

Thomas Spulak, Chair of the Pepper Foundation and former Staff Director of the House Rules Committee under Chairman Pepper, opened the event. Bob Weiner, former Chief of Staff of the House Aging Committee under Chairman Pepper, now president of Robert Weiner Associates Public Affairs, and author with Cael Pulitzer of a December 29 piece in the Miami Herald, "Pension Reform: Protect workers from losing earned benefits," was convener and moderator.

The pension crisis is numbing.  Out of 142.6 million active American workers, 101 million have a private pension plan. It is the lifeblood for most Americans supplementing the near poverty of pure Social Security.  However, hundreds of major companies, including United Airlines, GM, IBM, Verizon, Sears, Hewlett Packard, Polaroid, AT&T, and of course Enron have now reduced their guaranteed retirement plans or judges have authorized dissolution of pension funds. The trend threatens nearly all American seniors and their families, as well as younger workers.

Please go to our web site, www.allianceibm.org, to read Vice President  Earl Mongeon's prepared remarks as well as other information related to this event as it become available.