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- Leading the Way In Y2K |
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UE-GE
National Negotiations 2000 |
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The
GE Pension Plan:
Giving Us the Business |
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The
purpose of any private pension plan is to insure a decent and secure
standard of living for those who put their working lives into a company.
For GE workers that ought to be an easily attainable goal. After all,
the GE Pension Fund now stands at an Everest-like height of about $50
Billion dollars.
But
even more importantly, the fund now contains twice as much
as is needed to pay for all present and future pension
obligations!
Nevertheless,
a typical 30 year GE worker now stands to retire on a basic pension
(excluding supplements) of only about $1,000 a month. Many will do
worse. |
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The
main problem is that for GE, our Pension Plan has become a very
profitable business, and naturally the Company wants to keep it
that way. What kind of business is it?
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It’s
a business that in the last 3 years took in over $16
Billion more in income than it paid out in benefits. By
itself, the Pension Fund is bigger than USX, DuPont, Emerson,
Rockwell and Boeing to name a few.
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It’s
a business that last year alone, because of accounting rules
favorable to overfunded pension plans, provided GE with $1.38
Billion on its corporate balance sheet as pre-tax profit
to the delight of Company executives and Wall Street.
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It’s
a business that is legally allowed to discriminate. While Jack
Welch stands to get a pension of about $8 Million a
year, GE retirees have no COLA, and despite the recent
increase are fighting a losing battle against inflation.
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It's Time to End Business As Usual |
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It’s
high time we get back to basics with our pension plan, and once again
start using it the way it was intended, solely for the benefit of
GE workers and retirees. Let’s stand up for:
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