Comments on: A Retiree with Strong Feelings http://blog.corre.info/2007/10/13/a-retiree-with-string-feelings/ --discussing pensions and benefits of Oak Ridge retired employees Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:35:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: dental insurance leaders http://blog.corre.info/2007/10/13/a-retiree-with-string-feelings/#comment-76 dental insurance leaders Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:01:18 +0000 http://blog.corre.info/2007/10/13/a-retiree-with-string-feelings/#comment-76 <strong>dental insurance leaders...</strong> I found your site through Google and although I can not find exactly what I was looking for, compliments for the great job done.... dental insurance leaders…

I found your site through Google and although I can not find exactly what I was looking for, compliments for the great job done….

]]> By: Robert W. Henderson http://blog.corre.info/2007/10/13/a-retiree-with-string-feelings/#comment-33 Robert W. Henderson Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:48:59 +0000 http://blog.corre.info/2007/10/13/a-retiree-with-string-feelings/#comment-33 Mr. Dishman I think you said very effectively what most all of the 12,000 retirees feel. At least you took the time and made the effort to say how you feel! We see 2-3 obituaries each day in the News-Sentinel of folks who retired from one of the Oak Ridge plants or lab. If DOE approves the improved pension plan for current employees like has already been done by increasing the multiplier from 1.2 to 1.4 for those who retire after 2001 and reducing the surviving spouse option penalty from about 8-10% down to 2% as they have done for those who retire after 2004 to keep those persons quiet, and continue to delay long enough most of those long time retirees like yourself who are really suffering financially will have joined the Obituary Club and eventually the "Problem" will be silenced. But is that the way the US wants to treat those loyal persons who sacrificed for this country over the last 60 years? Those loyal employees weren't the "Problem" then, they were the Solution to the Problem. How quickly we can forget! When did they become the "Problem"? Wasn't it when the contractors, with DOE's approval, chose to quit contributing funds into the Pension Fund in 1984. Once a year had passed, it was too easy to justify not contributing again in 1985, then 1986....... and so it continues in 2007. So what if the older retirees suffer? What clout do they have? The new contractors never knew those people. Who cares? CORRE cares! And I believe that some of our elected officials care! I believe that if enough of us, like you Mr. Dishman, continue to speak out about this injustice that something can and will be done. Mr. Dishman I think you said very effectively what most all of the 12,000 retirees feel. At least you took the time and made the effort to say how you feel!
We see 2-3 obituaries each day in the News-Sentinel of folks who retired from one of the Oak Ridge plants or lab. If DOE approves the improved pension plan for current employees like has already been done by increasing the multiplier from 1.2 to 1.4 for those who retire after 2001 and reducing the surviving spouse option penalty from about 8-10% down to 2% as they have done for those who retire after 2004 to keep those persons quiet, and continue to delay long enough most of those long time retirees like yourself who are really suffering financially will have joined the Obituary Club and eventually the “Problem” will be silenced.
But is that the way the US wants to treat those loyal persons who sacrificed for this country over the last 60 years? Those loyal employees weren’t the “Problem” then, they were the Solution to the Problem. How quickly we can forget! When did they become the “Problem”? Wasn’t it when the contractors, with DOE’s approval, chose to quit contributing funds into the Pension Fund in 1984. Once a year had passed, it was too easy to justify not contributing again in 1985, then 1986……. and so it continues in 2007.
So what if the older retirees suffer? What clout do they have? The new contractors never knew those people. Who cares?

CORRE cares! And I believe that some of our elected officials care!
I believe that if enough of us, like you Mr. Dishman, continue to speak out about this injustice that something can and will be done.

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