CORRE Blog

CORRE President Dave Reichle made the following comments at the annual meeting on September 24.

Good afternoon.  I am Dave Reichle, your President of the Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees. Welcome to CORRE’s 8^th Annual Meeting.  I am pleased to see such great attendance and appreciate the effort that each of you has made to be here this afternoon.

First, I must point out to you the signage and fire exists at the rear and sides of the auditorium in case of emergency.  Please turn off your cells phones.

I extend a special welcome to our invited guests who will be introduced later.  And, also a welcome to the media – I see Frank Munger of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Stan Mitchell from the The Oak Ridge Observer, and BBB Cable 12?  Thank you all for coming.

You should have received a copy of today’s program as you came in.  We have some important business to conduct in accordance with our By-laws – financial reporting, election of new board members and officers for the coming year, but we also want to talk with your about accomplishment during the past year and future plans for your approval.

But this is a good time for me, as your out-going President for the past 5 years, to acknowledge your CORRE board of directors and advisors (listed on the program).  They are the hardest working, and most persistent group of volunteers that I have ever worked with. Each spends many hours each week working on tasks that are very important, but often aren’t visible to everyone.  There is much behind the scenes activity on retirement issues that is constantly on-going.  There are too many individuals to thank personally now, but Fred Postma our web master, deserves special recognition for his hard work in keeping our web site.  I appreciate all the work of the Board and the support that they have given to me – and I hope that you will show them your appreciation, too.

We have made only one change in the agenda from previous years.  While questions from the membership after any of the presentations is always welcomed, because of time constraints we have eliminated the general question and answer session at the end of the program.  Instead, the board of directors will all be down front after adjournment, and we encourage each of you with questions and issues to come forward then and share your concerns with us.

So, let’s set the stage for today’s meeting.  No one needs to tell you how increased costs of living are chewing up our pension benefits.  How increased medical costs aren’t matched by any pension adjustments, while the contractors improved their retirement benefits. And, you don’t need me to remind you how DOE has not made any contributions to the Pension Fund for the last 24 years, funding the pensions of new employees off Pension Fund earnings that could have gone to retirees as pension adjustments.

But, I bet you didn’t know that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been running an experimental study from 1982 to 2007 on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) used as a basis for SS adjustments.  It was assumed that the CPI-U, for the general population, was higher than the CPI-W used for SS adjustments. (And maybe our current administration thought that they could justify lowering the annual SS COLA.)  It turns out that the CPI-E (experimental study) for retirees aged 62 and older, is actually considerably higher – mainly because of higher health costs.  So, we retirees are even worse off than anyone has thought – except we knew that all along, didn’t we?.

And in response to our requests for fair pension treatment, DOE in Washington has distorted the facts, hidden behind misinformation, intimidated their contractors, and blown off the TN Congressional Delegation.

As an editorial in the September 11 edition of theThe Oak Ridger  illustrated, a pension adjustment would not only benefit retirees, it also would be the largest economic benefit, on a short-list of economic priorities, to stabilize the local economy.

Our issues are real and our demands are fair.  We will not go away!

So let’s get on with business.  Let me introduce Paula Wright, our Treasurer, for her financial report.

At CORRE's annual meeting on September 22, W.D. "Dub" Shults was elected President for the year 2009.

In addition, Keith Kibbe was elected First Vice President, and the new Board members elected were Julie Dorsey, Ron Honneycutt, Judy Kibbe, and John Napier.

About 350 retirees attended this annual event.

The comments of outgoing President Dave Reichle will appear here later.

If you didn't see this in Friday's Sentinel, you should read it here.

Ex-OR workers need relief, respect

By Jackie W. Sims, Citizen's Voice
Saturday, September 20, 2008

In his book, Tom Brokaw described "The Greatest Generation" as 
"American citizens who came of age during the Great Depression and 
the Second World War and went on to build modern America."

More than 65 years ago, many of these good folks came to work for 
government contractors in Tennessee as part of the Manhattan Project. 
They were employed at places such as K-25, Y-12 and X-10.

There's no doubt that their work made a major contribution to our 
victory in World War II and helped secure our freedom. Unfortunately, 
our nation's government, rather than showing appreciation for their 
efforts, has denied them fair treatment.

Those government contractor workers in Tennessee, like those who 
worked in other parts of the country, were guaranteed pensions. In 
other states, those pensions were adjusted over the years to help 
retain purchasing power as the cost of living went up.

These Tennessee retirees have seen only a very few meager 
adjustments, and their pensions have so eroded in purchasing power 
that it is a national disgrace.

For years, pleas have been made for relief and equitable treatment. 
In 2000, the Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees was founded and 
took up the cause. Despite the good efforts and some moderate success 
of the group, the government continues to treat our retirees like 
stepchildren.

Their plight still has not been relieved despite the fact that, in 
some cases, they require public assistance for food and medical care. 
Contrast this with these facts: The retirement trust fund set up 
specifically for the benefit of the Oak Ridge contractor retirees 
contains approximately $800 million beyond projected needs.

Comparable government retirees in other states have received needed 
pension adjustments - not the case in Tennessee.

The impacts do not end with "The Greatest Generation" retirees and 
their families.

In total, there are approximately 12,000 retired Oak Ridge contractors.

Equitable adjustments to their pensions could result in a positive 
impact of approximately $70 million a year on the local economy - $70 
million that citizens of this area are now being shortchanged.

This outrage has gone on too long. We need action, and we need it now.

Let your elected officials and those running for office at every 
level up to and including the president know that this situation is 
unacceptable, must be rectified without further delay and that your 
vote depends on it.

On Sept. 24, CORRE will hold its annual meeting in Oak Ridge.

Show your support for this cause by attending - the public is invited.

If you are one of those retirees yourself, I urge you to join CORRE.

Its excellent Web site at www.corre.info includes the history and 
background on this compelling issue and tells you how to contact your 
representatives.

CORRE's mailing address is P.O. Box 4266, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-4366.

This problem must be fixed.

Which administration will step up and do it - Bush/Cheney, Obama/
Biden or McCain/Palin?

Jackie Sims is an Alabama native and longtime Knox County resident. 
She was employed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for more than 20 
years.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

Joe Setaro, CORRE VP, provides this bit of cheery information.

You will recall that we have asked for 75% of the increase in the
cost of living (CPI-U) for our adjustment.  There has always been an
assumption that the cost of living for seniors does not increase as
much as the population as a whole, since their kids are grown, houses
paid for, education complete, etc.

It seems that over the last several years (since 1982), the BLS has
been making a study of this.  I don't know what triggered it, but
their document says that the government "policymakers have become
increasingly interested in issues facing older Americans."

The results were not what I expected.  The cost of living for seniors
(called the Experimental CPI or CPI-E) is higher than either the
CPI-U or CPI-W (the CPI-W is used to calculate Social Security COLA).
This is due to a great extent to increased medical care for the
elderly.  The report states that from Dec. 82 to Dec. 07, the CPI-E
rose 126.5% while the CPI-U rose 115.2% and the CPI-W rose only
110.0%.  In other words, CORRE members are really worse off than we
thought.
 
You might want to check out the report.  It is a six page report and
the overall summary is on the first page.

The report can be found at:

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2008/04/art2full.pdf

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CORRE has its annual meeting on Wednesday, September 22, 2:00 pm, at the Heritage Fellowship Church (same place as last year). You should plan to attend and bring a fellow retiree.

We will not have the shuttle bus this year. Last year, few used the bus so the Board felt the cost was not justified. Moreover, there is ample parking at the Church.

Four new Board members have been proposed for your consideration at this meeting; they are Julie Dorsey, Ron Honeycutt, Judy Kibbe, and John Napier. In addition, Dub Shults has been proposed as President, and Keith Kibbe as First Vice President.

We hope to see you there!

Dave