It’s Time for DOE to Bite the Bullet
Thursday, October 30th, 2008
It has been said that the loss of the surplus in today’s financial crisis is a perfect example of why the surplus had been planned and been preserved in the first place. Really? If it were, then why did the contractors attempt to raid the fund for non-pension purposes in the early 2000s…twice? And why have surplus funds been used to improve the benefits of current employees while retirees requests are rejected? The fact is that the fund surplus grew as a result of exceptional investment management and limited distributions to retirees.
Nevertheless, we have been fortunate that a huge surplus has existed for many years and DOE has been fortunate that no additional funds have been needed to maintain the retirement program. It has been comforting for both parties. It is understandable that DOE will be reluctant to add funds to our retirement trust, even though it has done so routinely for other plans at other sites. We should not be surprised when “no surplus” becomes the excuse for no pension adjustments. No adjustment with a surplus. No adjustment without a surplus. Choose your excuse!
Somehow the real issue is being missed here. Yes, our retirement fund has been lambasted by the downturn in the market. So has every other retirement fund. So has the retirement savings of retirees everywhere. In Oak Ridge, retirees are trapped: (1) their salaries were low compared to those of their peers elsewhere in the DOE system, (2) their pensions are fixed while they try to cope with a rapidly increasing cost of living, (3) their retirement savings, if they have any, have shrunk in concert with the market decline, and (4) their savings, if they have any, have lost purchasing power because of the rapidly increasing cost of living. The real stance here should not be “you can’t spend money you don’t have.” If that were true, we would not be in financial crisis in this country today. Rather, the stance should be “our retirees deserve enough pension to be secure and to live with reasonable dignity.”
It is time for DOE to bite the bullet and restore the practices that were followed in the past—through the year 2000—and honor the promises that were made a quarter century ago. DOE should resume periodic pension adjustments to account for increasing cost of living. The need is greater now than ever before.
If you have thoughts or comments, you can respond here or to CORRE2009@bellsouth.net.
CORRE
