Kelly Dagenhart ORNL Retiree

Even during the Great Depression, I got wage adjustments and in 1936 paid a penny a week into Olld Age Benifits the precursor to Social Security. The pay was low and the adjustments small but I didn’t feel like anyone was screwing me.

DOE = Department of Emasculation

Al Brooks

Yes, I am bitter. AAB

Bias against the older retirees has been an explanation for many of DOE pension actions.

Further this administration including DOE has openly stated their intent to minimize and eliminate contractor-defined pension plans.

I am reminded of the statement of the Indian elder who said, ” The white man has made many promises to the Indians but has kept only one. He promised to take away our land and this he has done”.

I hope we are as smart as the Indians.

I know how difficult it is to believe you are betrayed by your government but that is the reality of the DOE contractor pensions. I would welcome an explanation in which I could feel I was being treated equitably. Put it on this blog.

More on http://home.comcast.net/~brooks50/InformerIndex.htm

Al Brooks

I hope there will be many other CORRE members there to express their concerns.

Thanks,

On looking out for retirees who retired before 2004 with a multiplier of 1.2 rather than the current 1.4 multiplier, and who selected “surviving spouse option” such that there is a penalty of about 8%, rather than the current (since mid-2004) penalty of only 2%, I’d give UT-Battelle a grade of “F”-FAILURE in the treatment of those retirees. Other DOE site contractors who have made any improvements to their pension plans have had those changes also cover those retirees who retired previously, but not so with UT-Battelle.

Strange that UT-Battelle and some of our elected officials implore our good High School students to pursue careers in science and engineering to keep our country in a position of leadership. The way they treat retirees, often who are grandparents of those High School students, who majored in those fields tends to drive the students into other fields of study.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/06/munger-oak-ridge-could-benefi t-wamp-climbs-ladder/

Frank Munger basically is talking about Congressman Zach Wamp’s possibly ascending to the position of Ranking minority member of the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. That certainly could put Congressman Wamp into a position of having more influence over the course of things in Washington. And, Heaven knows, the retirees need some friends in Washington with influence.

Here’s hoping he gets the position and moves the Oak Ridge pension issues on the front burner. That is where it needs to be.

You can send an e-mail to all of council from

http://www.cortn.org/mailme/councilmail.htm

Al Brooks

Did Bodman have to specifically approve each of the changes that results in more pension dollars for those persons who have retired since 2004? I suspect NOT. I’ll bet that should BWXT-12 and UT-Battelle want to provide the same parameters for those already retired (before 2004) as is done for those employees who have retired since then, that it can be done. Now, should UT-Battelle and BWXT-12 want to provide all those retirees who retired before 2004 pension benefits GREATER THAN what is provided/promised to current employees, I can understand that might take some action at the Bodman level.

It is easy to say that adjustments won’t be easy under Bodman and thus why should UT-Battelle and BWXT-12 even consider them. I’ll tell you why, because those retirees worked for DOE and this country with the expectations that they would be treated fairly compared to how our government organizations treat other persons. TREAT US FAIRLY!

Bob Henderson

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

The retirees may not be able to do anything positive for Sam the Ungrateful but we sure can make trouble for him if we wish. Probably the worst thing we can do is to tell the truth about him and DOE especially to the potential hirees and current employees. Their turn at the Weeping Wall will surely come. The second target can be the local Tennessee congressmen and approximately 50-100 congressional members who control his purse strings and thirdly all the East Tennessee Voters.

The whole country needs to know that this aministration will try to do administratively what the congress will not authorize by law and the Constitution be damned. E-mail and the Internet give the retirees the power to do it when thay get tired of economic rape. At some point the worm will turn.

Lastly Mr. Wamp is not pitted against Sam the Underling but against Mr. Bush the Overlord who wants to privatize all pensions and who outweighs our champion. Mr. Wamp needs one of those famous surges. So write letters.

Al Brooks

http://www.towersperrin.com/hrservices/tpdata/benval.asp

http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/2007/09/retiree-benefit s-open-enrollment.html

Apparently I was lied to, BenVal customers have to request a list of corporations for comparasion, they also have evaluated LANL and possiblely LLNL.

The results of Googling *BenVal DOE* also make interesting reading. Apparently DOE uses BenVal as a management tool for contractor salaries (READ: means of reducing.) and other benefits. It is also apparent the LANL employees/retirees know more about BenVal methodology than I do. Where did they learn it?

Take your mean pills before you write abot DOE.

Al Brooks

1) A letter to Dave Reichle/CORRE from Don Erbschloe/DOE compared ORNL and Y-12 to about 30 unidentified corporations. According to several contractor sources and one DOE source, the names are unknown and proprietary; the property of the consulting firm that does the comparisons for DOE. I was told that DOE approved the list selected by the consultants and it did not contain the western DOE sites.

2) It was also stated that report was requested by DOE/HQ so the local contractors did not know how it was prepared nor could they comment on the error as they did not understand its preparation. and that DOE/HQ probably did not know either.

3) A FIO request was refused in part and the remaining part still lies in DOE’s cavernous halls.

4) I suspect that the BenVal people are the only ones who can answer our questions.

5) There are more details on the web site:
http://home.comcast.net/~brooks50/InformerIndex.htm

For these and other reasons, I consider the BenVal Report relatively worthless for benefits management.

If any one finds more answers I would appreciate being informed

I believe the only way to combat such nonsense is to amass political power by writing open letters to the legislators. Addresses on the web site

This has two fallacies: 1) The employees are to damn dumb to realize that they will soon be affected negatively, and 2) retirees won’t tell potential new hires the truth. Neither of these effects will make a positive contribution to staff quality.

The award fee contract is a good vehicle for doing this: DOE sets the goal and BJC reaches the goal or suffers in their award fee. This is clearly stated in the contract. When BJC sees its image being tarnished then they like Union Carbide will no longer bid on the contracts although it is clear that Roger Hibbs foresaw the problems and pre-empted tem.

As for switching contractors, they all have the same above motivation and the more things change the more they will stay the same.

Have faith! DOE is not GOD. They get their money from Congress who needs our votes (or perhaps the Devil).

Al Brooks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007 032101978.html

It certainly shows the extent to which government agencies can discriminate against retirees. In a very real sense our pensions are paid by the government,and governed by agency policies and actions, and thus are a ‘government pension’. I sent Barr a summary of our problems and Internet references to the whole ball of wax. Just maybe he will mention us sometime.

Al Brooks