CORRE Blog

Or does he care? CORRE representatives met with Senator Corker in June to explain the need for adjustments to pensions and how they are justified and affordable. Unfortunately, CORRE officers have been in a position of playing catch-up with Senator Corker, as the companies had already gotten to him first. Today, Senator Corker's office sent out his latest newsletter with no mention of the pension issue, and there is no mention of it on his website.

I wrote the following email to Senator Corker today:

"Your recent newsletter received today and your website makes no mention of the issue on Oak Ridge pensions. Why not?

It would appear to us that the matter is not on your agenda. Perhaps you have bought into the administration policy which is not to honor past commitments to people. It would appear to us that the administration is only seriously interested in honoring commitments to business and moneyed interests. We would recommend you not buy into that policy.

We elected you to represent the people of Tennessee, not the companies that run the DOE plants. The companies don't vote and are not citizens.

Be assured that the 12,000 retirees and their families are watching what you do."

Write to him yourself, if you are concerned.  Click here to send him email.

According to an Oak Ridger article, The Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee passed a bill Thursday that would block the Department of Energy's new Contractor Employee Pension and Medical Benefits Policy if approved by the full committee.

Quoting from the article in the Oak Ridger:

The Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee's bill states, "None of the funds made available in Title 3 of this act shall be used for implementation of DOE Order 351.1 or any similar DOE order modifying the Contractor Employee Pension and Medical Benefits Policy."

"We're using congressional influence to try to keep in check the executive branch's efforts to withhold payments to contractors for certain pension benefits, which is what the order originally said," U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Third District, said Thursday."

Further quote from Rep. Wamp: "Congress is trying to exert pressure to protect retirement benefits of workers, and at the same time, there's a great effort in Congress to get increased compensation for our retirees. It's a difficult process because the contractors, NNSA and DOE, are unified in their concern about out-year capabilities to honor needed increases and pensions.

"But this demonstrates Congress is putting pressure on the administration to side with retirees."

End of Quotes from the Oak Ridger—-

Note– This is a step in the right direction to persuade DOE and the administration to start considering improvements to pensions of Oak Ridge retirees. It is good to see the Congress asserting itself on this general issue. The vote of the full committee is coming up this week- on Tuesday, according to the Oak Ridger.

CORRE Annual Meeting
2:00 p.m, Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Heritage Fellowship Church
121 N. Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge

Agenda

Welcome and Announcements     Sandy Dean, Communications
Report to CORRE Members     Dave Reichle, President
Introduction of Guest Speakers     Pete Lotts, Chair, Gov. Rel. Com.
What Members Can Do     Pete Lotts, Chair, Gov. Rel. Com.
Election of Officers/Board Members     Bob Worrell, Chair, Nom. Com.
Questions from Audience     Dave Reichle and Board Members

_____________________________________________

Officers/Board Members to be Elected for 2008

Dave Reichle, President
Joe Setaro, First Vice President
Bob Keil, Second Vice President
Mary Helen Rose, Secretary
Paula Wright, Treasurer
Marty Goolsby, Communications
Charlie Kuykendall, Past President

Mike Bradshaw     Keith Kibbe     Ed Mee     Dub Shults
Joyce Conner     Tom Lemons     Ken Moore     Don Wood
Sandy Dean     Pete Lotts     Pete Peterson     Bob Worrell
Lou Dunlap     Dave Mason     Larry Pierce

Advisors (Appointed by President and Board)

Bob Henderson     Chuck Landguth     Gary Riser
Judy Kibbe     Fred Postma     Harriett Westmoreland

Directions to Meeting Location-

The church is just North of Intersection of Illinois with Oak Ridge Turnpike. Go up the hill from Turnpike, pass the church on your left, then turn left at Ivanhoe Lane. There is quite a bit of parking at the church, but you may also park on S. Illinois Avenue in parking lot of former Food City Store (about two blocks from church). Shuttle buses will run from there to the church, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

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According to the local news, Senator Alexander was in town this week for a couple of events:  a ceremony at SNS and a panel discussion at ORAU.  Did he meet with CORRE while he was here?  One would think that he would be interested in the "pension deficit" in Oak Ridge.

I wonder if CORRE should offer a "special" for those who attend the annual meeting: a $10 membership. On the spot. Once in a lifetime. More memberships is good.

This is a interesting question but one that should be considered by the CORRE Board. I will suggest that President Reichle add this to the agenda of the next Board meeting.

The Editor

There is evidence that DOE is circumventing the intent of Congress by withholding Part D Medicare funds from contractors for partial payments of their costs of maintaining drug benefits for retirees.

Our understanding is that the 2003 Congress passed the Medicare Improvement Act to benefit older citizens. This Act established a The DOE contractors were apparently discouraged by DOE from applying for the subsidy. In the case of the Oak Ridge, Tennessee facilities, UT-Battelle LLC, operator of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, applied for the subsidy, but that request was rejected by DOE. BWXT LLC (operator of the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant) did not apply for the subsidy after it heard about the rebuff of UT-Battelle’s application. We do not know whether other DOE contractors in Oak Ridge applied. Since the contractors split the cost of their drug benefit with retirees on a 50-50 basis, the easiest way for them to apply the subsidy would have been to apply it to the total insurance cost (and thus reduce the cost) and then split the remaining cost on a 50-50 basis. However, the contractors have not received this subsidy from the DOE.

In other words, the Part D supplement could have been used to reduce your insurance premiums. It has not been. Retirees might want to ask their congressmen–"Why not?".

DOE has cancelled DOE Draft Notice N351.1.  But, the policy underlying it continues.  DOE has been implementing new defined contribution plans under all of its new contracts.  The specifications for these plans are in the Requests for Proposal for bids on new contracts to operate DOE facilities.

What will be the conditions for the new Oak Ridge contracts?  What kind of benefits will be specified in the for the new plans for new employees?  Big questions- and will DOE try to raid the present pension plan funds?  Stay tuned!

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Your name and email will not be posted online.  Your personal information will not be transmitted outside of CORRE.  Your email address may be used to send notices from CORRE.  You will, of course, retain the right to tell us that you do not want any email notices from CORRE, and we will honor that request.

We invite members of CORRE and the public to submit posts (or longer articles) for publication on this blog. Posts on a wide variety of subjects are welcome, as long as they stick to the main theme of this site–pensions and benefits. Subject matter welcomed include:

• Experiences with decrease in value of your pension.

• Experiences with correspondence with officials about Oak Ridge pensions.

• Your ideas about how to get the U.S. Department of Energy and contractor to do the right thing by honoring past practice of contractors regarding adjustments.

• You experiences with medical costs.

• Summaries of and references to articles about retirement benefits, the cost of living for retirees, and ideas on how to manage on retirement income.

You can email the editor with a suggestion for a post or article, or you can just submit it to him. There is no certainty that the post or article will be accepted. The editor will have final determination about publication and may edit the material submitted.

You can, of course, comment at any time on any of the posts in this blog.

The Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees (CORRE) was formed in 2000 to represent the interests of the approximately 12,000 retirees (and surviving spouses) who have retired from Department of Energy Contractor-managed facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee – Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant (K-25), the Y-12 Plant (Y-12), Grandfathered employees under the pension plan at Bechtel-Jacobs and its subcontractors, and Wackenhut.

The primary objectives of CORRE as stated in its Bylaws are: (1) to obtain and maintain pension and other benefits that are fair and equitable and competitive compared with other industries in the region and with other major DOE federal and private Contractors in the technical field; and (2) to safeguard the Pension Trust Fund from which these benefits are derived.

The full text of the position of CORRE on benefits may be obtained on the main web site. Here.

Do not edit this page

This blog is an extension of the CORRE website. Its purpose is to The editor of the site is Dave Mason, and the administrator is Pete Lotts. Webmaster is Fred Postma. Writers are Dave Reichle, Joe Setaro, Bob Keil, Charlie Kuykendall, Keith Kibbe, and Dub Shults.

Dave Mason
Editor

Dave Mason retired from U. S. Enrichment Corp. in 2005 after 5 years as Director, Centrifuge Demonstration Project. He retired from LMES in 1999 with over 20 years of service in management positions including Director, Enrichment Technical Operations for Uranium Enrichment; Director, Enrichment Facilities Support; and various management positions in Environmental Management and Enrichment Facilities (EMEF). His service at LMES was interrupted for intervals at Hobart Brothers Corp. and Cabot Corp.

Pete Lotts
Administrator

A.L. (Pete) Lotts worked at ORNL 1959-1989, except for a 4-year period at K-25 as Director of the AVLIS Division. Originally a member of ORNL’s Metals and Ceramics Division, he served as director of several different programs involving nuclear fuel cycle and reactor technology and later as Director of the Research Reactors Division.

Fred Postma
Webmaster

Fred W. Postma, Jr. served as a Development Chemist in Y-12 Development Division beginning in 1957. In 1973 continued to develop analytical methods to assist K-25. For the last 15 years directed the development of the Analytical Laboratory Information System ( AnaLIS) used at each of the five Energy Systems plant labs. Retired in 1997.

Writers and Contributors

David E. Reichle, President of CORRE came to ORNL in 1964 as an AEC Fellow in the Health Physics Division. He was Director of ORNL’s Environmental Sciences Division, and for 10 years before retirement was ORNL Associate Director for Biological and Environmental Sciences.

Robert G. (Bob) Keil, Vice President of CORRE, was at ORNL for 35 years as a machinist. He served in various capacities in Local 480 of IAM, and in ATLC, of which he was President for 14 years before retirement.

Joseph A. Setaro, Vice President of CORRE, retired from ORNL in 1999 after 35 years of company service. At ORNL, he served as a Section Head in the Operations Division and in the Office of Radiation Protection.

Charlie Kuykendall, Past President of CORRE, started his 41 years of company service at K-25, then worked at Y-12, General Staff, and Paducah, before finishing with 15 years as a division director at ORNL.

Keith Kibbe, member of the CORRE Board of Directors, retired in 1994 with 20 years of service, after holding a variety of program management positions at ORNL and the K-25 Site D&D Program. Previous experience included liquid rocket engine development and testing for Project Apollo at the Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation in Los Angeles, and in gas-cooled reactor design and development with the General Atomic Company in San Diego.

W. D. “Dub” Shults, member of the CORRE Board of Directors, retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1994 after 43 years of company service. He held many research and technical management positions, including Co-Program Director of the NSF/EATC program (3 years), Director of the Analytical Chemistry Division (18 years), and Senior Technical Advisor to the Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences (2 years).

Welcome to the CORRE Blog. Join in the discussion here. Participate! Give us your comments on what you would like to see here.  Suggest links and blogs that would be of interest to retirees.  You can write to us anytime.  Email address here.