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Pension Leaches Take a Stand for Insolvency

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wm pasz	Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 12:21 am
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto	Laws requiring multi-employer pension plans (known as MEPPs) to stay solvent in case they need to be wound up should be scrapped. So says a lobby group representing some of the cream of the crop of insolvent Canadian union pension plans. Have they no shame? Apparently not. More. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X
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SharynS	Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 2:13 am
Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2940 Location: the 'puter	Quote: They could create an artificial crisis, and possibly drive vulnerable pension plans out of existence. yeah that and a whack of corrupt pension investment. What, do the bastards think that no-one can see them? If it wasn't so criminal it would be downright hilarious. This is a listserve link if ever there was one. _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie
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wm pasz	Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 1:14 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto	What they're doing is what corporations have been doing for years: Using their financial leverage to influence government policy-making and legislation. The big difference in this case - and just one more thing that makes this lobby effort so disgusting - is that the financial resources are actually the resources of the pension plan members. I'm going to assume that this MEBCO outfit is funded by contributions, fees or dues that are paid by the various pension plan administrators or trustees. They, of course, don't take money out of their own pockets but out of the fees they charge the pension plans that they administer. MEBCO then uses that money to conduct research that suits its purposes, make presentations to government big shots, network with like-minded pension leaches in other parts of the country, hold lavish conferences to which government big shots are invited as guest speakers and so on. This is very effective because the members, assuming they have a different point of view, can't afford to mount a countervailing lobby effort so the only voices the government policy makers hear are from the well-resourced lobbyists who are shilling for the MEBCO crowd. At the conclusion of his book Solidarity for Sale, Bob Fitch suggests that administration of workers' pension plans should be taken out of the hands of privately-appointed trustees and fee-for-service administrators and taken over by an arm's length agency of the government in much the same fashion as government pensions (like CPP and Old Age Security) are administered. I couldn't agree with him more. _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X
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Pearson	Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 2:17 pm
Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 1417 Location: Sun City AZ	These guys bring a whole new meaning to the term trustee. Damn. For years the multi-employer plans in the states have been screaming "unfair" regarding the differences in pension funding obligations. The corporate side had weak funding rules and the union guys said they wanted the same luxury/priviledge. I struggled with buy-in because nothing/NOTHING should be more sacred than a workers pension. If we had an obligation as trustees to run multi-employer funds better than single employer plans; cool, that is the way it should be. Too many union leaders used the trust funds as a tool to sell the contracts but didn't negotiate enough money to fund the benefits they were putting in play. Shameful. It appears the MEBCO folks are talking the same kind of shit; less restrictions, ultimately giving them more leeway. I'm not sure i agree with Fitch, but some of the stupid shit done by these funds does beg the argument. As i have said before, any union trustee who has willfully harmed a worker's pension should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And the last thing we need is more lax laws. _________________ If we don't do it, who will?
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wm pasz	Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 2:49 pm
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto	I recently heard an argument from someone about why pension plan trustees should not be held to a high standard of accountability for the performance of the pension plans that they oversee that went like this: If these trustees are held to a high standard (whatever that means) such that they may actually face fines, charges or lawsuits if their pension plans go into the toilet then no one will want to be a pension trustee. You can't expect, the argument went, people who are not experts in this kind of investing to be willing to take on these responsibilities if they're going to face those kinds of penalties when things don't go well. This was about the stupidest argument I've ever heard. The whole point of having a board of trustees is that there needs to be somebody or some group of people who are accountable for the pension plan. If they're not expert enough to know what they're doing (and that is most often the case), then replace them with people who do know what they're doing. Since it's unlikely that you'll find this level of expertise in any corporate office or union office, and it doesn't make sense to bring in outsiders who may have their own agendas, then why not put the plans in the hands of public servants who (a) will have the required expertise and (b) can be held accountable? _________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X
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atuuschaaw	Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 11:26 am
Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 781 Location: an ahwangan	Here in the U.S., our multiemployer funds are reaching a point where the number of employers and employees funding the system are declining but the benefits being payed out are increasing due to the number of retirees. The labor base has not continued to grow since the inception of the plans and since 1992, there have been only five new multiemployer plans introduced! Now the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp is hosting a whopping $23 billion deficit and there are over $450 billion in underfunded pension liabilities floating around. The future isn't looking too bright for our retirees to say the least and add corrupt trustees to the mix of greedy employers and our retiree's future is very dim! With H.R. 2380, the jury is still out as to the complete impact our current and future retirees will endure due to the Pension Reform Act and I see the death of defined benefit plans in the future and they will be replaced by defined contribution plans entirely. Anyone expecting or hoping for an early retirement is going to be SOL in my opinion! _________________ "Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." George Orwell
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