ALPA Denounces Effort to Gut Pension Bill | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.21.25

Airborne-NextGen-04.22.25

AirborneUnlimited-04.23.25

Airborne-FltTraining-04.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-04.25.25

Mon, Dec 22, 2003

ALPA Denounces Effort to Gut Pension Bill

"Last-Ditch, Desperate Push"

The head of the Air Line Pilots Association Friday blasted what it called "an administration attempt to gut the pension bill" now in the Senate.

"They are making a last-ditch, desperate push to torpedo the short-term relief provisions in the Senate bill for pension reform. They've sent a letter to the Senate leadership, packed with mischaracterization and outright falsehoods," said Capt. Duane E. Woerth, ALPA president.

The letter was signed by the three cabinet secretaries comprising the governing board of the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation and sent to the Senate majority and minority leaders, plus the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.

"These members of the administration's inner circle continue to grossly distort the facts about what actually is proposed in the Grassley-Baucus bill. For example, PBGC claims that the proposed pension changes would result in an additional $40 billion in pension under funding. This is patently false and the PBGC and the administration know it," Woerth said.

"The Grassley-Baucus bill does not waive all pension contributions for three years. On the contrary, it still would require the normal funding of active employees' accrued benefits during that period. All we are talking about is a short deferral of 'catch up' amounts that are required when a plan's funding falls behind. In terms of the PBGC's funds, it is a drop in the bucket; but for airlines struggling to emerge from, or avoid bankruptcy, this could be the difference between survival and failure," Woerth said.

The irony is that the PBGC's stated goal is to avoid getting stuck with obligations that might be incurred, somewhere down the road, if maybe a company fails and terminates its defined benefit pension plan. However, by failing to give companies this short-term relief on deficit reduction contributions, they are greatly increasing the near-term probability of company failures, in which case PBGC will be stuck with exactly what it's trying to avoid.

"We will be working closely with Senators Grassley, Baucus, Frist, Daschle and others to support their ongoing bipartisan efforts to help American workers save their pension plans -- despite the objections and obstacles imposed by the Bush administration through the PBGC," Woerth said.

FMI: www.alpa.org

Advertisement

More News

FAA Rescinds Onerous Medical Denial Policy

Pivots To Educating Pilots On Facilitating Applications On April 23, the acting administrator of the FAA announced that the agency will not move ahead with its policy of issuing de>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.28.25)

“While legendary World War II aircraft such as the Corsair and P-51 Mustang still were widely flown at the start of the Korean War in 1950, a new age of jets rapidly came to >[...]

Klyde Morris (04.28.25)

Klyde Will Not Be Denied Access To His Sports... FMI: www.klydemorris.com>[...]

Boom Gears Up to Test Symphony Engine in Colorado

Supersonic Manufacturer Selects Colorado Air and Space Port for Testing Boom Supersonic, manufacturer of the XB-1 jet, recently announced that it would be using the Colorado Air an>[...]

Airmen Medical Applications Hit Record Numbers

Agency Seeks Public Advice as the Medical Process Grows Overwhelmed As airmen medical applications reach an all-time high, the FAA is turning to the public to review questions, com>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC