Bush's War Against Older Workers
A
BUZZFLASH SPECIAL GUEST COMMENTARY
by
Congressman Bernie Sanders, Vermont
President
Bush may or may not go to war against Iraq, but we do know that he has
already declared war against the economic well-being of the middle class
and working families of this country.
While he cuts back on Medicare and the needs of veterans, he wants even
more tax breaks for the very richest people in this country. While he
pushes efforts to privatize Social Security, there is no attempt to raise
the minimum wage above its paltry $5.15 an hour. While he expands our
disastrous trade policies that have already cost us millions of decent
paying manufacturing jobs, he is proposing to slash the pay and benefits
of federal employees through a massive and dangerous contracting-out scheme.
While our healthcare system disintegrates and prescription drug costs
soar, his Administration proposes legislation written by and for the pharmaceutical
industry.
And now, in the midst of all of this, there is a new economic assault
being waged by the Bush Administration against older American workers.
The Bush Administration has recently proposed IRS regulations that would
allow corporations to undertake a major raid on the pension benefits that
older workers have accumulated. These new proposals, if adopted, would
allow companies to avoid federal anti-age discrimination laws, and convert
traditional defined benefit pension plans into so-called "cash balance"
plans. Under the Bush proposal, the promises made to older workers about
pension plans that increase retirement benefits based on longevity would
be undermined. While corporations would save billions in pension expenditures,
some 8 million older workers could see their benefits reduced by 30-50
percent.
Cash balance payment plans have rightfully been condemned by a variety
of groups, including the AARP, the Pension Rights Center and the AFL-CIO,
because they target the benefits of older workers in violation of current
federal law. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) has
received over 800 complaints related to cash balance conversions. And,
since September 1999, the IRS has withheld approval of these plans because
of concern about their age discriminatory effect. Now, however, the Bush
Administration wants to allow these conversions to go into effect.
Enter John W. Snow, President Bush's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury.
As Treasury Secretary, Mr. Snow would be the most important pension policymaker
in the country. Will he stand up for the pensions of millions of Americans
or will he continue the Administration's green lighting of corporate America's
cash balance pension raids?
If Snow's conduct as CEO of CSX Corporation is any indication, employees
across the nation should be very concerned about the financial security
of their retirements. Under his leadership, CSX cut the retiree health
benefit package for most of its employees while Snow benefited from an
outrageously inflated pension scheme.
According to published reports, Snow is receiving a $2.47 million per
year retirement benefit for life. This amount was calculated through gimmicks
that give him credit for working 44 years when he really only worked 25
years and by factoring in stock benefits he received as regular income,
instead of just salary, as is the common practice. Those reports reveal
that at the same time CSX is cutting the health benefits of its future
retirees. If these are the types of policies that will serve as a roadmap
for how he would handle pension policy then his fitness to be Treasury
Secretary must be called into question.
American employees don't need the fox guarding the pension hen house.
For Snow to show he deserves being confirmed, he needs to distance himself
from the corporate excesses that have cost investors and employees of
major American companies billions of dollars - corporate excesses that
include his own exorbitant retirement deal at CSX. An important and necessary
first step would be a commitment on his part to withdraw the proposed
IRS regulations that would allow companies to get tax-favored status for
their age-discriminatory cash balance plans. This would at least signify
a recognition on his part that American workers are suffering as a result
of unfair and illegal pension cuts that take place when companies convert
to cash balance plans.
If he does not take even this small step, it will be clear that he cannot
provide the leadership the nation's economy and working families so desperately
need. In that case, given Snow's own questionable conduct as CEO of CSX,
the Senate should refuse to confirm him as Treasury Secretary.
A BUZZFLASH SPECIAL GUEST COMMENTARY
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