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Cohen: IBM Pension Freeze 'Outrageous'
The announcement by IBM Corp. that it is freezing the pensions of some 120,000 employees is outrageous, even by the "Gilded Age" standard of today's corporate executives, CWA President Larry Cohen declared in a statement Jan. 6.
"Just over the past few weeks, we've seen some of the richest corporations eliminating pension benefits wherever they can, just because they can," he noted. "Verizon recently froze pensions for tens of thousands of management and unrepresented workers. IBM's action sends an equally chilling signal," he said.
"In the United States, increasingly, workers are required to bear the costs and the risks for their retirement and health security. And they're also forced to pay the costs for the bad business decisions that push companies to bankruptcy," Cohen said, citing United Airlines and Delphi, as well as lawbreakers such as Enron and WorldCom.
"This downhill sled ride for U.S. workers will continue until this country joins the mainstream of global democracies and ends the attack on workplace democracy and workers' rights," he said. "When IBM makes this kind of announcement in Europe, and now much of South America and Asia, it must negotiate with employees. Contrast that to the United States, where IBM employees have no bargaining rights and therefore no voice. CWA encourages our thousands of members at the Alliance@IBM to speak out to elected officials at every level of government."
"Just over the past few weeks, we've seen some of the richest corporations eliminating pension benefits wherever they can, just because they can," he noted. "Verizon recently froze pensions for tens of thousands of management and unrepresented workers. IBM's action sends an equally chilling signal," he said.
"In the United States, increasingly, workers are required to bear the costs and the risks for their retirement and health security. And they're also forced to pay the costs for the bad business decisions that push companies to bankruptcy," Cohen said, citing United Airlines and Delphi, as well as lawbreakers such as Enron and WorldCom.
"This downhill sled ride for U.S. workers will continue until this country joins the mainstream of global democracies and ends the attack on workplace democracy and workers' rights," he said. "When IBM makes this kind of announcement in Europe, and now much of South America and Asia, it must negotiate with employees. Contrast that to the United States, where IBM employees have no bargaining rights and therefore no voice. CWA encourages our thousands of members at the Alliance@IBM to speak out to elected officials at every level of government."