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This BLOG is for LLNL present and past employees, friends of LLNL and anyone impacted by the privatization of the Lab to express their opinions and expose the waste, wrongdoing and any kind of injustice against employees and taxpayers by LLNS/DOE/NNSA. The opinions stated are personal opinions. Therefore, The BLOG author may or may not agree with them before making the decision to post them. Comments not conforming to BLOG rules are deleted. Blog author serves as a moderator. For new topics or suggestions, email jlscoob5@gmail.com

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Defined benefit retirement plans are relics of a bygone era

Read this article, substituting in TCP 1 for the name of the plan at each instance, and it could be coming soon to a Lab near you. Kudos to Parney for fighting the fight as long as possible, but all should see the foregone conclusion that the program can not continue and must be drastically restructured in order to have any chance at providing for the future.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/low-interest-rates-are-the-final-straw-for-many-company-pensions/2013/05/23/a83bf23a-adbc-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html?hpid=z12

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

The sooner they give TCP-1 to PBGC the better it will be for everyone that way you'll get your 50% like all those in TCP-2 are going to get. What's fair is fair. They've been talking about this since the transition.

Anonymous said...

Ah, another bitter slice of doom eagerly offered up by this blog.

If you want a reason to slit your wrists rather than get up in the morning, this is the place to come.

Anonymous said...

From the article...

"Once it froze its pension plan, ILM started to contribute 3 percent of each worker’s salary to a 401(k) plan. It’s something, but nowhere near enough to provide the same level of retirement security that the company’s pension did.

Blackwell said an employee with a $40,000 annual salary who received a 3 percent raise each year, set aside 7 percent of his pay for retirement and received a 3 percent company contribution would wind up with roughly a third less money in his retirement fund after 25 years than he would have with the pension plan.

...ILM retirees who chose to receive the pension on a monthly basis call it the best decision they could have made. “This was the first job that offered me the comfort of a pension,” said Beverly C. Shoemaker, a former secretary who left the company in 2004 after working there 15 years. “I feel blessed to have it. I really do feel for the current employees, because I know how much it means to me.”

David J. Riese, who retired as vice president of claims in 1997 after 16 years at ILM, said he values the security provided by his company pension. Current employees, he added, will not have it as good.

“They have to rely on the profitability of a 401(k) and their ability to manage it,” he said. “To me that is iffy, at best.”

Anonymous said...

GM and other employers with large retiree populations have sold their pension liability to Prudential. At some point in the near term, the only practical option is to sell TCP-1, and move on with the realities of life. To continue to yearn for the good old days is delusional.

Anonymous said...

At some point in the near term, the only practical option is to sell TCP-1

May 28, 2013 at 1:59 PM

Luckily, you won't be the one making that decision.

Anonymous said...

GM and other employers with large retiree populations have sold their pension liability to Prudential. At some point in the near term, the only practical option is to sell TCP-1, and move on with the realities of life. To continue to yearn for the good old days is delusional.

May 28, 2013 at 1:59 PM


It's only delusional because you are sitting on your asses allowing it. Could you imagine what your wages and benefits would be if the workers would have never gotten together and striked. I feel sorry for all you people. You spend more time fighting for gay rights and abortion and stealing from the rich to give to the worthless parasites than you do watching out for your own future. You get what you allow and I really have no pity on any of you that have allowed yourselves to be placed into a work for life slave labor, die on the job society In the end, when you turn 65 to 70 and are still coming to work putting up with young punks pushiness you're going to regret being pissed on for your entire life only to have nothing in the end.

Anonymous said...

I swear it gets harder and harder to know what to make of this site.

Performance Art?

Onion-esque satire?

Group Therapy?

A**holes Anonymous?

It really is beyond caricature at this point.

Anonymous said...

"In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.

I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter - bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

Stephen Crane

You don't actually have to be pro-lab to avoid being mindlessly negative about everything. And work is not actually a slave labor life; you don't even actually have to die on the job. Indeed, an individual brings with him to work many of the qualities that shape his fate in it.

Anonymous said...

May 29, 2013 at 1:09 PM, thanks for being the voice of sanity.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, an individual brings with him to work many of the qualities that shape his fate in it.

May 29, 2013 at 1:09 PM

Amen, and it goes way beyond work. The qualities you bring to all aspects of your life determine your success or failure. In turn, the successes or failures you experience shape who you are and who you become. To blame someone else for either your failures or the kind of person you are is self-delusional, and self-defeating.

Anonymous said...

Hey you guys. Just stop it. You can't be spouting truth and common sense on this blog. I hereby revoke your blog membership.

Anonymous said...

OMG! If I apologize for spouting truth and join the bandwagon and start blaming all my problems on DOE, Congress, etc., including the problems I caused myself, can I get my blog membership re-instated?

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with poster 1:59 PM.

It's likely that LANS/LLNS/Bechtel will decide to ditch their TCP1 pension liabilities in the future by selling off the pensions to an outfit like Prudential. Of course, Pru will then want to make some good money on those pension assets by taking some risky bets so that the "cream" can be skimmed of as profits while the retirees can be saddled with all the risks.

America has become a very corrupt nation. It's been sad to watch our downfall. Good luck surviving in this corporate kleptocracy.

Anonymous said...

May 28, 2013 at 10:46 AM

Oh, you mean the true hurts. I feel so soory for all of you that live in the land of OZ. Get real. It's only a matter of time before TCP-1 is sheeet-canned and goes to PBGC. They're broke and need the funds. But don't worry. A 50% cut in what you thought you were going to have won't hurt you a bit.

Anonymous said...

Rumormongering and rabble rousing is not truth, Chicken Little.

Anonymous said...

I've looked at TCP-1 funding, and there is nothing "broke" about it. Allegations otherwise are just uninformed fear-mongering.

And when the credit supply gets relaxed, a 1% change in the prime interest rate will cause an instant surplus.

I'm in TCP-1 and very happy about it.

Anonymous said...

May 31, 2013 at 9:06 AM

TCP-1 Looks like a good place for the state to find some extra money for road, welfare, unemployement.

Anonymous said...

The state has absolutely no access to TCP-1. Your observation is 100% wrong, misleading, and stupid.

Amos said...

This is cool!

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