|
CORRE Home
Announcements
- Medicare Part D Drug Program Notice
CORRE Corner (BWXT Y-12
Retirement News)
CORRE News October 2004
CORRE Correspondence
BWXT
Minimum Pension Benefit Increase Letter
CORRE Reps Visit Congressional Staffs
News
Archives
This page contains current news on Oak Ridge pensions,
pensions of other DOE sites, and any general information having a
bearing on Oak Ridge pensions.
|
News from CORRE
|
| |
|
Economic Benefits of Department of Energy
to the State of Tennessee in 2004
This is
an interesting study performed by the Center for Business and Economic
Research at the University of Tennessee. You must have Adobe Reader,
version 6.0 or later, to read this report. To read the report
click here:
Economic Benefits of DOE for Tennessee in 2004. To return to
this site after reading the newsletter click on your browser's back
arrow.
|
| |
|
News from other DOE Retiree Organizations
The
Savannah River Site (SRS) Retiree organization has forwarded their May
2005 Newsletter. It shows that they are addressing many of the
same issues facing CORRE and the Oak Ridge retirees. To read this
newsletter click here: (SR Retirement
Newsletter, May 2005). You will need a copy of Adobe Reader
to read this newsletter. To return to this site after reading the
newsletter click on your browser's back arrow.
|
| |
| CORRE
News--The Voice of Oak Ridge Retirees, Volume 1, Issue 1
Click on the link below to
read the first issue of the CORRE News. You must have
Acrobat Reader 6.0 or later on your computer to view this page. After reading the News return to this web page by
clicking on your browser back arrow.
CORRE News October 2004
Minimum Pension Benefit Increases
BWXT Y-12
issued a letter dated March 15, 2004 describing the new increases to
minimum pension benefits for some retirees of the Department of
Energy's Oak Ridge operations. You may read a copy of this letter
by clicking on:
BWXT
Minimum Pension Benefit Increase Letter, March 15, 2004
You may read
a good background article by Frank Munger of the Knoxville News
Sentinel concerning this minimum pension by clicking on:
Minimum
Pension by Frank Munger, January 8, 2004
News Sentinel article by Frank Munger,
January 8, 2004
|
| |
| News
Sentinel article by Frank Munger, Wednesday, April 9, 2003
"Oak Ridge retirees receive helping hand in Washington" (This link takes you to a News Sentinel web
site. Click on you browser back button to return here from the
News Sentinel site.)
|
| |
2004 Position Paper for actions requested from pension
plan administrators and long-term goals of CORRE
In March 2004 the CORRE
Board of Directors adopted a revised 2004 position statement on its
objectives for modification and principle of operation of the pension
systems for retirees of DOE Oak Ridge operating contractors. For
the full text of the CORRE 2004 position paper, click
here.
|
| |
Pension Plan Increases for Sandia Employees and
Retirees
For more
information on the change for Sandia, go to this link:
Main
Stories on the Pension in the Sandia Lab News
From the
above link you can access the three stories on the Sandia Lab increase.
Summary of Pension plan changes
approved by DOE/NNSA for Sandia
Lab (Excerpted from Sandia Lab News of February 22, 2002)
After an
intensive year-long negotiating effort, Sandia's pension plan changes
and other benefit changes affecting employees' retirement years have
won approval from DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The changes apply only to participants in the Labs' Retirement Income
Plan. Represented employees and formerly represented retirees covered
by the Pension Security Plan are not affected by any of the changes at
this time. Their pension benefits are negotiated as part of the
collective bargaining process.
Based on
current retirement patterns and with the caveat that every employee's
circumstances are unique, the new formula should increase pensions by
25 percent on average -- sometimes more, sometimes less --for employees
who retired on or after Dec. 19, 2000. Employees and surviving spouses
who retired before that will receive a 15 percent ad hoc increase on
the fixed portion of their pensions, effective on Jan. 1, 2002.
According to
Labs Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ralph Bonner (10300), the changes
to the plan -- combined with the value of the company match to the
401(k) plan -- make Sandia's retirement benefit very competitive.
In a letter
to Sandians, Feb. 13 announcing the approval, Labs President C.
Paul Robinson noted that as the give-and-take of the negotiation
process moved forward, the proposed changes had strong support from
Lockheed Martin, the Sandia Board of Directors, and the New Mexico
congressional delegation.
Armed with a
vigorous "go for it" nod from Paul and Executive VP Joan Woodard,
Ralph, Mark Biggs, and Bruce Criel (both 10310) did the bulk of the
nuts-and-bolts work of putting the new pension package together. Becky
Statler (3341) and her team from the Benefits organization developed
the changes to the medical plans.
|
| |
Letter to US Dept. of Labor from John E. Jones, Jr.,
Chair of Benefit Plans Committee of CORRE regarding the Oak Ridge
operating contractor pension program (Letter dated August 9, 2001)
A letter was sent to the US
Department of Labor August 9, 2001. The letter had been "lost"
for a month or so. After faxing a new copy to DOE in late October
CORRE was able to locate a person in DOL who would try to handle
it. It appears that much of the content of the letter must be
addressed to the IRS.
The letter to DOL addresses
various questions regarding the administration and equity of the Oak
Ridge DOE operating contractor pension program. See the DOL
letter on the correspondence page. Click
here.
|
| |
Letters to Congressmen (June 20, 2001)
A letter has been sent by members of the Legislative
Committee of CORRE to members of the U.S. House of Representatives from
the principal districts of residence of Oak Ridge Retirees. The members
addressed were Representatives John Duncan, Zach Wamp, and Van
Hilleary. Issues addressed were those left unfilled by the recent
pension adjustment. The Correspondence
Page has the full text of the letter.
|
Other News on DOE
Pensions
|
| |
Sandia to Seek Parity with Pensions Plans of UC Labs
(LANL, LLNL, and LBNL)- May 21, 2001
According to the Sandia Lab News of February 23, 2001,
which has come to our attention, Paul Robinson, President and Director
of Sandia National Laboratories, has presented the Sandia Board of
Directors with a roadmap for achieving parity with the pension plans of
the laboratories operated by the University of California.
According to the Sandia Lab News, the parity issue was discussed at the
meeting of the Board of Directors January 29, 2001. The News
reported that Robinson said: ".... we intend to pursue to try and
achieve parity with the UC labs. That's the goal we've looked
at. It is not going to be easy. I told the board members frankly
that at this first meeting of the year and under the new
administration, we were exposing them to our roadmap because we wanted
them to be in the chair to take-off in order that when we make
our landing we can be sure they're going to still be with us."
The Board apparently blessed the roadmap in remarks made by
members. Sandia Lab management plans to develop the details and
take them up with Lockheed Martin and then the Department of Energy.
According to the March 23, 2001 Lab News meetings were
being held with employees to explain differences between Sandia retiree
provisions and those of LLNL and to explain provisions of Federal Law
that covers changes in retirement plans. What was not discussed
was the "proposal of Sandia" for changing the plan to obtain
parity. The proposal had not be decided at the time of the March
Lab News report.
It is interesting to CORRE officials that Senator Pete
Dominici (R-NM) in his visit to Sandia Labs January 15, 2001 "pledged
to keep pushing DOE to improve Sandia's pension plan," according to the
January 26 issue of the Sandia Lab News.
It is to be noted that one of the objectives of CORRE is
to achieve parity with other DOE contractors in the pensions of
retirees. CORRE officials do not know the extent to which parity
for Sandia retirees will be sought, but it appears that retroactive
application will be sought.
|
| |
|
Please
submit news items or suggestions to CORRE
Secretary
|
| |
CORRE
Home CORRE
Corner (BWXT Y-12
Retirement News) CORRE News
October 2004 CORRE
Correspondence BWXT
Minimum Pension Benefit Increase Letter CORRE Reps Visit Congressional Staffs
News
Archives
|
