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Oak Ridge Retirees Deserve Raise - Wilber D. Shults
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Dub Shults' guest column in Perspective, Knoxville News Sentinel
April 20, 2008
Oak Ridge retirees deserve raise
Wilbur D. Shults_
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The return address on the envelop said Genworth
Life Insurance Co. The letter inside boldly announced: "Long Term Care
Insurance Premium Change Notice." The hit was a 12 percent increase in
premium.
Turning to the newspaper, I saw that the cost of a postage stamp is
scheduled to increase by a penny on May 12, a 2.7 percent jump. The
paper's Business section announced, again in bold type: "Rate Increase
on TVA agenda Friday." The proposal is a 7 percent rate increase. It
seems like an everyday occurrence: Living costs continue to increase.
Here is a headline that I would like to see somewhere, sometime: "DOE
contractor retirees win pension adjustment." Reminds me of the Peyton
Manning TV commercial where he says, "It ain't gonna happen."
The fact is, DOE and its contractor organizations continue to delay and
deny requests by local retirees for a pension adjustment, even though
one is needed, deserved, reasonable, just and affordable and would
require no new appropriation of federal money.
It is important to note that this is not simply an Oak Ridge issue. It
is a local area issue. Forty-eight percent of the Oak Ridge retirees
reside in Anderson and Roane counties. All the rest reside in Knox and
neighboring Tennessee counties.
Anderson and Roane counties would accrue 51 percent of the financial
benefits of the requested adjustment in pensions; the other counties
would accrue the remainder.
In terms of dollars, the adjustment would bring approximately $65
million in increased pensions into our area. The total impact would be
far greater than this. Perhaps more than $100 million per year.
n Needed. Let me be specific about this. I retired at the end of 1994
after 43 years of company service. Since that time, my pension has
increased by 4.3 percent while the cost of living has increased by 41.2
percent. My secondary medical insurance has gone up 228 percent. All
things being considered, my purchasing power today is 65 percent of
what it was when I retired in 1994. That's typical. Pity those who
retired earlier. Some have lost so much purchasing power that they must
choose between food and medical insurance. Many have severely limited
lifestyles.
n Deserved. These retirees are the very people who developed and
provided the basis for the success of the facilities in Oak Ridge. Many
of them devoted their working lives to the defense and security of
America.
n Reasonable. The request is for an increase in the pension of each
retiree, effectively restoring approximately 75 percent of the
purchasing power that each retiree has lost during retirement.
n Just. The request is to use existing trust funds for the express
purpose for which the trust was established many years ago, namely, to
assure the financial security of contractor retirees and their spouses.
n Affordable. Sufficient funds exist in trust to cover the expense of
the requested pension adjustment without additional funding and without
jeopardizing the liabilities of the pension program. Indeed, the trust
is over-funded to such an extent that payments into it were stopped in
1984.
A reasonable person might wonder how a government agency whose function
is to serve and protect the people can turn its back on those who
contributed much to its success. One might wonder why our
representatives are not aggressive about an issue that affects 12,000
of their constituents and could bring millions of dollars into the area
they serve.
One might wonder who to vote for on Election Day.
Wilbur "D" Shults is an analytical chemist who retired from Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in 1994. He held numerous research and management
positions at ORNL, including many years as director of the Analytical
Chemistry Division. He has been an East Tennessean since 1951. His
e-mail address is dubshults@bellsouth.net.
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Working for Fair, Equitable, and Competitive Benefits
for
12,000 Former K-25, Y-12, and ORNL Employees
Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees
P.O. Box 4266, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-4366
Email: service@corre.info
Comments and corrections on the CORRE web site: webmaster@corre.info
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