Posted by Retiree on 12 November 2001 at 11:43:33:
One subject I haven't seen discussed fully - which I'd like to float.
I consider that during my employment I was offered and accepted by way of defered benefits a pension that would be "comparable with the best employers". Bluntly, I think I had and have a contract. My part was to work, and IBM's part was to discharge it's promise when I retired. I worked and now I want the benefits I earned. I can't see how it is legal for the company to cheat me out of that having received the benefits of my side of the contract. Even if there may be some circumstances that allows IBM off the hook, I find it difficult to accept that a court would accept the idea "well we just changed our mind" as being one of them.
What seems to me to compound it, is that IBM cannot say "it can't afford to pay" if it has allowed itself a pensions holiday.
The question is, do IBM pensioners have a case and if so - what can we do about it?