Government Affairs Report: May 2005
Author: Debbie Golombek, UAL MEC Government Affairs Committee Chair
Inside this Report |
May 29, 2005
My thanks to all for helping to make the termination of United Airlines employee pension plans a topic of conversation on Capitol Hill! Because of your phone calls, e-mails, faxes and meetings, we have put a personal face to the serious threat to defined benefit pension plans in this country.
Stop Termination of Our Pensions Legislation
On May 13, Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced H.R. 2327, legislation which would impose a six-month moratorium on certain pension plan terminations initiated by the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The moratorium bill is emergency legislation designed to stem the avalanche of plan terminations brought on by the United Airlines bankruptcy. The six-month moratorium allows Congress time to devise a more permanent solution to pension plan funding and the PBGC’s solvency.
The legislation would not impede United’s emergence from bankruptcy, as it does not prohibit a company and a union to seek out alternative solutions to plan terminations.
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) will be introducing companion legislation in the Senate.
Senate Letter to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Seventeen Senators, concerned with the sudden reversal of the PBGC’s position on the Flight Attendant Pension Plan, signed a letter to the PBGC asking on what basis or precedent the agency reversed course.
After two days of intense lobbying, the following Senators signed on to this letter to Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor, Chairperson, PBGC Board of Directors and Bradley Belt, PBGC Executive Director: Co-authors Senators Richard Durbin (IL), Edward Kennedy (MA) and Barack Obama (IL), Daniel Akaka (HI), Barbara Mikulski (MD), Tim Johnson (SD), Mark Pyror (AR), Tom Harkin (IA), Patty Murray (WA), Herb Kohl (WI), Barbara Boxer (CA), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Ron Wyden (OR), Jay Rockefeller (WV), Hillary Clinton (NY), Jack Reed (RI), Dianne Feinstein (CA) and Maria Cantwell (WA).
A number of Senators who missed the deadline for signing this letter wrote their own letters to the PBGC.
To date, they have not had a response from the PBGC.
Capitol Hill Press Conference on Pensions
On May 10, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representatives George Miller (D-CA) Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Pete Stark (D-CA) held a press conference to highlight the United employee pension situation and announce the introduction of the Pension Fairness and Full Disclosure Act. This press conference was arranged around the Government Affairs Committee training in Washington, DC and was held as the bankruptcy court was hearing the United/PBGC settlement arguments.
Patrice Anderson, Council 9 Government Affairs Co-Chair, provided very moving testimony on behalf of the United Flight Attendants.
Pension Fairness and Full Disclosure Act
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) have introduced legislation in both the Senate (S. 991) and the House (H.R. 2233), to end the gross discrepancies between the way the retirement packages of a company’s rank-and-file employees and top executives are treated. The bill brings greater equity to the private pension system by requiring full disclosure of executive compensation packages and prohibits any increase in executive deferred compensation for a five-year period, without incurring a 100 percent excise tax.
Employee Pension Preservation Act
Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Representative Tom Price (R-GA) have introduced legislation in the Senate, (S. 861) and House (HR 2106) which would allow airlines to apply a new set of funding rules to any defined benefit plan it maintains, and reduces the risk of airline bankruptcies. If enacted this legislation would freeze current benefits, with the concurrence of both the company and the unions, schedule pension obligations over 25 years (instead of a four-year schedule) and cap the PBGC liabilities at current levels.
Appropriations for Flight Attendant Fatigue Study
Addressing inadequate rest periods and the resulting fatigue is a major concern for AFA. Last year, we were able to secure $200,000 for a congressionally mandated and funded study of flight attendant fatigue. This report is expected to be released in June 2005 from the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI).
In April, we kicked off a congressional component to the campaign on fatigue. Representative Michael Honda (D-CA) wrote a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairmen Knollenberg (R-MI) and Olver (D-MA) urging them to provide $1 million in Fiscal Year 2006 for continued research on flight attendant fatigue.
After intensive lobbying during our lobby days, 144 members signed-on to Rep. Honda’s letter. We will monitor the appropriations process to ensure these funds are included in the appropriations bill.
