Learn about Proposed Changes that Could Affect Your Retirement

By Mary Lou Savage, Senior Benefits Attorney

The events of the past two years have had a dramatic effect on the financial condition of the airline industry. For those of us employed by airlines or airline-related companies, the present condition and future prospects of the industry are personal and pressing concerns.

Among the most significant of these concerns are the condition of our pension plans and retirement security. This "Pension Primer" addresses these concerns.

Defined benefit pension plans, which have been negotiated as part of airline employee contracts and provide those workers with a modest pension for a secure retirement at most major carriers, are under attack by airline management. Management says the plans are too costly and are underfunded.

Often companies, the press, and government officials point to defined benefit pension plans as the main cause of the pension funding problem. Our pension plans are made out to be the villain, and suggestions abound that the only way for the industry again to be profitable is to terminate costly pension plans and reduce other benefits.

It is important for airline workers to educate themselves about pension basics, to learn the true facts surrounding the current situation, and to share this information and their views with their representatives in Congress.

A goal of this "Pension Primer" is to help you accomplish that.

We will give you some basic information about pension plans and pension law, answer some common questions about your pension benefits, explain some of the reasons for the current situation, and, particularly for our members at United and US Airways, explore what could happen when a pension plan terminates and is taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

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