WSJ slaps down the unions breaking America myth

[Rosemary2205]

Alot of people hate unions. Corporate America has been very successful making people think unions are breaking their backs. The problems at Delta, Ford and GM, among others, have people who would normally be on the side of the little guy convinced that unions have overplayed their hand and are now doing more harm than good.

On the front page of today's wall street journal, is an article detailing the so called "drain" retirees are having on these big unionized companies. I really encourage everyone to read it on the wsj website. It is clear the only retirees bleeding the company dry are the CEO type retirees. Not the rank and file. In nearly every case, the funds set aside to pay out retiree benefits are overflowing with cash and earning more every year than what is needed to pay out benefits.

Big shot pension costs, however, are generally not funded at all. Companies are having to dump pensions to rank and file union members in order to steal the money set aside so it can meets it's high cost obligations to the high paid few.

From the article --

"But there's a twist to the auto maker's pension situation: The pension plans for its rank-and-file U.S. workers are overstuffed with cash, containing about $9 billion more than is needed to meet their obligations for years to come.

Another of GM's pension programs, however, saddles the company with a liability of $1.4 billion. These pensions are for its executives.

This is the pension squeeze companies aren't talking about: Even as many reduce, freeze or eliminate pensions for workers -- complaining of the costs -- their executives are building up ever-bigger pensions, causing the companies' financial obligations for them to balloon.

Companies disclose little about any of this. But a Wall Street Journal analysis of corporate filings reveals that executive benefits are playing a large and hidden role in the declining health of America's pensions"

[Doctor_J]

1. And, the cost of a pension for one exec could probably

cover 500-1000 workers. It is just criminal how corrupt corporations are.

[Captain Hilts]

2. The story AND the source are both BIG. Hope they tell the ed. page. nt

[lovuian]

3. Execs have become Robber barons they rob the worker

to pay them huge salaries ... its a repeat of the Robber barons and unfortunately a political system and economic system can't continue like this... History proves Greed brings disaster on All ...

[w4rma]

4. Bingo. That's where the money is going: **Executive** pensions. (nt)

[LiberalPartisan]

7. Incompetence must be rewarded lavishly....don't ya know n/t

[Spiffarino]

5. Too bad there won't be a link

Guess I'll have to buy it and show it to all the union-blamers at work.

My brother lives in a blood-red part of NC. He makes $9 an hour and can barely make a $300 a month mortgage, but he'd cut off his own arm before he'd join a union.

Lest you think I'm dissing my brother, the same goes for most or all of the men-folk in that area. They've been brought up on a steady diet of Rush Limbaugh and mega-church. The privileged have so completely indoctrinated the sheeple they can't figure out who's really screwing them.

[devilgrrl]

6. Link please...

eom

[hopeisaplace]

8. heard on our local radio station today about the gap between CEO's and

their employee's wages in the US is massive...can't remember exactly what the stat
was, but something like 275% GREATER income than that of the workers..In Canada
it's about 23% (can't remember exact number) greater income than workers.
My jaw hit the steering wheel when I heard the US number. The Canadian figure is large
as well, but holy-katz the US figure is completely OBSCENE.

[blonndee]

9. Can I have the link, please?

My dad thinks that all unions are just corrupt mafia-types bilking their members. (Just what the RWers want him to think).

[Rosemary2205]

15. Subscription required.

6/23/06 WSJ Hidden Burden: As Workers' Pensions Wither, Those for Executives Flourish --- article title at http://online.wsj.com/public/us

Or you can go to the local library and pull the Wall Street Journal for Friday, June 23, 2006. It's right on the front page.

I do believe if you wait about 1 week the single article online may be available for a $4.95 fee.

[dweller]

10. Executive pensions can be big liability: report

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-06-23T092228Z_01_N23185193_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-FINANCIAL-PENSIONS-REPORT-COL.XML

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Executive benefits play a large and hidden role in the declining health of U.S. pensions, and executive pension obligations exceed $1 billion at seven U.S. companies, The Wall Street Journal said on Friday.

Benefits for executives on average account for 8 percent of the pension obligations at those companies, including General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote), General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote), AT&T Inc. (T.N: Quote) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote), among others, it said.

The big obligations, which can approach $100 million for a single executive's pension, come at a time many companies are reducing, freezing or eliminating pensions for their workers.

GM ended pensions for 42,000 workers this year, but the savings companies make by curtailing worker pensions may mask a rising cost of executive benefits, the newspaper said.

Executive pension liabilities are largely hidden because companies don't distinguish them from their overall pension obligations in financial filings, said the Journal, which ran analysis of corporate filings to unearth the data.

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that's all the article has. There is also this from a Google search:

Backdating: a scandal in waiting
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_3969438

It was only a matter of time before a Colorado company was implicated in the growing scandal involving backdated stock options.

Denver-based Delta Petroleum Corp. is the first, but likely won't be the last, company in the state investigated for lavishing executives with fixed stock options.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Justice Department, pension funds, shareholders' attorneys and research groups are now combing through corporate records. Executives at more than 50 companies - including Home Depot, United Healthcare and software maker McAfee Inc. - have been implicated.

Delta had the misfortune of meeting the criteria of a study by the Center for Financial Research & Analysis of Rockville, Md. The center decided to study 100 likely suspects. It looked at companies with more than $1 billion in market value and selected those with the highest ratio of stock-based compensation to market cap.

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more at link.

:kick:
dp

[madrchsod]

11. this was on npr today

as of now there is no law against not disclosing this accounting trick or cover-up. any thing to fuck over the american worker is just fine with both the republicans and democrats in our government. if you retire just eat shit and die

[senseandsensibility]

12. Thank you for posting this.

It is good to see some kind of postive union story in the corporate media.

[spag68]

13. unions

I'm a retired union worker and believe me this crap has been building for at least since Nixon. In 1948 he lawyered on a rethug team to write anti union legislation and was screwing the unions until he resigned. Remember that shit Reagan busted the air traffic controllers union. The first thing georgie did after Katrina was suspend prevailing wage, until he was forced off that position. So remember that these business rethugs have been working on this forever. They think we should all be under their thumb, after all it is their birthright as the american aristocracy. Don't get me started.

[hopeisaplace]

14. My son's a Union Member and My hubby is a Union Member

and I am VERY grateful. Decent wage, benefits and a pension.
Prior to my son getting into his union his wage was "a joke",
and safety was an issue. As an Apprentice, my 20 year old has
a bright future ahead of him, and safety is a priority on the
job. Hubby is safety certified and also helps guide our son
about safety. As a mom, I can tell you, safety is always on
my mind. (we're canadian, not that it matters)

[In Truth We Trust]

16. It is no coincidence that America was healthiest when Unions were strong!