The coalition recently spoke with Wyn Triska, an employee of Portland General Electric, PGE in Oregon. Since the early 1900’s, PGE has produced power for the northwest. In recent years, PGE was bought out by ENRON. That is when the trouble began.
1st, out of 2,000 employees, Enron foisted a new pension conversion upon 400 members of its collective bargaining unit, to implement a notorious nationwide pension conversion scam, better known as the CASH BALANCE PLANS.
The introduction of this “great plan,” left Wyn with $250,000 in reduced lifetime pension benefits that he could no longer look forward to collecting in his retirement years.
Most recently, Enron officers froze employees’ 401′k funds while they cashed in, leaving them and their families, with significantly depleted savings plans, severely diminishing the families present and future quality of life.
Now, the PGE, and its 2,000 employees are on the auction block.
(In Wyn’s words)
“For nearly two years, the EEOC has been investigating the pension conversion age-discrimination complaints that I and fellow employees filed, as well as about a thousand others from around the country relating to cash balance pension conversions. Now that the Enron collapse has broken another leg off my retirement stool, it’s even more important to start enforcing the laws.
I would very much appreciate your contacting the EEOC and asking them why they have not taken action to remedy this matter. In 1999, I and many other employees at Portland General Electric (PGE), a subsidiary of Enron , had their traditional pension plan converted to a cash balance hybrid. We were fed copious amounts of misinformation making the switch appear benign rather than a pension cut, which is typical for these conversions throughout the nation. (See www.PGEpension.com for details. )
As if the cash balance pension conversion wasn’t enough, Enron became the poster child for corruption and bankruptcy. As an Enron employee, my 401k is severely depleted despite my investments being as diversified as Enron would allow. The matching Enron stock, that was payment for work performed, couldn’t be moved anywhere unless you were Enron upper management (or over age fifty, and then with restrictions).
If our country does not enforce the existing laws with respect to their intent, there is no point writing new ones. Simply passing a bill or creating an inefficient bureaucracy often does little or nothing to remedy the problem , and can worsen it. This was the case with Enron and its exemption from commodity and futures regulation. Enron and PGE are not the only ethically challenged corporations. We have a national crisis in the making. The EEOC, DOL, and the IRS should be doing more than just investigating cash balance pension conversions and the Department of Justice or Attorney General should be filing charges against those at the top of Enron’s and Arthur Andersen’s racketeering while freezing their assets. As Voltaire put it, ” …it is well from time to time to kill an admiral to encourage the others.” Send a strong deterrent message that expensive lawyers, weasel words, and friends in high places aren’t going to exempt corporations and individuals from our Country’s laws, or garner special treatment.
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