What would happen to the pensions for the UAW Chrysler workers if Chrysler actually did go bankrupt?
You get 50% of it if they go bankrupt, and that is only for people who have 30 years or 85 points [age+years]
If the fund is fully funded then the employees who are vested would get their pensions. But the feds let company plans get to 50% funded before they will taqke notice, then there would be adjustments made.
The above responses are probably right on paper, that is.
In my real life experience, if they work like the UMW and the steel workers union they wouldn’t get much if they get anything.
My Dad worked in the coal mines for 18 years and went to apply for his pension. The clerk said that there was a fire in the union offices 14 years before and they couldn’t verify his employment even though he had all of his pay stubs. They suggested he track down his fellow workers to verify that he did in fact work the years that he said he did. All the guys he worked with were dead from black lung; these were the same guys that made fun of my Dad because he was the only one on his section that wore his respirator while working the face of the coal. So, no pension for him.
He also worked in the steel mills for 14 years. The plant he worked at in Youngstown, Ohio was bought out by another company. The new company did not offer any of the old employees a job. Instead, they brought them in one at a time and offered them a one time settlement on their retirement. They offered my Dad a $2000.00 lump sum for his retirement. He turned it down and they said that he could start drawing his pension when he turned 65 and had him escorted out of the plant by four armed guards. He was 58 at the time.
He never lost faith in the unions until he went to check on his burial fund. This was a prepaid plan that was supposed to cover all of the burial expenses after his death. He paid into this fund every single payday that he worked in the mines.
The lady at the UMW office laughed in his face and told him that that fund had gone bankrupt years and years ago. That was the final straw for him; his spirit seemed to wither after that experience.
He died 6 days after turning 65.
I know this is General Questions so I’ll say this nicely…
NO union rep of ANY union of ANY kind should EVER step foot on my property unless they’re hell bent on suicide. They have been warned!
CedricR.
In the past Company and union funds were commonly raided, loans given and not repaid. There were conpany and some union plans where 20 years service before any vesting. the company would terminate employees with 19 years service.
That brought out the fed gov insurance for pension funds, changes in vesting and oversight of the funding of the various funds.