Join your fellow employees who are fighting for your benefits - Join the Alliance!

Retirees, Vendors, Contractors, Temps, and Active Employees are all eligible to become members of the Alliance.

• Wall Street Journal: Health Accounts Have Benefits For Employers. By Theo Francis and Ellen E. Schultz. Excerpts: Amid the debate over whether health-savings accounts will fix America's health-care problems, another important effect has received less notice: The accounts are generating savings on payroll taxes for companies that adopt them, and they could hasten a shift of health-care costs from companies to employees.
  The growing acceptance of HSAs accelerates a transition in health-care benefits, from employers providing a safety net to employees taking on more risk. The shift parallels a similar trend away from traditional pensions in retirement benefits. Indeed, HSAs may be poised to become the 401(k)s of health care: a low-cost substitute for a once-standard workplace-provided benefit, which can offer employees greater flexibility but also can increase their financial burdens and risk.
  "I think what [employers] are really after is that they're moving the risk from their balance sheet to the employees," said Richard T. Evans, a health-care analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. "The risk is being transferred without the consumer really realizing it," he said.
  Just as the 401(k) -- invented as a supplemental benefit -- ended up supplanting pensions, HSAs could do the same to traditional employee health insurance. Already, companies with HSAs are enjoying savings on payroll taxes that mirror gains they made in the shift to 401(k)s. [...]
  Business groups generally hailed Mr. Bush's proposals, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the insurance industry and the financial-services industry, which is poised to reap billions of dollars in fees from managing money squirreled away in HSAs. [...]
  Even if they don't contribute a cent, employers still get tax benefits. And the more of their own pay employees set aside each year, the bigger their employers' tax breaks. That's because employers ordinarily have to pay a variety of payroll taxes on cash income their employees earn; these taxes fund Social Security, Medicare and state and federal unemployment programs. But under at least some HSA arrangements, employers can skip most of those taxes on employee contributions to the account, bringing the employer savings of as much as 7% to 10%, according to some estimates. If link is broken, view Adobe Acrobat version [PDF--48 KB].
• Yahoo! message board post by "dchak6": Sorry, Boss. I'm calling in dead... (satire). Full excerpt: "Hello, Boss? I can't come in today. I'm sick, my spouse is sick, and all my kids are sick. And because you dropped my medical coverage, and we cannot afford health care premiums, we are uninsured. So the only thing we can afford now is home care, which includes chicken soup, tea, and plenty of bed rest.
  "I know the original intent of you providing me health care over the years was to keep me healthy so I can show up every day and be productive. But I guess I can understand how that is becoming less affordable for you, too. I mean after all, you've got to think of your CEO's retirement party and all. "Anyway, I should be back to work in a couple of months."

• Alliance@IBM: Attention IBM employees: IBM is blocking e-mail to and from the Alliance@IBM e-mail address endicottalliance@stny.rr.com from inside the company. Please send your job cut information and other correspondence from your home e-mail. You can also contact us the following ways: Phone 607 658 9285 or Fax 607 658 9283.
• To IBM Canada employees: Concerned about pension changes, declining benefits and working conditions? Please contact the e-mail below to find out how to get involved in working for a better future for IBM Canada employees. allianceibm@tngcanada.org
• Disintegrating Pensions National Crisis: Call to Action. Alliance@IBM Vice-president Earl Mongeon’s remarks presented at o the Pepper Foundation News Conference, National Press Club. Excerpts: Hello. My name is Earl Mongeon. I am 50 years old; I live in Westford, VT and have worked at the local IBM plant for 27 years. I am also Vice President of the Alliance@IBM / CWA Local 1701, an ongoing nationwide union organizing campaign at IBM. I am very concerned with the deterioration of the pension system in this country, not only at IBM but at all corporations. At one time IBM set the standards to follow; now they don’t even know what they are! Over the last 11 years, my pension has been slashed three times. [...]
  Earlier this year, IBM has announced that it is freezing the pension plans at the end of 2007 and will put everybody into a 401(k) plan. Now, after all the changes to my pension, or should I say my promised pension, I will only get about half of what I would have gotten under the original defined benefits plan. This means that I will have to work longer to make up for what has been taken away from me by the IBM executive crooks, and I do mean crooks. These are strong words, but what they have done is steal from the employees.
  The executives lost nothing because in 1994 they put in place a supplemental executive retirement plan known as SERP, before starting to implement the 1995 pension changes. The pension changes allowed them to add millions of dollars to their compensation due to “vapor profit”, or lowering the amount of corporate funds that had to be used to fund the pension plan. (Pension Surplus)
• From the Job Cuts Status & Comments page:
  • Comment 3/03/06: Something big and nasty is about to occur at Rochester MN. There have been several unconfirmed rumors. One, is to expect major layoffs in April. The second is that the remainder of manufacturing is to be sold to a vendor, probably Fujitsu. The third is that another vendor (Hitachi Global Storage?) will vacate Bldg 114. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Bad stuff cooking in Rochester -Anonymous-
  • Resource action for ISC Procurement happened January 19, 2006. 62 employees cut. Only 10 of these employees were under 40 years old.
• From the General Visitor's Comment page:
  • Comment 3/2/06: My Vpay results just came in. Last year, rated a 2, it was over $3k. This year, same rating, just barely $2k. Didn't IBM have record profits? This is it. My income has declined in gross and real terms for the last 4 years. Good luck with the global outsourcing Sam. IBM won't be able to execute well for any customer. The spiral downward for this company is only gaining momentum, but the exec's are still getting bonuses. No one in management cares about stockholders or employees. Why should they, they're getting their stock for free or at such a discount that execs are raking it in. The IT job market is turning around. Everyone should do the absolute minimum until IBM compensates for the skewed life balance or until you find other employment. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 3/3/06: IBM shareholders may be given the opportunity to correct a wrong in their next proxy statement. In 1999 IBM took away medical benefits to retirees (people that worked for IBM 30 or more years). Now IBM Executive Management has also "frozen" traditional retirements benefits after 2006. The retirees looked at these benefits as the major reasons why they stayed with IBM, just to have these benefits taken away with a stroke of a pen. Most of these employees worked for 20% to 30% less in salary then what IBM pays new hires to do the same work. These older employees were continuously told by management to not just look at their salary. They were told by IBM management, "Look at the whole package which includes lifetime medical benefits for you and your spouse and your retirement pension"
    IBM executive Management has now taken both of these away leaving the older employees still earning 20 to 30 % less than new hires. All this hurts these old people soon to be living on modest fixed incomes. They are in the worst position to pay for medical benefits. This is not charity, it is a benefit employees worked hard for over 30 years to obtain. Management presents a position that other benefits are being given employees. This will not help old IBM retirees that can't afford medical benefits and now will also lose about 250 thousand additional dollars over their lifetime
    I request you contact your stock market portfolio managers and request they vote for giving medical benefits and traditional retirement pensions back to IBM retirees. Also, contact your government representatives. Join the Union. I just did all these things!
    As an IBM stockholder, I am appalled by IBM management misrepresenting the issue and not taking responsibility to change a bad decision on taking away IBM retiree medical benefits and freezing retirement pensions. Thomas Watson founded this great company on respect for the individual. I do not want to be argumentative by pointing out what appointees to IBM's board members receive in benefits with some for relative short tenure to IBM. The retirees spend 30 plus years of their lives working to make IBM successful in hard times. I believe any IBM executives should see taking away retiree medical benefits and freezing retirement pensions is not the way to treat their colleagues. Sam Palmisano stated he recognizes the contribution of IBM employees. I hope he will put actions behind his words and correct these wrongs. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 3/4/06: Per the comment on 02/27/2006. I'm having to believe IBM no longer gives raises also. My last one was back in 2003. It's been a challenge making ends meet the last few years with no raise and little or no variable bonus/pay. It's even worse now that your manager can play "favorites" since he/she gets to pick the percentage you receive in a range (thanks to the new plan). So much for standing up and voicing an opinion. Tick off your manager now and they can hold it against you come variable bonus time.
    Our Variable "Bonus" was told to us earlier in the week. I know I should be glad to be receiving anything, but after spending over 15 years at IBM, getting a 2% variable bonus is more of an insult than a compliment for all the time given to the company. I remember seeing the numbers back in 1999/2000. If you were a band 10 employee and received a PBC rating of 1, your variable pay was 47% or 49% of your yearly pay. Here I'm glad to receive enough to replace a refrigerator to help the family, where managers were being written variable pay checks big enough to buy a new luxury automobile (or probably in some cases, even a new home!).
    My cube mate has a comic on the wall, it came out many years ago (I think it's Wizard of Id). There are two hard working farmers that have just finished clearing out the barn and tending to the field. One of them says "What will we do when we can no longer perform meaningful work?" The other replies "There's always management." A little bit of humor in a twisted work environment. -Anonymous-
  • Comment 3/4/06: "If my soldiers began to think, not one of them would remain in the ranks." Frederick the Great.
• Pension Comments page