URPBPA LEGISLATIVE ALERT
Forward to
Every Airline Employee and Retiree You Know
Our Power Comes From Every One Participating
Congress is back in
session. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) Committee has been meeting and finalizing their pension reform
legislation. There has been some improvement on the House’s Boehner bill
(HR 2830) but nothing yet that directly helps the pensions at United Airlines.
The next committee to meet will be the
In speaking with
Congressional offices that support us, we have been told that it is very
important that we continue our letter writing efforts. Congressional
offices have a tendency to take action where there is the most “heat”. If
our letter writing campaign tapers off these offices will only assume that our
problem is solved or that we no longer care about the
outcome. It is up to us to call attention to our issues and keep the heat
on the lawmakers. This is especially important now that Hurricane Katrina
is taking a lot of Congressional attention.
If you took part in the
campaign to write the Senate HELP Committee you can use your letter with slight
modification to address the
Remember United’s CEO
Glen Tilton and his lobbyists have been lobbying these offices, we must work
together to undo their work!
Our main message remains
the same: Any pension reform legislation must include saving the
pensions at United Airlines.
Your letter should be no
more than one page in length and in your own words. Form letters are
mostly ignored. We are looking for
the maximum number of letters. Your
letter doesn’t have to be a literary masterpiece:
One letter alone will not have much impact; however, if
each of us and all of our friends write at the same time we can definitely put
our issues in front of the members of this committee. Please write to
Please FAX your letter and CALL each of these offices
stating that any Pension Reform Legislation should include provisions to stop the terminations of the Defined Benefit
Pensions at United Airlines.
Don’t forget to send
this letter to your own Congressman and Senators and also to President Bush.
Complete one letter, print it, then go
back, change the name and fax number, print, and so on through the list.
You may have difficulty in faxing
some these offices, but persist and you will finally get all but one or two
through. The lines are very busy with Katrina related issues.
Print this list and use it
as a checklist:
House Committee on Ways
and Means
Contact Information
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Majority (Republicans) |
Minority (Democrats) |
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Committee Phone: |
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Committee FAX: |
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Committee Membership
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Majority Member
Name (24) |
DC Phone |
DC FAX |
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William
M. Thomas (R-CA) [Chairman] |
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Minority Member Name
(17) |
DC Phone |
DC FAX |
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Charles
B. Rangel (D-NY) [Ranking Minority Member] |
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Sample Letter:
Please do not just copy and resend it,
but use it only for ideas or cut and paste portions of it. If all the
letters are the same they will have little or no impact.
Congressman Bill Thomas
Committee on Ways & Means
1102
Fax:
Re: Save the Pensions at United Airlines
Dear Congressman Thomas,
It is imperative that
any legislation considered by your committee must include provisions to save
the pensions at United Airlines.
Please include in your
legislation the provisions of H.R. 2327 calling for a 6 month moratorium of
pension terminations in bankruptcy court OR a permanent solution to the pension
crisis at United Airlines. Grant to the employees and retirees of
United Airlines a fair opportunity to save their pensions.
If United is allowed to
terminate their pensions in bankruptcy court you will create a competitive
imbalance among the legacy carriers, United, Delta, Northwest and American. The other legacy
carriers will be forced to resort to strategic bankruptcies in order to stay
competitive by also shedding their Defined Benefit Pension Plans, dumping these
huge liabilities onto the PBGC.
There are alternatives
to plan terminations that will not put United Airlines out of business and yet
will benefit United’s employees and retirees. Minor
changes in the law would allow freezing of these viable pension plans and allow
longer periods to amortize these liabilities.
Prevent and stop these pension takeovers by the
PBGC. The PBGC cannot absorb these
liabilities without asking for a taxpayer bailout.
Time or a permanent
solution is all we ask for; TIME will not be a cost to the government but not
taking action will cost the government dearly.
Respectfully,
Sign
Name, Address, City/State,
Phone