DuPont and Dow Chemical Company announced on December 11, 2015, that their boards of directors had approved an agreement for a “merger of equals.” Naturally, this plan raised concerns about the security of retiree pensions and other benefits, and we needed a mechanism to organize and communicate with the over 100,000 retirees. Paul Kende and I then began a dialogue with the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) about forming a DuPont Chapter. In my Welcome Message to the DuPont Retirees Chapter (DRC) members on July 20, 2016, I noted that our purpose is (1) to support the NRLN’s lobbying efforts to protect retiree income security by legislative advocacy, and (2) to create an organization designed to serve the common interests …
From the Chapter President and Co-Founder , Paul Kende and Jim Odle
- National Retiree Legislative Network
- Email Contact
To: NRLN DuPont Retirees Chapter Members
From: Jim Odle
Subject: September NRLN Meeting in Washington, DC
I attended the NRLN meeting in Washington, D.C. on September 16 -18, 2024, with other NRLN association and chapter members from all over the country. On the first day, Monday, we heard presentations from the NRLN staff on details for the focus areas for the meeting (more about these below). On Tuesday and Wednesday, attendees visited members of Congress and their staff on The Hill to advocate for legislation on issues important to retirees. As usual, I met with Senators from states with a concentration of DuPont/Corteva retirees and met with staff members from the offices of Senators Tim Kaine (VA), Thom Tillis (NC), Ted Budd (NC) and Marsha Blackburn (TN). In the photo I am with Jacob Daneggar, a legislative assistant, in Senator Blackburn’s office.
Our main focus area this time around was Pension de-risking. As you may know there is a current trend among pension sponsors to replace pensions with insurance company annuities. Unfortunately, this results in the loss of several protections that the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) provides for pensioners. NRLN advocates for legislation to restore these protections for annuitized pensions.
The most important of these protections is the loss of PBGC insurance that guarantees our pensions should Corteva be unable to continue to support our pension. Annuitized pensions have some protection provided by state guaranty corporations but much less than the amounts provided by PBGC (Most states have $250,000 lifetime while some only have $100,000. Three states have $500,000). Corteva has already purchased annuities for several thousands DuPont retirees and I believe we can expect more in the future. As our pension approaches 100 per cent funding, it increases the likelihood that Corteva will continue to purchase annuities for pensioners and perhaps annuitize the entire pension plan.
NRLN proposes legislation that will require that annuitized pensions be protected by the purchase of reinsurance from a second financially strong insurance company independent of the annuity provider. There are several other protections that ERISA provides that we also want for annuities. The talking point document (attached) gives more detail.
Herb Zydney, Lucent/Nokia Chapter member and a New York constituent of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meets with staff members Lizzy Burke and Sohil Khurana.
Jay Kuhnie (right) President, NCRO, along with Rich Brown and Kathie Neal, NCRO Leaders, discuss Pension Risk Transfers (De-risking) with Blake Nolan, Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Van Buchanan (FL-16).
McKenzie Fields, Legislative Director for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-11) meets with Hector Saenz (left) President, IBM/Kyndryl Retirees Chapter and John deCastro, Lucent/Nokia Retirees Chapter member and a Rep. Pelosi constituent.
Jim Odle (Right), President, DuPont Retirees Chapter, discusses retirement issues with James Danegger, Legislative Assistant for Senator Marsha Blackburn (TN)
Judy Stenberg, NRLN Region Vice President and Cindy Persitz, Detroit Edison Alliance of Retirees (DEAR), meet with staff members for the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Mary Foley, (Right) President AASBCR and Tom Gray, AASBCR Board Member, meet with Lucy Schmitz, Legislative Assistant for Rep. Sean Casten (IL-06)
Other topics that we advocated for:
- Take action to prevent loss of social security benefits which may happen by 2033 unless something is done.
- Provide extra benefits for retirees that use traditional Medicare, now only provided with Medicare Advantage plans.
- Recover Delphi salary employees’ pensions.
- Pass Health Care Tax Credit and make it permanent.
Please see the talking points document that describes these issues and NRLN proposals for legislation.
If you would like more information or have comments, send me an email and I will respond. You can also read more about these issues and NRLN positions at the NRLN website by clicking on the legislative agenda link at the NRLN main website (www.nrln.org).
Best Regards,
Jim
odlejk@gmail.com
DOWNLOAD a copy of Protecting Retirees in Pension Risk Transfers – “De-Risking” | Talking Points
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Welcome current and future DuPont retirees –The NRLN (National Retirees Legislative Network) is a nationwide organization that advocates for federal legislation to protect retiree benefits including pensions, company provided healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, and lower prescription drug costs. We started this DuPont Retirees Chapter (DRC) due to concerns about the long-term security of our underfunded pension plan. With our email utility delivering key documents to our members directly, and with this webpage, we strive to be a key communication mechanism on retiree issues, as Dow DuPont carries out a plan to split into three smaller companies.
Please review our communications on pension and other retiree issues in the left column below. The most current notes are always visible, while older communications are archived in reverse chronological order. The right column below is a repository of pertinent media articles about the merger and pension issues. We hope that you will review the wealth of information on our DRC page.
DuPont Retiree Website
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