Representative Miller to Extend Deadline on E-Hearing on United Airlines Pension Plans Due to Overwhelming Response

Representative Miller to Extend Deadline on E-Hearing on United Airlines Pension Plans Due to Overwhelming Response

In Strong Sign of Issue's Importance, More Than 1,000 United Employees and Retirees Have Provided Testimony So Far

Friday, May 27, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC -- Reprsentatives George Miller (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) are extending by one week the deadline on their e-hearing on United Airlines' pension plans because of the overwhelming response to it this week. Since Monday, when Miller and Schakowsky launched the e-hearing, more than 1,000 United employees and retirees have provided testimony about the threat to their retirement if United terminates its pension plans.

The new deadline to allow more United workers to submit testimony is Friday, June 3. United workers' responses have come in so fast that Miller's staff, which is now working to review 100 percent of the entries, has so far reviewed just 15 percent of them.

"This overwhelming response shows how important this issue is to hundreds of thousands of Americans, and how out-of-touch Congress has become with the concerns of Americans everywhere," said Miller. "These United workers are people that members of Congress were sent to Washington to represent - people who work hard, play by the rules, and through no fault of their own are seeing their retirements slashed. Congress must act quickly on their behalf."

More than 120,000 United Airlines employees and retirees face deep cuts in their pension benefits under an agreement between United and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to transfer the company's plans to the federal pension insurer.

The testimony has been posted on the e-hearing website as it is reviewed; so far, over 150 responses have been posted. Miller's staff will continue to update the site throughout next week with new testimony and testimony already received.

"I encourage everyone to go to this web site and read the compelling testimony from United Airlines employees and retirees," said Miller. "In particular, I encourage my colleagues in Congress to read these entries thoroughly - the information they provide is important, and the message they send is alarming."

Miller and Schakowsky introduced legislation that would prevent bankrupt companies from dumping their pension plans onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for six months through the kind of involuntary plan terminations threatened at United. The six-month moratorium is intended to give the parties time to craft alternatives to termination and Congress time to enact comprehensive pension reform, and it would apply to United Airlines.

The Miller-Schakowsky legislation, H.R. 2327, already has 83 cosponsors. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), joined by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), has introduced companion legislation in the Senate

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ed31_democrats/rel52705.html