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New Retirement Coalition Plans for
Visionary Future System

October 28, 2009

When the president of the Financial Services Roundtable tells USA Today that the retirement funds in the largest institutions are like “watching a slow-motion train wreck,” it’s time for unions and our allies to get busy protecting our retirees.

Retired NV Energy workers, members of Vacaville, Calif.,
Local 1245 meet in Reno, Nev. to plan their fight to defend
their health care benefits from being cut by the utility.

That’s why the AFL-CIO, The Pension Rights Center and other advocates for retired workers, calling themselves Retirement USA (www.retirement-usa.org), convened a conference in Washington in late October to spotlight the need for a new, visionary approach to retirement security.

Nearly $4 trillion in retirement funds were lost at the beginning of the current financial crisis. While 30 years ago, more than a third of private sector workers had traditional defined benefit pension plans, that number has dropped to 16 percent. 

The conference was addressed by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.  “We must vigorously strengthen and preserve the current pension system—through collective bargaining and legislation,” said Trumka. But, he said, “It is equally imperative that we look ahead and begin to design a new system for future generations, guided by the key principle of shared responsibility.”

More than 20 groups have signed on to the Retirement USA’s Principles for a New Retirement System which creates a framework for a “Universal, Secure and Adequate” system. Six proposals for new retirement plans were discussed at the conference, selected from 24 submitted to the coalition.