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AFA US Airways MEC E-Line - "Staying Informed" |
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Dear Members, Our very own Bill Pratt speaks out on the Social Security Privatization issue...on the CWA Website Bill Pratt has made us proud. Teddy MEC President, AFA-CWA CWA Members Speak Out Against Private Accounts After 23 years as a flight attendant at US Airways, Bill Pratt thought he could count on the company's promise of a guaranteed pension when he retired. Now, even after US Airways obtained its third pay cut in as many years from the flight attendants, the corporation filed for bankruptcy and in January won the right to eliminate future payments to employees' pension plan.
"How can a man who's already taken a $1,200 cut in his monthly pension take a gamble on the stock market?" Pratt asks. "The stock market is a risky business," he says, "and if you're talking about a working man supporting a family, we can't risk our dollars." Pratt has learned firsthand that despite a company's pension promises to its workers, "nothing is written in stone." "That's why it so important not to gamble with Social Security. The federal government needs to keep its promise and give us all the dollars we put into the program."As an African American, Pratt also does not appreciate Bush promoting much-disputed statistics to tell African American men that the current Social Security program shortchanges them—and the only way they can make up the difference is to invest their money in private accounts. "Bush is shameless. If he cares about us, there are a whole lot of things he can do—like putting programs in the community that will be more aggressive in training out-of-work African American men and helping them get family-sustaining jobs." Post Your 2 ˘ on Social Security Tell us how important Social Security is to your retirement and how you feel the privatization of Social Security will affect you. Send your email to e-Politics@cwa-union.org. We encourage you to attach your picture. All comments must include your local name and local number, although you may request that your post be anonymous. Got a question about privatization? Ask that, too. |
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For
Pratt, a member of the Flight Attendants-CWA Council 40 in Pittsburgh, that
means he'll collect between $1,800 and $1,900 in monthly pension benefits,
rather than the $3,000 he had been promised. Pratt, a married father of three
with one child still in college, now has another worry: President George W.
Bush's move to privatize Social Security and further gut his retirement safety
net.