OH-16: John Boccieri Vows to Tackle Pension Problems

Boccieri Vows to Tackle Pension Problems

After meeting on Thursday with local retirees from Republic Technologies International (RTI) who have been battling for years to secure the pensions they were promised, State Sen. John Boccieri affirmed his commitment to fight for a resolution to their struggle as a member of the U.S. Congress.

Boccieri also promised to attend a major public meeting about these pension problems on Saturday, October 11. Other elected officials, candidates, and members of the press have also been invited.

State Senator John Boccieri said:

"It's criminal that you would work your whole life, pay into a pension plan, and then get almost nothing because bad trade policies or irresponsible executives bankrupt your company. This issue requires a strong and loud voice in Congress to ensure that laws protecting pensions are enforced and are strengthened to protect workers."

For years, thousands of local workers and retirees from RTI have been struggling with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the government agency that takes over a company's pension plan if it declares bankruptcy to ensure that employees still receive pension benefits.

Despite this intent, many workers see their pensions dramatically reduced when the PBGC takes over from a bankrupt company, due to funding problems and complex laws governing how the agency makes payments.

In the case of RTI, the situation was made worse by extended legal battles over the amounts owed by the PBGC to affected workers, which have now resulted in the agency demanding that retirees pay back pension "overpayments" as large as $60- or $70,000.

Individuals at Thursday's meetings also expressed frustrations with the PBGC's lack of responsiveness and consistency in addressing their concerns. "You ask the same question three times and get three different answers," one retiree said. Others said that PBGC had miscalculated benefits, confused the benefits owed by RTI and previous companies operating the same facilities, and awarded, reduced or revoked benefits arbitrarily.(emphasis added)

Boccieri's initial proposals to address these concerns include:

Working directly with the PBGC, as well as with Senator Sherrod Brown, the Steelworkers Union, and others who have taken the lead on these issues, to push for swift, fair solutions;

Creating a "Pension Protection Caucus" in Congress that would bring together legislators from all of the districts and states affected by these pension problems to seek resolutions;

Increasing enforcement of pension protection laws to ensure that both corporations and the PBGC are honoring their obligations to workers;

Passing legislative improvements to current law, such as measures to give workers' pensions fairer treatment in bankruptcy proceedings and prevent retirees from having to repay PBGC when it takes years to recalculate pension payments;

Improving the responsiveness and transparency of the PBGC in its dealings with pension recipients;

Ensuring that improvements in enforcement and legislation are retroactive in order to address the plight of RTI employees.

Once again, Senator Major John Boccieri is first on the issues that most affect the voters of Ohio's 16th Congressional District!

Why Does Kirk Schuring Refuse to Debate?

Yesterday, after I received the Action Alert from John Boccieri, I took it upon myself to pick up the telephone and try to get a response from the Schuring camp in regards to a debate on the issues. I have to admit I was surprised that actually got to talk to a human, considering the near abscence of any presence of Schuring in the public eye. Oh, yeah, he did ride in a car with the retiring Regula in the Wooster Parade and his "joke moment" in Ashland County.

I introduced myself , by name, and openly identified myself as Internet OutReach Director, John Boccieri for U.S. Congress.

Me: I'm calling to request that Kirk Schuring join a public debate, in a neutral forum, against Senator John Boccieri about rising gas prices, energy plans, and visions.
(pause)
Staff: I don't know the Senator's plans on that.

Me: Well, if he decides to accept, you have him give us a
call at (330)754-0534.

Staff: I'll pass your message on.

Me: Thanks for your time.

Staff: Thank you for calling.

Based on passed perfomance, we'll see what that's worth...

Bryan Collinsworth, Boccieri's communications director, wrote me to say that they Boccieri's campaign staff delivered the above debate challenge to Schuring's campaign manager morning, and for doing so Schuring's campaign has issued a press release calling for Boccieri's staffers to be fired.

Collinsworth said that he and Campaign Manager, Ian Walton, went to the address listed on Schuring's Web site, and found they had to go to the Higbee Road headquarters to find Schuring's people.

"We drove over to the office, and asked where the Schuring campaign office was and walked in and handed the letter to them. If they don't want people entering their office, perhaps they should lock the doors. But I'm not sure that's a very effective campaign strategy either."

"I don't see what the violation is here, except that they're trying to dodge the broader issue that we're trying to talk about. We went there, delivered the challenge letter. We asked them for a debate. We said, ‘When can you schedule this?' And we got no firm answer on that. So this is clearly just another way of dodging that question, in my view."

Collinsworth admits to taking a photo of the delivery.

The Schuring Camp issued a release of their own, charging the Boccieri Staffers "barged into the Schuring Headquarters and started snapping pictures." What's to hide Kirk?

Schuring said:

"I'm very disappointed that the Boccieri Campaign has stooped to this level of desperation. This was a tactic designed to intimidate and it's not going to work, nor is it acceptable here in the 16th Congressional District. Perhaps this is the way he has run his campaigns in Youngstown, but that style of campaigning won't sit well with voters here. John, you should apologize to the voters to the 16th District and fire these staffers today."

Sorry, Kirk, Boccieri lives in Alliance and his office is in Downtown Canton, not, out at Belden along with Ralph Regula's. Does it hurt to be the 16th District's version of McSame?

Still, Schuring chooses to remain silent on the issues hiding behind third party groups from Washington. His site says virtually nothing on energy and is yet to agree to debate The Major in a formal, substantive debate on the skyrocketing costs of fuel and energy. This whole thing sounds like Schuring suffers from a skewed parallax.

What does he have to hide?

He voted to INCREASE the gas tax while Boccieri voted against it.

Middle class families in our area continue to struggle and Schuring chooses to side with big oil(raised more than 20k from oil and gas executives).

This election is too important! Voters deserve to know where the candidates stand on this and other issues. Schuring should stop his political games and engage in a real dialogue about his vision and ideas for the direction of our country.

Call Kirk Schuring and ask him why he voted to raise your gas taxes: 330-455-9199.