Tom Bethel stood before us at the recent video confrence (2 months ago) and gave us his word that the members that took the buyout would not be recieving a second pension "you have my word I will not let this happen"
Well here is the latest news from AMO currents
The following article addresses the most frequently asked questions
about
the AMO Pension Plan and the new AMO Defined Contribution Plan during
recent
shipboard visits by AMO officials and me and during the recently
concluded
informational AMO membership meetings in East, Gulf and West Coast
ports.
It is important to note before reading these questions and answers
that
the AMO Pension Plan and the AMO Defined Contribution Plan are
completely
separate retirement benefit plans established and administered under
separate Declarations of Trust. The only features that the two plans
have in
common are that the active participants (deep-sea, Great Lakes and
inland
waters AMO members) are the same, and earned credits are based on years
of
service.
We are in transition from the traditional defined benefit AMO
Pension
Plan to the AMO Defined Contribution Plan, which complements and more
closely resembles the AMO 401(k) Plan and the AMO Pension Plan Money
Purchase Benefit. The AMO Defined Contribution Plan is completely
portable -
AMO members who change jobs within AMO or who withdraw from AMO
membership
and find employment elsewhere take their AMO Defined Contribution Plan
account balances with them.
Once the AMO Pension Plan is fully funded and out of the "red zone"
as
defined by the Pension protection Act of 2006, active AMO members will
be
able to convert the cumulative value of benefits earned under the AMO
Pension Plan through December 2009 into a lump sum that can be rolled
over
into their AMO Defined Contribution Plan accounts, or they can opt for
the
monthly benefit from the AMO Pension Plan when they choose to retire.
Please note as well that there is no longer a requirement that AMO
members file for benefits from the AMO Pension Plan by December 31,
2010,
and that AMO members can continue to retire after 20 years of service if
they choose to do so - with no reduction of benefits earned as of
December
31, 2009.
Steve Nickerson
Executive Director
AMO Plans
Why were AMO members not given the opportunity to vote on the AMO
Pension
Plan rehabilitation strategy?
Under federal law, the joint union-employer trustees of all single or
multiemployer defined benefit pension plans have exclusive authority to
govern these plans. These trustees cannot allow plan participants to set
plan policy through referenda, petition or any other means.
The trustees also bear the exclusive risk of liability - allowing
plan
participants to vote on any matter arising from the administration of
any
retirement plan could result in lawsuits filed by individuals whose
votes
were not among the majority. With or without merit, civil cases charging
breach of fiduciary responsibility in any retirement plan - failure to
manage the plan responsibly - could delay efforts to stabilize the plan
and
result in significant but unnecessary legal expense for all parties.
How can AMO members find out who the trustees of the AMO Pension Plan
are?
The trustees of the AMO benefit funds are identified on the AMO Plans
Web
site at http://www.amoplans.com. AMO members can log in to the Plans
site
directly, or they can link to it through the official AMO Web site at
http://www.amo-union.org.
The AMO Plans trustees are also identified in Summary Plan
Descriptions
available from AMO Plans.
How are the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan and the AMO Defined
Contribution Plan funded?
Both plans are funded entirely by deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland
waters
merchant vessel operating companies that have collective bargaining
agreements with American Maritime Officers.
Under current collective bargaining agreements, all employer
contributions to the AMO Pension Plan will continue at the agreed upon
rates. These contributions are paid not in the names of individual plan
participants, but for each deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters job,
or
billet - including billets filled by AMO members who have received
in-service lump-sum benefit distributions from the defined benefit AMO
Pension Plan.
When the AMO Defined Contribution Plan begins union-wide in January
2011, some of the money contributed by AMO employers to other AMO
benefit
funds (with the exception of the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan) will
be
allocated to the individual personalized retirement accounts established
under the AMO Defined Contribution Plan as allowed for by law and in
accordance with AMO collective bargaining agreements.
These allocations - which will not result in reduction or loss of
any
other benefits for AMO families, including medical coverage - will be
routed
through an Allocation Committee comprised of trustees conferring with
actuaries and legal counsel.
The initial formula for funding the new individual retirement
accounts
will be Schedule 1. Once the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan is fully
funded, all of the employer contributions now made to the AMO Pension
Plan
will go directly and exclusively to the AMO Defined Contribution Plan
under
Schedule 2.
Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 are posted on the AMO Plans Web site at
http://www.amoplans.com/DC-Schedules.pdf.
Why are AMO members who received in-service lump-sum benefits from the
AMO
Pension Plan entitled to benefits under the AMO Defined Contribution
Plan?
The AMO Defined Contribution Plan is a new benefit fund established
under a
trust agreement separate and apart from that which created the defined
benefit AMO Pension Plan nearly 60 years ago. As such, the AMO Defined
Contribution Plan covers all active deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland
waters
AMO members and applicants for membership, and funding is based on age
and
years of service.
Moreover, the AMO Defined Contribution Plan cannot even appear to
discriminate against individuals who received in-service lump sum
benefits
from the AMO Pension Plan and who remain at work under AMO contract. To
avoid this difficulty and possible complications involving the Internal
Revenue Service and other federal authorities, the AMO Defined
Contribution
Plan covers everyone working under AMO contract.
Many AMO members who received in-service lump-sum pension benefits
before this option was eliminated in October 2009 have since retired -
that
is, withdrawn permanently from the industry. Given the average age of
current active in-service lump-sum benefit recipients, many more are
expected to actually retire in the next few years.
Why did the AMO Pension Plan allow in-service lump sum benefit
distributions
to continue when it became clear that the fund would become deficient?
The in-service lump sum benefit distribution option was available under
the
AMO Pension Plan for many years. It was an established benefit that many
AMO
members took appropriate advantage of.
Under federal law, the trustees of defined benefit retirement plans
can
alter projected benefits, but they cannot eliminate, reduce or otherwise
modify established benefit options or retirement income already earned.
The
only choice available legally to the trustees of the AMO Pension Plan
under
these circumstances was to end all lump-sum pension payouts as of
October 1,
2009 - the date the plan’s actuaries certified the AMO Pension Plan to
be in
the “red zone” as defined in the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The
Pension
Protection Act prohibits lump sum benefit distribution by "red zone"
retirement plans.
Do AMO members who received in-service lump sum pension benefits stand
to
gain the most from the AMO Defined Contribution Plan?
It may appear that way to some, but the fact is that in-service lump sum
recipients are, on average, approaching actual retirement. Because these
individuals will participate in the new plan for relatively brief
periods,
they will earn less in employer contributions, compound interest and
investment income from the AMO Defined Contribution Plan than younger
individuals beginning their careers or than individuals whose ages and
service time fall somewhere in the middle.
Will AMO members whose earned AMO Pension Plan benefits were frozen on
December 31, 2009 be permitted to roll their defined benefit value into
their AMO Defined Contribution Plan accounts?
Once the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan is fully funded under the
rehabilitation strategy, all active AMO members who had earned benefits
from
this plan as of December 31, 2009 will be allowed to choose between
rolling
their defined benefit values into their AMO Defined Contribution Plan
accounts in a lump sum or collecting the defined benefits monthly upon
retirement.
The AMO Pension Plan recently provided each active AMO member with
detailed notice stating the value of his or her earned monthly benefit
as of
December 31, 2009. AMO members who did not receive such notice are urged
to
contact the AMO Pension Plan immediately.
The AMO Pension Plan soon will provide each active AMO member with a
statement declaring the projected value of his or her monthly benefit as
of
December 31, 2009 if taken as a lump sum for the purpose of rolling the
money over into his or her individual AMO Defined Contribution Plan
account.
This projected value will be based on interest rate assumptions and
individual age at the rollover point.
The AMO Pension Plan also intends to provide each active AMO member
with
the projected value of his or her AMO Defined Contribution Plan account
balances under a formula combining interest earning assumptions and
estimated years of future employment.
These initiatives involve the age and employment and wage histories
of
more than 3,000 individuals, but the AMO Pension Plan will make every
effort
to complete both by the start of the next fiscal year on October 1,
2010.
When can AMO members expect the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan to
become
fully funded?
The AMO Pension Plan’s actuaries say the plan can be fully funded in at
least seven years, but this depends on the Plan’s investment earnings -
it
could take less time or more.
What will happen once the AMO Pension Plan is fully funded?
The AMO Defined Contribution Plan’s Schedule 2 will be applied, and
employer
contributions now going to the AMO Pension Plan will go the AMO Defined
Contribution Plan.
AMO members will have the option of rolling their frozen defined
benefit
values into their individual AMO Defined Contribution Plan accounts in
lump
sums OR receiving monthly benefits when they retire by choice.
Individuals who choose to add their defined benefit values as lump
sums
to their Defined Contribution accounts will have these enhanced
balances,
AMO Pension Plan Money Purchase Benefit distributions and AMO 401 (k)
accounts for security during retirement.
Individuals who choose earned but frozen monthly benefits at
retirement
will have these annuities and their AMO Defined Contribution Plan, AMO
Pension Plan Money Purchase Benefit and AMO 401(k) Plan accounts for
retirement income. #
HE Lied to us again go figure
in a past AMO currents Tom posted his personal phone number I can not find that eddition anywhere on my ship now if one of you have that article with his number would you please post it I would like to give him a call and tell him to start packing his crap because we have had enough.