Brown Sludge

IBM Joins The Pension Grab Stampede

January 12th, 2006

The Washington Post carried this Jan 06, 2005 piece on IBM’s drive to join the “pension grab stampede”.

Not content to have made a name for themselves in “offshoring” American jobs by the thousands, and apparently not content to have sold a once truly Blue Chip powerhouse PC line to the Chinese, (or upsetting shareholders and employees alike with their Gordon Gekko “Greed Works” Mission Statement) - they are now apparently freezing the pension plans for 120,ooo US employees.

Not surprisingly - they are hiding behind the old “We’ve Got To Stay Competitive Globally” canard - and have tried to ease the blow by upping contributions to 401(k) accounts.

Nice.

Big Box is after healthcare.

Big Blue is after pensions.

/sarcasm and joking off

I predict that within the next 5 years… a Major American Corporation will announce it’s intention to reduce salaries company wide (executives & CEO exempted, of course) by as much as %30 to %50 percent.

They will do this in the name of “Staying Globally Competitive” and with the absolute understanding that they’ll be in good company - because once they get away with it - every other Brown Sludge corporation in America will be clawing over one another to get in line and do it themselves.

You will see this in your life time.

I guarantee.

And I’m not even Cajun.

Entry Filed under: Pension Grab