Pension Plan Changes Announced

Discussion in 'Bristol-Myers Squibb' started by Anonymous, Jul 16, 2009 at 9:58 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I work for Mead Johnson, they did the same thing with our Pension plan in February. It's worse than you think. I am 51 with 32 years of service, I would have gotten around 550,000 at age 55 under Bristols plan, now I will get 340,000. At age 60 i would have gotten 790,000.
    They way Bristol Myers carried our pension over to mead johnson for 5 more years but with years not added I would have gotten more if Bristol would have fired me before they did this.
    After 5 years of a continued pension without years of service added the pension is frozen and you can't get it until you retire. They screwed us every way possible and now their doing it to you. We are looking into it with a Lawyer. You now Bristol, they will try to pull a fast one even if its illegal.
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I forgot to mention, that 340,000 has 3 more years of the pension protection act. They are pretty much forcing you to take the annuity, you will lose to much on the lump sum.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    This really makes me sick! Many of us stayed loyal to BMS instead of jumping from company to company, putting up with minimal raises each year, because of the pension. It is like they are changing the rules in the middle of the game. If the want to do away with the pension, fine, but they should honor their commitments to the employees that have made sacrifices for years to stay with the company.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I have worked for Bristol Myers since I got out of High School. When they did the IPO with Mead Johnson Feb. 9th they transferred my accrued Pension to Mead Johnson. Mead Johnson said they would carry out the pension 5 more years but your years of service for those 5 years would not be added, just if my pay went up in those 5 years. They did make changes to the 401k plan that are better than what we had but in a 5 year period only make up about 13% of what I'm going to lose on my pension. I am 52 years old with and a little over 32 years with the company. They just sent us our statement showing what I would get providing my pay doesn't change in the next 5 years. Under Bristols former plan I would have been able to take early retirement and recieve a lump sum of 590,000 at age 55 and my annuity would have been 4,100 a month at age 55. Now I would get 335,000 at age 65 with an annuity of 4,200 at age 65. I have not called to see what these amounts would be at age 55. You also have to consider we have 3 more years of the Pension Protection Act that will lower that lump sum even more. After 5 years this pension will be frozen and you can not get it until you retire. Had Bristol Myers terminated the pension program I could have gotten with the rule of 70, 80% of what I was going to get at 55. More than what I'm going to get under there new plan. The changes made for people over 45 are devastating. You don't have time at this point in your career to make it up. The new 401k is nice if you are 25years old and most of your career ahead of you. With the way the lump sum is going to go down do to the P.P.A. they are almost forcing you to take the annuity. They not only stuck a knive in you they twisted it several times. You see this and wonder why ole Corny gets 24 mil.. I could run this company if all I had to do was cut, a good CEO worth that 24mil. would grow the Company with new products or aquisitions. What Charlie Heimbold and Peter Dolan did to Bristol Myers is dispicable and I don't know that Bristol will ever recover unless they merge with somebody. The other real kicker, Mead Johnson who Bristol still owns 85% of the stock is still calling the shots at Meads and now they are starting to downsize. Now if you get terminated with the rule of 70 you only get 80% of what you would get at 55 now which is a lot smaller than before. I would think this would all stir up legal talk but I don't know what our chances would be. I was very dissapointed, but they way they tried to smokescreen with this new way has me pissed off now. When we sat in these meetings with an Ayco representative(lawyer) we pinned him down on some of these issues and he finally got upset and said we would have to stop getting that cup of coffee and donut on the way to work and start saving differently, another slap in the face.
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Wow! Sounds like the BMS way, all about the employees!
    cut out a donut and coffee on your way to work and it will make up for that 1/2 Million of pension $$ we are taking from you.
    WE ARE ALL SCREWED. EXCEPT THE BOD AND JIMMY BOY!
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    With your 32 years and being over 50 (I am mid 40's with about 20 years), you should just worry about making it to 55. As with the last cutback, they cut a lot of late 40's, early 50's mid management with many years of seniority. If you are exempt, don't count on making it to 55. Only folks who will hit 60 or even 65 if you can take it that long, will be evansville based hourly.
     
  7. Fuck you! This move will save BMS money (and boost my total comp for 2009 to over $30 million, which is what I should have received for 2008!). My job is to put earnings to the bottom line, and make myself filthy rich doing it.

    My beach front house in Maui needs a lot of work and my wife needs a new set of water colors. My Guidant "bank" is tied up in treasuries that only kick off $16 million dollars a year in interest. Who the fuck can live on just $16 million a year? Geesh - get real!

    Keep working you peons and shut the fuck up - I am tired of the complaining. You should thank God for federal law or I would have taken EVERY fucking penny you had in the pension.
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    No surprises there - I just completed my compliance module which had to be done, NOT because I did anything untoward, but because corporate pulled a fast one (again) that they thought would not be noticed. I am so disheartened. I only had five years to go, now it looks like 10. I may self destruct before then.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Read this: it isn't a question of making people leave. This is a way of reducing their fiscal obligations and preserving the company assets. Get it? It isn't about anything except doing what most other companies have already done. Lose the pension obligation and life/profits just get better and better.
     
  10. A. Hooper

    A. Hooper Guest

    You tell em Jimmy! This will help my comp too.
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Regional directors,, Come on spin it spin it spin it. You no longer have pensions to stay at BMS despite all the issues day in and out
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I`m home dusting off my resume b/c of this. One of the biggest reasons to put up with the crap around this hell hole was the pension plan. Biopharma my Ass. Let the mass exits begin.
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    lets list the companies in our industry that still have pensions/and or better retirement
    plans-better 401kmatch/and or esop plans
    j@j
    sanofi
    roche
    merck
    astrazeneca
    novartis
    pfizer
    abbott
    GSK
    this is just a quick list off the top of my head.
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Lets be specific on what we know though:
    Abbott has a pension
    Genentech has a 401K match of dollar for dollar up to 10%
     
  15. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    While this news is definitely disheartening, it's far from a surprise. Company after company has eliminated pensions this way, and I am almost 100% certain Pfizer has done away with theirs. For those of us with over 10 years of service, we will still get a decent pension at retirement, but obviously it's not going to be as large of an amount as if the changes hadn't been made. Don't get me wrong, I am sad and upset over this, but I can't be too angry since pensions are going the way of the dinosaur. I am just a little ticked off that once again, the baby boomers greed gets them a nice guaranteed retirement and those of us in Gen X and Y get the shaft AGAIN.
     
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Pfizer stopped the pension about 4 or 5 years ago for new employees. The 401K match is only 4%. BMS is actually better. We are all toast in this industry.
     
  17. boomer 11

    boomer 11 Guest

    Dont forget our SS and Medicare you are paying for too. Thanks!
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Is there any group which is not SIGNIFICANTLY impacted negative by this plan perhaps people retiring within 1 or 2 years
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I do not believe people whose retirement is within 3 years will feel a huge impact but they definitely will be hurt. New hires and people in the 10-12 year range will dramatically be affected by no retirement plan or a frozen one after 2009. I wonder what spin the regional managers will have on this and WHAT A TIME TO SCREW THE SALESFORCE WITH PRASUGREL AND ONGLYSHIT ,THE GREATEST DIABETIC DRUG ON THE PLANET LOOMING
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest


    You my Gen X colleague are allowing yourself to be played like a fiddle just as the democrats played your generation in the last election. By using the democratic game plan of pitting class against class and generation against generation, then having you buy in on it, they have in turn succeeded in their own agenda. It's the old seperate, devide, and conquer strategy. Those of us baby boomers still with BMS have played the game by the rules for many years only to have the rules changed at the end of the game when we are about to win. Don't allow yourself to be anyones sucker by falling for the conquer and devide strategy now being used or by giving this company or any company your loyalty for what is perceived to be the end game strategy for you at this early stage in your career. Lots of luck!