No truth to Railroad Retirement rumor

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

No Truth to Railroad Retirement Rumor

The following is a message from Butch Speakman, the labor member of the
Railroad Retirement Board:

"My office recently learned that a hoax is being perpetrated on the
rail
community.

"This hoax takes the form of a bogus Federal Register notice stating
that the 60/30 provision of the Railroad Retirement Act, which was
restored by the Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act of
2001, is to be rescinded in June 2006 due to a strain on the system.
The
notice further states that the 2001 legislation contained a provision
authorizing such action, and that the minimum retirement age will now
be
62.

"There is absolutely no truth to this.

"The 2001 legislation contained no provision authorizing a rescission
of
the 60/30 provision and the RRB has no statutory power to implement
such
a change on its own volition.

“At this time we have no information as to the identity of the person
or
persons responsible for this hoax or the motivation for it. However,
the
RRB’s Office of Inspector General is looking into the matter.”

April 12, 2006

2

Whew!

And to the perpatrator of the rumor, may I wish for you a transmission failure on the freeway on the day you are suffering from the runs.

3

Or perhaps “May the flees of a thousand camals infest your armpits forever.”

4

Just read and have been hearing about this for a couple of years now, corporations are cutting back drastically on the benefits section of pensions and also partial retirement payments, the word is @ 40% of companies this year will be down sizing benefits and in some cases reducing retirement funds, A friend told me of his brother had the complete pension dissolved for lack of funds, he only received the amount he had contributed. I’m not sure about the railroads.

5

Railroad Retirement is the federally managed program to provide annuities for retired railroaders. It is an outgrowth of privately-managed railroad pension plans from the 1920’s and predates Social Security. Any major changes in Railroad Retirement literally require an Act of Congress.