Washington Post announces cuts to employees’ retirement benefits

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/washington-post-announces-cuts-to-employees-retirement-benefits/2014/09/23/f485981a-436d-11e4-b437-1a7368204804_story.html




The newspaper said in a letter to employees that it was making the cuts in benefits “with a goal of better positioning The Post for long-term success.” (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)


By Steven Mufson September 23

The Washington Post announced large cuts in retirement benefits on Tuesday, declaring that it would eliminate future retirement medical benefits and freeze defined-benefit pensions for nonunion employees.

The company also said that in negotiations that started Tuesday, it will seek to impose the same conditions on employees covered by the union — one of the first indications of how The Post’s new owner, Amazon.com founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, will manage relations with the staff of the news organization.

The changes will hit hardest at employees hired before 2009 who could plan on receiving pension payments based on their income and years of service. Each of those employees could see scores — or hundreds — of thousands of dollars less over the course of a retirement. More recent hires do not have traditional pension plans.

The Post will create a new cash balance plan to replace the pensions for nonunion employees and a separate but similar plan for those covered by the union. Those plans provide employees with a lump sum or annuity when they retire. But they do not guarantee a particular level of retirement payments, thus reducing the risk that Bezos would have to add money to the pension if financial markets plunged.

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