Just for the sake of completness - This halt of pension plan transfer
was based on the strong support of German IBM Employees organized in
the Association for Safeguarding of IBM Pension, Salaries, Employment
(IG-IBM-RGA)- Member of Employment Rights Organization
http://www.er-org.net who have strengthened the position of the IBM
Germany Enterprise Works Council. This demonstrates how important a
large scale support of works council through a broadly organized
employees base is.

--- In ibmpension@yahoogroups.com, "Skip B" <skip.bogard@...> wrote:
>
> IBM Germany puts DC plans on ice
>
> IPE.com 11/Jul/06: GERMANY – Opposition from employee representatives
> has forced IBM in Germany to temporarily halt plans to transfer half
> of its employees from a defined benefit pension scheme to a defined
> contribution one, IPE has learned.
>
> IBM employs a total of 22,000 people in Germany, half of them on the
> old DB scheme. Under the scheme, the employee's pension benefit is
> calculated based on earnings for the last five years before retirement.
>
> Since mid-2000, the other half of the employees has been in a DC
> scheme where IBM contributes to a fund and where the employee has the
> option to do so. The accrued savings are not, however, paid out as a
> monthly pension but can be withdrawn as the employee wishes.
>
> Last January, IBM Deutschland announced that it wanted to place all of
> its employees on the DC scheme, adding that it expected to save
> "several hundred million euros" from the move. The announcement was
> part of a campaign by the US-based computer giant to slash worldwide
> pension costs.
>
> But worker representatives at IBM Deutschland, which must agree to
> pension plan changes, rejected them. They said the changes meant
> significant benefit cuts, particularly for 4,000 employees who were
> newer members of the DB scheme.
>
> "IBM's workers' council has since obtained expert opinion that
> reflects that it is in a very good legal position to fight the
> proposed changes to pension plans," said Rolf Schmidt, an official
> from the Verdi services union which is advising worker representatives
> at IBM.
>
> "As a result, the council is not willing to negotiate the changes and
> the firm's management has so far dropped the issue," added Schmidt,
> who said he was involved in negotiations between the council and
> management on the issue.
>
> Ursula Diel, a spokeswoman for IBM Deutschland in Stuttgart, did not
> return calls from IPE seeking additional comment on the proposed
> changes to its pension plans.
>
> Schmidt also said that while management at IBM Deutschland had dropped
> the pensions issue, it has since scrapped "holiday pay" for its
> employees in order to save €40m.
>
> Meanwhile, Berlin-based Verdi confirmed that IBM Deutschland had
> mounted a legal action against Rudolf Quetting, a member of the
> workers' council at the firm, to get him dismissed. A Frankfurt court
> has yet to set a date for a hearing on the action.
>
> According to Verdi, the action was initiated after Quetting sent a
> letter to the computer firm's management that criticised the pension
> plan changes and the scrapping of holiday pay. "Mr Quetting probably
> went a bit too far by personally attacking chief executive Johann
> Weihen," Schmidt said.
>
> In any event, Verdi sharply criticised the legal action against
> Quetting, likening it to a frontal attack on the principle of
> co-determination at companies in Germany.
>
> By Jan Wagner
>