We recently returned from the September Washington D.C. Fly-in where 51 participants, representing 10 National Retiree Legislative Network member associations met to lobby for retirees’ rights on Capitol Hill.

In one day on the Hill, GMRA representatives alone met with eight different Senators and Congressional Representatives, and their staff, in a series of pre-scheduled meetings where we hit the high points of our legislative agenda (the full agenda is at http://www.gmret.org/agenda.php). Detailed packages of information were left at each office.

We reinforced the need for legislation that would prohibit companies from using pension assets for non-pension expenses http://www.gmret.org/join.php, using GM examples to make our case. There appeared to be a good understanding and strong support for retiree issues in most cases. In a few, let’s just say, there is work to be done.

Our NRLN lobbyists in Washington are well-connected and informed of the challenges. You can expect new grassroots campaigns to help push through the challenges. When the time comes to write a letter or call your Representative or Senator, get involved. It could make a difference in your retirement future.

But back to the GM pension fund. Given GM’s bankruptcy and the economic downturn, we continue to have concerns for the pension funding levels. The status of the fund is probably one of the most frequently asked questions that comes in. The short answer is, we are working on it, literally.

While in Washington, we met with several senior leaders at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), including an introduction to the newly appointed director, Joshua Gotbaum. The viability of the GM pension fund was a topic. Unfortunately, the PBGC shares our concerns. According to the PBGC, one of the best things GM retirees could do is to work toward promoting legislation that would accelerate GM’s financial reporting schedule. We intend to elevate this as a lobbying issue.

In the meantime, all we can do is analyze the old GM filing information that is available to us. To give you an example of the issue, o ur last analysis of the GM pension fund was posted to the GMRA website in June. It was based on the most recent data available to us at that time -- GM filings for the past five years, ending Sept. 2007. We recently received filing information from GM that runs through Sept. 2008 and are now working on an update based on that information. Still not so timely, given the GM bankruptcy and economic downturn. We’ll notify members when the analysis is complete.

Finally, in fairness to supporting members, we are working on restricting access to most of the information on the GMRA website to dues-paid members. Be sure to renew your GMRA membership and pay dues, or join GMRA, at:http://www.gmret.org/join.php before November 1.

All the best!