Johannesburg, 04 Dec 2003
A group of IBM pensioners will be taking legal action against the company, having received no response to their letter of complaint.
The pensioners, who gathered outside IBM`s offices in Sandton just under three weeks ago to protest what they say is the improper usage of their pension fund surplus, have sought legal counsel.
"We have had no response on our issues, so we are pursuing legal action," says Roger Hull, an IBM pensioner on the fund`s board of trustees. "We have an attorney and are in the process of getting advice. A few priorities have been indicated verbally, but nothing is likely to happen until after the Christmas period."
The pensioners claim that IBM, among other things, used their pension fund surplus to fund its retrenchment scheme. "Their strategy is to deny pensioners their increases and to boost the surplus for their own use," says Hull. "They changed the rules to give them control by their own appointed trustees. To get any motion through, six out of eight trustees have to agree, so nothing we need to do for the benefits of our pensioners gets through."
The protest culminated in the handing over of a letter addressed to Samuel Palmisano, New York-based president of the IBM Group. As yet, no response has been received from IBM.
IBM representatives were unavailable for comment.
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