A Wink and a Handshake: Why the Collapse of the U.S. Pension System Has Provoked Little Protest

Abstract

Since 2000, more than ten million workers and retirees have had their company pension or retiree health benefits cut, and millions more could lose them in the future. When companies cut retiree benefits, workers typically lose tens of thousands of dollars, and many lose much, much more. As a result, for millions of previously secure Americans, retirement is in jeopardy.In general, as companies have shed their legacy costs, workers and retirees have not taken political action. Only in certain cases have these monetary losses and broken promises provoked significant protests. And perhaps more puzzling, even at companies such as Verizon and IBM, where workers have had significant success protesting certain kinds of pension changes, these same workers have done little to protest subsequent retirement cuts.