Democrats Urge Cheney to Aid Ex-Employees
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 11, 2002; Page A03
Democrats on Capitol Hill called on Vice President Cheney
yesterday to compensate hundreds of former Halliburton Co. employees who lost
millions of dollars in pension payouts when Halliburton sold a subsidiary
under Cheney's leadership.
The employees of the former Halliburton subsidiary, Dresser-Rand,
have received notices from Halliburton offering them payments that are
on average $50,000 less than expected, according to an employee representative.
The shortfall comes from Halliburton's decision not to
continue to make pension fund contributions for the workers
after the unit was sold to Ingersoll-Rand in February 2000. Ingersoll-Rand said
Halliburton should compensate the workers for the shortfall, but Halliburton
refused, saying it was Ingersoll-Rand's responsibility.
The dispute adds another complication for the Bush administration
stemming from Cheney's leadership of Halliburton. The company's
accounting practices are under review by the Securities and Exchange
Commission, and the company has been badly hobbled by asbestos
liabilities incurred when Cheney ran the company. Cheney's actions
at Halliburton have offered Democrats an opportunity to challenge the
administration's credibility on matters of corporate accountability.
Kathleen Joy-Kirkendall, a Dresser-Rand employee who is serving
as a coordinator for the former Halliburton workers, said yesterday that
her "ballpark" estimate of the shortfall was $25 million. "I have people worried
about whether they're going to heat their homes when they
retire," she said. "We're just the little guys. It doesn't sound fair."
After details of the Dresser-Rand pensions were published
in yesterday's New York Times, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), the ranking
Democrat on the House Judiciary committee, wrote to Cheney
accusing him of "bending the rules to make millions of dollars while the
hardworking employees under your watch are cheated
out of millions of dollars."
Conyers said Cheney should return "all or a significant
portion" of his retirement income.
Cheney spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise said the vice president's office
had not yet received Conyers's letter.
Jennifer Backus, spokeswoman for the House Democrats' campaign
committee, said candidates would use the issue in November's elections.
"Dick Cheney's refusal to return the funds and help the workers with the
money he made at Halliburton gives the Democrats a perfect
metaphor to tell the story of the Republican allegiance to the special interests," she said.
Cheney made an $18.5 million profit selling his Halliburton shares in August, 2000.
That sum was part of more than $35 million Cheney
made from the energy company in cash and stock in five years at its helm.
When Halliburton's Dresser Industries unit sold its majority stake in
Dresser-Rand to Ingersoll-Rand in 2000, Halliburton stopped covering
440 salaried employees under Dresser's pension plan because they
were no longer Dresser employees. Three hundred of the workers who
were under 55 and had been eligible for an enhanced early retirement
benefit lost that privilege when the unit was sold. Some of the 440
have subsequently retired.
Halliburton, in a statement, said the employees "did not lose any
plan benefits they had earned up to the time of the sale" and that
employees who retire at 65 will get the "their entire accrued benefit
according to the terms of the [Dresser Industries] plan at the time of
sale."
The employees have been sent notices that they have 90 days to claim
a lump-sum benefit; otherwise they will receive their funds after
retirement, the company said. Halliburton said it did not remove any
funds from the employees' retirement plan after the 2000 sale but said
employees would get "no benefit for service with [Dresser-Rand] after the sale."
A Halliburton spokeswoman, Wendy Hall, said she did not know how
much money was in the former employees' pension plan.
Dresser-Rand, which makes compressors and turbines for the energy industry,
did not respond to a request for comment.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
By Lin Mei-chun
STAFF REPORTER, WITH AGENCIES |
