Sea Pig

The 401K was beefed up - raising the company's contribution from a max of $500/yr to a max of 3.5% of eligible earnings, and the defined benefit Pension Plan was frozen. You are correct that all employees now also receive benefits under the defined contribution Portable Pension Account, which was an optional plan instituted in '03. Company contributions to the PPA run from 5% to 8% of eligible earnings depending on longevity.

What was suspended was the 3.5% 401k contribution, so the hourly and salaried employees have lost 30-40% of their retirement benefits (assuming a 6% or greater 401K withholding) at least until 2010. There now was that precise enough?

My main point though was that this is all happening while the company's current qtr earnings are in line with the past year's, and projections for the rest of the fiscal year, although reduced, are still positive. The bottom line is that there are going to be some unhappy folks on the property.