Alcoa nixes Pensions

Alcoa is the most recent firm to join the race to the bottom (WSJ-Subscription Required):

Alcoa Inc. said that beginning in March new salaried employees won't be eligible to participate in its U.S. pension plan, joining other employers moving away from such plans in favor of defined-contribution plans based on employee and company contributions. Other companies that have closed their pensions to newly hired workers include Aon Corp. and NCR Corp. Since Jan. 1, new salaried employees hired by Lockheed Martin Corp. haven't been eligible for its defined-benefit pension plan or retiree health benefits, following a change announced last fall. Alcoa's pension change is less extreme and more common than those recently announced by International Business Machines Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. Those companies are "freezing" their pension plans for current salaried workers, meaning that no one in the pension plan will build new benefits after a certain date.

Very insightful witty comment.


<---think that guy has a pension?