Leonard Muzyn's TVARS Blog

Update:  Due to your support, TVA and a majority of the TVARS Board did not include this item in subsequent proposals.  Thank you very much!  I will likely be removed from the TVARS Board this week.  TVA’s proposed changes to the rules state that “elected directors may serve only three terms.”  I am currently serving my fifth term as an elected director.  Tony Troyani and Allen Stokes continue to work with John Hoskins, Brian Child and Tammy Wilson to push for a TVARS Board vote on TVA’s or a similar alternative proposal.  They may wait to vote until the quarterly board meeting in Nashville this coming Thursday, March 3. Suzan Bowman is also supporting my removal from the TVARS Board.  When Tony Troyani asked if the TVARA had a proposal to submit to the TVARS Board, she responded in a February 19, 2016 e-mail with two alternatives which included reductions in vested benefits and stated “We also support 3 year [sic] Term limits for Board mem...

Jim Hovious and I outlined a TVARS proposal in a letter to TVA’s Trades and Labor Council on February 1, 2016.  Please see letter here .  A key element of our proposal, a suggested revision of the minimum contribution formula, appears to be falling into place.  A compromise minimum contribution formula has been found which produces an average 20-year minimum required annual contribution of about $350 million.  The compromise formula produces a contribution somewhat lower than would be required under ERISA, yet somewhat higher than would be required under government pension rules.  The formula provides funding for all current benefits without the need for any benefit reductions. (Note 1) Our proposal seeks no reductions in vested benefits, so its implementation would be unlikely to jeopardize member interests in the current lawsuit. (Note 2)  It does not include governance changes which would diminish TVARS’ independence and member influence, such as TV...

I believe that any compromise involving a reduction of the COLAs applied to the TVARS pension and supplemental pension benefit would assure their eventual elimination.  Please allow me to explain. TVA's lawyers argued in the lawsuit that the TVARS board must think that TVARS COLAs are not vested because we voted to reduce them in 2009.  In March of 2015, the TVARS board filed documents with the court explaining that we did not have time to consider the vesting issue before the vote in 2009.  We also did not have independent legal counsel.  We explained that after we examined the arguments in the court documents filed by TVA and the plaintiffs, and discussed the vesting issue with independent legal counsel, we determined that the COLAs were and are vested benefits.  We explained that we should not have reduced them in 2009.  This brings up two points: If the TVARS board votes to reduce COLAs again, TVA's lawyers could make the same argument, an...

Tennessee Valley Authority Retirees Coalition NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Information Contact: Mike Moseley Bowling Green, KY 931-216-3091 mmoseley1617@gmail.com TVA Retirees Join Forces with National Network Tennessee Valley Authority Retirees Coalition Cites $6 billion shortfall in TVA Pension Plan for Retirees and Employees BOWLING GREEN, KY. (Feb. 9, 2016) – In response to TVA’s under-funding of its employee pension for over a decade, a group of TVA retirees have formed the Tennessee Valley Authority Retirees Coalition (TVARC). TVARC has now joined forces with the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) to seek Congressional assistance in bringing the employee pension back to a safely funded level. At the end of FY 2015, TVA’s employee pension was only 53 percent funded with liabilities of $12.8 billion and assets of $6.8 billion, leaving the pension underfunded by $6 billion. TVA’s employee pension covers 35,000 retirees and employees,...

February 1, 2016 Mr. Kerry D. Hale President Trades and Labor Council for      Annual Employees of TVA 5726 Marlin Road, Suite 500 Chattanooga, Tennessee  37411 Dear President Hale: Thank you for copying us on your January 26, 2016 letter to Mr. Bill Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority.  We are honored to serve on the TVARS Board with the strong support of TVA’s Trades and Labor employees.  Each of us received a majority of the Trades and Labor votes cast in our last elections.  We are the only TVARS Board members who can make this claim.  We are working very hard to ensure that all TVARS members and beneficiaries are treated fairly, including TVA’s Trades and Labor employees and retirees.   We would like to take this opportunity to provide you with some additional information and request your support for our alternative proposal which will not reduce the benefits of rank-and-file work...