International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers to picket U.S., Canadian sites

(Sept. 15)—International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers President Carl J. Goodman has declared Sept. 20 a ``call to action´´ day, and has called for the picketing of unionized DuPont and DuPont Dow Elastomer sites in the U.S. and Canada that day in protest of the company´s pension and spouse survivor benefit plan. In a news release, the IBDW called for major upgrades to the plan, enacted in 1966, including: a full, unreduced pension after 27 years of service; a change of the current pension multiplier to a minimum of 1.5 percent from 1.2 percent times an employee´s best three financial years; an upgrade of survivor benefits to 50 percent from 40 percent of the amount of pension received by an employee at their time of death; and a biennial cost-of-living adjustment. The current DuPont pension plan ``heavily penalizes employees who are forced to retire prior to reaching 58 years of age, and there has been no increase in the pension benefits for almost five years,´´ the IBDW said.