When pensions go bust.

• Position: Comment

When a judge recently agreed to let United Airlines renege on its pension promises to its workers, a new and cloudy day had dawned. A day of betrayal, to be followed by a long twilight of insecurity. For even as George W. Bush is trying to slash benefits that Social Security would provide future retirees, businesses are already hacking away at benefits for current employees and retirees. This double whammy is altering the horizon for millions of elderly and soon-to-be elderly citizens. It is extending well into the future--or denying entirely--the happy moment when most people can retire with firm economic footing. And it is conjuring up a future of economic elder abuse.

In one fell swoop, United ditched its pension responsibilities to 110,000 employees and retirees, throwing responsibility for them onto the unsteady lap of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Formed by the government in 1974, this entity was entrusted with ensuring the pensions of companies that go belly up. But many of these United workers and retirees will see cuts to their pensions in the range of 30 to 50 percent.

"United betrayed me," Cheryl Burns, a flight attendant, told the AFL-CIO. "I've worked twenty-seven years for this company. Now they're breaking their promise that I would receive a pension that I could live on."

"I feel angry, betrayed, and helpless," said Sarah de la Cruz, also a United flight attendant. She told the AFL that she expects to lose $2,000 a month in retirement.

Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, and Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, held what was billed as the first ever Congressional "e-hearing" recently, which took the online testimony of United employees. More than 1,000 people flooded them with letters. Here is one:

"I am a retired United Airlines pilot," Captain David J. Taylor wrote, explaining that he and his wife are facing "about a $3,500 a month cut, roughly a 50 percent decrease. We already sold our house in San Diego County and moved to rural Oregon to a much less expensive house in anticipation of this drop in income. We have dropped life insurance policies. We will probably have to discontinue spending on such things as long-term care insurance and premium Medicare supplement health care policies. Most of our travel plans will go. Our ability to help our grandchildren with some of their needs will be greatly affected."

This is not just about United. Not by a long shot. Other...