ERISA: What a Way to Treat a WWII Veteran

Robert Stivanson from North Zulch, Texas is a Second World War Veteran. He enlisted in the US navy in 1943 at the age of 17 and was a Navy radio operator in the Pacific. And he was recalled for Korea and reported for active duty in 1951. His full pension has been denied. Treating a US Veteran this way is shameful.

"I only get social security checks, that is all I have and my wife has thousands of health problems. We have to go to a clinic 30 miles away to see the doctor - my wife has congestive heart failure. We live in the middle of nowhere; just to drive to the doctor burns up so much of my money in gas then we have to pay for drugs. I have an old junky truck. It is almost impossible to make ends meet.

"The guys who used to work with me were getting $1,200 per month from their pension. I have lost over $200,000.

"I was a member of the Chicago plumbers Union Local 130 and transferred to the Houston local back in the 70s. I am now 80 years old and haven't been able to get a penny from either retirement pension fund. I paid into the fund for 35 years but the two locals are all under the United Association of Journeyman Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) based in Washington DC. I have emailed them and they keep giving me the same answer: contact your local. Then my local tells me to contact them.

"The Chicago Union local said I lost my pension because I had a break in service. That means I wasn't paying into the union for a few years. I was working for a union contractor building houses and they asked me if I could take charge of the plumbing so I did. I read the plans and ordered the materials. I didn't know until I applied for my pension that they hadn't sent any money into the pension fund on my behalf. They were supposed to - I just assumed they were paying. This building company, Dimoucci Builders, figured out how to shaft me. They are currently building in other states and have more money than Carter has liver pills.

"If they won't give me my employee benefits they should at least give me the money that the employers paid in - $1 per hour. The president of the Utility Workers Association (ASLCIO) in Texas told me that. He suggested what should be done but said that he couldn't do anything to help. None of these unions will help. That doesn't make any sense to me. But who am I?"

He is a WWII Veteran, and more.