Shuttle’s End Leaves NASA a Pension Bill
By: Mary Williams Walsh,|The New York Times
NASA - The Next Generation - A CNBC Special Report
Not long afterward, the Energy Department arrived at a plan to stop paying for contractors’ traditional pensions in the future — but to grandfather current workers at nuclear sites and retirees in existing plans. That initiative was dropped after drawing fire from workers, unions, contractors and benefit consultants.
This year, federal auditors found the Energy Department was still at the mercy of contractors’ investment decisions.
The nation’s space agency has budgeted more than half a billion dollars to cover retirement funds due to thousands of workers at a long-term shuttle contractor.