May 29, 2008 — Innovative Communication Corporation made its first corporate contributions to the company’s two employee pension plans in nearly two years Thursday, presenting two checks totaling $525,000 in a celebratory ceremony at ICC's St. Croix offices.
"This is just the first step in resolving the pension shortfall," said E. Clarke Garnett, ICC interim president and chief executive officer.
For a number of years the companies formerly owned by bankrupt investor Jeffrey Prosser failed to pay into two pension funds, one for management and one for workers at both Vitelco and Innovative Cablevision. There is no risk of retirees losing their pensions, which are insured by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. but the pension payments are required by law and the PBGC has filed liens for at least $15 million in past-due payments (See: "Pension Shortfall for Prosser Companies More Than Previously Reported.")
ICC's operating revenue cannot make up the entire pension shortfall in the immediate future, Garnett said. But Vitelco and Innovative Cablevision are to be sold at auction as part of ICC's ongoing Chapter 11 reorganization, and Garnett said he expects the pension funds to be made whole at the time of sale.
Meanwhile, Garnett said, ICC is beginning to turn the corner financially, building up some cash reserves, so Garnett and federally appointed Chapter 11 Trustee Stan Springel decided to make this payment as a gesture of good faith to the employees and to the PBGC. The more the company can pay into the pension funds, the less any purchasers will have to put in, which will increase the value of the companies when they are sold, Garnett said.
Surrounded by media, politicians and ICC management, Garnett first presented an oversized novelty check to the worker's pension fund of $262,500. Juanita Rabsatt, president of the United Steelworkers of America local 8713 on St. Thomas and St. John, and Jacqueline Thomas-Eastman, grievance chair of USW local 8545 on St. Croix, received the check on behalf of the workers.
"It is a step in the right direction," Rabsatt said afterwards. "It is … a drop in the bucket. But we are happy with what they have been doing so far."
Her union became aware ICC was missing pension fund payments back in 2002, she said.
Innovative Cablevision President Jennifer Matarangas-King accepted an identical check for the management pension fund.
Back Talk
Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
