The IAM cited “44 million reasons” to defend America’s pensions in a new full-page ad published in USA Today. The ad ran from Friday, August 30, 2013 to Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2013.

To see a copy, click here.

“More than 44 million American workers faithfully contributed part of their paychecks every week into U.S. pension funds based on the promise that they would have a measure of financial security at the end of long, hard and often dangerous careers,” reads the ad. “Those pension funds are now being targeted by the same interest groups whose actions ravaged the nation’s economy and drained trillions from home equity and 401(k) savings accounts while using massive taxpayer bailout funds to pad executive bonuses.

“The latest attempt by bankers, bondholders and lawmakers to break into American workers’ pension funds represents an attempted robbery of epic proportions.”

“This nation’s pension system is not broken, busted or in need of a radical overhaul that shifts ever more wealth from the nation’s middle class to the top one percent,” continues the ad. “Responsible lawmakers and citizens must demand that America keep its pension promises to workers who expect and deserve nothing less.

“The IAM opposes any proposal that breaks America’s promise of a pension to those who have sacrificed wages in order to ensure a secure retirement for themselves and their families,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger.

“We want the American people to realize that the issue of pensions is not a union issue – it’s an American issue,” said IAM General Secretary-Treasurer Robert Roach, Jr. “There are 44 million pension holders in the U.S., not all of those are union members. The IAM will continue to lead the fight in shedding light on this important issue and in defending workers’ pensions.”

A copy of the full-page IAM ad is available here.