For some companies, that direction could well mean freezing pension plans. In the past year or so, employers including Sears Holding Corp, NCR Corp and Circuit City Stores Inc have frozen pension plans for all or some of their employees.
When Abbott Laboratories spun off its hospital products business last year, workers at the newly dubbed Hospira Inc -- many who had spent their entire careers with Abbott -- saw their pensions frozen and their retiree health care benefits eliminated.
In one of the most recent moves before Verizon's, computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co said in July that it would freeze pensions for all workers except those whose age and years of service added up to at least 62.
The company would not disclose how many of its workers the move will affect.
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