While it is gratifying that Congress reached agreement on some of the key corporate reform reforms, the battle to transform all the lessons of Enron, Andersen and WorldCom into real improvements for workers is far from over.

The sudden and spectacular collapse of Enron and WorldCom wiped out billions in accumulated savings of more than 100,000 workers. Workers at Lucent, Polaroid, Global Crossing, and Color Tile all have similar stories to tell about management talking up the company stock as a secure investment for their futures.

The huge financial losses felt by these workers are a result of an ongoing trend among corporations to replace traditional pension defined benefit plans with largely unregulated savings plans such as 401(k)s. The savings vehicles known as 401(k) plans cannot, and should not be misrepresented as capable of replacing the guaranteed and insured benefits of a traditional pension.

Even so, the rapid proliferation of individual savings plans without any worker protections demands comprehensive reform to ensure that workers who have no other retirement plan to rely on-and there are 26 million workers in this situation in the United States-are guaranteed that their savings will not be routed by executive fraud. Despite the obvious need for this reform, neither the House nor the Senate, however, has yet to pass meaningful legislation in this area.

In fact, in April of this year the House of Representatives passed the so-called retirement security bill, a bill that not only falls short of meaningful reform, but also breaks down current law protections. In an alarming a step backward, the bill eliminates protections against workers receiving conflicted investment advice and allows companies to exclude even more workers from 401(k) and pension plans. The House, and President Bush, sanctioned a proposal that repeals an existing law prohibiting companies that 401(k) retirement plans from giving workers advice on their own investment funds or products. It was the disastrous ramifications of such conflicts in the securities arena led to the long-overdue passage of corporate accountability legislation. Workers, like all investors, need and want good solid conflict-free investment advice for their 401(k) accounts. This is the kind of advice Congress should encourage.

Notably absent from the so-called retirement security bill are provisions that give workers a voice in how their 401(k) plans are run; that counter-balance employer efforts to seduce workers into buying dangerously high levels of company stock; that give workers a right to sue company officials and outside advisors when their misconduct causes losses to workers' 401(k) accounts; and that give workers a right to information critical to making the best decisions about their retirement investments.

We commend Senator Daschle for his commitment to bringing 401(k) reform to the Senate floor before the end of the year. The AFL-CIO supports the bill (S. 2992) introduced by Senator Kennedy (D-MA).