The company's statement was just a smokescreen to hide their real intention of cutting employee benefits.

smokescreen 是复合词，由 smoke（烟雾）和 screen（屏幕、屏障）组成。字面意思是"烟雾屏障"，比喻用来掩盖真实意图或转移注意力的虚假信息或行为。