September 11, 2009: A review of the second quarter Financial and Analytical Report of the Central States Pension Fund shows that assets are up, but its problems continue.

Central States has also slightly amended its ‘reemployment’ rule which will help some over-65 retirees.

As of June 30, CSPF assets stood at $17.5 billion, almost exactly the same as the $17.4 billion in assets at the start of 2009. The fund made 15.0 percent on its investments in the second quarter, thanks to the big run-up in the stock market. Central States now holds 69 percent of its assets in stocks and 28 percent in bonds.

The number of active participants is down to 77,000, while the number of retirees holds steady at 212,000.

Most Teamster leaders agree now in private that Hoffa’s big giveaway was a disaster: allowing UPS to take 44,000 full-timers, most of them young, out of the union plan.

The new problem for the fund is Yellow Roadway Corp. YRC was allowed to defer six months of past-due payments, amounting to about $125 million that it owes the fund. The fund, along with some other Teamster funds, now holds a lien on 150 terminal properties of YRC as collateral.

YRC is required to start paying back the deferred amount in January 2010, over a three year payment period. Even worse, YRC is now terminated from the fund for 18 months, and thus not liable to make pension contributions until January 2011.

The Central States Financial and Analytical Report is available only at www.tdu.org.

Reemployment Rules

In August the fund made a change in its reemployment rules, which generally bar retirees from working in Teamster core industries or in a field similar to their prior Teamster work.

Retirees older than 65 who have not worked in their Teamster work or any employment barred under the rules for one year, can now take any job and draw their pension.

The change will not help retirees under 65, but some over 65 will now be given more latitude to work, including in truck driving, while drawing their pension.