How Hoffa Fueled the Pension Crisis
May 20, 2015: Nearly 400,000 Teamsters and retirees are threatened with pension cuts. How Hoffa helped put the hit on their retirement. Nearly 400,000 Teamsters and retirees in the Central States Pension Plan are threatened with the worst pension cuts in Teamster history. So are thousands more in some local plans in New York, New Jersey and Western Pennsylvania. Long before Congress passed pension cut legislation in December, the Hoffa administration helped pave the way for this disaster. Passing the Buck The Hoffa administration tries...
Taking on Harassment of Inside Workers
Is management handing out excessive discipline for misloads or missorts? Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself and other Teamsters. UPS has the right to expect employees, in this case preloaders and loaders, to work accurately. This is just common sense. But management frequently goes overboard from common sense to nonsense. Beating Unfair Discipline When challenging discipline for misloads or missorts, stewards should consider several factors including: Was the preloader or loader...
Contract & Campaign Carhaulers Form National Network
May 20, 2015: Over 300 carhaulers joined a conference call on May 14 to form a national network of stewards, officers, and active members to defend their contract and change the national leadership of the union. Now the organizing work will begin. Paul Kubal, Jack Cooper driver at Wayne Michigan in Local 299, said “We need to get organized if we’re going make sure negotiations deliver what we need. We need a carhaul contract committee with stewards and active members. We need a rep in every barn.” The national network...
50,000 Supporters Needed
May 20, 2015: The campaign to elect the next General President of the Teamsters Union is on. The first big test of the Teamsters United campaign is a summer petition drive to collect the required signatures to become officially accredited candidates. To get accreditation, 2.5 percent of the 1.3 million Teamsters across North America must sign the petition. Teamsters United has set a goal of 50,000 petition signatures by the end of August. Members are volunteering to get the job done. Accredited candidates get a computer...
NY Public Workers: Management to Represent Teamsters?
May 20, 2015: Hoffa’s newest International Trustee hires a boss to help run the Teamsters’ biggest local. Local 237 represents over 10,000 Teamsters at the New York City Housing Authority. So why would the local hire a NYCHA boss to a union post? Local 237 President Greg Floyd hired Kevin Norman, as the Special Assistant to the President, a top leadership position in the largest local in the Teamsters. Norman was previously in upper management at the New York City Housing Authority where he...
Central States Pension Fund: $17.9 Billion
May 15, 2015: The 2014 financial report on the Central States Pension Fund shows that the fund’s money manager – Northern Trust -- performed rather poorly last year, causing the fund to get a sub-par return of 6.86% on investments. The fund’s assets declined to $17.9 billion. Despite losses in 2014, the fund still has net growth over the past six years, since the end of 2008 when the fund had $17.3 billion in assets....
Senators Call on Treasury Dept to Slow the Rush to Pension Cuts
May 15, 2015: Seven Senators have written to Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew calling on him to vigorously enforce retiree and worker rights before any pensions are cut under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act passed last December. US Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) issued a statement and the letter today calling for guidelines to prevent a rush to pension cuts. The Central States Pension Fund is moving quickly to try to implement cuts, without careful...
Carhaulers Kick Off National Network
(reprinted from www.TeamstersUnited.org) May 15, 2015: Over 300 carhaulers joined a Teamsters United campaign conference call on May 14 to talk about the national contract and the IBT election. General President candidate Tim Sylvester announced that John Thyer is joining the Teamsters United slate. Thyer, the principal officer of St Louis Local 604, has been a Teamster officer for two decades and a carhauler for nearly four decades. “He is everything that Hoffa isn’t,” Sylvester said. Members got to...
Pension Fund says Hoffa’s Kroger Deal is Illegal
May 7, 2015: The Central States Pension Fund has decisively rejected a proposed deal between the Hoffa administration and the Kroger Co which would pull all Kroger Teamsters out of the fund, without even paying the required withdrawal penalty. In a letter to the IBT and Kroger, Central States Director Thomas Nyhan pointedly reminds them that federal law requires cash payment of withdrawal liability before an employer can pull out of a union pension fund....
Pension Advocates Call for Hearings on Pension Cuts
April 29, 2015: Today the Pension Rights Center presented a call for action to the US House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, calling for hearings on the devastating impact of pension cutbacks authorized by December 2014 changes in pension law. Teamsters for a Democratic Union and the pension protection movement support this call, and will work to advance legislation to correct the injustices of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) passed in December. The...