Sign the Petition for Independent Audit of Pension Fund
April 29, 2015. Teamsters and retirees have launched a petition campaign calling on the Central States Trustees and IBT President James Hoffa to support an independent actuarial audit of the Central States Pension Fund to determine the extent and necessity of pending benefit cuts. Teamsters are demanding a “second opinion” with experts chosen by the pension protection committees across the region, prior to any rollout of the so-called “rescue plan” by the Fund. The “rescue...
UPS Profits Climb
April 28, 2015: UPS announced it hauled in over $1 billion in profits in the first quarter. The numbers show that harassment and outsourcing are paying big dividends for UPS execs, at a steep price for UPS Teamsters. Hoffa and Ken Hall bragged the new contract would improve problems with harassment and Surepost. But that talk isn’t backed up by the numbers. UPS’s revenue was lower than expected, but profits were higher. That means that...
Does Hoffa want to Destroy the Central States Pension Fund?
April 24, 2015: The Hoffa administration is making a deal to let Kroger pull 7,000 Teamsters out of the Central States Pension Plan, and move them into a Kroger pension plan. Is Hoffa out to destroy the pension fund his father set-up, or does he just sign any deal the employer wants? This disastrous move comes as the trustees of the Central States Plan are moving to cut the pensions of some 300,000 retirees and...
Retirees Want an Advocate, Not a Messenger
April 21, 2015: Central States retirees in the growing pension movement are calling on the appointed “Retiree Representative” to be a genuine independent voice. By law, the Central States Pension Fund had to designate a retiree to act as an advocate, at least 60 days before submitting any plan to cut pensions. But as this letter from one pension movement leader says, retirees want “an advocate, not a messenger.” Retirees are calling on Sue Mauren,...
Teamsters & the Fight for $15
April 17, 2015: Teamsters and TDU members joined a national day of action to fight for living wages. UPS Teamsters in New York made a splash in joining the Fight for $15. Workers and supporters in 120 cities rallied, protested, and went on strike on Wednesday, including Wal-Mart employees, fast food workers, homecare workers, and others. UPS Teamsters in New York made a splash—joining the Fight for $15 with rallies at UPS buildings throughout the city....
Nyhan’s Fast-Track: What’s Behind the Curtain
April 15, 2015: Central States Pension Fund Director is giving the hard sell on his fast-track pension cuts, but withholding all the information members need to formulate alternatives. He states the plan will go broke in exactly 11 years, and says we cannot question his facts. Where does he get this figure? And why hasn’t it changed as the fund’s assets have gone up? Taking the fund’s current level of employer contributions and benefit pay-out,...
Central States Drops Pension Cut Bomb
April 15, 2015: The Central States Pension Fund has launched a PR offensive to sell their fast-track pension cut plan as the only way to “rescue” members’ retirement. Teamster members and retirees are demanding a review by independent actuaries and consideration of alternative proposals before the cuts are imposed. Central States Director Thomas Nyhan pitched his plan in a letter and national conference call, calling for deep cuts on a fast track with no amendments...
Sue Mauren: Representative for Central States Retirees
TEAMSTER HISTORY Sue Mauren was a Teamster employed at the University of Minnesota. She participated in a pension plan run by the university, and was not a participant in the Central States Fund (CSPF) She became a Teamster around 1980 and continued till the early 1990s, when she was hired as a business agent. Mauren was hired as a business agent in the early 1990s by the leaders of Local 320. The officers of Local...
“Save our Pensions” Spreads
April 14, 2015: Under the banner of “Save Our Pensions”, 175 Minnesota Teamsters and retirees met on April 11 in St. Paul to get the facts and build the movement to save pensions. A surprise guest, Minnesota Congressman Rick Nolan, declared his support for repealing the pension-cut law and replacing it with a fair solution. The Save Our Pensions Committee called the meeting, and greatly expanded its working committee as a result of it. More meetings...
Joining the Fight for $15
April 13, 2015: On April 15, workers will rally, sit-in and even strike as part of a national day of action to fight for $15-an-hour and a union. Teamster members are getting in on the action too. More than 60,000 workers in over 120 cities will rally, protest or strike on April 15 in the biggest national day of action since the movement began four years ago. Grassroots action has paid off. Walmart raised its...