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...
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...