UPDATED December 16, 2014: Get answers on the pension cut deal and what it means for you. The ink is still drying on the pension cut deal that was attached in the dead of night to Congress's spending bill. Some questions can be answered now. We will update with new information as it becomes available. Does this bill mandate pension cuts? No. This bill permits “deeply troubled” pension plans, those which could become insolvent over...

December 13, 2014: Congress has officially passed the spending bill that includes pension cut legislation that was attached as an amendment to the budget bill. The legislation guts federal pension protections and will pave the way for pension cuts in the Central States Pension Fund. Teamsters have questions and deserve answers. TDU lays out what the bill means for Teamsters in our Frequently Asked Questions.  The biggest question of all may be: how did Hoffa...

December 12, 2014: Thomas Nyhan testified in Congress and lobbied hard – with our pension money and staff – to get the pension-cut bill passed. Now, he got his wish: a 163-page bill sneaked through Congress, tacked onto the budget.  We propose some small measure of equality of sacrifice, which is a basic principle of the labor movement.   The executives of the Central States Pension and Welfare Funds should take a 30% cut, to...

December 11, 2014: We need your help NOW! The House is poised to vote on the omnibus spending bill, which includes provisions that would allow pension plan trustees to cut the hard-earned pension benefits of current retirees – as a purported solution to shoring up certain financially-troubled multiemployer plans. Click here to contact your members of congress and tell them to strip the pension cut ammendment from the omnibus bill. Sign up for email updates...

UPDATED December 13, 2014: There's still time to fight Congress's last-minute pension cut deal by calling and emailing your Senators today. Do it now. The vote could come Monday on the budget bill. Here's how to reach your Senator:  http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8438/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9861   Click here to read AARP's letter of opposition. Click here to read a Statement from the Pension Rights Center. Click here to read a Statement by Senator Tom Harkin. The proposed pension cuts amendment has now...

Dear Member of Congress: On behalf of the 1.2 million active and retired members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW), I urge you to oppose last minute legislation added to year-end spending legislation which will dramatically reform the multi-employer pension system and cut benefits to existing retirees. The lack of transparency and the inability to provide significant input into legislation which impacts close to 250,000 USW members and retirees in multi-employer pension plans is the...

Retired Teamster Mike Walden (Chairman, Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions) wrote a letter to Congress regarding the move to quietly tack an amendment on the government spending bill which would allow pension funds to cut the pensions of workers already in retirement.  We hope every Senator and Congressperson reads it!       See what you can do to help head off this sneak attack.   Dear Congressional Representative: A report on the deal being made...

December 4, 2014: It is urgent that Teamster President Hoffa make a strong statement to all Senators and Congresspersons to defend Teamster pensions under attack.   This letter from the IAM President must not stand alone. We need the political weight of the IBT at this time.

December 4, 2014: With the retirement of the dean of labor reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal is now the only newspaper with a full-time labor reporter. As of today, the number of reporters assigned to primarily cover labor and workers' issues in the US has fallen by half: from two to one! Steven Greenhouse, labor reporter for The New York Times, took a buy-out this week and retired. He will...

December 4, 2014: Congress is nearing a vote on arguably the biggest change to private pension law in decades. The proposed reforms would grant sweeping new authority to the trustees of some “deeply troubled” multi-employer pension plans to slash benefits promised to current retirees—something that’s illegal under existing law. See what you can do to help head off this sneak attack. Click here to read more at In These Times.