May 20, 2015: Sometime this summer nearly 400,000 Teamsters and retirees will be mailed a ballot, asking them to approve cutting their own pension.
That vote is our voice. Use it to Vote No to demand improvements in the Central States pension cut plan.
Central States will try to pressure Teamsters into voting yes for cuts—starting with scare tactics. They will tell us if we Vote No and delay the cuts for even a month, then the cuts will be much worse. That is not true.
Of course, decisive action is required. The fund is in trouble, but it is not on the brink of insolvency. The numbers do not justify a rush to judgement, not when the retirement of nearly 400,000 Teamsters who earned their pensions is on the line.
Central States will also play divide-andconquer— and try to pit the active 65,000 working Teamsters versus the 202,000 retirees. (There is also a large third group who have a vested right to a pension but not yet collecting.)
Central States will tell working Teamsters that the only way to defend their pensions is to vote for deep cuts and throw retirees under the bus.
That’s not unionism; it’s cynicism. But there’s an alternative.
Nearly 400,000 Central States participants get to vote on the cuts. Together, we can have a powerful voice.
The Save Our Pensions movement is uniting Teamsters and retirees together to win improvements in the Central States pension cut plan.
We are joining forces with AARP, other unions, the Pension Rights Center and union allies to support a pension relief bill in Congress.
We worked our whole lives for our pensions—now we are working together to defend them.
That includes Voting No to reject the Central States fast track pension cut plan.
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