September 19, 2008: The new UPS Pension Fund covering 44,000 Teamsters in the Central States not only offers the lowest benefits; it also has no reciprocal agreements with Teamster pension plans around the country.

That means that UPSers in the Midwest, Southeast and Southwest who have substantial years worked under other pension plans will face stiff pension reductions when they retire.

Most (though not all) Teamster pension funds have reciprocal agreements. For example: a Teamster who worked 15 years for UPS in California and then 15 years at UPS or another Teamster employer in Ohio can retire with a 30 and out pension. That’s because the Western Conference Pension Fund and Central States Pension Fund have a reciprocal agreement.

But the new UPS Pension Plan has no such agreements. That may not be a problem right now because no one has substantial time in the new UPS Pension Fund yet. But going forward, Teamsters who accumulate less than a full pension in the UPS Plan will suffer big pension reductions even if they have 25, 30 or even 35 years of time served in the Teamsters.

Didn’t our negotiators see this coming? It’s a problem that needs to be fixed before working Teamsters suffer irreparable pension losses.