January 30, 2015: TDU's Pension Justice Campaign is on the move. Our voices are getting into the media and Teamster members and retirees are organizing to fight cuts and protect our pensions.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution featured leaders of the Local 728 Retirees Club who are fighting the pension cuts.
“We worked all our lives to earn a decent pension,” said Waymon Stroud, 61, who retired four years ago from Yellow Freight and is now president of the retirees club at Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta. If his $2,800-a-month benefit got cut 30 percent, he added, “I’d have to go back to work.”
The article also exposed the big Brown corporate loophole that will save UPS $2 billion on the back of Teamster retirees.
A report in the Washington Post lists the Teamster and other union funds that are eligible to cut retiree benefits under the new law.
Teamster members and retirees are coming together to make our voices heard.
TDU pension activists spoke at a recent Memphis Local 667 retirees meeting attended by over 100 Teamsters. Others hosted a meeting in Milwaukee that formed the Wisconsin Committee to Protect Pensions. The Wisconsin committee is planning a larger meeting for February. In Ohio, Mike Walden—chair of the Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions will speak in March with other pension activists at retiree meetings in Columbus and Cincinnati. Plans are percolating for other meetings across the South and Midwest and beyond.
We are reaching out to allies, like the Pension Rights Center, AARP, sympathetic political leaders, and other unions. But to build a strong coalition to protect our pensions, we need to bring concerned Teamsters to the table.
That means reaching out to members and retirees in our areas. Contact TDU if you’re interested in helping organize a pension meeting in your area. We can help, including with guest speakers who can help explain pension issues and what’s next for the pension protection campaign.
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