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...

Jane Slaughter Labor Notes April 21, 2015 View the original piece Teamsters are up in arms over looming pension cuts that could slash the incomes of both current and future retirees—anyone under 80. They’re battling trustees of the enormous Central States Pension Fund, which has said that cuts of up to 30 percent may be necessary, as soon as possible, to keep from running out of money. Those trustees represent both management and their international...

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,...