Central States participants – both retirees and active Teamsters – have been invited to a conference call – Voices for Pension Security – to be held Wednesday, May 2 at 7:30 pm Eastern, 6:30 pm Central, and 5:30 pm Mountain. The call-in number is 877-229-8493 and the access code is 114828.

A new threat to retirees and workers’ pensions was introduced in Congress last month: the misnamed “Give Retirement Options to Workers” Act. It does not give options to workers, but it could shift risk and uncertainty to some workers, and undermine stable pensions.

The Senate version of the budget bill has a provision to establish a House-Senate Joint Select Committee to propose a solution to the pension crisis for consideration by Congress in December. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) who has been a strong supporter of the pension protection movement, announced it was the best he could do.