A leaked email from the Central States Pension Fund Director obtained by TDU blasts Hoffa for pretending to oppose pension cut legislation that he actually supports.

May 20, 2015: Nearly 400,000 Teamsters and retirees are threatened with pension cuts. How Hoffa helped put the hit on their retirement.

Nearly 400,000 Teamsters and retirees in the Central States Pension Plan are threatened with the worst pension cuts in Teamster history. So are thousands more in some local plans in New York, New Jersey and Western Pennsylvania.

May 20, 2015:  Hoffa has won re-election three times.  Here’s why Hoffa will be beat in 2016.

Hoffa has won re-election three times, including  the 2011 election with 60 percent of the vote.  But the key indicators point to a different  outcome this time. Here’s why Hoffa will be  beat in 2016.

Sign up with the Teamsters United  campaign at  www.teamstersunited.org/updates

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Turning Around Low Voter Turnout

 

Hoffa won 63% of the vote in New  England last time. But he got just 8,600  votes out of 52,000 Teamsters. Our  problem wasn’t support for Hoffa, it  was low voter turnout.

 

 

We know how to turn that around.  Hoffa won my local last time with  just 573 votes. Last year, we ran a slate  for local union office and won with  over 1,300 votes, nearly three times  Hoffa’s vote!

 

We did it by reaching out Teamster to Teamster, explaining the issues and  making sure people voted.

 

We’ve launched a Teamsters United  campaign committee to reach out to members across New England starting with  the petition drive.

 

Our goal is 10,000 petition signatures and 10,000 votes out of New England  for Teamsters United.

 

Matt Maini, Local 251

Business Agent, Rhode Island

May 7, 2015: The Central States Pension Fund has decisively rejected a proposed deal between the Hoffa administration and the Kroger Co which would pull all Kroger Teamsters out of the fund, without even paying the required withdrawal penalty.

In a letter to the IBT and Kroger, Central States Director Thomas Nyhan pointedly reminds them that federal law requires cash payment of withdrawal liability before an employer can pull out of a union pension fund. The letter details the ways that the proposed deal violates the law, the fund’s Trust Agreement and the Plan Document.

Meanwhile, the IBT is proceeding with the plan to pull all Teamsters working for Kroger and Kroger contractors out of the pension fund. Votes are being taken on the national Kroger contract, covering warehouse operations in Houston, Memphis, Wichita, and dairies in Indiana and Michigan.

Many Teamsters see no alternative but to vote for the plan, in hopes of saving their hard-earned pension benefits. But as more than one Kroger Teamster has noted, pulling out of the union pension fund could be a first step in a plan to bust the Teamsters Union at Kroger.

The IBT’s proposed deal also covers Kroger third-party contractors who operate its distribution warehouses in Atlanta, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati, along with other Kroger operations. A detailed memorandum of agreement for these operations actually provides for the employer to pull out of the pension fund in mid-contract. Nyhan’s letter reminds the IBT that the pension fund cannot approve a contract which allows for a mid-contract pull-out.

Nyhan’s letter notes that the pension fund “cannot prevent an employer from withdrawing from the fund if the employer and union are determined to do so” and if the employer pays the withdrawal liability, estimated at $1 billion for Kroger. He seems to be reminding the IBT Warehouse Division and the Hoffa administration that defense of union pensions is a primary responsibility of union officers. At the very least, he is telling the IBT that giving a $1 billion gift to an employer while letting them gut the pension fund stinks.

How will the IBT and Kroger fix this deal? Stay tuned.