April 14, 2015: Under the banner of “Save Our Pensions”, 175 Minnesota Teamsters and retirees met on April 11 in St. Paul to get the facts and build the movement to save pensions. A surprise guest, Minnesota Congressman Rick Nolan, declared his support for repealing the pension-cut law and replacing it with a fair solution.

The Save Our Pensions Committee called the meeting, and greatly expanded its working committee as a result of it. More meetings are planned in the Midwest, South, and in North Carolina, as the movement spreads.

In addition to backing a bill to be introduced in Congress, the meeting discussed outreach to involve both retirees and active Teamsters, and to build for a strong No vote on the cuts. The vote, which is expected by late summer, will be a way to gain bargaining power for the movement. The law allows the vote to be overruled, but a strong No vote is essential for credibility in Washington and in the union.

Speakers at the Minnesota meeting included Mike Walden, the chair of the Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions, Karen Friedman, Policy Director of the Pension Rights Center in Washington DC, and Ken Paff, National Organizer of Teamsters for a Democratic Union. But the stars were the retirees and Teamsters who continue to build the momentum we need. 

Click here to send us a message. Contact us to find out more or if you want to help organize a pension meeting in your area.

April 9, 2015: Yesterday Teamster leaders and Central States Pension Fund director Thomas Nyhan laid out in vague terms their plan to cut the pensions of retirees and active Teamsters. A preliminary letter to all participants will be mailed out today.

No details or numbers are being revealed, but they did outline their timeline for cuts. By June or soon after, every active Teamster and retiree will receive an individualized estimate of how the proposed cuts will affect them personally.

By late summer or fall, there will be a vote of all active and retired Teamsters on the plan. It is very important that Teamsters and retirees organize now to prepare to reject the plan – we need to send a signal to help mitigate the cuts and win a better solution. 

The law requires this vote and certain procedures which will take several months, so no cuts are possible until the spring of 2016.

That gives us time to organize for better solutions that do not place the full burden on slashing pensions. Retirees and Teamsters are organizing now – and the movement is spreading. To get involved, click here.

The pension fund named a Retiree Representative, Susan Mauren, which is required by law before they can go forward on their plan to cut pensions. A letter from Mauren provides her contact information. Retirees are calling on sister Mauren to meet with the retiree committees that are forming to fight the cuts, and to commission a truly independent actuarial review and audit. Members are asking about Mauren – you can read her Teamster background here.

The battle to save pensions is going forward. 

Click here to send us a message. Contact us to find out more or if you want to help organize a pension meeting in your area.

April 8, 2015: Over 100 Teamsters from across the Midwest and South converged on the Rosemont Convention Center today to voice their objections to possible pension cuts by the Teamster Central States Pension Fund.  

"We're here today because we worked hard, sometimes gave up raises, to earn a decent pension,” said Greg Smith, a retiree from Akron Ohio Local 24. The retirees talked with officials and passed out a leaflet to them, as they entered the meeting called by the pension fund.

In that meeting, fund director Thomas Nyhan told Teamster officials that pension cuts are the only answer, and laid out a timeline.

Nyhan was a principal supporter of a bill that sneaked through Congress as an amendment to the federal budget last December, to allow troubled pension plans to make cuts in already-earned pensions.

The rally was called by committees that are part of a growing movement to defend pensions.  Groups travelled from Wisconsin, various Ohio cities, Iowa, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia, Missouri and other areas. The Wisconsin Committee to Protect Pension spearheaded the rally.

Nyhan reported that they will immediately mail a preliminary letter to 65,000 active Teamsters and 210,000 retirees and others who have earned a vested pension. His timeline calls for cuts to be announced to each member early this summer.

Under the new law, all retirees and active Teamsters will then get a vote. Even though that vote can be voided, it is a crucial tool to send a signal where we stand, and the pension movement will make the most of it. That vote could come by late summer. The fund has a new website page to explain their plan for pension cuts.

Nyhan wants the cuts implemented by a year from now. That gives us time to head them off and work for better solutions.

The pension movement, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) the Pension Rights Center, in alliance with the AARP and various unions, is calling for change to the pension cut law so that the full burden of pension problems does not fall on retirees, who earned their pensions.

And where is Teamster president Hoffa, as the Teamster Trustees of the Teamster fund call for slashing pensions?

Hoffa sent International vice president John Murphy to gladhand retirees at the rally. He repeatedly claimed that Hoffa is “on your side” fighting the cuts. Then he walked in and heard Hoffa’s other representatives, such as international trustee Jim Kabell and the Teamster trustees of the fund, tell officials to sell members and retirees on getting their pensions slashed.

Click here to send us a message. Contact us to find out more or if you want to help organize a pension meeting in your area.

In December 2014, Congress changed pension law by attaching the Pension Reform Act (PRA) to the must-pass 2015 omnibus spending bill as a rider. Doing so allowed the PRA to not be debated on the floor and spared House and Senate members from having to vote on an unpopular measure.

Currently, the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means is pursuing the reform of Social Security, using much the same rationale that was employed to cut benefits of private pension-plan participants — that if changes are not made, retirees face drastic cuts. The committee states: “Without action to address the fiscal and structural challenges facing Social Security, seniors will see a 23 percent cut to their benefits beginning in 2033. Action must be taken now to preserve the promise of Social Security for today’s beneficiaries and future generations.”

Click here to read more at the Star Tribune.

A new website reveals that Enron-billionaire John Arnold has spent up to $50 million of his own fortune to dismantle retirement plans for firefighters, nurses, teachers and other public employees.

The website – Truth About John Arnold – is sponsored by the National Public Pension Coalition (NPPC) andCalifornians for Retirement Security and traces the wide financial influence that one billionaire has on public pension fights. John Arnold amassed his fortune as an Enron trader, where he earned an $8 million bonus as the company’s collapse decimated $1.5 billion in public pension assets. Arnold turned his $8 million into billions as a Wall Street hedge fund manager.

Click here to read more.

March 31, 2015: Stop the rush to pension cuts will be the rallying cry when retirees and active Teamsters converge on Rosemont, to ask their local officers to Say No to Pension Cuts.

The Central States Pension Fund has summoned hundreds of Teamster officials to a meeting Wednesday, April 8, where pension fund director Thomas Nyhan will report on his plans regarding possible pension cuts for some 300,000 retired and active Teamsters.

The Wisconsin Committee to Protect Pensions has called for a rally to defend Teamster retirement security to commence at 11 am outside the Rosemont Convention Center. Active and retired Teamsters from Ohio, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and as far as Georgia will be traveling by bus, car, and van to meet up and be heard.

"Why are we being rushed to take cuts when Central States has had over two years to get this bill passed by Congress?”, commented Bob Amsden a retired Milwaukee Local 200 freight Teamster.

All concerned retirees, active Teamsters, and retiree advocates are invited to be there and lend support. We will take our case to all the union officers attending as well as the national media.

WHAT: Rally to Defend Our Pensions. No Rush to Pension Cuts without an Independent Audit.

WHEN: 11 am CDT, Wednesday April 8.

WHERE: The Rosemont Convention Center is located at 5555 N. River Rd. in Rosemont, Illinois.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Wisconsin Committee to Protect Pensions – Bob Amsden (414) 688 -5010. Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions – Mike Walden (330) 801-1108. Cincinnati Area – Tom Krekeler (513) 324-3574. St. Louis Area – Sue Cole (314) 550-6179.  Central Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions – Whitlaw Wyatt (740) 606-4861. TDU – Pete Landon (313) 842-2600.

March 24, 2015: The Central States Pension Fund trustees have set up a briefing for local union officers on April 8. Will this be the big announcement regarding their proposed pension cuts – or a background briefing?

The announcement states only that they will “provide Local Union officers with background information on the MPRA [pension cut legislation], review the process and timetable…and outline a communication plan for our participants.” It goes on to state that the Board of Trustees [four Teamster officials and four management reps] are “currently reviewing options.” 

We believe that review needs to be expanded.

The Fund has stepped up security at their building in Rosemont Illinois, and this announcement states that only pre-registered union officers will be allowed in the meeting, with “no walk-ins.”

We will provide more information as soon as it is available.

Teamster retirees and members are fighting back against cuts, and for better and more equitable solutions. If you think there should be an independent audit before any cuts are proposed, and that the process should be more equitable, then find out how you can be part of making it happen.

Click here to send us a message. Contact us if you want to help organize a pension meeting in your area.

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March 24, 2015: Over 200 active and retired Teamsters packed the Cincinnati Local 100 hall for the monthly Retirees Club meeting to hear speakers address the pending cuts to Central States pensions. Mike Walden, chair of the Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions, told a standing room only audience that it was time to organize to push back the attacks on retirement security.

That same day, 150 Teamster retirees met at the Columbus union hall and heard Greg Smith, an Akron Local 24 retiree, speak on the pension issue. Representatives from U.S. Senators Brown and Portman’s staffs were also present to hear retirees speak out on the importance of maintaining the pensions they rely on for their retirement.  See the article covering the meeting in the Columbus Dispatch.

Tom Krekeler, a retired Local 114 Teamster and Secretary-Treasurer of the retirees club, said, “Out of this meeting, we’re organizing a pension committee. We need to get the word out to hundreds of members who know nothing about what’s coming. We got a number of volunteers to sign up to help out. Spouses are getting involved too. We need to let Central States know that we won’t accept cuts without a fight.”

A committee was also formed in Columbus to carry forward the struggle to protect pensions. On March 21, a conference call of 100 pension committee and activists, convened by TDU, got reports from some committees and from the staff of the Pension Rights Center in Washington DC, on where the grassroots campaign is headed.

The campaign is spreading throughout the Central and Southern regions, and beyond. 

Click here to send us a message. Contact us if you want to help organize a pension meeting in your area.

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Since Whitley Wyatt retired in 2000 after 33 years as a trucker, he’s collected a pension of $3,300 a month.

Now, the 71-year-old says as much as $2,000 of his monthly check is at risk because of legislation passed by Congress last year that is meant to help underfunded multiemployer pension plans bolster their finances by giving them a way to cut benefits for some retirees.

Click here to read more at The Columbus Dispatch.

March 13, 2015: Bob Amsden, a retired Local 200 Teamster, isn’t sitting by while Central States ponders pension cuts. He got involved in forming the Wisconsin Committee to Protect Pensions and helped to organize a recent Milwaukee meeting that attracted over 60 retirees, spouses, and active Teamsters. Amsden recently spoke with a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The story ended up being a front page article. 

Many active and retired Teamsters don’t know of the pending benefit cuts. You can help inform the thousands that may face cuts in the coming months. Contact local newspapers and reporters. Tell them the importance of this story. Write a letter to the editor. Use the local media to help spread the news.