April 2, 2007: Assets at the Western Conference of Teamsters (WCT) Pension Trust now top $29 billion and the trust is 100 percent fully funded. But hundreds of thousands of Teamsters covered by the plan are still facing a nearly 40 percent cut in their pension multiplier. Why? And when will our pensions be fully restored?

The already-flush WCT Pension Trust is headed for another major influx of cash. In the next UPS contract, the company will very likely increase its pension contributions by a minimum of $2.40 an hour, assuming a five-year agreement.

That minimum figure is the result of a new Central States Pension Fund regulation that requires an eight percent increase in pension contributions every year just to stay in the fund.

Teamsters Losing $500/Month and Counting
Benefit contributions are negotiated nationally, so the Western Fund will likely get at least this amount also. That means contribution increases starting at a minimum of 40¢ per hour the first year and reaching at least 60¢ by the fifth year if the contract. That’s compared to just 35¢ an hour increases in the last contract.

In 2003, Teamster trustees, including General Executive Board members Randy Cammack, Al Hobart, Chuck Mack and Jim Santangelo, voted with employers to drastically slash the pension multiplier by more than half, to 1.2 percent, down from 2.65 percent.

These cuts have already reduced the pension check of UPS and Freight Teamsters by $500 a month for the rest of their retirement.

Trustees to the Western Fund voted to slightly raise the multiplier to 1.65 percent last October. But this rate still represents a 38 percent cut over the historic minimum rate of 2.2 percent.

The typical Western Teamster will lose another $100 per month off of their monthly pension check for every year the current cut remains in place.

Now Is the Time
The bad news for our pensions is good news for the employers. Our fund’s website features an announcement to participating employers that 100 percent funding means that they can withdraw their companies from the pension plan without having to pay any liability.

Working Teamsters get continued pension cuts. But a company that wants to bust out of our union’s largest pension plan can do so without paying a dime. What is wrong with this picture?

When the trustees slashed the pensions in 2003, they claimed it was because the stock market dip had caused the funding level to drop. The WCT pension trust was never less than 80 percent funded and thousands of Teamsters signed petitions saying the cuts were unnecessary.

Now there is nothing to debate. With the trust 100 percent funded and more cash on the way, the money is there to fully restore pensions in the West before working Teamsters lose another dime.

This issue affects the pocket-book of every Teamster. As long as employers can maintain pension cuts in the WCT Pension Trust, then Teamster members will find it that much harder to win pension increases in other benefit funds.

April 2, 2007: Commercial movers from Teamster Local 814 in New York City have been hit with healthcare cuts—following a concessionary contract that diverted millions of dollars in contributions from their health and welfare fund into their pension plan.

Under the terms of the 2005 contract, the $3.96 per hour contribution that was supposed to go into members’ health and welfare fund went into the Pension Fund instead.

Poison Pill
“We said at the time that we were robbing Peter to pay Paul and that if we did not defeat these concessions we were going to be hit with healthcare cuts,” said Local 814 Teamster Eddie Freyta. “Unfortunately, we were right.”

Teamsters everywhere need to be on the lookout for this false fix to pension problems. It’s a poison pill,” Freyta said.

The cuts hiked members’ annual deductible and increased co-pays by more than double. Members will also be charged $100 for every emergency room visit

Employers have reportedly agreed to increase their contributions to the Health and Welfare Fund by $1.04 and hour. But Local 814 officials were unable to tell members if that increase was temporary or permanent.

For years, New York City moving companies shortchanged the Local 814 pension fund. They created tiers of casuals without benefits. They ignored contract language that required them to hire a certain ratio of casual employees (“industry men”) who receive contributions. They opened up nonunion operations.

Funds Diverted
Local 814 officials failed to crack down on these schemes. The employers profited by not paying pension contributions. After the stock market fell following September 11th, the pension fund faced a shortfall of tens of millions of dollars.

That’s when employers and Local 814 officials negotiated a deal to divert members’ health and welfare and annuity contributions into the pension fund to make up for the shortfall.

Members initially voted down the deal after a campaign by a rank-and-file committee Members for a Strong Contract. But the givebacks were ultimately ratified after a twenty day strike in which officials offered no plan to win.

“It was incredibly reckless what they did—and now members are paying the price,” said Walter Taylor, one of the movers who led the rank-and-file campaign to reject the contract. “We need to rebuild our local’s power—start to enforce our contracts, stand up to the employers, and organize the nonunion competition. Otherwise the cycle of givebacks is just going to continue.”

April 2, 2007: Healthcare costs are skyrocketing, putting union members on the defensive at the bargaining table. Local 559 Teamsters are doing something about it by joining forces with labor and community allies to fight for affordable, universal healthcare in Connecticut.

They won an important victory last month when the State Legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee approved a bill for single payer healthcare.

The vote surprised both supporters and opponents of healthcare reform. Connecticut is the home base of many powerful insurance companies that oppose healthcare reform because it would threaten their mega-profits.

“Part of the credit for this victory goes to union members and others who were out in the field building public pressure,” says Dan Durso, a Local 559 Teamster who is working as a full-time coordinator of Labor for Universal Healthcare. “We’ve won an important battle but the war goes on.”

Local 559 recently was awarded a grant from the Connecticut-based Universal Healthcare Foundation. Overnight, Durso went from delivering oil for Automatic TLC to organizing public forums to lobby influential legislators.

Before the critical committee vote, Durso helped mobilize Teamsters, other union members and community supporters to tell legislators their “healthcare horror stories” and hear presentations from doctors and professors about how Connecticut could save money and provide better healthcare through a single payer system. The forums were standing room only.

Rallies are scheduled for May 5 to continue building the public pressure that will be needed to pass healthcare reform through the legislature as a whole.

“We need to get some sort of affordable insurance for everybody,” says Dave Basque, a Local 559 Teamster who attended a public forum. “I’m lucky to have good healthcare but I’ve been on both sides of the fence. And I have friends who don’t have health coverage and only go to the emergency room. That drives up the cost for everybody.

“Every American has the right to affordable healthcare insurance,” Basque said. “We’re paying for it now—universal coverage would cost less than what we’re paying now if we do it right.”

Labor Pays Rising Cost
“We’ve had a lot of big fights over healthcare here in Connecticut—including strikes at Coke and Sikorsky Aircraft. Employers are trying to push healthcare costs on to employees,” Durso said. “A single payer system would remove a contentious issue from the bargaining table.”

A single payer system, Durso explains, would cut out the middle man like HMO’s that make huge profits that drive up healthcare costs. Instead, the State of Connecticut would create a single agency that would process and pay medical bills.

“Single payer would remove the excessive profits and administrative costs from the system,” Durso says, lowering healthcare costs and making healthcare universal and affordable.

“Unions could still bargain for supplemental benefits.” Durso says.

The 2006 Teamster Convention unanimously passed a resolution in favor of universal healthcare. Now it’s our job to organize and make it happen.

Teamsters interested in more information can contact Dan Durso at Teamsters Local 559 at (860) 528-9461 ext. 14.

April 2, 2007: The 2008 UPS and Freight contracts are our chance to win the contributions we need to protect and increase our benefits.

TDU is bringing together Teamster members and pension experts to talk about what working Teamsters can do to protect our benefits.To succeed, we need to understand the challenges we face and put together a plan that can win the pension protections and improvements we need.

That’s why Teamsters for a Democratic Union is launching a Pension Rights and Benefits Improvement Program. We will bring together members, Teamster pension activists, and benefit experts in a series of educational workshops and planning meetings to talk about:

• What’s at Stake in UPS and Freight Bargaining—and What Can Be Won
• How the Pension Protection Act Will Affect Our Benefit Funds
• What Working Teamsters Can Do To Protect and Improve Our Pensions

Teamsters in the Central States, for example, face specific challenges based on new policies adopted by the fund after the 2003 cuts and the agreement trustees made last year with the IRS. Other funds face different issues.

Hold a Workshop
Each workshop will address the particular issues affecting your pension fund—the challenges that apply as well as the opportunities to win improvements.

Now is the time to act. The next UPS and freight contracts will determine the future of our Teamster benefits for years to come.

Get informed. Know your rights. And get involved. Your participation now can make the difference.

“I attended a pension workshop as part of the Make UPS Deliver campaign. We got a lot of useful information about the ins and outs of our pension fund and what it will take to defeat the cuts here in Local 804. UPS makes big profits off of our blood and sweat. These pension cuts didn’t have to happen. We’re going to fight not just to restore the cuts—but to improve our benefits.”
Steve Auz, UPS
Local 804, New York

Want to set up a pension meeting in your area? Click here to send a message to TDU. 

April 2, 2007: President James Hoffa has been briefed by the different Teamster benefit funds on what we need to win in the UPS and freight contracts to increase our benefits. This information needs to be shared with Teamster members.

In 2002 and 2003, Teamsters were promised that our benefits would be secure for the life of the UPS, freight and carhaul contracts.

Later, court documents revealed that the Central States Pension Fund repeatedly warned President Hoffa during the UPS negotiations that Teamsters would face severe cuts if sufficient benefit contributions were not negotiated.

Members were never told about these warnings or what we needed to negotiate to avoid the cuts. This year members need to be informed.

Hoffa knows what we need to win in bargaining to pay for benefit improvements in the different funds that cover Teamsters at UPS and in freight. Management has the same information.

The only possible reason to keep members in the dark is to give our negotiators room to settle short again.

This is our contract and these are our benefits. It's time for Hoffa to tell us what benefit contribution levels we need to win in our 2008 contracts.

Contact our rank-and-file network for pension justice.

Pension Workshops: Our Rights, the Benefit Cuts and How We Can Beat Them
TDU brings together concerned Teamsters and pension experts to share information and build a movement to restore our benefits and strengthen them for the future.

Click here to learn more about setting up a pension workshop in your area. 

March 15, 2007: Since 2003, our Teamster benefits have been under attack from pension cuts to anti-worker legislation. But the coming year presents us with our best chances yet to take the offensive, reverse the cuts, and improve our benefits for the future—starting with the UPS and Freight contract negotiations.

TDU Pension Rights WorkshopTo succeed, we need to understand the challenges we face and put together a plan that can win the pension protections and improvements we need.

That’s why Teamsters for a Democratic Union is launching a Pension Rights and Benefits Improvement Program. We will bring together members, Teamster pension activists, and benefit experts in a series of workshops and planning meetings to talk about:

• What’s at Stake in UPS and Freight Bargaining—and What Can Be Won
• How the Pension Protection Act will Affect Our Benefit Funds
• What Working Teamsters Can Do To Protect and Improve Our Pensions

Every Teamster benefit fund has been affected differently by the attack on our retirement security. Teamsters in the Central States, for example, face specific challenges based on new policies adopted by the fund after the 2003 cuts and the agreement trustees made last year with the IRS. Other funds face different issues.

Each workshop will address the particular issues affecting your pension fund—the challenges that apply as well as the opportunities to win improvements.

Now is the time to act. The next UPS and freight contracts will determine the future of our Teamster benefits for years to come. Get informed. Know your rights. And get involved. Your participation now can make the difference.

Click here to contact TDU about a meeting or workshop in your area.

Contact our rank-and-file network for pension justice.

Pension Workshops: Our Rights, the Benefit Cuts and How We Can Beat Them
TDU brings together concerned Teamsters and pension experts to share information and build a movement to restore our benefits and strengthen them for the future.

Click here to learn more about setting up a pension workshop in your area.

Hit by a 30 percent pension cut, many New York Local 804 Teamsters feel it’s time to fight back.

Local 804 President and fund trustee Howie Redmond voted against the cuts, but never informed members that UPS management was seeking cuts.

“Local 804’s officers certainly knew we had a problem and that management wanted cuts. Why was that hidden from the members?” said Local 804 alternate steward Jim Reynolds. “Now they’re going to blame everyone but themselves. Respect and responsibility come from what is done, not what is said.”

“Local 804 officials have said ‘our pension is sacred’ so what’s happened is sacrilege,” Reynolds said.

The announcement was kept under wraps until Nov. 30, just after the Local 804 election and the International election. Could that be a coincidence?

Local 804 officers say the cuts affect them, too. True, but they don’t mention that they are covered by at least two pension plans plus a 401(k).

“Howie is on the national negotiating committee that right now is supposedly negotiating to protect our pensions. We’re always told how powerful he is,” Reynolds said. “But when our pensions were on the line, he and Hoffa and Hall came up empty-handed.”

“If Local 804 members want to reverse these cuts, we better stand up for ourselves and get involved,” Reynolds said. He suggests that members turn out in force for the union general meeting Sun., Dec. 17.

February 27, 2007: While most Teamster pension plans have some type of “re-employment rule” that prohibits retirees from drawing a pension while performing certain work, the biggest problems with the rule have been with the Central States Pension Fund.

Despite a successful struggle to improve the rule, problems still exist.

Recently the fund trustees went after a Teamster retiree in Ohio who was working driving used cars—not on a truck, just driving used cars to an auction site. He had been told by his own local union that this work was perfectly OK, and the local backed him on that in writing. When the fund went after him, he immediately quit his part-time work, but that wasn’t enough for the fund. They are demanding all his earnings be paid to the fund. The case is on appeal now.

While mean-spirited problems like this persist, the Central States Pension Improvement Committee (CSPIC) and Teamsters for a Democratic Union have won great gains in making the rules more fair and understandable.

A summary of the reemployment rules are available at the www.centralstatesfunds.org or from TDU.

One question that comes up not contained in those rules is found in federal law: after age 70.5, no pension plan can impose any re-employment rule, and a Teamster can collect a pension while continuing at their Teamster job.