Some 10,000 union members, led by mine workers, Teamster retirees, and pension advocates rally in Columbus to urge passage of the Butch Lewis Act to protect hard-earned pensions. Speakers are calling on Congress to “do the right thing” to safeguard pensions for millions who did honest work, earned a pension, and could lose it due to no fault of their own.

Car caravans and busloads of active and retired Teamsters, Mineworkers and a range of allies will converge on Columbus, Ohio for a rally Thursday, July 12. Thousands are being mobilized by the pension action committees of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions.

The long-awaited Congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the Central States Pension Fund is out, and provides detailed background facts which support what TDU and the pension protection movement are saying.

Mike Walden is the President of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP). He is a retired Roadway Express Teamster from Akron Local 24. The NUCPP is an organization of pension action committees spread throughout the Midwest, South and beyond.

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.

The year-end Central States Pension Fund financial report has been obtained by Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), and shows that the Fund ended 2017 with $15.0 billion in assets. This is down from $15.27 billion one year earlier; the loss of $267 million during 2017 was modest, due to the run-up in the stock market.

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 financial report obtained by Teamsters for a Democratic Union for the Central States Pension Fund indicates that the fund had $15.1 billion in assets as of September 30, 2017. This is down from $15.3 billion at the start of 2017.

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.

Over the past four years, thousands of retired and active Teamsters have waged the battle to secure their retirement security. For most who got involved in the campaign, it started with the direct threat to their livelihood but morphed into a can-do attitude. As Teamsters, they knew they had to fight to have any chance of protecting the pension benefits that had already been earned. As Butch Lewis once said, “A promise, is a promise, is a promise.”