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.”

Friday, January 19 marks the key date in the fight to save our pensions. Congress plans to vote on a budget spending bill, and the pension protection movement is lobbying to get the Butch Lewis Act attached to that legislation. This gives us a chance to achieve the goal of securing retirement security for Teamsters and other workers.

Teamster employed at three Kroger warehouses and two dairies have been removed from the Central States Fund, in an arrangement similar the removal of 44,000 UPS Teamsters in 2007.  

Today, at a press conference held in Washington D.C., Mike Walden, president of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP), reminded the assembled press and Congressional staffers, Senators and House Representatives, delegations of Teamsters and Mineworker retirees, of Butch Lewis’s remark, “A promise is a promise is a promise.” It’s that promise that this movement has grown to defend. And it’s happening loud and strong as we reach for the new law that will protect that promised retirement security.

Some 500 Teamster retirees, actives and spouses jammed a union hall in South St. Paul Minnesota in support of the Butch Lewis bill to save pensions in jeopardy.

Teamster pension activists – organized by the National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP) - are collecting signatures on a petition to build support for legislation that would protect 10 million Americans from pensions from cuts. Sign the petition in support of the Butch Lewis Act. 

The latest quarterly financial report of the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF) shows that the fund has treaded water during 2017, due to the continued run-up in the stock market. But the underlying problems have only worsened.