June 13, 2014: Al Nelson, the Benefits Services Director of the Central States Pension Fund, told Minneapolis Teamsters that he favors a 30 percent across-the-board benefit cut for every current retiree and every active Teamster in the fund.

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“Central States claims they’re doing their best to preserve our pensions. But their best may not cut it because it still means reductions. We need to realize it’s going to take a political fight. We need to call, fax, email and visit our Congressional representatives’ home offices to demand that they deliver on protecting our retirement security.”

 

Jeff Brooks, Murphy Warehouse retiree

Local 120, Blaine, Minn.

June 13, 2014: The Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has called for reforms that would help secure union members pensions.

May 30, 2014: How much could you possibly lose from your pension if the anti-cutback provisions are repealed from federal law? The Pension Rights Center has posted a retiree cutback calculator to show you the answer.

The calculator shows how drastic the cuts could possibly be to retirees in “deeply troubled” pension plans, including the Central States Plan. The calculator provides the answer.

Use the calculator below to determine how much your pension could legally be cut if the "Solutions not Bailouts" proposal were to become law. Any changes to the proposed law would result in changes to the calculator’s projections.

The threat comes from proposed legislation backed by an organization of employers, pension funds, and even some unions. The trustees of the Central States Pension Fund are shamefully supporting this radical change in ERISA, the federal law which protects our pensions.

The Pension Rights Center, based in Washington, D.C., has played an important role over the years in defending Teamster pensions. The PRC, along with Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the AARP and several unions, is opposing the proposed law.

May 21, 2014: The Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is calling for reforms that would help secure union members pensions. TDU backs this proposal and Teamsters should, too.

The Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is calling for a major increase in insurance premiums paid by employers to provide more security to pension funds that cover Teamsters and other union members. 

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) supports this proposal and urges its adoption.

The PBGC exists to provide earned pensions for workers whose pension funds become insolvent, but it is badly underfunded, and unlike the FDIC which guarantees personal bank accounts, it is not backed by the US treasury. 

A big increase in premiums would be a healthy first step in a package of changes to protect the pensions of millions of workers, including Teamsters.

Josh Gotbaum, the PBGC director, points out that the premiums of $12 per year per participant are far too low to sustain the pension program. 

“Unlike the FDIC and other Federal insurance programs, Congress has continued to set PBGC premiums and has done so in ways that both underfunds PBGC and is convincing some companies they shouldn't offer pensions at all,” Gotbaum noted in a May 14 statement.

Presently the PBGC only guarantees a maximum of $12,870 per year for a 30-year Teamster in a multi-employer fund who may have earned a pension of $36,000 or more per year. And, it is too underfunded to back up a huge fund such as the Central States Pension Fund.

A PBGC fact sheet shows the problem.

The linked fact sheet for single employer plans notes that the PBGC guarantees pensions up to $59,320 per year for a single employer plan – nearly five times as high as for a multi-employer plan.

Big business, including the Chamber of Commerce, is opposed to any increase in PBGC premiums. They are comfortable with squeezing workers pensions to the minimum or out of existence.

TDU members are actively fighting back against a proposal to allow troubled pension funds to slash existing benefits. We are supporting positive alternatives. Adequate funding for the PBGC is a first step.

Teamster members are organizing committees to make sure Congress understands that working and retired Teamsters are dead set against reductions to their pensions. To learn more and to get involved in organizing to defend the pension in your area, contact TDU at 313-842-2600 or click here for more information. 

May 2, 2014: Surrounded by corporate lobbyists who support pension cuts, the President of the IAM denounced efforts to change pension law and reduce pensions. While the IAM speaks out, Hoffa is MIA.

Corporate lobbyists and some pension plans, including the Central States Pension Fund, are pushing to change federal law to allow “deeply troubled” plans, to drastically slash benefits.

But they’re catching heat from union leaders and the AARP. 

“Troubled plans deserve at least the same support and protection that Congress gave to the Wall Street bankers who caused the problems in the first place,” Tom Buffenbarger, President of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) told a crowd of lobbyists at a forum on the issue.

The AARP’s Director of Legislative and Government Affairs spoke out at the forum too. 

Hoffa did not even attend the forum. The entire Hoffa-Hall administration has been silent on the issue since last fall when Hoffa reversed the union’s official position and sent a letter to Congress objecting to any cuts to retirees’ pension benefits.

Less than 24 hours after the letter was issued, Central States Pension Fund Director Thomas Nyhan testified as the lead witness in a Congressional Hearing in favor of changing the law to allow pension plans to cut retirees’ benefits.

So which side is the IBT really on?

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) has joined forces with the Pension Rights Center, the AARP and other unions to oppose this legislation and supporter alternatives that would strengthen union pension funds, including increasing funding to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which insures troubled pension plans, and allowing alliances and mergers of poorly-funded and healthy plans.

We’re bringing members and retirees together to protect our benefits. Teamsters have packed TDU Pension Meetings in Ohio and Minnesota to get updated by pension experts and build a grassroots network to protect our pensions.

To learn more and to get involved in organizing to defend the pension in your area, contact TDU at 313-842-2600 or click here for more information. 

Click here to read an IAM press release.

Mike Walden, a retired YRC Teamster from Akron Local 24, reports that the Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions has held three organizing meetings in the follow up to their well attended March meeting on pension issues. Committee members have organized a phone tree and email list to get the word out to other active and retired members.

The committee has made plans to lease a bus for a trip to Washington, D.C. for the next round of Congressional hearings. The group has met with representatives of Senator Sherrod Brown.

The Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions can be contacted through TDU. These committed Teamsters can give you pointers on how to organize to defend our pensions in your area.

April 15, 2014: The Central States Pension third quarter 2013 financial report shows that assets increased to $18.2 billion, due to the run-up of the stock market last year.

The fund made 12.2% return on investment for the first nine months of 2013, which explains the growth in assets. The report indicates that the fund has 63,000 active participants and 210,000 retirees.

This information is contained in the Financial and Analytical Report and the Independent Special Counsel Report for the 3^rd quarter of 2013. No year-end report is yet available. TDU will make it available to members as soon as it issues.

The report reveals that the Teamster Union’s appointed Trustees to the Central States Board are supporting legislation to allow the fund to cut the pensions of existing retirees and Teamsters who have earned their pensions (see pgs 4-5 of the Independent Special Counsel Report).

We call upon the union trustees, who are 50% of the board, to reverse that stand and defend our pensions. The pension fund should be in the forefront of mobilizing the power of our union to defend pensions, not waving the white flag.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union, AARP, the Pension Rights Center, various unions, and also the International Union are against this proposed legislation. We are working to create positive alternatives, before resorting to slashing the pensions of retirees. Our goal is to kill this legislation and work with allies for better alternatives, and to build a movement to defend pensions.

The Teamsters Union could put thousands of retirees and Teamsters on the streets in Washington, and broaden the issues to defend pensions in this country that are under corporate attack.

If you want to learn more or join the movement to defend pensions, click here.

The Financial and Analytical Report also details the finances of the Central States Health and Welfare Fund, which is in healthy shape and operating in the black. It now has 20 months of reserves on hand. It has 82,500 active participants and 8,400 retirees.

April 8, 2014: The Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions (NOCPP) is organizing to defend retirement security.   

The committee was formed at a pension meeting on March 8 in Richfield, Ohio, and consists of retired and active Teamsters working together to protect our Teamster pensions.

“Our first organizing meeting was very focused, commented Mike Walden, a YRC retiree from Akron Local 24. “There were a few TDU guys and other retired Teamsters who volunteered at our Richfield meeting. We are all working together because we know how important it is to protect our pensions.” Walden arranged the meeting at Post 102 of the Army-Navy Club in Akron.

The committee set up a phone tree and email list to inform other Teamsters. Assignments were made and taken to contact Teamster retiree clubs, Teamster locals in the area, and Congressional offices. The plan is to send delegations to various meetings and offices to inform and advocate around the issue. The committee also decided to investigate the cost of securing rental vans or buses for a trip to Washington to lobby and speak out on pension rights.

The committee discussed a number of goals: educating active and retired Teamsters on the pension issues; building unity among all Teamsters to defend our pensions; make sure that Congress understands the impact of potential pension cuts on the economy; engage the media on this issue; work with the AARP and veteran groups; reach out to other unions and members who are also under attack; and continue to research and explore other alternatives and solutions to pension cuts.

If you are interested in getting involved in the Northeast Ohio committee or would like to organize a meeting or committee in your local or area, contact TDU.

April 2, 2014: Legislation is expected to be introduced soon that would allow the Teamster Central States Plan and other “deeply troubled” pension plans to slash pensions.

This makes the fight-back to stop this legislation and push for more positive alternatives all the more urgent.

As TDU has reported over the past year, the National Coordinating Committee for Multi-Employer Plans (NCCMP) has been lobbying both the House and Senate for a bill that would revoke the anti-cutback language in pension law.

The bill is currently being drafted by Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee. Because of the Congressional elections this fall, it will either move forward soon or likely be delayed until next year.

The NCCMP includes employers like UPS and ABF, pension funds like the Central States, unions like the Teamsters, and other affiliates. The Central States Pension Fund has become the poster child for funds in “troubled status” and is the main focus for the proposed changes. Tom Nyhan, executive director of the Central States, testifying last October, called on Congress to allow Fund Trustees to be able to make cuts on pensions for those already retired as well as reductions in benefits for those Teamsters still working. Currently, pension law protects retirees and active participants from any cut in already accrued benefits.

Concerned Teamsters are organizing opposition to the proposed NCCMP changes.
In northeastern Ohio, a meeting of over 120 initiated a Pension Action Committee to spread the word in Akron Locals 24 and 348, Cleveland Locals 407 and 507, Canton Local 92 and Mansfield Local 40. In St. Paul, Minnesota a similar meeting of over 80 decided to continue the work initiated by the meeting organizing committee. They formed a group consisting of Teamsters from Locals 120, 638 and 1145 to make plans to visit retiree groups, local membership meetings and area congressional offices.

Bob McNattin, a Minnesota Local 120 retiree said, “We were made promises and are owed the same considerations and protections that Congress gave the bankers when they faced their meltdown in 2008. TARP money was found to save their skins. Now those same bankers can help Central States make good on the pensions we earned.”

TDU is in this battle along with the AARP,  the Pension Rights Center, the International Association of Machinists, Steelworkers, and others—now including the Teamsters International. We all are calling for the continued protection of those already retired and have raised positive alternatives to slashing retiree benefits.

We will ally with all Americans who care about the future of pensions in this country, for private sector and public sector workers. It’s time for federal government to defend the
people who gave a lifetime of honest work and earned a pension, rather than Wall Street bankers.

If you are ready to organize in your area or want to learn more about the campaign to defend Teamster pensions, contact TDU.

April 2, 2014: Teamsters are getting active to defend pensions and oppose legislation which would allow retiree benefits to be slashed.

“We’ve formed a committee in the Cleveland area, and we’re going to make our voices heard,” said Alex Adams (speaking in the picture), retired past President of Local 407. “It starts with contacting Teamsters and retirees, who are worried about the future, and letting them know that something can be done if we get together.”

An initial small committee met and with the help of TDU held a March 8 meeting of 120 retired and active Teamsters, where the committee was expanded. The meeting was built by reaching out to retiree clubs, talking with the media, the internet and leafletting. Now the expanded committee is planning to:

• Continue to outreach to Teamsters and retirees

• Talk with every retiree club and local union in Northeast Ohio

• Set up meetings with Congressional Reps and Senators during the April recess

• Prepare to later send a delegation on a bus or van to Washington to lobby

Help Defend Our Pensions

Teamsters—retired and active—are organizing to defend our pensions and stop legislation that would cut accrued benefits and retirees’ pensions. TDU can help initiate a committee in your area or organize a meeting to inform other Teamsters and their spouses. Click here to contact us.