March 20, 2014: Over 80 active and retired Teamsters filled the chapel at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota to learn about the move afoot in Congress to weaken pension protections, and what is being done to stop it.

The meeting was organized by TDU and a committee of Twin Cities Teamsters who are organizing to defend their retirement security.

Bob McNattin, a retired member of Teamster Local 120, spoke of the importance of maintaining retirement security not just for Teamsters, but for all working people. He stressed that the threat to reduce pensions would be devastating and could ripple through the economy.

He highlighted the fact that he and many Teamsters had passed on substantial wage increases over the years because they were told the money needed to go to pension contributions to provide a good retirement.

Ann Curry Thompson, a pension rights attorney who works with TDU, outlined how the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) has spent the last few years lobbying Congress to rework current pension law. She reported on the NCCMP efforts to allow troubled pension funds, like the Central States, the ability to cut already accrued benefits. Thompson said this could slash the benefits of the already retired if a new law should be passed. That is illegal under current law.

The NCCMP, with the support of the leaders of the Central States Fund, is aiming to get a bill into Congress very soon, so the time to step up and fight back is now.

Active and retired Teamsters from Locals 120, 638, 974 and 1145 signed the petition opposing the cuts. The Twin Cities Pension Action Committee is planning visits to local congressional offices and outreach to Teamster locals and their retiree groups.

“We worked hard over many years to insure a secure retirement, said Sam Karam – a YRC Teamster. Now we need to organize to make sure we keep what was promised. This is no reward or bonus for our later years. We earned it.”

Click here if you want to become part of the fight to defend Teamster pensions.

Click here if you want to help organize a pension meeting for your area.

Active and retired Teamsters in Minnesota are organizing a meeting for Sunday, March 16 to address pension issues. The meeting is sponsored by TDU and will be held at Weyerhauser Chapel on the campus of Macalester College at 1:00 pm. Ann Curry Thompson, an attorney well versed in pension law, will be a guest speaker.

The meeting comes in response to Congress considering changes to pension law. Teamsters are encouraged to invite co-workers and spouses to learn more about possible cuts for those already retired or soon to be.

Details are available on this flier.

March 10, 2014: Over 120 active and retired Teamsters packed the house on March 8 in Richfield Ohio to learn about Congress being lobbied right now to undermine pension law, and the battle to save our pensions. The meeting was organized by Teamsters for a Democratic Union and a committee of Northeast Ohio Teamsters who have been active in defending their retirement security.

The committee is now planning more actions, along with outreach to Teamsters and to contact Ohio Congressional Representatives.

Alex Adams, a retired YRC Teamster and past president of Cleveland Local 407, informed active and retired Teamsters on a visit he and other Teamsters made to Washington in October 2013. At that congressional hearing, Tom Nyhan – executive director of the Central States Pension Fund, testified that pension cuts need to be made so the fund can survive long-term. Adams reported that the rank & file Teamster delegation had support form the International Association of Machinists, the Pension Rights Center, and the AARP in opposing the cuts, and co-sponsored a press conference where Adams spoke.

Ann Curry Thompson, a pension rights attorney who works with TDU, outlined how the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) has spent the last two years lobbying Congress to rework current pension law. She reported the NCCMP proposes changing the law to allow troubled pension funds, like Central States, the ability to cut already accrued benefits. Thompson said this could slash the benefits of those already retired, as well as those still working.

Active and retired Teamsters from Locals 407, 24, 507, 348, 413, 92, and 964 signed the petition opposing the cuts and formed a committee for Northeast Ohio. The committee is planning visits to local congressional offices and outreach to Teamster locals and their retiree groups. They also plan to prepare for organizing a delegation to visit Washington when the next round of hearings is held.

“It was a great turnout and a good start to getting more organized” said Greg Smith a retired YRC Teamster. “We earned our pension benefits and it’s clear that many Teamsters are ready to fight to make sure we keep them.”

Clik here to become part of the fight to defend Teamster pensions.

TDU is organizing more pension forums. Contact us if you are interested in one coming to your area.

Active and retired Teamsters in northeast Ohio are organizing a meeting for Saturday, March 8 to address pension issues. The meeting is sponsored by TDU and will be held at the Days Inn - Richfield at 10 am. Ann Curry Thompson, an attorney well versed in pension law, will be a guest speaker.

The meeting comes in response to Congress considering changes to pension law. Teamsters are encouraged to invite co-workers and spouses to learn more about possible cuts for those already retired or soon to be.

Details are available on this flier.

January 3, 2014: Major changes to federal pension laws will be considered by Congress in 2014. Teamster members, along with the AARP and the Pension Rights Center, are organizing to defend your right to your pension.

The National Coordinating Committee for Multi-Employer Plans (NCCMP), which includes the Central States Pension Fund along with many Teamster employers and some unions, is lobbying for a law which would allow already-earned pensions to be cut. Thomas Nyhan, the Director of the Central States Fund, was a star witness in Congressional hearings in favor of cutting existing pensions.

The NCCMP is now aiming to get their bill into Congress by summer, after the coalition to save pensions got it stalled last fall. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 has a sunset clause and will likely be renewed or changed in 2014.

The IBT announced in December that it was launching a campaign to defend Teamster pensions and promised retirement benefits, after Hoffa switched over to oppose the NCCMP stand. If Hoffa follows through on this pledge, it will boost our efforts. We need IBT resources to build a national mobilization in every local and in Washington DC to defend pensions.

Take Action to Save Our Pensions

• Learn about the attack on union pensions and the dangerous new bill to cut our pensions at www.tdu.org/pensions.

• Distribute the Protect Our Pensions petition and collect signatures.

• Organize a pension meeting with retirees and active Teamsters in your area—call TDU for help planning your meeting.

• Volunteer to participate in a delegation to visit Congress or local lawmakers.

"Congress needs to be reminded that flawed policies like trucking deregulation led to issues with our pensions. Many of our current representatives may not realize the impact that legislation had on our present circumstances. And they also need to know that our pensions were earned over many hard years where we passed on significant wage increases in order to see the companies make contributions towards the promise of our secure retirement. Now that’s being threatened. See my letter to Congress and make a commitment to write yours. We need to make our voices heard"

Leroy Goans
Local 100, Cincinnati
ABF Retired

Click here to read Leroy Goans Letter to Congress.

I served on several pension reform committees going back to the 80’s and all through the 90’s into the 2000’s. In the early 90’s, we had to fight with both our union and our pension funds just to get improvements, we won the first improvements under the Master Freight Agreement, negotiated by R.V.Durham. Once Ron Carey won the Presidency, we had someone at the top fighting for us. That said, Ron Carey wouldn’t have won, nor would we have gotten the improvements, without the organization and leadership from TDU.

I visited Washington, D.C. three times in 2006 with a group of Teamsters to defend our pension rights. We were for the Pension Protection Act but lobbied for the elimination of the Red Zone Amendment included in the Bill. The “red zone’ amendment allowed underfunded pension funds to make cuts. When we were visiting with members of Congress, we were told that Hoffa had sent someone from the IBT Lobby Dept. to speak to Congress in favor of the Bill, including the Red Zone Amendment. Later Hoffa came out and said that he didn’t support the Red Zone Amendment. So he was playing both sides.

Now Hoffa and the Central States are participating in the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Pensions (NCCMP). Tom Nyhan, executive director of the Central States, testified before Congress asking for changes to  pension law that will allow the Fund to make cuts to take away more of our money. Hoffa recently wrote a letter to Congress saying while he supports the efforts of the NCCMP, he does not support their proposal to eliminate the “anti-cutback provision.”  Once again it seems that he is playing both sides.

Central States claims roughly $18 Billion in unfunded liability. In the ‘70’s and 80’s, we were told that our multi-employer fund was better than any other and was managed with precise expertise. We were told that the managers of our fund were experts and could see all the signs, bad and good, and knew when to pull out and where to move our money to a more secure investment, so as not to lose money. I started questioning that assumption in the 90’s when I saw over a three year period the fund lost $6 billion and the fund managers were paid $300 Million. I added up investment losses since the 1990’s and they come to close to that $18 billion. When I saw the fund change investment firms, (money managers) I thought things would get better. Not so. Then Hoffa let UPS, the biggest contributor to the fund, pull out of the fund in 2008. UPS paid 6.1 Billion in withdrawal liability but that money was lost within 1 to 2 years following the 2008 stock market meltdown. I would say anyone believes that our fund was managed well is drinking the wrong Kool Aid. Central States investment bank managers, with oversight from the federal court, lost our money Both the banks and the government owe us.

Now after 38 active working years and 9 years of retirement, I’m forced to fight to save the pensions we were guaranteed would not be taken from us once earned.

I made a promise to myself when my pension improved to the point that it did in the 90’s that I would remain a TDU member for the rest of my life. I intend to keep that promise because I saw first hand that none of it would have happened without the efforts of TDU. Once again, retired and working Teamsters need TDU if we are to win this fight.

Tommy Burke
Retired UPS
Local 391

Click here to read more on taking action to save our pensions.

December 2, 2013: The Central States Pension Fund had $17.8 billion in assets as of June 30, 2013, which is the same amount it had at the start of the year.

The pension fund made $1.1 billion on its investments, a 6.5% rate of return in the six-month period. The high rate was due to the run-up of the stock market during the first quarter. The fund took in $332 million in employer contributions, and paid out $1.4 billion in benefits; thus it relied on the high $1.1 billion investment return to break even.

The status of the fund is thus unchanged overall. The Financial and Analytical Report for the second quarter provides detailed information. The Independent Special Counsel Report supplements that information.

Health and Welfare Fund

The Central States Health and Welfare Fund, unlike the pension fund, continues to operate in the black and grow in assets. Net assets were $1.9 billion at mid-year, up about $150 million from a year earlier. The fund pays nearly $100 million in benefits per month, and thus has 19 months of reserves.

The report notes that presently Central States H&W has 40,000 UPS participants, and anticipates a big growth in that number in the future due to the proposed UPS contract, which remains unratified by rank and file members.

The report makes no mention of the historic rejection by UPS members of 18 supplemental agreements, in large part due to proposed cuts in health benefits. Since that time, the offer has been sweetened with improved benefits by Central States.

The 40,000 present participants are full-time UPS Teamsters in the South, the Carolinas and various areas of the Central Region including Cleveland, Kansas City, and Louisville.

Members of TDU won in federal court the right of members to have access to these documents, and TDU provides this information to Teamster members and retirees.

November 21, 2013: Growing opposition to a proposal to allow multi-employer pension plans to slash already-earned benefits has forced a delay in its introduction into Congress. That opposition needs to grow stronger, into a grassroots movement to save our pensions and develop a positive alternative plan to the cuts.

A bill was scheduled to be introduced in the US House of Representatives over a month ago to allow "deeply troubled" pension funds—such as the Central States Fund—to cut the pension benefits of retirees and those soon to retire. But opposition has slowed it, at least for now.

We're out to stop this bill to protect Teamsters and other workers who worked long and hard to earn their pensions. If they revoke the ERISA anti-cutback rule and could then cut some pensions, the door will be open to slash more pensions of Teamsters and other workers who earned a good retirement with a lifetime of honest work.

This bill has the support of employers and the Central States Pension Fund. Central States Director Thomas Nyhan was the star witness in favor of changing the law to allow pension cuts at the Congressional hearing held on October 29. He testified that Central States could become insolvent in 10-15 years.

Time for Action

Opposition to the bill, spearheaded by the Pension Rights Center, the AARP, TDU, and some unions has grown. Just hours before the October 29 hearing, Teamster president James Hoffa did a 180 and issued a letter in opposition to the proposal, calling for a movement to stop it.

This statement by Hoffa is welcome. Now is the time for Teamster locals, retiree clubs and members and retirees to get involved in building that movement. 

If you want to be part of the solution, contact TDU.

What’s at Stake

Tell Congress to keep the ERISA anti-cutback rule to protect the pension you earned. Ask your representatives to support the AARP proposals. And pass on info from the TDU website to other active and retired Teamsters.

Read what Teamsters have to say in "We Earned Our Pensions."

Read more about the issue: TDU’s statement to Congress, and what’s at stake.

Join the growing movement of retirees and active Teamsters who are working with the TDU Pension Action Network to protect our pensions.

Contact your Representatives

Click here to tell your Senators and Congressional Representatives to vote NO on any plan to allow earned pensions to be cut. This site, sponsored by the Machinists Union, will allow you to send an email message right away to your Senators and Reps.

Click here for a list of Congressional Reps on the Education and Workforce Committee who will take up the bill, and for how to send them a note urging a NO vote.

UPDATED October 29, 2013: Opposition to the proposal to amend pension law to allow retirees' pensions to be cut is growing and gaining force to slow down this train wreck and allow consideration of other options.

As reported in Pension and Investments, the growing opposition was in evidence at a Congressional hearing held on the proposal today. Click here to watch a video of the testimonies.

Click here to tell your Senators and Congressional Representatives to vote NO on any plan to allow earned pensions to be cut. This site, sponsored by the Machinists Union, will allow you to send an email message right away to your Senators and Reps.

Click here for a list of Congressional Reps on the Education and Workforce Committee who will take up the bill, and for how to send them a note urging a NO vote.

We expect a bill to hit Congress very soon which would allow "deeply troubled" pension funds—such as the Central States Fund—to cut the pension benefits of retirees and those soon to retire.

We're out to stop this bill to protect Teamsters and other workers who worked long and hard to earn their pensions. If they revoke the ERISA anti-cutback rule and could then cut some pensions, the door will be open to slash more pensions.

This bill has the support of employers and the Central States Pension Fund. Central States Director Thomas Nyhan was the number one advocate at the Congressional hearing yesterday; he testified that Central States could become insolvent in 10-15 years.

You can read TDU's statement on the issue; we support more positive options, including public funding of the PBGC, before considering drastic pension cuts.

Less than 24 hours prior to the hearing, the Hoffa administration turned around 180 degrees and come out against changing the anti-cutback rule. Hoffa issued a three page letter which cites the same positive AARP proposals described in TDU's testimony.

Hoffa refers in his letter to the need to "fight for changes that will ensure that the right to a dignified retirement is sacrosanct." It's time to put the IBT muscle and funding into building a movement to do just that. Let's do it!

The Machinists, Boilermakers, Steelworkers and other unions announced opposition.

We join with others in opposition to changing the anti-cutback rule. You read the proposals put forward by the Pension Rights Center and AARP.

If you want to oppose this bill, the time is now to take action.

Tell Congress to keep the ERISA anti-cutback rule to protect the pension you earned. Ask your representatives to support the AARP proposals. And pass on info from the TDU website to other active and retired Teamsters.

Read what Teamsters have to say in "We Earned Our Pensions."

Join the growing movement of retirees and active Teamsters who are working with the TDU Pension Action Network to protect our pensions.

October 16, 2013: Former Teamster Alex Adams is one of the hundreds of thousands of retirees whose benefits could be slashed if Congress passes legislation to restructure the laws governing multi-employer pension plans.

Alex Adams, 71, worked in the trucking industry for 36 years before retiring in 2003. Five years later, Adams was diagnosed with cancer in his larynx and tonsils. As a result, he now takes food through a feeding tube and has to deal with a number of ongoing medical costs.

Click here to read more.