Who will do right by the Teamsters’ broken pension promises?
Thirty years of work for a truckload of broken promises. More than 200,000 Teamsters have traveled a long road that was supposed to end with a secure retirement. Instead, decades of misdeeds and neglect have exploded into a public crisis. Now, retired union members face drastic cuts in their monthly pension checks — many by half […]
PRC statement to the Senate Finance Committee on “The Multiemployer Pension Plan System: Recent Reforms and Current Challenges” (March 1, 2016)
The Pension Rights Center is a nonprofit consumer organization that has been working since 1976 to promote and protect the retirement security of American workers and their families. We are pleased that the Senate Finance Committee is holding today’s hearing, “The Multiemployer Pension Plan System: Recent Reforms and Current Challenges.” We hope that the hearing […]
Central States Retirees: A Wave of Organized Wrath
The Detroit picket was one of five this weekend called by angry Teamster retirees under the rubric of “March Madness,” with actions also held in Kansas City, St. Paul, Columbus, and Dunn, North Carolina.
Retirees protest proposed pension cuts
The last few weeks have been busy for retirees who are working around the clock to stop the pension cuts proposed by the Central States Pension Fund that would affect hundreds of thousands of retired truck drivers, spouses and widows. Just this past weekend, retirees in five states held coordinated actions to call attention to the […]
States Could Offer Effective Options for Workers Without Retirement Plans
About half of American workers in the private sector are not planning long term for their future, lacking any sort of pension or retirement savings plan.
Is Pension Overhaul A Raw Deal For Career Military?
Congress is cutting the guaranteed defined benefit pension plan for service members–and to make the change more palatable, adding sweeteners: a 1% base pay contribution and up to 4% match in the government Thrift Savings Plan and lump sum bonuses.
Closely Watched Pension Case Could Bring Cuts For Other Plans
When the Treasury Department delivers its ruling on proposed pension cuts for truckers in May, the cargo for a wide range of retirees could be Pandora’s box, warned Pension Rights Center Policy Director Karen Friedman.
Local Retired Teamsters Face Pension Cuts
After working 17 years as a trucker, Alan Woodall of Norfolk got a letter. His Teamsters pension fund may become insolvent and his checks may be cut, or even cut off.
More Union Plans Apply to Cut Benefits
According to the Pension Rights Center, the Iron Workers Local 17 Pension Fund, based in Ohio, was the second multiemployer plan to apply to the U.S. Treasury Department for permission to cut benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA).
Report: Teamsters pension fund cuts would affect 14,800 in Minnesota
Cuts proposed by the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund will touch retirees and workers in every corner of Minnesota,a document just released by the Pension Rights Center reveals.
Why the coming cuts to Teamster pensions deserve more national news coverage
Historically, it was illegal for pension plans to cut core benefits to people who are already retired; if the plan had money in the bank, it had to pay promised benefits. But many so-called “multi-employer” plans, which serve workers from multiple companies in a particular industry, have been falling into financial distress for years.
Houston workers fight for promised pensions
“We’ve never seen anything like this – ever,” Pension Rights Center Policy Director Karen Friedman said. “(The) law pretty much gives almost unbridled power to the trustees of certain pension funds that will allow them to cut the pensions of retirees by, in this case, as much as more than 70 percent.”
