Legislation Sponsored By Sen. Sanders, Rep. Kaptur Will Help Retirees, Workers

[midnight]

(WASHINGTON) – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued its support today for new legislation that will protect earned pension benefits for retirees and boost multi-employer pension plans for workers and participating employers. View photos from the press conference, here.
The “Keep our Pension Promises Act,” sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), will roll back provisions slipped into the fiscal 2015 spending bill approved by Congress last year that made earned pensions benefits vulnerable to cuts. The measure would restore anti-cutback rules so that recipients in financially troubled multi-employer pension plans will be protected from having their benefits cut.
In addition, the legislation creates a legacy fund within the federal pension insurance program, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), to help insure that participants from companies that have abandoned the pension system will continue to receive the benefits they have earned and depend upon. The cost to cover these retirees and workers will be covered by closing tax loopholes used by the very wealthy.
“Retirees and workers who have played by the rules should receive the benefits they were promised,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said. “The Teamsters thank Sen. Sanders and Rep. Kaptur for taking steps to ensure the government repairs some of the damage done by big banks to these retirement plans.”

http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2015/06/america-needs-to-keep-its-pension.html

[WillyT]

1. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[MichMan]

2. Don't know what to believe anymore about this

I am really confused by this. When this was discussed here at DU a couple months or so ago, the cuts were said to be deemed necessary by the trustees of the Central States Teamsters Pension fund to avoid the fund running out of money in the future. While no one wanted to cut on anyone, the trustees (who are appointed by the union and manage the pension fund) were afraid that the fund may potentially become insolvent. From my understanding, the proposed cuts were to be voted on by the members before being enacted.

The Central States Teamsters were in fact, the ones that were urging the changes in the law. According to the link below, Hoffa was one in favor of the changes, and now he is quoted as opposing them ?????


www.labornotes.org

"The Central States Pension Fund includes 25 states in the South and Midwest, from Florida to North Dakota, covering 65,000 working Teamsters, 180,000 retirees, and 30,000 surviving spouses. Central States was the most active lobbyist for the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, which made the cuts legal."

<snip>

"Pensions will certainly be an issue in the 2016 election for top Teamster officers, as President James Hoffa and his officers back the cuts and challengers Tim Sylvester and Fred Zuckerman blame Hoffa for the decline of the Fund.

In the last officers’ election only 300,000 of the 1.3 million Teamsters voted, with two challengers receiving a combined 41 percent of the vote. So the 65,000 working Central States Teamsters could prove a formidable voting bloc.

The officers sometimes try to have it both ways. At the April 8 Chicago rally against the cuts, International Vice President John Murphy showed up to praise the demonstrators and claim Hoffa was on their side. Meanwhile, inside the Central States meeting, international representatives were telling local officers the cuts were mandatory.

Walden says his many calls to Teamster headquarters have gone unreturned. “As far as transparency and communication, they’re avoiding us,” he said.

The single biggest reason Central States is in trouble is that the international union allowed UPS, by far the largest employer of Teamsters, to leave the fund in 2008. The Fund’s annual income would be about double if 45,000 UPS workers in those states were still members.

But Hoffa let UPS out, in return for the company’s letting him organize 13,000 workers at a new subsidiary, UPS Freight. Those workers now have a union contract—but with an inferior pension."

[link:http://www.labornotes.org/2015/04/teamsters-mount-grassroots-campaign-block-pension-cuts]

http://www.labornotes.org/2015/04/teamsters-mount-grassroots-campaign-block-pension-cuts

[hughee99]

3. If I understand right, and maybe I don't,

The cuts were needed before but now the taxpayers are going to put in money. They're going to close some tax loopholes to cover it, and provided they don't just find new loopholes, it will cover the cost.

[midnight]

4. Gwen Moore from Wisconsin talked about the cuts

not just targeting the beneficiaries, but everyone. I don't know who she was refering to by everyone-Congress, CEO?

[sabrina 1]

7. The most important thing is that if you paid into a pension fund you should get it.

I know what to think about it, it is a disgrace that in this country no one can count on ANYTHING anymore. So good for Sanders and Kaptur for forcing the issue. Let those who screwed up pay the price, not the people who played by the rules.

[Snotcicles]

8. We bail banks and the CEO's take huge bonuses.

If we bail out pensions the money goes back into the economy.

[sabrina 1]

9. Exactly, I can't imagine anyone even questioning this.

Let the government start bailing out Main St. It's way past time imo. Great point btw.

[Snotcicles]

10. That was some of George Millers work before he left office. nt

[Omaha Steve]

5. K&R!

[Snotcicles]

6. I estimate that could directly cut mine $690 a month or more. nt

[MichMan]

11. Why were the SEIU and Teamsters lobbying for it last year?

Of course everyone should get the pension they were promised. That goes without saying.

Just can't figure out why the Teamsters and SEIU were all in for lobbying for the changes last year. Doesn't make any sense to me why they would be OK with it; I would think they would be solid in opposition to the banksters and rethugs who you would expect to come up with this. I guess I just don't understand the issue.

Like snotcicles said, it was George Miller that was pushing the bill through congress.