Marathon Pundit: Teamster bosses okay with slashing pension benefits for rank-and-file

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Teamster bosses okay with slashing pension benefits for rank-and-file

After years of mismanagement, the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund is broke--it is $14 billion underwater. And who will likely feel the pain? Not the bosses such as James P. Hoffa--but the rank and file--the men and women who paid into the troubled funds for years.

From Teamsters for a Democratic Union:

The Hoffa administration has signed on to a joint employer-union proposal to allow "deeply troubled" pension funds to slash accrued benefits, even for Teamsters who have already retired.

This proposal, which could be aimed squarely at the Teamster Central States Fund, comes from the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, a committee of employers, unions and pension plans.

UPS is a prominent member of the group, which also includes several pension funds, employer groups, and some unions.

The group's proposal is to change federal law to allow "deeply troubled" plans, those in danger of going insolvent in the next 20 years, to drastically slash benefits.