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- Sep 30, 2011
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The immediate target of the angry Teamsters was the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which is in charge of administering the new law, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). Government officials sponsored the first-ever public hearing on MPRA last week, and the retired workers swarmed the meeting to make it clear they are alarmed and unhappy at the likelihood that the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund is at the top of the list for cuts.
“We’re turning up the heat, and we are going to keep turning up the heat higher and higher” on federal officials and lawmakers, says Bob Amsden, a retired truck driver from the Milwaukee area who has emerged as a high-profile advocate for Teamster pensioners.
Amsden and other union members face cuts because MPRA allows pension fund trustees new freedom to reduce promised benefits in cases where the long-term solvency of the fund is in danger. Under MPRA, any such cuts must be approved by the Treasury Department first, and government officials are currently in the process of writing the rules and regulations of the approval process.
A secondary target for the riled-up retirees, who travelled to Washington from Ohio, Wisconsin and a number of other states, were members of Congress, who are being lobbied to repeal MPRA outright. As reported at In These Times earlier this year, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is sponsoring repeal legislation that would shore up failing pension funds and protect the income of union retirees.
Teamsters Protest as Treasury Debates Allowing Pension Cuts for 1.5 Million Retirees - Working In These Times
Repeal it.
“We’re turning up the heat, and we are going to keep turning up the heat higher and higher” on federal officials and lawmakers, says Bob Amsden, a retired truck driver from the Milwaukee area who has emerged as a high-profile advocate for Teamster pensioners.
Amsden and other union members face cuts because MPRA allows pension fund trustees new freedom to reduce promised benefits in cases where the long-term solvency of the fund is in danger. Under MPRA, any such cuts must be approved by the Treasury Department first, and government officials are currently in the process of writing the rules and regulations of the approval process.
A secondary target for the riled-up retirees, who travelled to Washington from Ohio, Wisconsin and a number of other states, were members of Congress, who are being lobbied to repeal MPRA outright. As reported at In These Times earlier this year, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is sponsoring repeal legislation that would shore up failing pension funds and protect the income of union retirees.
Teamsters Protest as Treasury Debates Allowing Pension Cuts for 1.5 Million Retirees - Working In These Times
Repeal it.
