Teamsters recently protested possible pension cuts at a meeting of the Central States Pension Fund.
David Moberg is senior editor at
In These Times, where he has worked covering labor issues since the publication began in 1976. He writes—
Central States Pension Fund Prepares To Slash Hundreds of Thousands of Workers’ Pensions:
For several months, many current and retired truck drivers have feared receiving a letter in the mail that could be “devastating,” in the words of Teamsters union vice-president John Murphy. Finally, last Friday, the Central States Pension Fund sent those dreaded letters to 407,000 workers and retirees, mainly Teamsters employed by hundreds of trucking-related companies with roots in the Midwest, South and East.
Each individualized letter told them in detail whether the fund will now cut their promised pension payments—and, if so, by how much.
Four decades after Congress first passed legislation protecting workers against such cuts, these reductions in promised benefits derived from workers’ deferred wages have started again, thanks to legislation passed late in 2014 with support from not only many businesses but also some unions and traditionally pro-union members of Congress.
Pro-worker advocates like the Pension Rights Center warn that this move to cut the benefits at the troubled Central States Pension fund could spread to other, more securely financed multi-employer plans as well as even more widespread single-employer, defined-benefit plans. But it could also spur support for legislation introduced in June by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) that would save the endangered pensions.
The cuts in monthly payments to workers covered by Central States will vary from nothing (for about one-third of the group) to more than 60 percent (the highest losses will be suffered by many in a group of about 28,400 Teamsters whose employers had abandoned their employees, usually via bankruptcy and closure). The average loss for all participants will be 22.6 percent of retirement pay on which they had counted, according to the summary prepared by the fund trustees. [...]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2004—Ladies Against Women on their Way to Iraq:
Lynne Cheney, who once presided over the National Endowment for the Humanities and subsequently sought out other duchies in the Culture Wars, isn’t much in the news these days except to kudo her husband on his forensic skills and give an occasional speech.
Behind the scenes, however, the second lady remains active in the halls of rightwingery that do much to set the American agenda. For instance, she sits, emerita, on the board of theIndependent Women’s Forum.
Thanks to bloggers Hannah at Feministing.com and Echidne, we learn that the IWF recently:
…has been awarded a grant to focus on the immediate promotion of women’s full political and economic participation in Iraq. The grant is part of the US Department of State’s $10 million Iraqi Women’s Democracy Initiative. As Iraqi women prepare to compete in Iraq’s January 2005 elections, IWF, in partnership with the American Islamic Congress and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, will provide leadership training, democracy education and coalition building assistance for 150 pro-democracy, Iraqi women leaders and political activists. […]
IWF was the spin-off of Women for Clarence Thomas. Its first executive director was Barbara Ledeen, wife of Michael Ledeen. Among other notables who have served on its board are Rumsfeld hagiographer Midge Dector, who wrote a 1972 book called The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women's Liberation, Ted Olson and Larry Kudlow (yes, that Kudlow).
The IWF mission: “to combat the women-as-victim, pro-big-government ideology of radical feminism.”
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