« kroger employees file lawsuit over pension benefits | Main | washington post...what should you do with that 401k when you retire? »

Watch out!...pension plans face reduction in benefits.

More than a quarter of a million active and retired truckers and their families could soon see their pension benefits severely cut — even though their pension fund is still years away from running out of money.

The potential cuts are possible under legislation passed by Congress in 2014 that for the first time allowed financially distressed multi-employer plans to reduce benefits for retirees if it would improve the solvency of the fund. The law weakened federal protections that for more than 40 years shielded one of the last remaining pillars that workers could rely on for financial security in retirement.

The Central States Pension Fund, which handles the retirement benefits for current and former Teamster union truck drivers across various states including Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, New York and Minnesota, was the first plan to apply for reductions under the new law.

Thousands of Teamsters retirees, angered by looming pension cuts of 50% or more, descended on Washington April 14 to protest the reductions ahead of a May 7 deadline for a Treasury Department decision on the proposed cutbacks. Treasury is considering a proposal from the Central States Pension Fund, the largest Teamsters pension fund, to make the cuts. The agency was told by CSPF the cuts were needed to create a long-term survival plan, since it could run out of money in as little as a decade. The fund, with more than 220,000 Teamsters retirees, pays out $3.46 in benefits for every dollar it receives, and spent $2 billion more than it collected in 2014.

Read more at: http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=41649

© Transport Topics, American Trucking Associations Inc.
Reproduction, redistribution, display or rebroadcast by any means without written permission is prohibited.
Thousands of Teamsters retirees, angered by looming pension cuts of 50% or more, descended on Washington April 14 to protest the reductions ahead of a May 7 deadline for a Treasury Department decision on the proposed cutbacks. Treasury is considering a proposal from the Central States Pension Fund, the largest Teamsters pension fund, to make the cuts. The agency was told by CSPF the cuts were needed to create a long-term survival plan, since it could run out of money in as little as a decade. The fund, with more than 220,000 Teamsters retirees, pays out $3.46 in benefits for every dollar it receives, and spent $2 billion more than it collected in 2014.

Read more at: http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=41649

© Transport Topics, American Trucking Associations Inc.
Reproduction, redistribution, display or rebroadcast by any means without written permission is prohibited.
Posted on Monday, April 25 by Registered CommenterWise Owl | Comments Off