Retired Teamsters Union members from Iowa and from across the region are in Washington D.C. today for a rally to save their pensions.
Officials with the Central States Pension Fund says benefits must be cut, starting this summer, or the fund will run out of money within ten years. Steve Scranton is among a dozen retirees from Teamsters Local 371 in the Quad Cities who are taking part in the rally.
“My personal loss if this goes through July 1st is 43%,” Scranton says. “Most of the people in the group that I am with that are effected, 50 or 60 or 70% loss of pension.” Scranton went to Washington early to meet with members of the House and Senate from Iowa and Illinois, asking them for help. He’s hoping at the very least, Congress could postpone the pension cuts until the fund can be audited.
“The last time there was a public audit of Central States Pension Fund, the Department of Labor oversaw it in 1985,” he says. Central States covers retired teamsters in 22 states. It blames the money problems on the growing number of retirees at a time when fewer active teamsters are contributing to the fund. Many trucking companies have closed since deregulation in the 1980s without funding pensions for their workers.
(Thanks to Herb Trix, WVIK, Rock Island)