Union Workers May Be Facing Massive Cuts To Their Pensions

The Central States Pension Fund may be in for some significant cuts, which will have a huge impact on the pensions of more than 6-thousand Iowans.

Officials say the Central States Pension Fund is expected to go bankrupt within the next 10 years, leaving union workers at risk of having their pensions cut up to 70% each month.

Union members will have a chance to vote against the proposed cuts sometime before July. Senator Chuck Grassley has opened an investigation into the issue.

What is the fund? Here is a description from their official website:

About the Fund

Central States Pension Fund is one of the nation’s largest multiemployer Taft-Hartley defined benefit pension plans. With more than 400,000 participants across the country, Central States Pension Fund is jointly administered by an eight-member Board of Trustees consisting of four Labor Trustees and four Employer Trustees.

 

Established in 1955 to provide pension benefits to Teamsters in the trucking industry, today, Central States Pension Fund has more than 1,500 contributing employers representing 60,000 participants in a variety of industries, including carhaul, tankhaul, pipeline, warehouse, construction, clerical, food processing, dairy and trucking.

 

At year end 2014, Central States Pension Fund had assets of $17.8 billion with a liability for promised benefits of $35 billion. The Fund pays out over $2.8 billion in pension benefits per year. To date, nearly $62 billion in retirement benefits have been paid by Central States Pension Fund to Teamster retirees and their families. - (mycentralstatepenion.org)