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“It’s the most disgusting, egregious crime against the elderly people of this country I’ve ever seen done in my life.”
Retired Milwaukee Teamster Bob Amsden talking about the huge 30 to 70 percent pension cuts that are coming for retirees depending on the Central States Pension Fund.
A final decision on the cuts is coming May 7th.
Hundreds of retirees and workers from across the country are going to Washington, D.C., for rallies, lobbying and protests Thursday to try to stop the cuts. Amsden says a consent decree taking management of the pension fund away from the Teamsters coupled with de-regulation of the trucking industry in 1982 began undermining the pension fund.
An act of Congress called The Multi-Employer Pension Reform Act of 2014 made the big pension cuts that are now looming legal.
“What it should have been called is ‘Cut The Throats Of The People of The United States,’, because you’ve got 1,500 multi-employer pension plans out there. It’s going to affect 10 million people if this goes through. And it’s your neighbors, it’s your aunts, your uncles, your parents, your grandparents that are going to be suffering by this.”
Amsden says when the government consent decree took over Central States Pension Fund management, guess who they turned the pension over to? Wall Street banksters at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Chase.
Amsden says these pension cuts don’t just affect Teamster truckers.
“This isn’t just a Teamster issue or a union issue. This is the people of the United States, who built this country off the sweat of their backs, who gave up wages, and holidays and everything else and time with their children. They gave up everything to get this pension, which was our golden parachute at the end of the road. And the lives that are going be devastated by this are insurmountable.”
AFL-CIO: Wisconsin No Longer a ‘Right To Work’ State; Walker Appeal Will Be Fought
Wisconsin AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Stephanie Bloomingdale says the Dane County Circuit Court ruling on the anti-union “Right To Work” law means full collective bargaining rights have been restored to private sector workers in the state.
“We’re very pleased with the judge’s ruling. We’re very pleased that full bargaining rights have been restored to working people in Wisconsin. This is a victory for working people. So that means ‘Right To Work’ is struck down in Wisconsin right now. We know that Scott Walker and his allies will do everything in the book to try to challenge this in the courts. But we know we need to do everything we can to stand up for working people and fight it each and every step of the way and we will do that.”
Absolutely this is a disgrace to the American people. I am 70 years old I’ve worked 30 years 60 to 70 hrs week driving a truck paid my pension in and now I stand to lose 50% of it a disgrace the elderly. Now they’re telling me Puerto Rico is going bankrupt I’m told Washington is planning a bailout something tells me that I don’t give up blank about the American people. Just like they did with the auto companies and the banks
“It’s the most disgusting, egregious crime against the elderly people of this country I’ve ever seen done in my life.” –
Actually it was Federal Reserve Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) that is, and continues to be, the most egregious crime ever perpetrated upon Americans.
Of course public union officials, who in many cases pay themselves as much as 50% of union dues fees, will never mention this. Of course this also doesn’t discount that sound mathematical principles cannot be “collectively bargained” or legislated, but once again, public union officials will never mention that either.
“And the lives that are going be devastated by this are insurmountable.” –
Get in line, as that’s what The People, union and non-union alike, deserve for reelecting Democrats and Republicans who VOTE to do you and your families harm.