ABF | Butch Lewis Act

[Puff Driver]

What alternative did we have? What alternative did the Trustees have? If I have my dates right, Local #776 out of Carlisle ,Pa. about 20 years ago, switched to a defined-contribution fund,.....trustees voted for it, because actuaries said as long as they can achieve an 8% return every year,.......everyone will receive a million dollars upon 30 years' service...So they took the companies' negotiated contribution and paid it to the 401(k) fund.....Fidelity, I think,...but I'm not sure......Help me out here, Carlisle guys.......

They hit their goal of 8% the first year,.......then 6%,...then 2% ...then -2%....

After 10 years, they switched back to a defined-benefit plan.

When you get 20 years into a plan,.........you're pretty much committed,....
And,.....20 years ago, PBGI was funded properly,...because there was less than 2% of MEPFs that were in trouble. If you remember properly,....it was the SINGLE Employer pension funds they gave "relief" to in 2003,...after the ENRON debacle......

MEPFs were reasonably fine,...up until about 2006,........and the recession of 2008 just put the boot in.

Sure,.....I'll take "responsibility"..........working people always do.....

Update,...of sorts...on the Butch Lewis Act, S.2147.

Apparently the Senate Committee of Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs....Sen. Mike Crapo(R) Idaho , Chairman.......hasn't seen fit to allow this Bill out of Committee yet.
I was informed by the liaison person I get my information through that there should be enough votes in the House of Representatives for this Bill to pass,....but there are not enough in the Senate....along Party lines.....for this Bill to come out of Committee.
The Committee is in possession of the CBO(Congressional Budget Office) report that S.2147 will cost only a third of what pension defaults through PBGI will cost,...and those are Government-mandated.

The only reason this Bill is not proceeding,.....is just pure partisan disdain for working people. Even the Chamber of Commerce is supporting this Bill.
What gives?

The Chairmen of the Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of MEPFs are Sen. Orrin Hatch(R) Utah, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), Ohio......Call them.

Call your Senator, gents.....Call MY Senator.....Bob Casey(D),Pa. is a co-sponsor,......Sen.Pat Toomey(R), Pa. won't even acknowledge letters......

From what I'm told,...if only a few Senators switch their position on this Bill,.......it will proceed.

Hey!.....Actually save the taxpayers money?....Why Not?

The Big Business donors want your pension to be drained,.......and thereby force you back into the workforce....

Driver Shortage "Fixed".........

Distain for working people???
By the party that handed you Trucking Deregulation, NAFTA, MFN status for China, ended GATT, tried to force Trans Pacific Trade down our throats, 50 Million Illegal Immigrants and tried to force the Paris Climate Agreement on the USA. (see Yellow Vest Protests Paris 2018)
Liberals/Socialists/ Communists/ Democrats have destroyed more 'working people' jobs in the USA all by design.
You need to sit quiet as 63% of foreign born people in America remain on Welfare. While Democrats tell you they have come to America for jobs.....
That is the goal of the left in America., to destroy all we have worked for....
All supported with you union dues...…..
Enjoy what you have sown..

 

[canaryinthemine]

Distain for working people???
By the party that handed you Trucking Deregulation, NAFTA, MFN status for China, ended GATT, tried to force Trans Pacific Trade down our throats, 50 Million Illegal Immigrants and tried to force the Paris Climate Agreement on the USA. (see Yellow Vest Protests Paris 2018)
Liberals/Socialists/ Communists/ Democrats have destroyed more 'working people' jobs in the USA all by design.
You need to sit quiet as 63% of foreign born people in America remain on Welfare. While Democrats tell you they have come to America for jobs.....
That is the goal of the left in America., to destroy all we have worked for....
All supported with you union dues...…..
Enjoy what you have sown..

I can give you a list just as long about Conservative/Tea Party/ⓇⒶⒸⒾⓈⓉ/Republicans.........But I learned a long time ago not to listen to the "hate p*on" from either side on talk radio.......

There is no group trying to....."destroy America".........other than fringe groups in other Third-World nations.........and in the minds of talk show hosts who realized Anger and Hate and Conspiracy can be just as .....Profitable......as Humor and Entertainment.....

99% of legislation in Congress can be directly traced back to........Labor costs. That includes Climate change, EPA rules, Banking regulation, Consumer Finance protection, and Education.
The...."disdain"....in this case, comes from Big Business trying to find a..."solution"..to the Labor shortage problem,...and their looking at demographics showing truck drivers retiring at a higher rate than other industries. The reason being that they are older on the average...is ignored.
Higher retirement rates affect bottom line........and one answer that's amenable to both Business and Wall Street is destruction of traditional pensions. Win-Win for both sides.......Workers lose.....

Being in a Union is a First Amendment right...."freedom of Assembly"....Many non-Union places of employment have their employees leave their First Amendment rights at the time clock when they punch in.......You can have them back when you punch out......Unless you're criticizing your employer on Facebook...........

This ain't the political board,....and I've tried to keep the politics out of it........Hard to do.....
But I figured passage of this legislation impacts all of us.......I know that some contracts going to be negotiated in the near future will turn on passage of pension reform.

You've ended your post on rather a snarky note......Surely you're not wishing ill on retirees and Union people?
Next thing you know,....you'll be agreeing with Congress to de-fund programs for the VA,..and change the qualifier to get VA insurance to means-based,...instead of DD-214 based....
Oh,.....wait......Congress already did that.....2006...Thanks, George....

Ah well,.....those stinky Veterans were sucking the system dry with their "free health care"....and what-all......

I'm a veteran,......Don't know if you are,....But one thing service teaches you is that ALL of us are Americans.....this nation is unique in that it has no native-born population.....(..one that matters to the powers-that-be, anyway..)....
We ALL are generation-removed immigrants...

And,....if you know your history,....Big Business has ALWAYS used class-division and hatred....to divide the workers up.

It seems they greatly fear workers sticking together in an organized group......And that brings us right back to where 99% of legislation is about.....Labor.

You and I are on the same side,........and our "enemy"...Global Business........don't want us united......