Freightmaster1
TB Legend
- Credits
- 606
“The danger to the rank-and-file
member,” Hoffa said, “comes when
the trustees of a pension plan begin
to look upon that plan as their own
little empire. It was not created for
that purpose, and this attitude must
not be the reason a working Teamster
is disqualified for pension benefits.”
----------------------------------------------------
Teamster General Executive Board
Pushes for Portable Pension Rights
A POLICY of pension reciprocity re-
ceived unanimous approval of the
Teamster General Executive Board at
its regular quarterly meeting last
month in Hollywood, Florida.
Following a discussion led by Team-
ster General President James R. Hoffa,
board members went on record in
favor of working out reciprocal agree-
ments among all negotiated pension
agreements to insure that workers
transferring from one job to another
are not disqualified from pension ben-
efits upon retirement.
The action by the board members
implements the sense of a resolution
adopted by delegates to the 19th con-
vention of the International Brother-
hood of Teamsters last July.
Hoffa outlined the problem, pointing
out that lack of reciprocity between
some Teamster negotiated pension
plans results in some instances in
disqualification.
Under the sense of the board reso-
lution, local unions, and other Team-
ster affiliates, are instructed to work
out agreements whereby a worker
covered under one pension will take
pension credits with him when he
changes to a job under another pen-
sion agreement.
This type of reciprocal agreement
now exists in many Teamster negoti-
ated pension plans, primarily in freight
contracts.
Hoffa declared the problem is im-
portant for various reasons. The
Teamster president declared that union
officials are morally obligated to see
that the rank-and-file member is pro-
tected against loss of pension because
of transfer of jobs. “The average
Teamster member changes jobs five to
six times during his working years,”
Hoffa said.
He also pointed out that Congress
is beginning to express an interest in
the area of pension reciprocity, one
such bill already having been intro-
duced by Congresswoman Martha
Griffiths of Michigan. Other such bills
will be forthcoming in the newly con-
vened session of Congress. All board
members were agreed that the needs
of the rank-and-file will be better
served if the union consummates such
pension reciprocity than if such porta-
bility of pension credits are created
by the government.
A model agreement was presented
to board members to take back to
their geographic areas of responsi-
bility. The model draft for pension
reciprocity was worked out by insur-
ance actuaries.
Hoffa pointed out that false fears
have been created concerning the
question of pension reciprocity. He
said that when such model reciprocity
agreements are worked out with em-
ployers, no legal problems will arise,
no pension trust will be affected by
difficulties of another, and trustees of
the various plans will not lose control
of the plans they were elected to
administer.
“The danger to the rank-and-file
member,” Hoffa said, “comes when
the trustees of a pension plan begin
to look upon that plan as their own
little empire. It was not created for
that purpose, and this attitude must
not be the reason a working Teamster
is disqualified for pension benefits.”
Although Hoffa estimates that it will
take three years to consummate total
reciprocity, he declared that it will in-
sure pension benefits for nearly one
million Teamsters, and, along with the
executive board members, urged all
affiliates with negotiated pension plans
to begin the process of working out
reciprocity with other plans and with
employers.
From the Teamster Magazine February, 1967
And 50 years later, these guys are all spinning in their graves wondering what happened to the Teamster pension plans they fought to establish for their Brother and Sister Teamster members...
GENERAL EXECUTIVE BOARD (February, 1967)
JAMES R. HOFFA
General President
25 Louisiana Ave., N. W.
Washington, 1, D. C.
JOHN F. ENGLISH
General Secretary-Treasurer
25 Louisiana Ave., N. W.
Washington 1, D. C.
FRANK FITZSIMMONS
General Vice President
2741 Trumbull Ave.
Detroit 16, Mich.
JOHN T. O’BRIEN
First Vice President
4217 S. Hoisted St.
Chicago 9, III.
JOSEPH J. DIVINY
Second Vice President
25 Taylor St.,
San Francisco 2, Calif.
EINAR MOHN
Third Vice President
1870 Ogden Dr.,
Burlingame, Calif.
HARRY TEVIS
Fourth Vice President
535 Fifth Ave.,
Pittsburgh 19, Pa.
THOMAS E. FLYNN
Fifth Vice President
100 Indiana Ave., N. W.
Washington 1, D. C.
GORDON R. CONKLIN
Sixth Vice President
320 University Ave.,
St. Paul 3, Minn.
GEORGE E. MOCK
Seventh Vice President
1722 J St.
Sacramento 14, Calif.
MURRAY W. MILLER
Eighth Vice-President
1330 N. Industrial Blvd.,
Dallas 7, Texas
HAROLD J. GIBBONS
Ninth Vice President
25 Louisiana Ave., N. W.,
Washington 1, D. C.
JOSEPH TREROTOLA
Tenth Vice President
265 W. 14th St.
New York, New York
DOMINICK CALABRESE
Eleventh Vice President
591 Summit Ave.,
Jersey City, N. J.
ROBERT HOLMES
Twelfth Vice President
2741 Trumbull Ave.,
Detroit, Michigan
TRUSTEES
JOHN ROHRICH
2070 E. 22nd St.,
Cleveland 15, Ohio
FRANK J. MATULA, JR.
1616 W. Ninth St.,
Los Angeles 15, Calif.
MAURICE R. SCHURR
4345 Frankford Ave.
Philadelphia, Pa.
