ABF | Butch Lewis Act

A pension ponzi scheme only works when you have more people paying into the scheme than withdrawing. Any one with any intelligence could see the number of participants in teamster funds dwindling while at the same time the teamster 'leaders' sat fiddling doing nothing about it.
I think this may be only the second time , since Red Star shut down in 2004, that I can agree with you on part of your many anti-Teamster posts. But would you call our TENJ pension a ponzi scheme if the congress hadn't screwed things up? Do you remember back in the 80s when we were close to being fully funded? Do you remember that it was congress that passed the laws that would have penalized us for fully or over funding the plan? Not having extra funds set aside for the down years. Having to raise the accrual and assessorial benefits or have any reserves penalized.

Do you remember that congress set the PBGC premiums for the SEPFs and MEPFs? Do you remember when then PBGC Directer Joshua Gotbaum pleaded with congress for a PBGC premium increase? Do you remember that congress approved the increase for the Single Employer Pension Funds but said the Multi Employer Pension Funds were in better shape and didn't need an increase?

In this months AARP Bulletin it says that the PBGC's maximum annual benefit for retirees in failed single employer plans is $67,295. But the PBGC's maximum annual benefit for retirees in failed multiemployer plans is only $12,870. I'd say that congress screwed up the PBGC too.

I agree that the failure of the Teamsters to organize any new LTL freight companies hurt our pension funds. But I put the blame squarely on the lawmakers in congress who wrote the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Congress deregulated the trucking industry. It wrote the bankruptcy laws that classifies the company's unfunded pension liability as unsecured creditors and we go to the bottom of the list and rarely get paid.................Will you agree that the blame for the failing pension funds or ponzi scheme rests mainly on the congress?
 
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I think this may be only the second time , since Red Star shut down in 2004, that I can agree with you on part of your many anti-Teamster posts. But would you call our TENJ pension a ponzi scheme if the congress hadn't screwed things up? Do you remember back in the 80s when we were close to being fully funded? Do you remember that it was congress that passed the laws that would have penalized us for fully or over funding the plan? Not having extra funds set aside for the down years. Having to raise the accrual and assessorial benefits or have any reserves penalized.

Do you remember that congress set the PBGC premiums for the SEPFs and MEPFs? Do you remember when then PBGC Directer Joshua Gotbaum pleaded with congress for a PBGC premium increase? Do you remember that congress approved the increase for the Single Employer Pension Funds but said the Multi Employer Pension Funds were in better shape and didn't need an increase?

In this months AARP Bulletin it says that the PBGC's maximum annual benefit for retirees in failed single employer plans is $67,295. But the PBGC's maximum annual benefit for retirees in failed multiemployer plans is only $12,870. I'd say that congress screwed up the PBGC too.

I agree that the failure of the Teamsters to organize any new LTL freight companies hurt our pension funds. But I put the blame squarely on the lawmakers in congress who wrote the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Congress deregulated the trucking industry. It wrote the bankruptcy laws that classifies the company's unfunded pension liability as unsecured creditors and we go to the bottom of the list and rarely get paid.................Will you agree that the blame for the failing pension funds or ponzi scheme rests mainly on the congress?


You hit the proverbial Nail on the Head.....with a Sledgehammer.....

And,....the conclusion we draw from this,......is that Congress has been paid to have an.....agenda......to ruin MEPFs.

In other words,....we've been Plotted Against.

Who benefits from the failure of MEPFs? Wall Street bankers wrote editorials of the..."Hazards"...of letting Unions have Large blocks of.."unregulated stocks".......
....to be directed by the Union members who Own those stocks to do...."social engineering"......
....thereby upsetting Wall Street "predictions" of who, and why money would be invested......

Our Fund had about 200,000 shares of Union Pacific during the Overnite organizing debacle in the '90's.......A motion was made on the floor of one of the Union Locals,...to direct the Trustees to....."divest our Fund" of that stock......because it was ...morally reprehensible to fund the parent company that was actively fighting the Union organizing effort.

You'da thought I'd asked them to wrench their liver out without anesthesia .........."Morals Don't Apply In The Marketplace!" I was told......And why not? Selling our collective Souls for a...."mess of pottage"?(..Biblical.....look it up..)....

Funding .....with our own money.....the very people who are trying to .....defeat Unions?
I saw a conflict of....Moral Principle.....Other people saw Raw, Naked Profit........

Wall Street saw a ....threat.....

The Jury is still out on 401(k)s........May of 1998 was the first time defined-contrbution "pensions" exceeded defined-benefit pensions, as a Private Industry retirement option. The first Large Group of solely 401(k) funded retirees is....just now....starting to happen.....
........and I see quite a bit of ..."information"....in print and media, about what to do "if you run out of ...Money....in retirement"
........And,....a big push from many directions,...including Government,.......to "hold off retirement"...until 65,70,...or later.....

That's all well and good,....if you're a desk jockey,....or in some soft-handed, low-stress job,...where your worst Worker's Compensation Claim,....would be a Paper cut,.....or a Stapler-related injury.....

Not so much in Trucking,........the Nation's leader in Fatal Occupational Injuries....(....8 times as many Truck Drivers die in the Line of Duty as Policemen and Firemen combined....)....

So,.....you retire from your High-Stress, High-Hazard trucking job on a 401(k)........and you run out of money in 10 years.....
What do you do?..........Back to....Work? No PBGI,....No "survivor's benefits" for your family.....no monthly check no matter what your financial shape?........No shysters trying to....cheat you....out of your "nest egg"?

Congress,.....and most all Public Sector employees.....are retiring on defined-benefit pensions........
If they are so.....Terrible.........Why?
 
All my parent's friends without pensions live in small one bedroom apartments barely getting by on Social Security. While their tax dollars paid for Congress,.....and most all Public Sector employees.....are retiring on defined-benefit pensions........
 
I have relatives who.....for years, sneered at Union membership,......and said:” I ain’t payin’ anyone to allow me to work......”
...........and now they’ve retired..due to health....just as you say,...on a small Social Security stipend......and that's it...

They've borrowed heavily from their 401(k),.....apparently a far more common occurrence than anyone wants to admit,.....so they've got a small nest-egg,.....nowhere near enough to support them......

They'll be one of the people protesting,...holding up signs saying: "Tell the Government to Keep it's Hands Off Social Security!"

Ahem.......

............And now apparently, today the Associated Press reports that one in four Americans say they will "never retire..."....

Good.....Keep that money in the stock market......Do Wall Street a favor.....
 
I have relatives who.....for years, sneered at Union membership,......and said:” I ain’t payin’ anyone to allow me to work......”
...........and now they’ve retired..due to health....just as you say,...on a small Social Security stipend......and that's it...

They've borrowed heavily from their 401(k),.....apparently a far more common occurrence than anyone wants to admit,.....so they've got a small nest-egg,.....nowhere near enough to support them......

They'll be one of the people protesting,...holding up signs saying: "Tell the Government to Keep it's Hands Off Social Security!"

Ahem.......

............And now apparently, today the Associated Press reports that one in four Americans say they will "never retire..."....

Good.....Keep that money in the stock market......Do Wall Street a favor.....

Years ago the company was hiring & the boss asked if I knew any dependable workers he could hire. I asked some friends who said there was no way they would start on the bottom, work nights & weekends especially if they had to join a union & pay dues. A while back one told me you are 'Lucky' that you have had medical insurance & now a pension. I may have missed out on some weekend activities when I was young & single but everything I have is paid for. I paid for my children's education without loans so they are not burdened with debt to start their adult life.
These same friends could have also been 'Lucky' if they had been willing to sacrifice by working nights & weekends for a few years.
 
Years ago the company was hiring & the boss asked if I knew any dependable workers he could hire. I asked some friends who said there was no way they would start on the bottom, work nights & weekends especially if they had to join a union & pay dues. A while back one told me you are 'Lucky' that you have had medical insurance & now a pension. I may have missed out on some weekend activities when I was young & single but everything I have is paid for. I paid for my children's education without loans so they are not burdened with debt to start their adult life.
These same friends could have also been 'Lucky' if they had been willing to sacrifice by working nights & weekends for a few years.


Yeah.......and people get upset when I say Union membership is an....intelligence test......a long term one.
 
Results of the pension reduction vote in W. Penna.:

21,460 eligible to vote....
7,133 voted to reject the pension cut..
2,265 voted to approve the pension cut....

11,801 did not vote,....which under the peculiar rules of the Treasury Department,....counts as “approval” votes.....

The ballots were mailed to peoples’ houses.......You could have filled it out in crayon, for cryin’ out loud.......
 
Results of the pension reduction vote in W. Penna.:

21,460 eligible to vote....
7,133 voted to reject the pension cut..
2,265 voted to approve the pension cut....

11,801 did not vote,....which under the peculiar rules of the Treasury Department,....counts as “approval” votes.....

The ballots were mailed to peoples’ houses.......You could have filled it out in crayon, for cryin’ out loud.......

I just don’t get it... most of you know I work for OD so I don’t have a pension or a contract, but you can bet your life if I worked for a unionized carrier I would be a member, be informed, and vote on EVERYTHING. I would attend meetings at the hall and voice my opinion where appropriate. Why on EARTH would someone not bother to vote on something as important as their retirement?
 
I just don’t get it... most of you know I work for OD so I don’t have a pension or a contract, but you can bet your life if I worked for a unionized carrier I would be a member, be informed, and vote on EVERYTHING. I would attend meetings at the hall and voice my opinion where appropriate. Why on EARTH would someone not bother to vote on something as important as their retirement?

Nothing new, it's been this way since my first year in 57, I forgot or I couldn't afford to miss a trip.
Local 728 in Atl, always had good representation when Weldon Mathis or R V Durham was on hand.
The members really stuck together.
 
I just don’t get it... most of you know I work for OD so I don’t have a pension or a contract, but you can bet your life if I worked for a unionized carrier I would be a member, be informed, and vote on EVERYTHING. I would attend meetings at the hall and voice my opinion where appropriate. Why on EARTH would someone not bother to vote on something as important as their retirement?


I just made a big deal about Union membership being an....."intelligence test".........

Looks like I have to retract my words.......Maybe I should've said "Active Union membership".......Some of the guys in my barn never attended a single Union meeting, and would've given up their Union membership to save a lousy $60 a month.......About what they spend on beer and lottery tickets in a week......

Your last question , Bro. Song.......defies an answer..........it dumfounds me, too......
 
Results of the pension reduction vote in W. Penna.:

21,460 eligible to vote....
7,133 voted to reject the pension cut..
2,265 voted to approve the pension cut....

11,801 did not vote,....which under the peculiar rules of the Treasury Department,....counts as “approval” votes.....

The ballots were mailed to peoples’ houses.......You could have filled it out in crayon, for cryin’ out loud.......
Sorry to hear that Bro Canary. But it gives a good reason for a 401k over a pension. With a 401k you work for it AND you must periodically manage it; even if managing it is only opening a letter with your statement balance. With a pension you earn it AND you have no control over it; not even opening a letter letting you know how many years you are vested or how much money you will receive. Members have no active role in a pension but members do have an active role in 401k's. Which begs the question, who will be more active in political campaigns the people who actively manage their retirement money or those who have no active control over their retirement money?
 
Sorry to hear that Bro Canary. But it gives a good reason for a 401k over a pension. With a 401k you work for it AND you must periodically manage it; even if managing it is only opening a letter with your statement balance. With a pension you earn it AND you have no control over it; not even opening a letter letting you know how many years you are vested or how much money you will receive. Members have no active role in a pension but members do have an active role in 401k's. Which begs the question, who will be more active in political campaigns the people who actively manage their retirement money or those who have no active control over their retirement money?


I’ll have to disagree with you on managing pensions......As I stated above, us members, from the floor of the Local meeting,..made proposals that the Pension Trustees had to answer......

Once a year, we got a statement from the Fund as to our status, and expected monthly check based on service....
I have 32 of them in my filing cabinet.

The Pension fund was a phone call away,.....no “listen carefully, as our choices have changed...”.........one of the women always picked up fast......(automated system only started a few years ago,....but it’s still .....fast to get to a human...)

We had Pension Improvement committees,......where we would, on a yearly basis, .....file the Form 5500....to get the Pension fund Income Tax filing.....to see the true status of the fund...

The Trustees,....every couple of years,.....would hold a retirement seminar.....

Up until 2008,......our Fund was doing good. We had even issued a “13th” check to retirees in 2003 , to keep from being 100% funded.....
.....which, by the ERISA rules, would’ve meant the employers would no longer have to make payments to the Fund......
.......thereby denying ANY MEPF the chance to set aside funds for a.....”rainy day”

I beg to differ with you as far as how active Union members can be with their Pension plan.
Whereas a 401(k)- style plan has.......no guarantees other than "market performance "............and you're completely at the mercy of the plan managers. They will offer you a limited set of "selections".....
You ain't leaving them for another plan unless you quit and roll over your plan.
You can try a "self-directed" investment strategy.......WITH the same plan sponsor,.......Good Luck with that, unless you're a financial Svengali.......

All in all, it looks like Wall Street has us by the short 'n' curlies........We play their game, or they wreck ours....
They and their legislative buddies they paid for.......
 
I think this may be only the second time , since Red Star shut down in 2004, that I can agree with you on part of your many anti-Teamster posts. But would you call our TENJ pension a ponzi scheme if the congress hadn't screwed things up? Do you remember back in the 80s when we were close to being fully funded? Do you remember that it was congress that passed the laws that would have penalized us for fully or over funding the plan? Not having extra funds set aside for the down years. Having to raise the accrual and assessorial benefits or have any reserves penalized.

Do you remember that congress set the PBGC premiums for the SEPFs and MEPFs? Do you remember when then PBGC Directer Joshua Gotbaum pleaded with congress for a PBGC premium increase? Do you remember that congress approved the increase for the Single Employer Pension Funds but said the Multi Employer Pension Funds were in better shape and didn't need an increase?

In this months AARP Bulletin it says that the PBGC's maximum annual benefit for retirees in failed single employer plans is $67,295. But the PBGC's maximum annual benefit for retirees in failed multiemployer plans is only $12,870. I'd say that congress screwed up the PBGC too.

I agree that the failure of the Teamsters to organize any new LTL freight companies hurt our pension funds. But I put the blame squarely on the lawmakers in congress who wrote the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Congress deregulated the trucking industry. It wrote the bankruptcy laws that classifies the company's unfunded pension liability as unsecured creditors and we go to the bottom of the list and rarely get paid.................Will you agree that the blame for the failing pension funds or ponzi scheme rests mainly on the congress?

I agree they all were Democrats being funded by the teamster union and your dues. There was no conservative majority in Congress until 1993.
They pretend to be for working people until they export you job and vote against you interest. Then take your $$$$$
If the teamsters ever organized carriers, the MEPPA issue would not matter at all. Instead they sat and watched the carriers in the pension die by degrees..
Never trust a union... Invest for yourself..
 
I’ll have to disagree with you on managing pensions......As I stated above, us members, from the floor of the Local meeting,..made proposals that the Pension Trustees had to answer......

Once a year, we got a statement from the Fund as to our status, and expected monthly check based on service....
I have 32 of them in my filing cabinet.

The Pension fund was a phone call away,.....no “listen carefully, as our choices have changed...”.........one of the women always picked up fast......(automated system only started a few years ago,....but it’s still .....fast to get to a human...)

We had Pension Improvement committees,......where we would, on a yearly basis, .....file the Form 5500....to get the Pension fund Income Tax filing.....to see the true status of the fund...

The Trustees,....every couple of years,.....would hold a retirement seminar.....

Up until 2008,......our Fund was doing good. We had even issued a “13th” check to retirees in 2003 , to keep from being 100% funded.....
.....which, by the ERISA rules, would’ve meant the employers would no longer have to make payments to the Fund......
.......thereby denying ANY MEPF the chance to set aside funds for a.....”rainy day”

I beg to differ with you as far as how active Union members can be with their Pension plan.
Whereas a 401(k)- style plan has.......no guarantees other than "market performance "............and you're completely at the mercy of the plan managers. They will offer you a limited set of "selections".....
You ain't leaving them for another plan unless you quit and roll over your plan.
You can try a "self-directed" investment strategy.......WITH the same plan sponsor,.......Good Luck with that, unless you're a financial Svengali.......

All in all, it looks like Wall Street has us by the short 'n' curlies........We play their game, or they wreck ours....
They and their legislative buddies they paid for.......
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I very much hope you are correct and our pension plans work out better than 401k's and IRA's!

But brother, I am getting extremely tired of chasing that pension carrot. Its going bankrupt, then we can save it if only you will vote for this individual or that group. But each time the carrot is just out of reach. Just a little bit more, or one more time, and we will have it! Or so we are told.
 
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I agree they all were Democrats being funded by the teamster union and your dues...

I disagree, union dues are not used for political donations. You know as well as I do that is illegal. You know that voluntary donations by Teamster members go to DRIVE, our PAC, which are used to support politicians who back issues that affect us. I donated to DRIVE for a while until I saw that some of our PAC money went to Teddy Kennedy the main force behind trucking deregulation.

The MCA of 1980 helped you as a private trucking company owner. But it hurt who knows how many union members in the LTL freight industry. Even your beloved NEMF unfortunately has shut down. Over the years I got to know many good hard working dedicated NEMF drivers. They deserved better. Last I heard 10 were working at ABF in Avenel. Finally back in the Teamsters.
 
I disagree, union dues are not used for political donations. You know as well as I do that is illegal. You know that voluntary donations by Teamster members go to DRIVE, our PAC, which are used to support politicians who back issues that affect us. I donated to DRIVE for a while until I saw that some of our PAC money went to Teddy Kennedy the main force behind trucking deregulation.

The MCA of 1980 helped you as a private trucking company owner. But it hurt who knows how many union members in the LTL freight industry. Even your beloved NEMF unfortunately has shut down. Over the years I got to know many good hard working dedicated NEMF drivers. They deserved better. Last I heard 10 were working at ABF in Avenel. Finally back in the Teamsters.
Y3sBENr.jpg


Back in my days, we gave to Drive, 100%
Guess old Teddy shot us in the foot.
 
Y3sBENr.jpg


Back in my days, we gave to Drive, 100%
Guess old Teddy shot us in the foot.


Yeah,...I have one of those, too......
And I feel I am uniquely qualified to speak about Unions and political donations......as I've stated before, for 10 years I was our Local's (#30) Political Action Committee Treasurer.

The reason our Local set up our own PAC Fund was because we didn't agree with many of the choices for endorsements we were getting from both the IBT and the Penna. Conference of Teamsters.
We made our own endorsements for local and state candidates.........

Setting up a PAC fund was....very complicated, to say the least.......Once set up, I was personally audited by Penna. several times,....and our Fund had to report all funding sources and expenditures ....seven times a year.....
There HAD to be a clear dividing line between Local Union operations and the independence of the PAC Fund. WE had to, by law,...operate as an AD Hoc committee,.......

......and the Treasurer....(me)....was PERSONALLY responsible for reporting, auditing, and expenditures......
When I retired,......we had an extremely hard time getting someone else to....volunteer....to take over as Treasurer...

The laws concerning Union involvement in politics are VERY complicated.........this is why MOST Local Unions don't have their own PAC Fund.......Just doing the reporting to the States, Feds, and every local jurisdiction you operate in, is almost a full-time job.....(..By LAW, Unpaid, also....must be volunteer...).....

But,....since Citizen's United ruling,......if Unions were an incorporated business,......we could throw money at politicians with a pitchfork.....AND NO accounting.......

Unfortunately, Unions are not a....business. And Business lobbied heavily to squelch Union voices in politics........

I got to see first hand how badly skewed political donation laws are in favor of Large Corporations,.....and how Draconian they are against Unions.....

There's been a battle going on for the "hearts and minds" of Union rank-and-file,............that MOST Union members aren't even aware of.......

Big Business ALMOST has accomplished their goal.....which is NO Union political influence....to "compete" with their billions in donations.....

When we all walk away from politics,........we silence any voice of Labor. our..."voice"..is barely a squeak, now....
 
Yeah,...I have one of those, too......
And I feel I am uniquely qualified to speak about Unions and political donations......as I've stated before, for 10 years I was our Local's (#30) Political Action Committee Treasurer.

The reason our Local set up our own PAC Fund was because we didn't agree with many of the choices for endorsements we were getting from both the IBT and the Penna. Conference of Teamsters.
We made our own endorsements for local and state candidates.........

Setting up a PAC fund was....very complicated, to say the least.......Once set up, I was personally audited by Penna. several times,....and our Fund had to report all funding sources and expenditures ....seven times a year.....
There HAD to be a clear dividing line between Local Union operations and the independence of the PAC Fund. WE had to, by law,...operate as an AD Hoc committee,.......

......and the Treasurer....(me)....was PERSONALLY responsible for reporting, auditing, and expenditures......
When I retired,......we had an extremely hard time getting someone else to....volunteer....to take over as Treasurer...

The laws concerning Union involvement in politics are VERY complicated.........this is why MOST Local Unions don't have their own PAC Fund.......Just doing the reporting to the States, Feds, and every local jurisdiction you operate in, is almost a full-time job.....(..By LAW, Unpaid, also....must be volunteer...).....

But,....since Citizen's United ruling,......if Unions were an incorporated business,......we could throw money at politicians with a pitchfork.....AND NO accounting.......

Unfortunately, Unions are not a....business. And Business lobbied heavily to squelch Union voices in politics........

I got to see first hand how badly skewed political donation laws are in favor of Large Corporations,.....and how Draconian they are against Unions.....

There's been a battle going on for the "hearts and minds" of Union rank-and-file,............that MOST Union members aren't even aware of.......

Big Business ALMOST has accomplished their goal.....which is NO Union political influence....to "compete" with their billions in donations.....

When we all walk away from politics,........we silence any voice of Labor. our..."voice"..is barely a squeak, now....

Complicated indeed, plus you can also incur unexpected legal fees.
 
Complicated indeed, plus you can also incur unexpected legal fees.


Yup,...complicated.....
Luckily, when I volunteered for the position,...my head was almost completely empty,....I had wads and scads of unused brain space......"empty rooms"......as it were....Like wandering around in an unused warehouse....or an old cave.......

And being a "volunteer" Treasurer,...my head rapidly filled up like an overflowing toilet,....with arcane Rules and Laws,....phone numbers of obscure Government offices,......regulatory agencies that only receive phone calls on odd-numbered Tuesdays.( except for Federal Holidays..)....Pages and pages of overlapping regulations and "guidance" from the Penna. Dept. of State......

Pounds of information packed into the odd crooks and crannies of my Frontal lobes,....where my "personality" was usually kept......
So much political financial information stored into the stern sheets of my brain,...that it tilted my head back, and I walked around with my nose in the air.......

People thought I was Vain and Snobbish,......but it was the Weight of all that ....information ..in my head....that made me look so.....

I began to walk around with a distinct wobble to my head,....crouched over to keep all that "informative" weight....centered on my spine for Balance and Support....I started to use crutches....

The job aged me,.....from a fantastically Handsome and Carefree Truck driver,....with a Full head of Wavy Brown hair,.........
.....to the decrepit wreck I am now,......wrinkled,...patches of odd grey hair in random spots on my scalp.......Permanent "I smell excrement" scowl on my once pleasant countenance....hunched over like Atlas......

....Shins all bitten up by hordes of hungry politicians looking for "donations".....Ears all callused up,..from listening to the same politicians promising how much they're going to "take care" of the Working Man.....

Yes,.....the job ruined my potential Hollywood career......I have so many "worry line" crevices on my face,...that I look like a bas-relief model of the Grand Canyon.......I don't even wash my face anymore,....I use a feather duster in the deeper cracks,...and rain water cleans out the rest.......

I avoided all the Legal pitfalls,...by mainly devoting my life,....like a Monk in an ancient monastery,....to perfect accounting for every penny and paperclip.........dead silence for weeks on end while I totaled up long columns of numbers.....

Yessir! I'd recommend it to Anyone trying to understand how political finance works!......
 
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