Banned for Life
Banned
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Canary, the difference
Canary, the difference between you and I is. When you see a canary in the mine laying at the bottom of its cage. You see a sleeping canary. I on the other side see a dead canary. After bankrupting 9 companies don't you think there might have been a problem with how much your labor was costing those companies? You must have went to Wikipedia to look up PPA of 2006, your regurgitation of the facts was gibberish. You continually complain about companies being aloud to leave pension funds. what does it matter if the 9 bankrupt companies you worked for paid in enough for your pension? When UPS left CSPF they paid a 6.1 billion withdraw penalty. The nine companies you worked for stiffed the pension fund for their withdraw penalties. Which leaves us back to ABF whos employees have to pay for the 9 withdraw penalties your former employer failed to pay. I'm a little curious why you are egging on ABF employees to strike when you need them to pay debts your former employer failed to pay. Call me crazy it does not appear to make sense. And by the way Canary, 38 year teamster, which is more than most of you retirees who left the work force as soon as you could. After bankrupting 9 companies in your case.Ouch!.....that dead cat was pretty stiff.....
I am a retired Teamster,....who is a Poster Boy for what they call "orphans". I worked for Gateway, Motor Freight, Maislin, Mason-Dixon, Werner-Continental, Hall's, Automobile Transport, Nu-Car Carriers, and M & G Convoy.
All of those companies paid into the pension fund for the time I was employed by them. When I wasn't,.....they didn't. The time I got credited for was.....exactly,....the time I got paid into the fund by the companies. I don't see where I got ......anything,....I wasn't entitled to.
The flip side of "legacy" costs,....is that I have a......legacy....of being employed by Teamster companies who paid into the pension fund right up to when they went bankrupt.
Whether it was Deregulation,....or company mismanagement and malfeasance,.....is kind of beside the point, don't you think?
The IBT was more of a factor in the problems of the CSPF,.....than the employers were. By allowing key employers to....de-fund,.....the pension fund,....they literally threw a hand grenade into the finest pension system for working people in this country.
If you follow politics,.....you know that just about all Multi-Employer pension funds were flush with money up to about 2008. After that, the collapse.....some say "manufactured" collapse of Wall Street,....and the CRIMINAL lack of support from our Solons of Legislation in Congress crippled just about every fund out there.
Did we do anything wrong....as Teamsters?
NO.....
It seems, though, that many people are trying to justify pension cuts by finding a "culprit".......and I guess the "culprit" is those of us Teamsters who worked for companies that went bankrupt. I think that's more "divide and conquer"...than anything else.
The problem with many pension funds,...is that they are "top-heavy" with older employees. That would be the fault of the employers and deregulation. If you notice,....there is No Program for training LTL drivers,....hasn't been one since Deregulation. All any employer had to do was wait for the next LTL bankruptcy,....and ,...there you go! A new batch of new hires, ....trained and ready to go....Why waste money on an apprentice program, like EVERY OTHER industry?
Because of that employer short-sightedness,......our pension funds are looking at massive outlays in the next 10 years. Even during the last contract talks, ABF admitted that 75% of their employees were within 5 years of retirement..The employers brought that on themselves,....and now they're looking for a "scapegoat" to blame THEIR actions on.........Don't fall for it........
The "good" out of all this,.....is that once the large group of elderly employees,....is digested through that Large Python of the pension fund...( if I may be so crude...)...is that, demographically,.....the Pension funds should have a relatively long period of relatively long-term employees that the employers would be paying for,....long-term. That would stabilize just about all Defined-Benefit Multi-Employer plans.
So,......you can see the employer's desperation in trying to...."cripple"....these funds once and for all......If they don't do it now,......the funds will recover and be just as strong as ever.
My Opinion........