Retired Teamsters wait for pension protections

Roger Spencer WASHINGTON — uses part of his pension check from the failing Central States Pension Fund to buy a lifesaving cancer drug that costs $500 a month.

So when the Democratic majority in the House recently teamed with 29 Republicans to pass a bill to rescue underfunded multiemployer pension plans, Spencer celebrated briefly. Then he started to worry about what the Senate would do with a similar bill.

If Central States goes under or cuts benefits in half as the plan has proposed, said the retired Center City, Minn., truck driver, “it sinks me.”

His two brothers and hundreds of thousands of other retired Teamsters union members relying on Central States share his concern. All of them contributed to Central States for years with the understanding that the pension fund would see them through retirement.

Politicians, economists and actuaries agree that without a bailout, dozens of underfunded pension plans could ruin millions of Americans’ retirement.

“This is about working-class families,” said Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, who broke ranks with most of his Republican colleagues to vote for the House bill.

Yet no one seems sure if the Senate will take up the issue any time soon, much less vote on it. A multiemployer pension reform bill nearly identical to the House bill has been introduced in the Senate and referred to the Finance Committee. It will not receive a hearing until at least September because of Congress’ traditional August recess.

Smith says problems for multiemployer pensions — which are single pension plans for workers employed by different companies — were made worse by deregulation in the trucking industry and the Great Recession. There is also a structural problem because union membership has plummeted.