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Teamsters fight to save their pensions

The Illinois Teamsters plan to take their fight to Congress. They are hoping to stop the Multi-employer Pension Reform Act, a plan enacted in 2014 that would al...
The Illinois Teamsters plan to take their fight to Congress.

They are hoping to stop the Multi-employer Pension Reform Act, a plan enacted in 2014 that would allow their pension payments to be cut.  Saturday's meeting in Rock Island brought hundreds of retired union workers to express their concerns about what could happen in the next ten years, which is when the Central States Pension Fund is expected to run out.

This lack of funds will leave retired workers at risk of having their promised pension payments cut by up to 70 percent. However, it's not just these workers who are worried, Teamster Union member James Tol says no union is safe from the pension cuts.

" It's not just this union, its all multi-employer unions and that means that carpenters, steel workers, mine workers, everybody  who has a large union is involved," he says.

Tol also says the next step is to get the attention of members in Congress.

" We're contacting senators, we're contacting House of Representatives, we got like 42 Representatives signed to keep our Pension Promises Act."

The pension cuts could go into effect as early as July and would impact nearly 6 thousand workers in Illinois and Iowa.

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