Contract will not change until APWA has time to negotiate a new contract when current contract has expired. Company would save on pension and insurance benefits due to teamsters taking care of other companies that have bellied up. Teamster could have restructered those people but didn`t and now we have an underfunded account thru Central States. Western Fund is doing fine ? So maybe impropriorties in investing and allocating the $`s for Central States have caused this ruckus for change ?
Is Central States pension fund ready to go under?
- Thread starter Bill
- Start date
krash
Go big orange
so we would keep CS?Cole,
Anytime employee's vote for decertification, do they keep the labor agreement in place? I highly doubt it. ECOLAB near here voted out the IMA and they lost all rights to that agreement. Now APWA may ask UPS to honor such agreement till they have a vote for the APWA then start contract talks , but doubt UPS would.
If you could find info on that I would appreciate it.
nospinzone
Well-Known Member
The following is taken from a previous post in which this issue of STATUS QUO was addressed. During the transistion of power after a NLRB election, your workplace rights are protected.
BigUnionGuy said:
The National Labor Relations Act does not specifically address every possible scenario. Law is developed through cases/decisions handed down by the NLRB and precedence becomes the established law. Should Teamsters win the decert vote, their contract would remain in place. Should the APWA win the decert vote, the precedence of STATUS QUO would take effect. The current guidelines and agreements found within the IBT contract would still be in full force and would PROTECT ALL WAGES, JOBS, AND BENEFITS AS UPS EMPLOYEES ENJOY THEM NOW. The NLRB website if full of case decisions which support the precedence of STATUS QUO. In 1982, an interesting decision came down in USPS vs National Postal Professional Nurses in case 5-CA-11693 (pdf file)where the USPS attempted to raise wages for only non-union employees while a newly certified union was negotiating the new contract. The NLRB found that the USPS was failing to bargain with the new union in good faith and the NLRB not only protected the current wage schedule, but also forced the USPS to include the wage INCREASES in the new contract. Bottom line is that UPS employees will not be left defenseless against the company when APWA is certified.
One final point....there are some very nice people working at the branch offices of the National Labor Relations Board. The lawyer I spoke with was happy to answer my questions. I recommend that you call them and talk to them personally if you are concerned about the election process. Visit the NLRB contact page and find the office nearest you. They were very helpful in answering my questions.
Cole
Well-Known Member
Just curious where he said the teamster's offer no work place rights?
Because company's like UPS are why unions exist in the first place.
brett636
Well-Known Member
Trust me when I say I won't care. Pension or not I will have myself setup for success come retirement. I will not rely on the false promises by either group.
raceanoncr
Well-Known Member
Funny how Eng disappears when asked to answer a question that HE brought up. Still waiting for an answer here. He says he answers ALL questions, right?
Brett you keep beating that horse to death
What you doing home at 9:30 am ? You can`t have a package car run !Vacation ?
krash
Go big orange
That was 25 years ago brother and a government agency. Hasn't the labor board been taking over ny pro-company people. Especially since the Bush conquest? There nis no longer "good people" at the LB as far as tyhe working man is concerned. But I guess when you called them up about busting the Union they were quite accommodating. And we aren't talking about "raises" here, were are talking about a whole contract. Also, you said , she said, they said doesn't make me feel all that secure neither. But I will look into it when I have more time
Ms.PacMan
Well-Known Member
Central States Pension is a separate legal entity from the Teamsters. My union dues pay for representation not the contributions to the pension.
Nearly every driver from the 2 centers in this immediate area signed intent cards with the APWA. They allowed a driver to videotape the entire presentation. Personally, I am still conflicted and undecided.
Interesting historical articles on Central States.
Gov’t attacks Teamsters
The federal government, beginning with the 1961-63 Kennedy administration, and continuing under Democratic and Republican presidents, waged a campaign to break or curtail the power of the Teamsters union.
The pretext for the anti-Teamsters campaign, aimed especially at the union’s long-time president, James Hoffa, Sr., was fighting corruption and mob influence. Teamster leaders, including Hoffa, were investigated, indicted and imprisoned. After being released from prison in the early 1970s, Hoffa disappeared without a trace. It is believed he was murdered.
In the eyes of U.S. corporations and their politicians, Hoffa’s real crime was not corruption. Hoffa advocated uniting workers in all transport industries—truck, rail, air and ports—into a single, powerful federation. Such a union would have the power to shut down the country.
After decades of persecution and prosecution, Teamsters union leaders signed a consent decree in 1982 allowing the federal government to take control of the union. Even though the Central States Fund was legally independent of the union, the government turned over control of the Fund to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is one of the major investment banking companies in the U.S.
Morgan Stanley’s duties were to “pick money managers, to allocate the assets among them, and to advise the new board of trustees on investment objectives and strategies.” (New York Times, Nov. 15, 2004) The money managers shifted Central States’ funds into increasingly high-risk investments. If successful, such investments usually carry big bonuses for the broker. When these investments failed, as most did, the brokers still collected their fees. Only the workers lost out.
J.P. Morgan took over administration of the Fund before the stock market crash of 2000. The Fund was heavily invested in energy trading, telecommunications and high tech stocks. The price of many of these stocks fell by 80 to 90 percent. Some became nothing more than worthless pieces of paper.
By 2003, the pension fund only had assets of 60 cents for every dollar owed to retirees—present and future. It cut benefits for the first time. As pensions were being reduced, a new rule was implemented to punish retirees: their benefits would be totally cut off if they began working again.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070705060253/http://socialismandliberation.org/mag/index.php?aid=140
Teamsters, Central States, reports 14.45% investment return ROSEMONT, Ill. — Teamsters, Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund reported a 14.45% preliminary return on investments for the year ended Dec. 31, according to a report filed with the U.S. District Court in Chicago, under a consent decree with the Department of Labor. The fund had $20.6 billion in assets as of Dec. 31. Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which oversees management of 40% of the fund as one of its two named fiduciaries, returned 16.44% for the year, underperforming the 17.68% return of the portfolio’s customized benchmark, the report said. Northern Trust Global Advisors, which oversees management of 40% of the fund as the other named fiduciary, returned 19.16%, compared with a customized benchmark return of 19.86%. The GSAM and NTGA funds invest in a mix of U.S. and international equities, fixed income and real estate. The other 20% of the fund, which is managed separately in fixed income by another investment manager, returned 4.35% for the year, according to the report, which did not identify the firm or give benchmark comparisons for the fixed-income fund. Frank J. McGarr, special counsel who filed the report, GSAM spokeswoman Andrea Raphael and NTGA spokesman John O’Connell declined to comment. Mark Vieu, division manager, Teamsters, Central States fund, did not respond to phone calls by press time.
https://web.archive.org/web/2007081....net/HISTORY/131_cong_rec_s_13288_tuesday.htm
Central States is now only 49% funded and because of H.R. 4 (Pension Reform Act of 2006) http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/ppa2006.pdf the Teamsters cannot legally increase benefits unless a fund is in the black, funded 100%.
Nearly every driver from the 2 centers in this immediate area signed intent cards with the APWA. They allowed a driver to videotape the entire presentation. Personally, I am still conflicted and undecided.
Interesting historical articles on Central States.
Gov’t attacks Teamsters
The federal government, beginning with the 1961-63 Kennedy administration, and continuing under Democratic and Republican presidents, waged a campaign to break or curtail the power of the Teamsters union.
The pretext for the anti-Teamsters campaign, aimed especially at the union’s long-time president, James Hoffa, Sr., was fighting corruption and mob influence. Teamster leaders, including Hoffa, were investigated, indicted and imprisoned. After being released from prison in the early 1970s, Hoffa disappeared without a trace. It is believed he was murdered.
In the eyes of U.S. corporations and their politicians, Hoffa’s real crime was not corruption. Hoffa advocated uniting workers in all transport industries—truck, rail, air and ports—into a single, powerful federation. Such a union would have the power to shut down the country.
After decades of persecution and prosecution, Teamsters union leaders signed a consent decree in 1982 allowing the federal government to take control of the union. Even though the Central States Fund was legally independent of the union, the government turned over control of the Fund to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is one of the major investment banking companies in the U.S.
Morgan Stanley’s duties were to “pick money managers, to allocate the assets among them, and to advise the new board of trustees on investment objectives and strategies.” (New York Times, Nov. 15, 2004) The money managers shifted Central States’ funds into increasingly high-risk investments. If successful, such investments usually carry big bonuses for the broker. When these investments failed, as most did, the brokers still collected their fees. Only the workers lost out.
J.P. Morgan took over administration of the Fund before the stock market crash of 2000. The Fund was heavily invested in energy trading, telecommunications and high tech stocks. The price of many of these stocks fell by 80 to 90 percent. Some became nothing more than worthless pieces of paper.
By 2003, the pension fund only had assets of 60 cents for every dollar owed to retirees—present and future. It cut benefits for the first time. As pensions were being reduced, a new rule was implemented to punish retirees: their benefits would be totally cut off if they began working again.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070705060253/http://socialismandliberation.org/mag/index.php?aid=140
Teamsters, Central States, reports 14.45% investment return ROSEMONT, Ill. — Teamsters, Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund reported a 14.45% preliminary return on investments for the year ended Dec. 31, according to a report filed with the U.S. District Court in Chicago, under a consent decree with the Department of Labor. The fund had $20.6 billion in assets as of Dec. 31. Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which oversees management of 40% of the fund as one of its two named fiduciaries, returned 16.44% for the year, underperforming the 17.68% return of the portfolio’s customized benchmark, the report said. Northern Trust Global Advisors, which oversees management of 40% of the fund as the other named fiduciary, returned 19.16%, compared with a customized benchmark return of 19.86%. The GSAM and NTGA funds invest in a mix of U.S. and international equities, fixed income and real estate. The other 20% of the fund, which is managed separately in fixed income by another investment manager, returned 4.35% for the year, according to the report, which did not identify the firm or give benchmark comparisons for the fixed-income fund. Frank J. McGarr, special counsel who filed the report, GSAM spokeswoman Andrea Raphael and NTGA spokesman John O’Connell declined to comment. Mark Vieu, division manager, Teamsters, Central States fund, did not respond to phone calls by press time.
https://web.archive.org/web/2007081....net/HISTORY/131_cong_rec_s_13288_tuesday.htm
Central States is now only 49% funded and because of H.R. 4 (Pension Reform Act of 2006) http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/ppa2006.pdf the Teamsters cannot legally increase benefits unless a fund is in the black, funded 100%.
Once again, you have turned it around. Before the restrictions, we were not allowed to work in a Teamster job or union job. That was OK, because there are alot of other choices if one chooses to work part time or full time at another endeavor. Now the Teamsters have placed so many restrictions on us, that we can't retire, and on top of that, they are giving us less money for retirement. Then they want us to retire at a later age, whereby some of us who started working at UPS at the young age of 21, will have to work 44 years to receive a full pension. Of course we know that in the next 10 or so years, there will not be any money left in the pension fund (Central States) for any of us to receive a pension check.
What I find odd, is that with all the cuts that the Teamsters are forcing upon us, our local Business agents decided to take a 10% salary increase for themselves. You can find out what your BA is earning by going to www.unionfacts.com Is there anyone out there that knows how to find out what the pensions of the BA's are and what funds they are in?
Overnite was Teamsters nationwide, and then they had a strike that lasted over 3 years. The Teamster bosses and BA's still received their salaries while the strike was going on, but unfortunately for the drivers and employees who had a family to support, they didn't receive a paycheck and had no choice but to find other work. After the strike was over, Overnite reorganized with mostly new workers and was now non-union. UPS bought Overnite and it is now UPSF. The Teamsters are trying to organize UPSF for no other reason than to collect union dues for themselves, without concern for the working man. The UPSF employees would be foolish to allow the Teamsters to act as their bargaining agent again. Some of the Overnite drivers are still there, so they remember how the Teamsters screwed them over. Why would they want this to happen again? Would you?
Now that I have answered your question, please return the favor and answer one simple question for me. What are the Teamsters offering that we should remain loyal to them? They can't fix the pension problems, they are making cuts to our medical benefits, but they have no problem increasing union dues and taking big salary increases for themselves.
18wheelbrownie
Well-Known Member
Central States is now only 49% funded and because of H.R. 4 (Pension Reform Act of 2006) http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/ppa2006.pdf the Teamsters cannot legally increase benefits unless a fund is in the black, funded 100%.[/QUOTE]
now go read post 81 ,you did not read what i posted, but at the bottom of the red zone amendment, it said;
2. Plans in the “red zone” are less than 65 percent funded and considered to be in critical
financial condition. Plan trustees must adopt a reorganization plan to exit the red zone
within 10 years. The plan must include increased employer contributions, restrictions on
future benefit accruals, expense reductions, and funding relief measures to help the plan exit
the red zone.
now you must understand why we need to leave the central states multi employer fund ,for a single employer plan. while ups is doing well, we would recieve nothing for 10 yrs. from cental states.
now go read post 81 ,you did not read what i posted, but at the bottom of the red zone amendment, it said;
2. Plans in the “red zone” are less than 65 percent funded and considered to be in critical
financial condition. Plan trustees must adopt a reorganization plan to exit the red zone
within 10 years. The plan must include increased employer contributions, restrictions on
future benefit accruals, expense reductions, and funding relief measures to help the plan exit
the red zone.
now you must understand why we need to leave the central states multi employer fund ,for a single employer plan. while ups is doing well, we would recieve nothing for 10 yrs. from cental states.
as far as I know none of overnite became teamsters a few years ago. They did vote them in but then could not get a contract and tried to strike and that was the end of the teamsters in overnite. I may not have all exact details but that is about how it was explained to me.
Just curious myself, I understand the federal government only recognizes a contract between a company and bargaining agent for 3 years. With that we have in essence been without a contract since August of 2005, yet UPS still pays us and gives us our benefits (even if our union is pilfering them away). We still can file for grievances, take vacations have option days etc. UPS could pull the plug on all of this, yet they have a business to operate and they uphold the contract regardless of what our representation has done to us.
Cole
Well-Known Member
Ok buckeye proud
you lost me there.
The contract is legally binding for the life it is negotiated. I never heard anything about the Gov. only recognizing for 3 yrs. It's not a contract with the Gov, but with the CBA and Employer, and both sides are bound by until it expires.
I don't know what center you're in friend but UPS violates this contract everyday, so the "uphold" end is a little off. Thus we have to fight the same grievances over and over.
None of what I said was meant sarcastically towards you, so no offense meant.
you lost me there.
The contract is legally binding for the life it is negotiated. I never heard anything about the Gov. only recognizing for 3 yrs. It's not a contract with the Gov, but with the CBA and Employer, and both sides are bound by until it expires.
I don't know what center you're in friend but UPS violates this contract everyday, so the "uphold" end is a little off. Thus we have to fight the same grievances over and over.
None of what I said was meant sarcastically towards you, so no offense meant.
