Saturday, July 29, 2006

Teamsters Oppose Flawed Pension Bill, Fight for Retirement Security

Official Statement Of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa


The so-called Pension Reform Act of 2006, H.R. 2830, passed by the House tonight will devastate important retirement security protections for millions of workers in this country and shatter the foundation of our nation's private pension system.

The pension crisis in the United States is very real, and this flawed bill will only worsen it. Americans who have worked a lifetime to secure a stable and dignified retirement will have those promises ripped from their hands in the form of a "red zone" provision that allows for a reduction in vested benefits of multi-employer plans. No worker should be forced to live in fear of losing pension benefits they have already earned.

The 1.4 million hardworking Teamsters and their families will not stand by and allow Congress to give corporate America the green light to dump its retirement obligations to enrich the bottom line. The Teamsters have embarked on one of the largest grass-roots legislative programs in the history of our great union to defeat this bad legislation. We are mobilizing our 1.4 million members to take unprecedented action to stop the destruction of secure retirement in this country.

This pension bill shows that politicians in Washington have lost sight of the people they represent. I call on every member of Congress to prove their commitment to working families by doing everything they can to defeat this bill. Should Congress pass this anti-worker legislation, the Teamsters Union will not forget those who choose corporations over workers in November's mid- term elections.

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