Local Teamsters are taking the fight to protect their pensions from Kansas City all the way to Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, delegates from 60 committees across the country will meet with lawmakers to encourage them to deny the Central States Pension Fund request to cut employee pensions under the Kline-Miller Multi-Employer Pension Reform Act of 2014. If the application is approved by the May 7 deadline, retirees could lose up to 60 percent of their benefits.
"This pension isn't a gift. It's not something that was just handed to us on a silver platter. We actually earned and sacrificed," said Dave Scheidt, the director of Missouri-Kansas City Committee to Protect Pensions.
We talked to Judy Ancel, a labor expert and director of the Worker Education and Labor Studies Program at UMKC about the potential cuts. Ancel said, "If they can do it to this pension fund, to the Central States Fund, then they're probably going to try to do it to some of the other funds which are also underfunded. This has implications for lots more workers in the United States than just these Teamster retirees. It's a huge betrayal of what they were promised by their employers and by the government which said that it was going to guarantee their pensions."
Scheidt hopes the trip to the Capitol educates more legislators about the fight for their future.
"One of the biggest reasons people stayed on these jobs was for the pensions. I don't know what direction this is going to take but we're going to fight for the best solution we can get," Scheidt said.
A rally is scheduled with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II in D.C. on Thursday.
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Dia Wall can be reached at dia.wall@kshb.com.
