Butch Lewis Now!

It’s Time for Congress to Protect America’s 
Hard-Earned Pensions

 
Teamsters rally outside the U.S. Capitol in support of our legislation to protect hard-earned worker pensions.

Dear Friend,

House and Senate Democratic leaders have personally assured me that protecting America’s hard-earned pensions will be a top priority in their negotiations with Republicans to come to a 2018 budget agreement.

Today, more than 10 million Americans are in danger of losing their pensions, even though they’ve faithfully contributed every dime and dollar required of them. In almost every case, their pension funds are in trouble because employers have failed to meet their contractual pension obligations due to mergers and bankruptcies - and in some cases mismanagement and malfeasance. 

Specifically, our goal in the budget negotiations is to add a “pension fix” amendment that would undo an outrageous and unnecessary last minute addition to the 2015 federal spending bill that gave the U.S. Treasury the authority to cut and gut the hard-earned pensions of workers whose pension funds are in trouble. 

Pension protection can’t wait. More than 500 of America’s 1,400 multi-employer pension funds are in serious or critical financial condition. And the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation – the government entity set up to bolster pension plans in trouble – is drastically under-funded. 

That’s why I’m championing “The Butch Lewis Act” in the House. The measure, named after an Ohio Teamster, would establish a mechanism through the U.S. Treasury to ensure that no retiree’s hard-earned pension would ever be cut – not by one dime! I’m urging my Republican colleagues to press to include The Butch Lewis Act, either in the main 2018 budget deal itself, or as an amendment at the time of passage. 

As a co-founder and co-chair of the new Pension Protection for Working Americans Caucus in Congress, I’ve also taken the lead on a complementary bill to prevent companies that merge or go bankrupt from reneging on their obligations to millions of workers and retirees.

Among other things, the “Keep Our Pension Promises Act” ensures that when a company merges or goes bankrupt, their pension obligations to their workers are put at the top of the list of things to be paid – not the bottom of the list. 

Make no mistake about it. We will not rest until every single worker is assured of receiving every single dime and dollar of their hard-earned pensions. 

We will keep you posted as events proceed. Meanwhile, I want to hear your thoughts. Feel free to contact any of our offices listed below or send me an email.

Sincerely,

Read the full letter HERE.