But could they do this without a legal battle since there are other companies in the plan...Im not talking about buying it out...but since they are one of the largest employers in these plans they probably have clout. Does anyone know if these plans are Teamsters only plans or are there other unions involved somehow with them?
The plans are mostly composed of Teamster bargaining unit employees, with a few select others included, like the employees and trustees of the pension funds themselves. The NY Local 804 plan also has some UPS' Machinists Union (IAM) employees in it, and one of it's trustees is a Machinists Union official.
Trustees are legally bound to act in the best interest of plan participants and beneficiaries (no, really, I'm not kidding) so they would probably be in violation of their "fiduciary duty" if a better-funded fund agreed to merge with a poorly-funded fund. One way or another, if the funding levels are too different, the participants of the better-funded fund will loose out in the deal.
UPS can't take over the funds. The most UPS can do is withdraw from the funds (with members' approval), as UPS did from Central States, and try to do things better from that point foreward in a new fund.