Central States Pension- UPS retirees

[rod]

It all depends on what local you belong to and when you retired. When I retired at 53 I paid $100 a month for health ins. that included both myself and wife. When I turned 55 it actually went down to $50 bucks a month. Then a few years later they jacked it back up to $100. Now recentlly they raised it to $150 a month. The guys that have retired since the last contract pay $250 a month. It will continue to go up as costs increase. We still have one of the best retirement health care plans going and I am the envy of 99.9% of all other non-Teamster retired people I know. They are amazed when I tell them my wife is covered for what I pay. I also realize that nothing is carved in granite so all this and the pension could disappear overnite. I cringe evertime I get a letter from the Teamsters thinking this might be the one that announces the end of the gravytrain. I already have a backup plan that involves the wife going back to work.

[JonFrum]

Anyone who retired from Central States prior to January 1, 2008, or who stopped working but was not yet eligible to begin collecting a retirement check, will get only what Central States can provide. UPS is out of the picture. UPS abandoned those retirees. After complaining about other companies creating "orphan" retirees, UPS did the same thing. These former UPSers were also abandoned by everyone nationwide who voted "Yes" to approve the National Master and thereby approve the pension deal.

When a Teamster member retires, he no longer is a Teamster and can't vote for contracts, or vote at union meetings, or in union elections. He is at the mercy of the Company, the Pension Fund, the Health & Welfare Fund, and the younger members, most of whom don't care about retirees or their issues.

Central States is required to improve its funding percentage by first cutting future benefits and raising contribution rates as often as necessary. If that isn't enough then they reduce pensions to whatever the fund can afford to pay. If that isn't enough and they actually get to a point where they are Insolvent, meaning they don't have enough money to pay all the pension checks for the current month, then pensions are reduced to the PBGC-guaranteed rate, which for a thirty year retiree is $12,870. The PBGC then lends the fund money from its multi-employer pension insurance fund to cover the current shortfall. (This PBGC-run insurance fund is funded by $9 per participant annual premiums paid by Central States and all other multi-employer plans; no taxpayer funds are involved.) The PBGC does not take over the troubled fund or pay benefits. It provides a loan that must be repaid when the fund's funding level improves. The fund stays in existence and pays the benefits, not the PBGC.

Multi-employer funds in trouble don't normally go bankrupt as a company would. They just dwindle down (and down), and presumably recover eventually as the lower benefits paid out and the higher contributions paid in improve the financial condition of the fund over time.

When a company owes a lot more money than it has, it usually owes it in the form of a payroll that is due by the end of the week, and bills to suppliers that are due by the end of the month. This creates and immediate crisis and leads to a declaration of bankruptcy. A multi-employer pension fund, on the other hand, owes almost all its money to present and future retirees who aren't due the money until five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy or more years from now. The crisis isn't quite so immediate. Only a fund's inability to pay curent retirees this month's check (Insolvency) would be an immediate crisis.

You can read all about the difference between how the single-employer and multi-employer insurance funds are run by the PBGC here:
http://www.pbgc.gov/practitioners/mu...page13108.html

[tieguy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYBqBIf_eHk&feature=related UPS is out of the picture. UPS abandoned those retirees.

If your point is correct then your teamster leadership abandoned those ups retirees.
they abandoned them the many times ups tried to get the teamster leaders to change the multi employer concept.
they abandoned them when ups tried to save all pension plans in 97.
What the last contract did was save those pensioners who were looking at ending up with nothing to at least get something after ron carey turned his back on them in 97.
Your blame is somewhat correct but you conviently chose to ignore the many teamster leaders who led central states pensioners down this path well before now.

[satellitedriver]

So, if I understand correctly, if I work another 4-9 yrs. to reach 25 or 30 yrs and I retire with 30 at 65 yoa I'm looking at possibly $1100.00 per month plus what the government decides to put in?

That is if it is not addressed in the next contract, correct?

Yes, to your first question.

It will be addressed in the next contact and the letter will be sent to you postage due.
In my opinion,
CS will go belly up in two years.

I do not like to be negative, but I must be realistic.
The 2013 contract is going to be a dog fight.
One dog will be on a short leash,
and the other will be free to roam the street "acting" like the big dog.
The short term down turn of the "economy" will be the long term determining factor in the negotiations.
UPS will "win" in the next contract and lose in the long run for it.

Opinions stated above are those of Satellitedriver, solely.
In no way does the statements and opinions of Satellitedriver depend upon the fact that he has direct access to the mayonnaise jar hermetically sealed under Funk and Wagnall's porch.

[rod]

Yes, to your first question.

It will be addressed in the next contact and the letter will be sent to you postage due.
In my opinion,
CS will go belly up in two years.

I do not like to be negative, but I must be realistic.
The 2013 contract is going to be a dog fight.
One dog will be on a short leash,
and the other will be free to roam the street "acting" like the big dog.
The short term down turn of the "economy" will be the long term determining factor in the negotiations.
UPS will "win" in the next contract and lose in the long run for it.

Options stated above are those of Satellitedriver, solely.
In no way does the statements and opinions of Satellitedriver depend upon the fact that he has direct access to the mayonnaise jar hermetically sealed under Funk and Wagnall's porch.

Perfect timing-----the world ends in 2 years also.

[satellitedriver]

Perfect timing-----the world ends in 2 years also.

Well kinda,
I will retire on 1/03/2012.
The world ends 12/21/2012.
Just my luck not to get a full year of retirement.

[larry0]

once you retire and leave any company not just ups...u cut all ties with the company that you have worked for which make the teamsters responsible for you pension obligations

[capt. kirk]

If Central States becomes Insolvent, What happens to the UPS retirees who retired under the Central States Pension Plan. The way i understand it , those with 30 yrs service get about $1100 a month and those with 25 yrs get about $900 by the PBGC.

I dont know the numers, but when Delta went bankraupt my uncle and aunt got 25% of the penision they had been getting.

[capt. kirk]

The worst part is it ends 12 21 whichs means we have to work most of peak and then die, man does that suck or what.

[hembone]

No, but we have a lot of people who think they are pension experts. Every time I ask somebody a question about pensions, I get a different answer. I'm vested in UPS's plan for my part time years, Central States, and the new Teamster/UPS Plan. I'm 52 and working on year 35, I want to retire as soon as I can.

You still there or are you retired yet?