Taxpayers Protection Alliance: Teamsters Vote To Leave Failing Central States Pension Fund

More Than 300 Teamsters Vote Themselves Out of Bankrupt Pension Fund

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance announced that over the weekend more than 300 Teamsters representing Locals 247 and 332 in Detroit, Pontiac and Flint, Michigan voted to leave the financially troubled Central States Pension Fund.

David Williams, President of The Taxpayers Protection Alliance said, "We applaud the actions of the local rank and file Teamsters who voted themselves out of Central States – a pension fund that is most known for being $14 billion in debt, losing $6 billion in the stock market in three months, and investing in a Russian bank that went bankrupt."

Added Williams, "After the International Brotherhood of Teamsters made these financial blunders with Central States, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa asked Congress for a bailout in 2008 to pay for these mistakes."

For current Teamster members in Central States, Williams warned that their benefits may be cut. "No wonder the Michigan Teamsters left Central States. From asking for bailouts to cutting retiree benefits, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has demonstrated that it will do anything and everything but change its ways to keep Central States afloat."

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, however, may be running out of time to save Central States. The fund's own Executive Director, Thomas Nyhan, testified to Congress in 2010, that without a bailout or legislative action, the fund will be insolvent in the next 10 to 15 years.

In addition, Central States remains $14 billion underwater and the government agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, designed to help Central States current and future retirees is $34 billion in debt – this can only mean that the Teamsters will ask once again for a taxpayer bailout.

Said Williams, "We are warning American taxpayers to be vigilant because the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has twice gone to Congress looking for a bailout. Now, with its own rank and file members voting to leave Central States, we are sure that the Teamsters will ask again."

About Taxpayers Protection Alliance                                                         
Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government's effects on the economy. For more information, please visit www.protectingtaxpayers.org.

SOURCE Taxpayers Protection Alliance