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Workers facing pension cuts bringing fight to DC

Posted at 5:32 PM, Apr 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-10 18:47:26-04

ASHWAUBENON, WI -- Hundreds of workers at risk of losing their pensions are gathering in Ashwaubenon Sunday, as they set sights on the nation's capitol this week.

Nationwide, more than 400,000 retired members of the Teamsters Union are facing proposed pension cuts of 30-70 percent. The cuts would also affect active members. 
 
According to numbers from the Central States Pension Fund, Wisconsin alone is home to 25,000 active, inactive, and retired members. 
 
And on Wednesday, some of them are heading to D.C. to take their fight to Congress.
 
Since last year, the call to "protect our pensions" has been growing across the country.
 
"I was a union steward for 20 years, and I helped negotiate the contracts that put this forward for the money," says Richard Skarzynski after Sunday's rally, "and I promised these people that the fruits of their labor would be compensated, and now to have this taken away, I think it's a travesty."
 
Skarzynski is joining the dozens of Wisconsin Teamsters hopping a bus from Milwaukee to Washington Wednesday, where they'll join workers from 36 other states in the fight for their retirement savings.
 
 "We're hoping for about 6,000-7,000 people," says Terry Black, Co-Chair of WI Committee to Protect Pensions, "it's not an entitlement, it's almost an annuity that we paid for, and put money away, and we expect to get it back."
 
Sunday's rally in Ashwaubenon was larger than the last, in March, and brought supporters from as far as northern Minnesota.
 
"You see the faces of these people, you know," says Sherman Liimatainen, former officer in Duluth Teamsters Local 346, "you can see it here today, with 400 retirees, wanting to know why, and how [to] understand that."
 
And last week's rally in Madison saw more than 3,000 signed letters from constituents, calling for action to block the proposed cuts, delivered to six Wisconsin legislators. 
 
"We just don't accept their explanation of why they're cutting us anywhere from 40%, 50%, 60%," says Black, "and we're fighting back." 
 
In the meantime, Union leaders are urging people to keep writing lawmakers. 
 
By May 7th, an arbitrator for the U.S. Treasury Department will decide whether to approve, or reject the proposed pension cuts.
 
If approved, they'd likely go into effect on July first. If rejected, Union members say they'll fight for say in a new plan.
 
Union leaders say more than $2 billion in workers' pensions are at risk in Wisconsin alone if the cuts are approved.