Just one week after the President signed a railroad labor contract that was opposed by several union organizations, Vice President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he will infuse $36 billion into a union pension plan to prevent dramatic benefit cuts for retirees.
According to the White House, this announcement constitutes the largest federal grant for retiree pensions in the history of the United States and is funded by Vice President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The Central States Pension Fund, which provides retirement benefits to largely Teamster union members, will receive $36 billion in donations.
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this $36 billion represent approximately half of the federal monies that are available for pension assistance. The pension fund, which has 350,000 people covered by it, was in danger of suffering cuts of up to sixty percent, but the White House has announced that the fund will now be stable until at least the year 2051.
“Thanks to today’s announcement, tens of thousands of union retirees and workers in states like Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Missouri can go to bed tonight knowing their pension, which they worked so damn hard for, is going to be there when they need it,” Vice President Joe Biden said.
“Thanks to today’s announcement, union retirees and workers in states like Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Missouri can go to bed tonight knowing their pension At the White House, he had a conversation with Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, President of the Teamsters Union Sean O’Brien, and President of the AFL-CIO Liz Shuler.
The news that Biden will run for president came one week after he successfully negotiated a labor agreement with railroad firms that did not include paid sick leave. The Teamsters’ maintenance union was one of the four unions that asked for additional paid sick days to be included in the agreement; but, to prevent a walkout, Congress decided to move forward with the plan without the additional sick time.
A Republican consultant by the name of Giancarlo Sopo suggested that Biden’s decision is a “makeup call” to his union members, whom he had disappointed the previous week.
“Joe Biden is using taxpayer coffers as his political piggyback to ameliorate his tensions with the Teamsters after failing to fight for the paid sick leave that workers wanted and, quite frankly, deserved,” Sopo told Fox News Digital. “Joe Biden is using taxpayer coffers as his political piggyback to ameliorate his tensions with the Teamsters after failing to fight for the paid sick leave that workers wanted and,
The White House stated that the timing of the announcement was connected to a deadline for giving pension relief that was set for December 10. According to a statement made to Fox News Digital by an official from the White House, “We are promoting it since it is the largest award of the Special Financial Assistance program.”
According to Mark Mix, head of the National Right to Work Committee, a bailout for failing pension systems is meaningless if there isn’t also change to assure the program can continue to exist on its own.
Mix told Fox News Digital that “once again, Biden is paying back his Big Labor allies to the detriment of taxpayers and the 90 percent of American workers who have chosen not to affiliate with a union.” “Biden is paying back his Big Labor allies to the detriment of the 90 percent of American workers who have chosen not to affiliate with a union.” It is especially irritating that the pandemic has been used as a reason for this bailout because union officials have been mismanaging plans like the Teamsters Central States fund for a long time before COVID.
Biden has stated that he will be the most pro-union president in the history of the United States. At the National Labor Relations Board, the nation’s preeminent labor arbitrator, he replaced key seats with important union officials such as Jennifer Abruzzo, a former attorney for the Communications Workers of America. He has made it a priority to persuade Congress to approve the PRO Act, which, if passed, would put an end to right-to-work legislation in over a dozen states that make membership in a union a condition of employment.
In 2020, Biden’s campaign received a total of $27.5 million in donations from labor unions.
Clark Ballew, the director of communications for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which opposed Biden’s railroad agreement, stated that the pension funds are a relief to workers after they were unable to win additional sick days. Clark Ballew was speaking on behalf of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
According to what Ballew told Fox News Digital, “We cannot claim that the president’s decision this morning was directly influenced by our push in Congress last week.” “Those fellow Teamsters worked incredibly hard for years to obtain this victory,” Ballew said.
“We cannot claim that the president’s decision this morning was directly influenced by our push in Congress last week.” “But if the public browbeating we put on the miserly railroads last week in Congress helped with the Teamster pension gain this morning, then that is excellent. That is a win from our perspective. That is a win in our book.”
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