Planned pension cuts have retired truckers up in arms; fund says they're unavoidable (up to 61%)

MEGAN FARMER/THE WORLD-HERALD

Mary Packett with her father, Fred Lowry, holding a photo of Lowry and his truck in 1969. Packett has been a vocal advocate against proposed pension cuts, lobbying lawmakers and officials in Washington.

http://www.omaha.com/money/planned-pension-cuts-have-retired-truckers-up-in-arms-fund/article_b57d5a22-0053-561a-ade4-8c0bf2dda38d.html

POSTED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2015 12:00 AM
By Janice Podsada / World-Herald staff writer

Growing up with a father who drove a truck was often a trial for Mary Packett and her siblings. Fred Lowry’s 16-hour days — eight hours on, eight hours off — had everyone tip-toeing through the house when he was trying to sleep. “If we made noise, he’d yell at us,” said Packett, 52.

Packett is making noise again — this time on behalf of her 76-year-old father and other retirees who face possible cuts to their pension benefits that could come as soon as July. About 5,000 of the retirees live in Nebraska and Iowa.

Packett, an Omaha real estate agent, is on a mission to keep the retirees’ benefits intact. This week, she’s traveling to Washington — on her own dime, she said — to meet on Friday with federal officials to protest the proposed cuts. It’s her second visit. In September, she testified at a federal hearing on the impact of the proposed cuts.

It was in September that the $18 billion Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund, which covers 400,000 active and retired teamsters in 22 states, filed a petition with the U.S. Treasury Department declaring it would run out of money in 10 years if benefits weren’t reduced. There are about 1,200 of the retired Teamsters who live in the Omaha area.

FULL story at link.

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