Grassley receives kudos during Aug. 10 Woodbine visit
Missouri Valley Times News
By Jesusa Christians
August 25, 2016
Battle to investigate truckers’ pension fund one of the topics of the visit
Senator Chuck Grassley’s visit to Woodbine was warmly greeted by one woman who has been impacted by cuts to a truckers pension fund due to allegations of mismanagement. Mary Packette, Director of Iowa/Nebraska Committee to Protect Pensions, attended the Aug. 10 Town Hall meeting at Main Street Station in Woodbine to give Grassley a t-shirt on behalf of the committee and to thank Grassley for work he has done on the group’s behalf.
“Let me tell you about this man,” said Packette, addressing those in attendance. “The government voted to cut the pensions of these truck drivers by 50, 60, 70 percent. This man stepped in and fought. We petitioned and grouped together because of Senator Grassley. We now have an investigation of the fund that Wall Street has just pulverized. I wanted to ask you also for an update on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation and to request that the funds be moved out of the hands of those that are being investigated.”
“One, there was a rally on the west steps of the capital that she (Packette) asked me to come to. I spoke to it for a short period, and I think it did some good.
“Secondly, there was a rally at Pleasant Hill, and I sent a staff person because I couldn’t come. The GAO is an agency of the Congress that does in-depth investigations, and we asked them to look into the irresponsible handling of the Teamsters pension fund. The only update that I can give you is that at the end of his month or early September, GAO is going to have what they call a Design Committee meeting. I not sure what the term ‘Design’ means, but I assume it is further movement in the direction of exactly how they are going to go about getting the information to do the study, and I would say that some time after there will be some sort transparency available through staff or members of Congress, but there is some stuff that will be able to be shared with you.”
In a later interview, Packette elaborated on the controversy surrounding the cuts to the pension fund.
“The Multi-Employer Pension Reform Act (MEPRA) was introduced and passed in seven days at the end of December 2014,” said Packet. “It was slipped into the Omnibus bill with no hearings and no disclosure to the retirees that were impacted by it. This bill overturned years of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) laws protecting pensioners and gave trustees the right to slash benefits to pensioners of multi-employer plans.”
Continued Packette, “My father and other retirees were looking at cuts of 30 to 70 percent. They had no say or no one whatsoever stepping up for them, and no one seemed to care, including their own union. I helped organize a committee in Nebraska, and then reached out to Iowans, forming the Iowa/ Nebraska Committee to Protect Pensions.
Packette stated that because of mafia ties to the Teamsters, management of the fund was taken away from the union and given to Wall Street, which according to Packette, has resulted in many bad investments that only benefitted the banks.
“Wall Street has had a heyday with this fund,” said Packette. “Investments that no one would have in their portfolio, like investments into the governments of Croatia, Turkey, Iraq, and horrible investments that have just made the banks more money and little money for the fund. 2008 gave proof to the lack of oversight – too many investments thrown into the real estate market, and as losses began to accrue in the real estate industry, these banks began to use the funds to offset losses.”
Packette stated that these losses amounted to over $9 billion in 2008 and the fund has not recovered, just as other funds have not.
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