Major Teamsters pension fund to slash recipients’ benefits

No wonder Tom Minerath is angry.

Sixty-eight years old and retired since 2007, the Town of Merton man is about to have about $20,000 taken away from his annual pension — money he earned, money that was promised him, money guaranteed in contracts negotiated by one of the country’s strongest labor unions.

“I’m going to make it through this, but it’s just not right,” he said. “It’s just not right.”

Which probably sums up the feelings of more than 270,000 people, including thousands in Wisconsin, who have been told by the financially troubled Central States Pension Fund that their pension payments must be cut, in some cases by 50% or more.