Don't pare back retirement security!

Everyday Americans are finding it increasingly hard to cover their daily expenses. So it's not surprising that saving for retirement is falling behind. But many companies are making it even more difficult by reducing benefits and options for their workers.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur talked pensions on Capitol Hill in June.

A report earlier this year found that the U.S. ranks only 19th in the world when it comes to retirement security, behind Iceland and just barely in front of Slovenia. That's nothing short of an embarrassment for this country. But it is not surprising given the reduction in pensions, the fluctuations in 401(k) savings plans and continued talk of raising the retirement age for Social Security.

The Teamsters have taken an active role in fighting to protect retirees' and workers' nest eggs. The IBT and other unions got behind the Keep Our Pensions Promises Act (KOPPA), introduced earlier this year by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). It's more essential now than ever.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department will hold a hearing in Washington on finalizing a rule that opens the door to pension cuts. This would be the first time since President Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) into law that pension retirement security would be compromised. 

The futures of some 1.5 million workers who are enrolled in about 200 retirement plans nationwide are at risk, and potentially many more in the future if we do not act. The U.S. must take action now and stand up to these cuts. Lawmakers owe it to hardworking Americans who have earned the ability to retire with dignity. They must stand up to these cuts and restore ERISA’s protections before time runs out.

Similar attention needs to be focused on expanding, and not shrinking, Social Security. More lawmakers seem interested in making hardworking Americans work even longer to receive benefits than expanding the successful program to make sure people can have a more comfortable life in their golden years. It's nothing more than a trick, as the National Journal noted:

Raising the Social Security retirement age ... means that future retirees will get smaller payouts than previous ones did after starting to collect benefits at the very same age. The differences can be dramatic, as the following example illustrates: If, under the current cutoff, you’re eligible for $1,000 at age 67, you could instead choose to get $700 a month for retiring at 62 or $1,240 a month for retiring at 70. But if the retirement age was increased to 70—a number mentioned by John Boehner, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie—the $1,000 benefit at 67 turns into $800, the $700 benefit at 62 turns into $565, and the $1,240 benefit at 70 turns into $1,000. 

These cuts matter significantly on the level of the individual. But, even if Social Security as a whole were in crisis (it’s not), cutting the benefits that people can collect before age 70 wouldn’t even be a particularly effective way of closing any budget gaps: Increasing the retirement age from 67 to 68 would erase 12 percent of the deficit that Social Security is expected to face 75 years from now.

As it stands, nearly two-thirds of retirees count on Social Security for half or more of their retirement income. For more than 30 percent of retirees, the funds make up 90 percent or more of their income. It may not be right, but it is true.

Policymakers cannot in good faith turn a blind eye to these numbers. Everyday Americans are counting on them. It's time to take a stand for workers and retirees who don't have friends in high places. They must do the right thing.

Today's Teamster News 01.27.14

Teamsters at YRCW Approve Agreement Aimed At Saving 30,000 Jobs  teamster.org   ...Teamsters at YRCW approved this latest proposal by a vote of 12,267 to 6,314...
 YRC Wins Key Refinancing Ingredient With Teamsters Vote  Bloomberg   ...YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) has the “key ingredient” to refinance $1.4 billion of debt and reduce the risk of bankruptcy after workers voted to accept labor concessions, Chief Executive Officer James Welch said...
Report: Bucking trend, Wisconsin union membership grows  LaCrosse Tribune   ...Wisconsin’s union membership rate -- the percentage of wage and salary workers who belong to unions -- rose from 11.25 percent to 12.34 percent, the seventh biggest gain in the nation. This after 2012, when Wisconsin had the third largest decrease in the nation. The change came as a surprise to union leaders and academics alike...
Don't fast track a polluters' bill of rights  Friends of the Earth   ...TPP and TTIP would allow foreign investors to seek awards of money damages from business-friendly tribunals in compensation for the cost of complying with environmental and consumer regulations -- even the “cost” of lost opportunities for future profits...
FL Cheerleader: We Are Paid Less than $5/hr and Docked Pay if We Gain 5 lbs.  Alternet   ..."Raiderettes are required to attend all of the Raiders' preseason, regular season and postseason home football games," she says in the lawsuit. "They are also required to attend and participate in all practices, rehearsals, fittings, preparations, drills, photo sessions, meetings and workouts, as determined and directed by the Raiders." Raiderettes also have to attend other special events to represent the Raiders, without pay...
Does America need unions? An ex-Wall Streeter says yes  Los Angeles Times   ...without unions, workers don't have the bargaining power necessary to stop employers from paying them as little as the market will allow...
401(k) Breaches Undermining Retirement Security for Millions  Portside   ...A large and growing share of American workers are tapping their retirement savings accounts for non-retirement needs, raising broad questions about the effectiveness of one of the most important savings vehicles for old age...
Snowden: The NSA is also engaged in industrial espionage  Salon   ...“If there is information at Siemens that they think would be beneficial to the national interests, not the national security, of the United States, they will go after that information and they’ll take it...”
The Koch Party (opinion)  New York Times   ...Only a few weeks into this midterm election year, the right-wing political zeppelin is fully inflated with secret cash and is firing malicious falsehoods at supporters of health care reform...
Iowa View: ALEC's strategy of secrecy is wrong for Iowa taxpayers  DesMoines Register   ... there are deceptive organizations with friendly names lurking around the Capitol in Des Moines and in other state capitols. Some of these organizations aren’t as friendly as they seem, and their agendas are not always what’s best for Iowa. One such organization is the American Legislative Exchange Council, commonly known as ALEC...
W. Va. company ordered to remove tanks after spill  Associated Press   ...West Virginia's governor on Saturday ordered the company at the center of a chemical spill that tainted the state capital's water supply to remove all above-ground storage tanks from the Charleston operation...

Today's Teamster News 09.25.13

Teamsters, Horizon Air Reach Tentative Agreement  Wall Street Journal   ...Horizon Air and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today jointly announced a tentative agreement on a proposed five-year contract extension covering the airline's 280 aircraft technicians, fleet service agents and other fleet support positions...
CN Rail contract talks with Teamsters snagged on health, safety  Reuters   ...Contract negotiations between Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Union appear to have stalled as CN demands changes that union officials say could jeopardize the health and safety of workers...
U.S. Income Inequality Higher Than Roman Empire's Levels: Study  Huffington Post   ...the top one percent of earners in Ancient Rome controlled 16 percent of the society's wealth. By comparison, the top one percent of American earners control 40 percent of the country's wealth...
Banks find appalling new way to cheat homeowners  Salon   ...servicers like Nationstar often failed to inform homeowners about the change in servicing rights when they are transferred, meaning that the homeowner kept paying the wrong servicer. This is a clever way to facilitate late fees; just don’t tell the customer where to send their money...
Workers Set Factories Ablaze in Call for Decent Wage for Producing Globe's 'Cheap' Clothing  Common Dreams   ...Bangladesh swept by a third day of protests that leaves nearly 150 injured...
Bangladesh Garment Protests Enter Fourth Day  Bloomberg   ...Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan met last night with factory owners and labor leaders in an effort to end demonstrations that forced about 400 of the country’s 5,000 garment factories to close yesterday...
Greeks public sector workers strike as lenders check reform progress  Reuters   ...Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week on Tuesday, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked if the country was meeting its bailout targets...
U.S. Trade Body Urges India to Play Fair   Time   ...An American manufacturing representative body is protesting against perceived discriminatory trade practices initiated by New Delhi ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the U.S on Friday...
Unifor Talking Right To Work  Blackburn News   ...The president of Unifor Local 444 in Ontario, Canada says his union is ready to fight Right To Work legislation. Dino Chiodo calls it “work for less” legislation, because that’s what he believes it will leave his members doing if it’s ever imposed on a provincial or federal level...
Walmart Cut Employee Hours So Drastically They Can't Keep Shelves Stocked, Losing Customers Think Progress   ...Amid plunging sales and massive strikes, even Walmart has conceded it can’t run a business on a skeleton crew...
Government Shutdown Deadline In One Week  Associated Press   ...With a week left to hammer out a deal to avoid a government shutdown, some lawmakers seem resigned – if not rushing – to that end...
Robert Reich: We Can Save the Economy If We Get Serious About Taxing the Rich  AlterNet   ...New documentary "Inequality for All," starring Reich explains how to fix America's income inequality...
Nowhere to Hide: The Government's Massive Intrusion Into Our Lives  Tom Dispatch   ...The NSA isn’t the only government agency exploiting technology to make privacy obsolete...
Smithfield shareholders approve Shuanghui deal  Associated Press   ...Shareholders of Smithfield Foods Inc. on Tuesday approved a plan to sell the world’s largest pork producer and processor to a Chinese company...
Bank Of America To Pay $2.18 Million In Racial Discrimination Case  Reuters   ...Bank of America Corp was ordered to pay $2.18 million to 1,147 black job applicants over racial discrimination in hiring that kept qualified candidates from getting jobs, said the U.S. Department of Labor...
How America’s 401(k) Revolution Rewarded the Rich and Turned the Rest of Us Into Big Losers AlterNet   ...It was a bad idea from the get-go, but new research shows that America’s 401(k) revolution has left us even worse off than we thought. Here’s a look at how we got into this mess, and where it will take us if we don’t wise up...
N.J. bank fined $8.2 million over federal money-laundering violations  Star-Ledger   ...Saddle River Valley Bank, a former community bank in Bergen County that once was controlled by private equity magnate J. Christopher Flowers, has agreed to pay $8.2 million to settle federal claims that it broke U.S. anti-money laundering laws...
Union Push for I.P.O. Forces Filing at Chrysler  New York Times   ...Chrysler filed for a public stock offering on Monday, acting only under pressure from its second-largest shareholder, a trust set up to provide medical coverage for 115,000 retired autoworkers and their relatives...

Retirement dreams are disappearing

The U.S. has a history of being a hard-working nation, one where people who did their job and followed the rules were rewarded with financial security in their golden years. But as middle-class jobs have slipped away due to the last recession only to be replaced with low-wage opportunities, workers are losing hope about being able to retire. Instead, they plan to work longer.  

A report released by The Conference Board earlier this year noted that the number of current workers between ages 45 and 60 now planning to delay retirement grew to 62 percent in 2012, up 20 percent from two years earlier. A reduction in salary as well as job loss were the top reasons for putting off retirement, according to the document.  Another report by Gallup showed the average retirement age has increased by four years since 1995, and is expected to grow even more:

Younger Americans are growing more pessimistic about their golden years. The average non-retired American does not expect to retire until the age of 66, compared to 60 in 1995. Furthermore, 37 percent of those polled by Gallup say they expect to retire sometime after the age of 65, up sharply from 22 percent a decade ago and 14 percent in 1995. Meanwhile, only 26 percent say they will likely retire before age 65, down significantly from 49 percent in 1995.

Fewer and fewer Americans are contributing to their retirement, and those who do don’t seem to have enough saved anyway. Why is that? Because the increased reliance of 401(k) retirement funds has been a disaster, The National Memo notes:

Census surveys show that only a third of workers in their twenties have any form of retirement plan at work, compared to 62 percent of workers in their fifties.

But having a retirement plan and actually getting benefits are far from the same. Among all adult workers, only 43 percent say they have a vested right to either their own money they saved or money their employer set aside for them.

Betty Schueler, who worked as a bartender and restaurant server for 40 years at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, said she no longer harbors any illusions about retirement after recently losing her job:

Retirement is a word that's no longer in our vocabulary. I will never see that in my lifetime.

Today's Teamster News 09.06.13

Teamster Mailers Union Respond to Star-Ledger Publisher Threats  teamster.org ...This is the official statement from Steve Grant, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 1100 in Fairfield, N.J. which represents 195 mailer employees at the Star-Ledger newspaper...
Teamsters among grocery workers picket to raise regional awareness  Auburn Reporter   ...Members of three unions representing grocery store workers in the Puget Sound region, including members of Teamsters Local 38, took to the streets on Aug. 28, picketing to raise awareness about ongoing contract negotiations with several local grocery stores, including the Auburn Safeway and Fred Meyer stores...
BMWED’s Western Region Association Holds Annual Meeting  teamster.org   ...Representatives from the Unified System Division;  Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe, Frisco System Federation; Allied Federation; and Burlington System Division, all part of the Western Region Association, met to conduct an educational conference this week...
Allied Waste drops lawsuit filed against Youngstown Teamsters Union  WFMJ 21 News   ...Allied Waste has dropped a federal lawsuit that was filed against the Teamsters Union during this past spring's walkout against the trash hauler...
Union contract talks continue  Dyersville Commercial  ...The Delaware County (Iowa) board met again with representatives of the sheriff’s department deputies and jailers to further iron out details of a proposed switch over from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union membership to the Teamsters Union...
JPMorgan Will Stop Making Student Loans  firedoglake   ...Competition from the government may be a factor, another might also be that student loans are in a massive trillion dollar bubble...
Failed Policy — The 401(k) Shrinks In A Growing Economy  The National Memo   ...even though the economy is improving, the number of workers saving out of their paychecks for old age is shrinking. So is the amount they save, down 6 percent in real terms from 2008 to 2010...
Nearly Half Of U.S. Births Are Covered By Medicaid, Study Finds  Kaiser Health News   ...About half the births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid — a figure higher than previous estimates – and the numbers could increase as the state-federal health insurance program expands under the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released Tuesday...
Demonstrators protest against low wages at Walmart store in Lakewood  Denver Post   ...The protest outside the store at West Colfax Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard was one of about 15 demonstrations held nationwide Thursday against the retailer...
24 Walmart Protesters Arrested At Demonstrations In New York And Los Angeles (UPDATED)  Huffington Post   ...The New York Police Department arrested three Walmart protesters in New York City on Thursday during demonstrations against the company's wages and worker conditions...Also on Thursday, 21 protesters were arrested in Los Angeles during a similar demonstration downtown...
New York Unions Might Find a Friend in City Hall  Wall Street Journal   ...Private-sector labor unions could have a strong ally in the next mayor as they embark on new efforts to organize workers in New York City...
Fast-food condemnation  The Economist   ...What do you say to a teenager with a job? Answer: “A Big Mac, fries and a Coke, please.” At least, that was the joke in happier times. Today’s question might be: “What do you say to a single parent with two jobs and no health insurance?...”
Gov. Brown plan exempts thousands of transportation workers from pension limits  Los Angeles Times   ...Brown's proposal comes in response to a federal threat to withhold transit money from California...
Organized labor readies for Kentucky right-to-work battle  Louisville Morning Call   ...Kentucky legislators seeking to curb the power of unions could face major hurdles if a Labor Day event was any indication. About a dozen unions participated in a Louisville picnic for organized labor members, and thousands of people showed up...
Hart Schaffner Marx, Apparel Union Workers Stand In Solidarity Against Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement   Progress Illinois   ...The Chicago-based apparel firm Hart Schaffner Marx, its factory workers and their union say they will collectively fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement that is currently under negotiations...
U.S. likely to approve Chinese purchase of Smithfield  Reuters   ...The U.S. government is unlikely to block Chinese meat company Shuanghui International's $4.7 billion deal to buy Smithfield Foods, Inc. on national security grounds, according to one person familiar with the matter...
Female doctors make $56,000 less than male MDs  MSN Money   ...The Journal of the American Medical Association points out the wage gap, which has been getting wider over the years...
Detroit Billionaires Get Arena Help as Bankrupt City Suffers  Bloomberg News   ...In the wake of Detroit becoming the biggest U.S. municipality to declare bankruptcy and raid pensions, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder approved a plan to put public money toward a $450 million downtown arena on behalf of the NHL’s Red Wings and their billionaire owners...
Alabama's job creation struggle: Growth is not only slow, but also low-quality   The Huntsville Times   ...A comparison of job growth in Alabama and Utah published last week looked at changes in unemployment rates and job growth overall. This story goes a level deeper, and looks at the quality of jobs being created in each state...
Signatures collected for Alaska wage initiative  The State   ...Sponsors of an initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska said they have collected more than a third of the signatures required to qualify the measure for the ballot...

Today's Teamster News 06.16.13

Father of modern 401(k) says it fails many Americans  Marketplace   ...Today, the typical middle-class household nearing retirement has saved $120,000 -- one-tenth what many say it needs. ..
Why real wages are falling  Stumbling and Mumbling   ...Real wages are falling at a near-record rate...they were 6% lower in April than they were in April 2008. This is the biggest five-year drop in real wages since 1921-26, and the second-largest fall since records began in 1855...
IMF Article IV on the US: "deficit reduction in 2013 has been excessively rapid and ill-designed" Econbrowser   ... the automatic spending cuts (“sequester”) not only exert a heavy toll on growth in the short term, but the indiscriminate reductions in education, science, and infrastructure spending could also reduce medium-term potential growth...
GOP labor bills limit 'micro-unions,' require secret ballots  The Hill   ...Legislation introduced in the House and Senate on Thursday would cut back on the ability of unions to form among smaller groups of workers and require that workers use a secret ballot when voting to organize...
26 Lawmakers Live Off Food Stamps To Protest Republican Cuts  ThinkProgress   ...The SNAP challenge means that Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and 25 participating members must try to live off of under $4.50 per day for food and drink...
Spanish Austerity Cuts Put Lives at Risk, Study Finds  Reuters   ... Austerity cuts in Spain could lead to the effective dismantling of large parts of its healthcare system and significantly damage the health of the population, according to a study...
As neighboring states add jobs, Wisconsin leads nation in losses over past 12 months  The Cap Times   ...Wisconsin (had)...6,800 fewer total non-farm jobs in April 2013 compared to April 2012...
Rick Perry Vetoes Texas Equal Pay Bill  Huffington Post   ...Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has vetoed a bill meant to prevent wage discrimination against women...
Emergency Manager: Detroit won't pay $2.5B it owes  Associated Press   ...A team led by a state-appointed emergency manager said Friday that Detroit is defaulting on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt and is asking creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owes them. Kevyn Orr spent two hours with about 180 bond insurers, pension trustees, union representatives and other creditors in a move to avoid what bankruptcy experts have said would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...
LABOR: Teamsters to vote on strike at bottling company  Press-Enterprise   ...Local 63 of the Teamsters is preparing to take a vote this weekend on whether to authorize a strike against American Bottling Co., which has a distribution center in Riverside...

Today's Teamster News 04.27.13

PBS Drops Another Bombshell: Wall Street Is Gobbling Up Two-Thirds of Your 401(k) Wall Street on Parade ...If you work for 50 years and receive the typical long-term return of 7 percent on your 401(k) plan and your fees are 2 percent, almost two-thirds of your account will go to Wall Street...
Error Claims Cast Doubt on Bank of America Foreclosures in Bay Area NBC Bay Area ...Despite recent settlements with state and federal regulators and a new California law that tightens rules for the mortgage industry, banks and their subsidiaries continue to file invalid documents and foreclose on properties to which they appear to have no legal right, an analysis of thousands of pages of property records and wrongful foreclosure lawsuits shows...
US Lets Swiss Banks, Accused of Aiding Tax Fraud, Avoid Prosecution with Fines The Real News ...this notion of paying money, it kind of reeks of the U.S. justice for sale...
Obama Budget Plan Results In 'Back Door' Tax Increase For Middle-Class Households: Analysis Huffington Post ...With Obama’s budget change, taxpayers would move into higher income tax brackets and face higher tax rates more quickly than they would have before...
The Decline of Emergency Care The Atlantic ...Trauma centers and emergency departments across the U.S. have been closing at alarming rates. The people who stand to lose the most are those already put at a disadvantage by the health-care system...
Putting Water Back in Public Hands The Real News ...Paris and other cities have remunicipalised water that had been privatized saving users money and introducing more democracy and transparency...
290 dead as high street fashion chains told to put lives before profits after Bangladeshi factory collapse The Independent ...Death toll passes 290 as staff describe how they were ordered to continue production despite raising concerns over huge cracks in the eight-storey structure...

Report by Progress Missouri Highlights ALEC Infiltration in MO Center for Media and Democracy ...More than forty bills introduced in the Missouri state legislature echo American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model legislation, and at least 60 legislators are ALEC members, according to a new report from Progress Missouri...
Appeals panel asks state Supreme Court to take up union bargaining law Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...An appeals panel asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to quickly take up a case over Gov. Scott Walker's controversial law on collective bargaining, saying the high court should decide the issue without an appellate ruling on it...
For foreign land investors, Wisconsin's not yet wide open for business The Cap Times ...A Gov. Scott Walker budget proposal to lift restrictions on the purchase of state land by foreigners — an idea critics said would drive up rural land prices — was removed from the budget Thursday by the Joint Finance Committee...
Why is Scott Walker skipping the big Koch conference? The Cap Times ...This weekend, industrialist billionaires Charles and David Koch are convening a group of conservative power brokers in Palm Springs, Calif., to discuss what went wrong in the 2012 election...
Pennsylvania Think Tank Plans to 'Slay' Unions, Like in Wisconsin The Nation ...The Commonwealth Foundation, a right-wing think tank in Harrisburg, is plotting to go after public sector employee unions...
Fla. House passes 'wage theft' bill 71-45 Tampa Bay Times ...Opponents have blasted HB 1125 as a “Tallahassee power grab” that protects big corporations and business owners who withhold wages from their workers...
Teamsters approve 'optimization' plan with YRC Freight Central Pennsylvania Business Journal ...YRC Freight, a division of Kansas-based trucking company YRC Worldwide Inc., this week said it has received approval from the Teamsters union that represents its employees to move forward with an “optimization plan” that will result in the closure of some facilities around the country...
Teamsters Urge "Special Pay Issue" Raises For Florida Correctional Officers IBT ..."One important way the Florida Legislature can observe National Correctional Officers' Week this year is to enact "special pay issue raises" for employees of the Florida Department of Corrections…"
Teamsters union chides Allegheny County over negotiations Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The union that represents about 600 Allegheny County employees said the administration is "taking a hard line" and not properly negotiating with it...
UPS’s New Contract With Teamsters Removes Strike Threat Bloomberg ...United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and the Teamsters union agreed to a new five-year contract covering 250,000 employees, erasing the risk that some business might be lost through just the threat of a strike...

Why 401(k) plans suck

It's not getting better.

In a nutshell: Most people don't save enough in their 401(k) plans for retirement.

And even if they do, they're borrowing money against them.

The Washington Post noticed that in a story last week titled, "401(k) breaches undermining retirement security for millions."

More than one in four American workers with 401(k) and other retirement savings accounts use them to pay current expenses, new data show. The withdrawals, cash-outs and loans drain nearly a quarter of the $293 billion that workers and employers deposit into the accounts each year, undermining already shaky retirement security for millions of Americans.

Add to that the inadequacy of most 401(k) plans. The Center for Retirement Research reports a typical worker should save about $363,000 by the time he or she retires. According to the Fed, a typical household approaching retirement had 401(k)/IRA balances of only $120,000 in 2010, far short of the projected amount for the individual.

Angry Bear argues:

...the current model, based on 401(k)'s rather than true pensions, is not working.

Here's why:

1. ...there is a  $6.6 trillion gap ... between what people need to maintain their current standard of living and what they've actually saved for retirement. This is equal to the combined assets of defined benefit pensions and 401(k) type plans, more than total state/local/federal government retirement plans, and more than twice as much as the Social Security Trust Fund. 
2. 49% of private sector worker have neither a 401(k) or a defined benefit pension plan.
3. ...employers have embraced 401(k) plans because they are less expensive than providing pensions, thereby "cut(ting) overall employee compensation," and that 401(k) plans don't take into account the stagnation of real wages.

Houston, we have a problem.

Links 08/24/10

Give Labor Its Day (editorial) America ...Labor holds the key to the nation’s future global competitiveness, its standard of living and the health of its democracy.

Teamsters: CCE workers to vote Oct. 7 Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...workers at Coca-Cola Enterprises facilities in College Park and Marietta will vote Oct. 7 on whether to be represented by the union.

Coca-Cola Employees in Bremerton Go On Strike Kitsap Sun ...the company wants to cease contributions to retiree health-care coverage, increase employee insurance premiums 800 percent and close facilities in other parts of the state.

Workers hustled in pension game (opinion) The Journal-Standard ...Why is the worker’s future tied to the whims of the stock market, but the bankers’ bonuses, golden parachutes, and outrageous salaries are guaranteed?

A Record Number Of Workers Could Be Burning Away Retirement Savings Just To Survive Business Insider ...according to Fidelity, the Boston-based investment management giant, record numbers of its clients have been withdrawing money from 401(k) retirement plans.