Are you willing to send a letter to your Congressional Representative to encourage them to oppose the GROW Act? If so, you can either draft your own letter based on the letter below, or you can even send this exact letter and just fill in the blanks with your own information.
Find out who your Congressperson is and how to contact them by clicking here.
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To the Honorable [your Congressional Rep’s name]:
The purpose of this letter is to strongly urge you to oppose the Give Retirement Options to Workers (GROW) Act (H.R. 4997). This legislation weakens the entire multiemployer pension system, putting our retirement security, and that of millions of other Americans, at risk.
I have been a Union member for [number of years], working at [places you have worked as a Union member]. I have spent those years working tirelessly to build towards a secure retirement, and one of the most important pillars of that retirement was my multiemployer defined benefit pension plan, the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust.
If the GROW Act legislation becomes law, my retirement security will be deeply threatened. This retirement is something that I have worked hard to earn. Over the years, I have given up other benefits in my Union contracts so that I could have a stronger pension. If this rug is pulled out from under me by my elected representatives, my entire life’s work could end up in devastation. This is not an issue I take lightly.
Make no mistake, the GROW Act will be devastating to multiemployer pension plans like mine. It would drain contributions from existing multiemployer plans to fund new composite plans—setting up both plans for failure and putting our retirement benefits at risk. It would also permit draconian cuts to workers’ promised benefits and subject retirees to devastating cuts to their pensions.
In addition, the GROW Act would make it easier for employers to withdraw from pension plans without paying their fair share of the plan’s liabilities. It would also undermine the solvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) because composite plans would be exempt from paying premiums, despite creating significant new liabilities for the PBGC due to the plan failures that would result from weakening plan funding.
Meanwhile, under the GROW Act, workers lose the safety net of PBGC insurance coverage and face the prospect of total benefit loss in the event of a plan failure.
My coworkers and I all feel the same way: the retirement security that we have earned throughout our careers is one of the most important things we have, and we will do whatever it takes to protect it. Therefore, we demand that you do the right thing and vote against this terrible legislation. Say no to GROW!
Sincerely,
[your name]