Peters Floor Remarks Supporting American Workers and the Butch Lewis Act
Peters: “These Americans made a deal with their employers, decades of hard work in exchange for fair earnings and a decent retirement. A deal is a deal.”
Peters: “We must address pension insolvency without sacrificing workers’ hard-earned benefits.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), spoke on the Senate floor today to urge his colleagues to support American workers by addressing pension insolvency without sacrificing hard-earned benefits. Below is video and text of his remarks as prepared for delivery:
“A deal is a deal. This is a saying we have all heard, but it is also something on which we should all agree. The American commitment to honoring contracts is part of why our economy is the greatest in the world. Businesses know that if their partner in a duly executed deal backs out, they have access to the full power of our courts and legal system to make them whole. This is basic fairness. A deal is a deal.
“Mr. President, workers deserve the same fairness. Workers who have banded together to negotiate for pensions during their retirement in exchange for lower up-front pay, deserve the pensions they have earned. Generations of Americans have built their lives around the idea that, if you work hard and play by the rules – you will have a fair shot at success. The certainty that hard work will be rewarded empowers Americans to achieve economic security, provide for loved ones, and retire with dignity.
“But for many Americans who have spent decades working hard, their retirement is at risk. Tens of thousands of Michiganders will be denied their hard-earned retirement if Congress does not act to protect the pension benefits they have earned. More than 400 thousand Americans, including over 47 thousand in Michigan, will face massive cuts to their pensions if the Central States Pension Fund is allowed to fail. And Central States is not the only multiemployer pension plan on a rapid path to insolvency. As many as 200 financially troubled plans are at risk, with the retirement of 1.5 million Americans hanging in the balance.
“When Michiganders contact me about this issue they are frustrated and angry, but more than anything, they are afraid. They are afraid they will lose their homes, they are afraid they will be unable to afford the health care they need, and they are afraid they could one day become a burden on their adult children. I appreciate that it isn’t easy sharing these very personal, very real fears and I would like to share some of the stories I have heard from Michigan retirees and folks who are hoping to retire soon.
“Carl from Menominee would have to sell his house and find a new job that he and his aching joints, can handle at age 72, after 30 years of hard physical labor.
“Jan and his wife Thelma from Deerfield would lose the home Jan built over 50 years ago with his own two hands. Although Thelma still works and pays into a pension plan, she will not receive the benefits earned over the last decade, ever since the troubled plan froze the funds for active workers. For people like Thelma, the uncertainty of pension cuts are quickly becoming a harsh reality.
“William from Erie is enduring an eighty, eight zero, percent cut to his pension. He describes it as ‘the worst thing that could have happened’ to him and his wife in their golden years. William is a Navy veteran who drove 120 miles to and from work every day to keep his pension and the promise of a comfortable retirement. The extreme cuts he is facing have forced him to go back to work. He had to overcome multiple barriers to senior employment in order to land a minimum wage job. The job pays for basic necessities like electricity, food and heat, but he still cannot afford health insurance for his wife, who is still more than a year away from qualifying for Medicare.
“Mr. President, these Americans made a deal with their employers, decades of hard work in exchange for fair earnings and a decent retirement. A deal is a deal. We have the FDIC to make sure that Americans don’t lose their life savings if a bank goes under. We have federally backed crop insurance to help protect farmers who face unpredictable growing seasons. We even have federally backed mortgage insurance to protect banks if homeowners can’t pay their mortgage.
“These workers – Carl, Thelma, and William – they are not asking for a handout. They are asking for the pension benefits that they earned, that they bargained for and that they worked their whole lives to secure. A deal is a deal. We must make this right.
“I urge my colleagues to stand up for American workers and support the Butch Lewis Act. We must address pension insolvency without sacrificing workers’ hard-earned benefits.”
