By DAVID BOYLES
The Anchorage School Board last week unanimously voted to accept the Teamsters Local 959 (bus drivers/attendants) contract demands. Part of those demands includes the taxpayer bailing out an underfunded Teamster Pension Fund; for all teamsters—not just the ones employed by the school district.
This pension fund has been under water since June 2011. In 2020 the U.S. Department of Labor put this Teamster-Employer Pension Plan into a continued “critical” status, meaning that members would receive reduced benefits.
These reduced benefits have been in effect since July 2011. Giving more money to this fund won’t help fix the bad management practices, nor will it guarantee the employees will get the benefit of this plan in the future.
How much will this cost Anchorage taxpayers?
The district must pay the fund $1 for each hour of compensation earned by an employee with six or less years of service. The district must fund $2 an hour for all other employees.
At 40 hours/week, that would mean $80/week just to pay to bail out the Teamsters Pension Fund. The employee sees none of this. The district pays the entire cost.
What are the employees to expect from the taxpayer contributions to this “pension plan”? Maybe nothing.
The contract says, “It is the intention of the parties that the employees be covered by both (PERS and Teamster) pension plans.” The contract “intent” is not binding enough to provide employees any benefits.
This does not bode well for the employees because the Alaska Teamster Employer Pension Trust has not been managed well enough to ensure benefits for these employees.
The Teamsters have slipped an additional penalty on the taxpayers in the following language:
“The District agrees to pay, in accordance with the Pension Protection Act, an employer supplemental contribution required due to the critical status designation of the Alaska Teamster Employer Pension Trust.
Because the Teamster Pension Trust has not been managed properly and in a fiscally responsible manner, Anchorage taxpayers must ante up even more to ensure the viability of the fund.
As a final gesture, the Teamsters Union says that if there is an increase in this supplemental contribution, then the bus drivers’ wages will be reduced. So, the Anchorage taxpayer loses, and the employee loses.
The school district has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure these taxpayer funds are managed properly. But the District cannot possibly do this when it has no control over the fund’s management.
The contract states, “The details of the plan will be determined by the Board of Trustees of the Alaska Teamster-Employer Pension Trust Fund, in accordance with the Trust Agreement of June 21, 1966. The Employer (school district) and the Union agree to be bound by said Trust Agreement and all lawful amendments thereto…”
This means that the Teamsters call the shots, and the district must obey. This puts the district in a very poor position regarding costs. The new contract takes away any power the school district had, and it must adhere to the Teamster union decisions.
Anything to save the Teamsters underwater Pension Trust.
There is a legally questionable clause in the contract agreement that pertains to mandatory union membership. This hinges on the U.S. Supreme Court Janus decision, June 2018.
The contract states. “…the district will not in any manner restrain or attempt to restrain any employee from belonging to the Union…”. This implies that the district cannot provide information to the employee that one does not have to belong to the Union to keep his/her job. The Janus decision clearly states that one does not have to belong to a government union to keep one’s job. It is an infringement of one’s First Amendment rights to do otherwise.
This contract flies in the face of the SCOTUS Janus decision.
The School Board is funneling taxpayer dollars into a union pension fund with no accountability and, more importantly, with potentially no benefits for our employees.
The Teamsters Union wins. The bus drivers and attendants lose. The Anchorage taxpayer loses. And the school district’s budget hole gets even deeper. More information is at this link.
