The Teamsters Central States Pension Fund is – simply put – a tangled mess. At a recent meeting in Ohio, one of the funds trustees, Bill Lichtenwald, had to tap dance at a meeting of Teamsters and retirees when having to explain why $6.1 million in union funds were being paid to lobbyists to persuade congress to push through a pension reform bill that will result in a 50% cut to most of the retired Teamsters in the room. Lichtenwald was not helped by the fact that he was recently named in a federal investigation for misusing 70 percent of state union’s dues on salaries, parties and golf clubs as president of the Ohio Conference of Teamsters. Lichtenwald refused to answer questions about the investigation, and instead limited them to questions about the pension fund issue. “Then how can we trust you?” asked Fairfield Teamster Rob Stapleton. “That’s a choice you have to make,” he replied. *The Chart below was from a May article – click image to read. 
