Carpenters in Detroit denounce draconian pension cuts proposed under 2014 federal law
The general assault on the pensions of US workers under the Obama era Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 has now taken aim at the pensions of tens of thousands of construction workers in southeast Michigan. Nearly 20,000 active and retired carpenters and millwrights in the Detroit metropolitan area are facing deep cuts in their pensions in July 2021.
The Warren, Michigan-based Carpenters and Millwrights fund submitted a revised application in 2020 to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin under the Application for Suspension of Benefits required by the 2014 federal legislation. The current Board of Trustees includes now president of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, Mike Barnwell, and other officials of the carpenters and millwrights regional and local unions.