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Heitkamp calls on Congress to protect worker's pensions

Senator Heidi Heitkamp is calling for a bipartisan solution to protect the retirement savings of 2-thousand North Dakotans, and hundreds of thousands of retirees nationwide.

Earlier this year, those workers and retirees were in danger of losing up to 60 percent of their pensions under a plan to restructure the multiemployer pension plan, which is no longer solvent. The Department of Treasury ended up rejecting that proposal in May, but no solution to the solvency problem has been proposed.

Bob Berg worked for UPS for over 30 years. He says he put hundreds of dollars of his wages away every week for his retirement. He says his retirement was "guaranteed" to be there for him when he was done. He says he and other workers just like him deserve their pensions because it's their money.

"We played by the rules. And we deserve to have what we not only paid for, but what was promised to us. If this can happen to over 400-thousand of us retirees, no one's retirement is safe - no one's, no matter what line of work you're in."

Heitkamp says with the solvency of this retirement fund in jeopardy, Congress needs to step up. She says she's willing to do everything in her power to prevent retirees and workers from losing parts of their pensions. But she says it will take grass roots efforts to be heard.

"Unlike maybe a lot of people in Washington, DC, I know you. You're my people. You're the people I grew up with. You're the people I was raised with. You represent my father, and my uncles, and my aunts, and all the people who work hard to build this country. All the people that politicians pretend to represent every day, and then forget about after an election. Do not be forgotten about either in this election, or after this election. This is a fight we can win because the cause is just - and we need to amplify the voices, and remind people - because if this can happen to us, it can happen to you. Join with us. Make your voice heard. Because it's the only way we can win this long term."

The Central States Pension Fund is a multiemployer fund that covers a variety of fields, including those who worked in trucking, UPS package delivery and grocery supply industries.