Insights, Issues & Istook

Labor leaders begged Congress to allow cuts in retirement benefits for union-run pension funds with underfunding of 20 percent or more, which cover 10-million union members.  So Congress and President Obama just changed the law. Some employers are also allowed to reduce pensions. But unions have lost their moral authority to complain that businesses are just greedy.  Among unions, companies, and government, a lot of benefits have been promised to win people over—promises that are turning out to be unaffordable.