LIUNA President to Rally against Deep Retirement Cuts More Businesses Cashing in their Reputation by Selling Out Life-long Workers

Washington, D.C. (August 5, 2013) – Terry O’Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – will join top Minnesota legislators in the Twin Cities this Tuesday to rally members who are in their seventh week of a strike against Cretex Concrete Products’ plan to slash pensions by roughly 80 percent. O’Sullivan has been a leading voice in confronting  corporate and political attacks on worker’s rights and the nation’s struggling middle class.

“These brave men and women, risking their jobs, are working class heroes,” O’Sullivan says. “Fair pay and a secure retirement for an honest day’s work has made our country great for generations. I’ll be calling on Cretex to make things right this Tuesday, so that all of us can get back to work.”

Cretex workers at the Shakopee plant, including some second generation employees, help the company earn its solid reputation for quality concrete manufacturing, including manholes, sewer pipes and other products. Since the strike began, delays in production and deliveries have disrupted work at highway and sewer construction projects in the Twin Cities.

O’Sullivan added, “In a country built on the chance to realize the American Dream, it’s sad to see more businesses cashing in their reputation by selling out life-long workers. No longer can workers count on the secure retirement they’ve worked hard for their whole lives because of corporate greed run amuck.”

Cretex workers are fighting back against the attack on secure pensions. In the early 1990’s, 35 percent of private sector workers had defined benefit pensions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today only 18 percent do.