Teamsters’ Local 705 in Chicago agreed Dec. 14 to restore $20 million to the union’s pension plan under a U.S. Dist. Court consent order and judgment won by the U.S. Dep’t of Labor. Trustees improperly transferred pension funds to a welfare benefit plan from 1991-95. Trustees claimed the transfers were to help support to the welfare plan. DOL charged that many individuals who paid into the pension plan were not covered by the welfare plan, and thus, were harmed by the transfers. The pension plan was worth $780 million in Jan. 1996. [BNA 12/16/98]
