On Saturday, Dec. 21, the U.S. Senate passed the Social Security Fairness Act, bipartisan legislation to boost Social Security payments for millions of public employees, including members of Teamsters Local 700. 

For more than 40 years, public employees have been subject to punitive and discriminatory measures that reduce their Social Security benefits. Called the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), these rules have robbed public employees of the retirement income they earned since 1977 and 1983 respectively. 

For years, public employee unions have worked to repeal these damaging laws, educating lawmakers on the unfair and discriminatory effects of these harmful provisions. These laws unfairly penalize members who have dedicated their lives to public service and dissuade people from joining the public sector.

“We are so proud to see Congress finally take action to repeal these damaging and unnecessary laws, which will put more money into the pockets of Local 700 members in retirement,” said Local 700 President Ramon Williams. “This was truly a team effort, with public employee unions joining together to ensure this bill got across the finish line. On behalf of Local 700, thank you to all the Teamsters, educators, first responders, and public service workers who made their voices heard and thank you to the lawmakers who got this done!”

Currently, more than 2 million retired public service workers are impacted by the WEP and GPO, with many seeing more than a $500 reduction in their benefits each month. Had the Social Security Fairness Act failed to pass this Congress, the Congressional Budget Office expected another $195 billion in Social Security benefits to be withheld from retirees over the next 10 years. 

The legislation, previously passed by the House of Representatives, now goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it into law.

“While this is a significant step forward at the federal level, we still have more work to do in Illinois to fix the broken Tier 2 pension system,” said President Williams. “We will never stop fighting for fair retirement for our members, whether that be locally, in Springfield, or in Washington, D.C.”