Rita Lewis, the widow activist of the late Teamsters Local 100 President Butch Lewis, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and told her story about the passage of the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021.
Rita Lewis appeared on AWF in honor of International Women’s Month.
She explained how her husband teamed up with Mike Walden to create the National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP), which lobbied Congress for multi-employer pension plan relief. Until the day he died of a stroke, Lewis traveled back and forth from his home in Cincinnati to Washington, D.C., to lobby politicians from both parties to save failing pension plans.
After his tragic passing, she felt compelled to pick up the torch and continue her late husband's work. Lewis spoke about the trials and tribulations she, Walden and Bill Lichtenwald, who at the time worked for the Central States Pension Fund faced for nearly six years as they lobbied Congress to save nearly-bankrupted pensions.
Eventually, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Walden worked together to craft the legislation, which they named after Butch Lewis, much to the surprise of his wife. Roughly eight years after Butch Lewis began to lobby Congress, President Joe Biden signed the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021. The act not only saved multi-employer pension plans through 2051, but guaranteed pensioners would not see their benefits cut during this period.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about Rita Lewis and her fight for pension reform.