What to know about Kenneth Stribling, retired Milwaukee truck driver who spoke at DNC

Between the contingent of cheeseheads in the convention hall and the presidential candidate herself in Milwaukee , it was hard to miss Wisconsin on the second day of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.

But there's one nod to the state you might have missed: early in the evening, a retired truck driver from Milwaukee took the stage in Chicago to speak about protecting pension funds.

After working in Milwaukee for more than 30 years, Kenneth Stribling became involved with organizing first locally, then nationally, to protect retirees' pension funds. Here's what to know about the Wisconsinite and his speech at the DNC.

Who is Kenneth Stribling?

On the DNC stage, Stribling introduced himself as "a proud retired Teamster from Local 200 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin."

Stribling finished his three-decade career at Holland Freight, a freight logistics company, and continued to live in Milwaukee. He became involved in politics in 2015, when he found out the Central States Pension Funds intended to slash his pension in half within the next decade.

The news came just as he found out his wife, Beverly, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

"I didn't know how we were going to make it," Stribling said at the DNC.

Stribling said he began organizing with local retirees in "the basement of the church" to fight the pension reduction. He eventually became co-chair of the Wisconsin-Milwaukee/SE Committee to Protect Pensions and president of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions.

His organizing has also landed Stribling in the national spotlight several times. In 2018, he testified before Congress to urge lawmakers to protect retirees facing the loss of their pensions. And in 2021, Sen. Tammy Baldwin named him as a virtual guest to President Joe Biden's first presidential address to Congress.

More: Retired Teamster asks Congress to save troubled pension funds

What did Stribling talk about at the DNC?

Stribling was joined on stage Tuesday by a couple dozen other retiree advocates — or "pension warriors," as he called them.

He focused his three-minute speech on recounting his personal retirement story, as well as commending the Biden-Harris administration for passing the American Rescue Plan Act . The bill, passed in the first year of Biden's presidency, halted the previous plan to cut pension funds in half until at least 2051.

"They got it done with one single Republican vote in Congress. They saved over one million pensions, including 33,000 from my state, Wisconsin," Stribling said Tuesday.

Stribling finished his speech by honoring his wife Beverly, who made him promise in 2015 to not quit until they "made this right" for retirees losing pension funds, he said.

"Beverly passed away in 2019, but I kept my promise because a promise is a promise is a promise," Stribling said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Kenneth Stribling, retired Milwaukee truck driver who spoke at DNC