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6 03, 2020

Safeway, Giant agree to guarantee pension payments for UFCW members

2020-03-06T09:19:36-08:00March 6th, 2020|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , , |

Members of two United Food & Commercial Workers locals in the Washington region reached a collective bargaining agreement with Safeway Inc. on Wednesday that guarantees full funding of pension benefits for current employees and retirees. A similar agreement was also reached with Giant Food of Maryland, which in February reached a tentative agreement. Union officials said that the more contentious Safeway agreement, ratified by local members hours before a planned strike, was one of very few agreements guaranteeing pensions. [...]

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18 02, 2020

McClatchy files for Chapter 11 protection while PBGC talks continue

2020-02-18T14:26:36-08:00February 18th, 2020|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , , |

McClatchy Co. filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday while it continues to seek support for a reorganization plan from key stakeholders, including the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. In its bankruptcy announcement, the company said the goal is to emerge from the process in the next few months after resolving legacy debt and pension obligations. "We are moving with speed and focus to benefit all our stakeholders and our communities," President and CEO Craig Forman said in the [...]

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22 10, 2019

FedEx Marches to Its Own Beat on Pension De-risking

2019-10-22T10:33:27-07:00October 22nd, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: |

Many big companies are looking to de-risk their pension plans by offering lump-sum payouts or cutting deals with insurance companies. Some, however, are taking a different route. FedEx, for example, recently announced plans to contribute $1 billion to its U.S. pension plans before the end of its fiscal year ending May 29, 2020. That’s $300 million more than its expected minimum required contribution. It’s not a brand-new strategy: the company has annually been contributing at least $1 billion to the [...]

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22 10, 2019

GE joins corporate brethren in trend to put DB plan in the rearview mirror

2019-10-22T09:46:35-07:00October 22nd, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: |

General Electric Co.'s recent announcement that it is freezing its U.S. defined benefit plan as a means of reducing its pension liabilities is just the latest example of corporations abandoning their DB plans and moving participants into a defined contribution plan. As a means of reducing its pension deficit by $5 billion to $8 billion, GE said Oct. 7 it is freezing its U.S. pension plan for 20,000 salaried employees and supplementary pension benefits for another 700 employees who [...]

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20 09, 2019

The Rise, Fall, and Complexities of the Defined-Benefit Plan

2019-09-20T16:45:34-07:00September 20th, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: |

Over the past 25 to 30 years there has been a major shift in retirement plan schemes offered by private-sector employers, from the traditional defined-benefit plan (DB plan) to the more contemporary defined-contribution plan (DC plan). Traditional DB plans, commonly referred to as pensions, typically provide a guaranteed monthly income to employees when they retire and place the burden of funding and choosing investments on the employer. DC plans, such as a 401(k), are primarily funded by employees who [...]

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20 09, 2019

Paris hit with biggest transport strike in decades over pensions

2019-09-20T16:42:05-07:00September 20th, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , |

The biggest strike to hit Paris public transport since 2007 created major traffic jams Friday, disrupting tourists’ plans and forcing commuters to work from home or find alternative ways to reach the office. French unions were protesting plans for sweeping pension changes by President Emmanuel Macron’s government that aim to create a universal pension system, instead of having different pension rules for different jobs. Critics say that will do away with some transport workers’ right to retire early. The [...]

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21 08, 2019

NIRS: No money saved for 4 states that shifted to DC from DB plans

2019-08-21T08:17:37-07:00August 21st, 2019|Categories: 401(k), Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , |

Four states that shifted to defined contribution from defined benefit plans did not save money, said new and updated case studies from the National Institute on Retirement Security. NIRS researchers updated prior case studies on Alaska, Michigan and West Virginia and created a new study on Kentucky. All of the states have switched new employees to defined contribution-only accounts to deal with pension underfunding and rising costs. According to an NIRS report on the studies, the changes increased overall [...]

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12 08, 2019

New postal workers would no longer earn a pension under preliminary business plan

2019-08-12T08:44:46-07:00August 12th, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: |

The U.S. Postal Service, facing pressure from Congress to propose initiatives to ensure the agency’s long-term viability, is floating a business plan that would include significant cuts to employees’ take-home pay and benefits. USPS included a hike to the employee contribution level for pensions in a first draft of a 10-year business plan presented to lawmakers and stakeholders, according to multiple people who were briefed on it, as well as phasing out pensions altogether for new hires in favor of [...]

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24 07, 2019

What Congress Could Do To Stop a Pension Crisis

2019-07-24T15:20:25-07:00July 24th, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , |

A looming retirement crisis is facing the U.S. taxpayer that will become an economic tsunami if Congress doesn’t act. The pensions of 1.3 million workers in certain multiemployer pension plans and the federal government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are set to collapse. Only Congress can prevent this from cascading throughout the economy, to taxpayers and into healthy pension plans and their employers. How things spiraled into this crisis is complicated, but important to understand. Some say it’s a multiemployer problem, [...]

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14 05, 2019

Feds approve pension cuts to W.Pa. Teamsters fund; 22,000 ballots to be mailed

2019-05-14T13:04:22-07:00May 14th, 2019|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: , |

About 22,000 ballots will be mailed to pension plan participants in Western Pennsylvania for a vote on a 30% benefit cut proposed by the plan’s board. The ballots are being authorized after the U.S. Department of Treasury approved the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employers Pension Fund’s request submitted last September to cut benefits. The plan represents about 17,000 retirees and 5,000 people who are working and paying into the fund. In a letter dated May 7, the Treasury Department sent [...]

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Lifetime Income Security Account (LISA) is a service mark of CORPaTH. Guaranteed Lifetime Income Account (GLIA) is a servicemark of CORPaTH. CORPaTH is a SAGE Solution: Sustainability Advocacy Governance and Education. CORPaTH is a Joint Labor Management Initiative.

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