FacebookTwitter
16 12, 2020

Court Rules Pensions Can’t Exist in a State of Limbo

2020-12-16T09:03:15-08:00December 16th, 2020|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a “most unusual case” that a company that went bankrupt and dissolved in the 1990s was still liable for its pension’s obligations 20 years later. The case centers on Chicago area-based Liberty Lighting Co. Inc, a unionized electrical supply manufacturing company and plan sponsor and administrator of the Liberty Lighting Co. Inc. Pension Plan for IBEW Employees. According to court documents, Liberty entered bankruptcy and surrendered its assets to [...]

Read More
16 12, 2020

Multiemployer pension reform not happening this year

2020-12-16T09:01:26-08:00December 16th, 2020|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

Multiemployer pension reform will not happen this year, Senate Republicans involved in negotiations said. In a joint statement, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said late Monday that time ran out for having it included in end-of-year legislation before the 116th Congress adjourns. "While each side has agreed to make significant changes, we have yet to find an agreement that satisfies our respective principles and objectives [...]

Read More
27 04, 2020

NCCMP seeks congressional aid for pensions in ‘CARES 2’

2020-04-27T10:25:51-07:00April 27th, 2020|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: , , , |

Below is an April 24, 2020 letter written by NCCMP Executive Director Michael D. Scott. Dear Multiemployer Community, Today, the President signed H.R. 266 which provided additional authority for the Paycheck Protection Program and support for health care providers. This is commonly referred to as the COVID 3.5 stimulus package. In less than eight weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has put more than 26.4 million Americans out of work and driven Congress and the Federal Reserve to structure more than [...]

Read More
4 12, 2019

AFL-CIO Condemns GOP Multi-Employer Pension Proposal

2019-12-04T09:22:56-08:00December 4th, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

The AFL-CIO’s pension panel has roundly condemned proposals made by two leading Senate Republicans to shore up the nation’s endangered multiemployer pension funds that would cut benefits by up to 19%. The federation’s Retirement Security Working Group said Dec. 2 that the proposals contained in a white paper released Nov. 20 by Finance Committee chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee “will not only injure the retirees and [...]

Read More
22 11, 2019

Senators Grassley and Alexander Release a Proposal on Multiemployer Pension Plan Reform

2019-11-22T10:41:14-08:00November 22nd, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

On November 20, 2019, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) released the Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reform Plan, in the form of a “White Paper” accompanied by a Technical Explanation (together referred to here as the “Reform Proposal”), that is intended to revamp the laws that apply to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. The Reform Proposal comes at [...]

Read More
21 11, 2019

At Long Last: Senate Moves Forward With a Multiemployer Pension Rescue

2019-11-21T13:28:49-08:00November 21st, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

Earlier today, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairs of the Senate Finance and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees respectively, released a proposal for new legislation to rescue struggling multi-employer plans and the multi-employer arm of the PBGC itself, which is otherwise anticipated to become insolvent in 2025. This proposal, which they’re calling the Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reform Plan, doesn’t promise the something-for-nothing of the House Democrat’s Butch Lewis Act (originally proposed in 2018 [...]

Read More
24 07, 2019

Senate reintroduces multiemployer pension reform bill

2019-07-24T15:18:09-07:00July 24th, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: , |

A multiemployer pension reform package that would create a federal loan program for struggling plans was reintroduced Wednesday in the Senate, as the House prepared to vote on similar legislation. The 27 Senate sponsors include former members of a now-disbanded bipartisan House and Senate Joint Select Committee on multiemployer pensions Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Tina Smith, D-Minn., Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. Approval of similar legislation in the Democratically controlled House, known as the [...]

Read More
11 07, 2019

Multiemployer Pension Fix Continues to Work its Way Through the House

2019-07-11T12:17:17-07:00July 11th, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

The so-called Butch Lewis Act to address funding problems facing multiemployer pension plans continues to work its way through the legislative labyrinth, with a second House committee approving the legislation in recent weeks. In what at times was a hotly debated markup session, on July 10 the House Ways & Means Committee approved by a party-line vote an amended version of the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act of 2019 (H.R. 397). The House Education & Labor Committee approved a [...]

Read More
12 06, 2019

Multiemployer pension reform bill approved by House Education and Labor Committee

2019-06-12T06:00:34-07:00June 12th, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: , , |

Bipartisan multiemployer pension reform legislation that would create a federal loan program for struggling plans was approved Tuesday in a 26-18 vote by the House Education and Labor Committee. The bill introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., in January has 168 co-sponsors, including eight Republicans. Mr. Neal said his committee will be voting on the bill soon, with a sense of urgency for an estimated 10% of multiemployer pension plans covering 1.5 million [...]

Read More
5 06, 2019

Pensionomics 2018: Measuring the Economic Impact of Multiemployer DB Pension Expenditures

2019-06-05T10:22:54-07:00June 5th, 2019|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: |

This study analyzes data on specific private sector pension plans (referred to as “multiemployer plans”) to assess the overall national economic impact of benefits paid by these plans to retirees. We estimate the employment, output, value added, and tax impacts of pension benefit expenditures from multiemployer plans at the national level, and find that the economic gains attributable to private sector multiemployer DB pension expenditures are considerable. In 2016, $41.8 billion in pension benefits were paid to 3.5 million [...]

Read More
Load More Posts
Go to Top