A new bill in Congress, the Butch Lewis Act, would require taxpayers to stand behind private union pension plans’ broken promises. The proposal would apply to troubled union, or multiemployer, pension plans which have collectively promised about $600 billion more in benefits than they can afford to pay.
WASHINGTON, D.C. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced today that it has approved the application submitted to the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program by the Sheet Metal Workers Local Pension Plan (Sheet Metal Workers Plan).
Once hailed as a bedrock of retirement security, many defined benefit pensions are now on the brink of failure. Some troubled multiemployer (union) pension plans carry debts so large that the government entity tasked with insuring them the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will also soon be insolvent. If troubled pension plans do not take action to increase contributions and curb unsustainable benefits, most pensioners will receive significantly less than their companies promised them.
Absent any congressional action, between 1 million and 10 million workers and retirees will lose most of their promised pension benefits over the coming decades.