Workers Face Retirement With Fear as GOP Refuses to Back Pension Protection Bill

[turbinetree]

BY
Thomas Conway, OurFuture
PUBLISHED
February 15, 2020

Glen Heck spent 28 years sweating in a Campti, Louisiana, paper mill that he likes to say was “hotter than nine kinds of hell.”

But now, Heck’s sacrifice may have been for nothing because his multiemployer pension plan is one of about 150 nationwide set to go broke. If that happens, the 78-year-old Heck will have to find a cheaper, lower-quality health plan and keep the beef herd he’s itching to sell.

The Democratic-controlled House passed—with bipartisan support—a commonsense plan to save Heck’s pension and those of another 1.3 million workers, retirees and widows. But Republican leaders in the Senate refuse to consider it.

n the meantime, the futures of workers and retirees like Heck hang in the balance. Many face retirement with fear instead of anticipation.

Multiemployer pension plans like Heck’s include workers from two or more companies in industries such as transportation, entertainment, construction and paper. Employers make contributions for workers as part of their compensation. Heck and others often give up wage increases or other benefits to fund those plans.

Many of the 1,400 plans nationwide are still healthy. But through no fault of workers or retirees, about 150 are struggling.

https://truthout.org/articles/workers-face-retirement-with-fear-as-gop-refuses-to-back-pension-protection-bill/

[nocoincidences]

1. Did these workers vote for Trump?

Are they planning to vote for him again?

Do they not understand what is happening?

[turbinetree]

3. I can still remember when the Air Traffic Controllers voted for Reagan..........

and everything has been going down hill fast, ever since.........................absolutely amazing........... I will join you....................................

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. While losing his pension is terrible,

does he not understand he's long since eligible for Medicare?

The sad truth is that a lot of pension plans have gone broke or simply been abandoned by the companies that had them.

I do hope this bill passes. The destruction of pensions has got to stop.

Meanwhile, people who trash 401k plans are wrong. Unless you have the misfortune to work for an Enron, which required employees invest their 401k entirely in the company, it takes a minimal of smart investing, to do well. Plus, you get to take that money with you when you change jobs, unlike pensions. It was not uncommon to require twenty or more years to be vested in the company pension plan. Any less time, and too bad. No pension.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. This has been the sleeping Giant of

things ugly. The Pulp and Paper folks are the next to get clobbered like the Steel and the Teamsters.

Nothing to strengthen the Pension system has truly happened since the White Motor take over of Minneapolis Molline in the mid Seventies under the Nixon Administration. Courts ruled employers could declare a hardship and defer Pension payments because of financial conditions. At the Same time,Congress changed the Bankruptcy laws to place most Workers at the end of the line when a company files Bankruptcy.

[Traildogbob]

16. Pulp and Paper

Kochs! Steal pension while they get billion compensation. Sure have enough left over to buy our democracy though.

[Wellstone ruled]

17. You are preaching to the Choir my friend.

Had to endure a ten year BK form on of my Employers in the early Eighties. It took ten years to the date of the original filing for settlements of payroll and Pension payments due to our Workers. And then we got lucky because we slapped Mechanics Liens on all the Plant and Equipment as well as Inventory for all wages due as well as Pension and Heath and Welfare payments that the Company was in arrears as of BK Filing. We as a Local battled the Reagan Department of Labor as well as the Justice Department on the being the last in line for compensation. We proved the Ownership had stripped the Cash Box empty via moving daily receipts to a off shore Account and used those Dollars to buy and set up a competing Company in a neighboring state and thus transferring our account base the first day of BK Filing.

Ten years to the date,payroll and unused vacation days were paid at 10 cents on a dollar less any applicable Taxes due. My claim alone was 14k and my Boss was owed 140k we both ended up with a grand total of 200 bucks after taxes. And the BK judge just said in a letter to us,that is the way the law reads. And that same company created in the neighboring State Sold a couple weeks ago for a few Billion plus debt.

[Traildogbob]

29. So sorry.

I unfortunately live somewhat close to a mill, now Blue Ridge, originally Champion International. I taught Forest Management and Forest Ecology at college 30 years. Your story is like so many others I have heard from industry workers and graduates. Those under Koch are the most horrific. I receive a small but survivable pension through the State. A red state. Non democratic state. Republican bought state. MAGA crazed state. When the criminals drain the treasury, )not the swamp), these state retirees we see the same thing happen when there is no state fund to draw from. Yet they keep voting republican, God, Guns, whites, Gays, and Dollar Stores. First on the chop blocke, Social Security. Let the old farts die, of no use anymore, in the way of creed. Watched Pulp Fiction last night. Lawrence Fishburn quotes a biblical verse of interest; Ezekiel 25:17. The GOP should be slammed over and over with it. Especially little Sunday School Rubio that loves referencing the book. Read it to Pence and Mother, Pompeo, Rick Santoriun. That one verse gives me the only hope of justice, except I am not Christian. GOP exposed that scam. Make Of The Beast on the forehead, "Make America Great Again". Worshipping the Golden fat ass cow. What is more Anti Christ than trump and GOP?

[Wellstone ruled]

30. Have to say this,

and knowing I will get smoked. The American Public has know clue as to how high the Manure pile of trouble our Nation is in. Gets downright frustrating watching the coverup of the escalating poverty. And the Wealth Gap increasing daily.

Wise old mentor many decades ago said a couple things that hold true through out history. If you want to know how a company is really doing business and profit wise,you ask the kid in the mail room or the Janitorial Staff. Secondly,if you do not know the price of a loaf of bread,you made it and are okay financially.

Moving into the Vegas Valley several years ago,we have watched Nevada turn from Red to Purple and now Blue. Yes we have tons of local ultra conservatives in our Governmental Units and by this time next year,many will be replaced.

Nevada is looking more and more like California East with every passing day and the new mover-in-ers demand better representation and social services and it is scaring the crap out of the born and raised here people.

[Traildogbob]

31. 👏🏽

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Can someone explain to me how this issue alone can't flip the Senate?

[lastlib]

8. "Against Stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain." --Friedrich Schiller

The only thing I can come up with.....

The only people who vote refuglikan are billionaires and suckers. Those who vote that way should check their wallets to see which they are.

[gay texan]

22. this adds weight to a personal theory of mine

"people only wake up once it gets painful enough"

[SMC22307]

9. I doubt many Americans are aware.

And for that I blame corporate-owned media and the Democratic Party's lackluster messaging.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. BINGO!

A missed opportunity for the Democrats. Someone should be going through those bills stalled in the Senate to make a case that we can break the bottleneck if we change the Senate. It's the only way to help average, middle class Americans. And by someone I mean Tom Perez or Schumer.

[SMC22307]

12. Seriously, the silence is deafening. I occasionally see a tweet...

or presser from Pelosi about these stalled bills but not much beyond that. I see posts on social media but not all Americans are active on Twitter and Facebook. I guess we all need to make some noise as well -- reach out to Schumer, Perez, and any Dems running for Senate! I wonder if Amy McGrath is highlighting this in her campaign, same with whomever is running against that weasel Thom Tillis in NC.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. They can humanize this issue with testimonials from real people.

[SMC22307]

14. Yes, and point out that XX (I forget the number) are actually bipartisan bills. (n/t)

[klook]

6. Won't someone think of the billionaires?

Spending to insure luxuries like pensions means there’s less to go around for our silk-tophat betters.

[Midnight Writer]

21. Exactly. That money didn't turn to dust. It just ended up in someone else's pocket.

I recall a TV interview with "Chainsaw" Al Dunlop, a pioneer in the hedge fund field. He would leverage loans to buy out successful businesses, and then loot them, selling assets and paying himself off until the company goes bankrupt, and he walks off with no consequence. Bankruptcy was a strategy. (See Trump Kushner) It became a stylish form of capitalism. (See Mitt Romney)

In the interview, he was asked if he felt bad about putting so many out of work. He laughed and said "No, of course not." Then he explained why.

"Because for every person who loses their job, I get their paycheck. Instead of putting that money in their pockets, I put it in mine."

[7wo7rees]

28. Ouch and jeebus......

My 83 yr old mom retired early at 50 from a career at the IRS. To this day she still believes that she is completely covered, for everything and anything....

Not certain what to do with this.

She had a mild stroke 1st week of November. The bill's and payments coming in are astonishing!! A Physical Therapist coming in twice a week is being billed at $1300 per visit. Her one day in hospital rang in at $17K +

We are screwed.

[SMC22307]

7. The Democratic Party needs to be shouting this from the rooftops.

"REPUBLICAN LEADERS IN THE SENATE REFUSE TO CONSIDER IT."

[MichMan]

11. Article doesn't say who is responsible if the pension plans cant pay back the loans?

Last edited Sun Feb 16, 2020, 03:04 AM - Edit history (1)

The PBGB was established in 1966 when Studebaker went bankrupt.

[Zambero]

15. So if the gov't can pony up for FDIC protection, why not for pensions?

As many as six bank deposits totalling up to $1.5 million can be insured by Uncle Sam against loss, but not some poor guy's hard-earned pension going belly-up at age 78? The solution to this type of injustice sits somewhere in Mitch's stack of 395 pigeonholed House bills, but he and his GOP colleagues could care less. After all, any demographic that relies on a struggling pension fund for future security will not be making sizable campaign donations to Mitch or any of his buddies.

[MichMan]

18. The FDIC is funded by financial institutions not the government.

That is also how the current Pension Guarantee Board is structured. The issue is that there isn't enough money in it.

According to the article, the Republicans would like to increase the contributions made to the Pension Guarantee Board, but are getting opposition.

"Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee want to increase the premiums that retirement plans pay PBGC—something that would push currently healthy plans into financial ruin and put more workers’ retirements in jeopardy. The added costs also would propel some employers into bankruptcy, costing workers their jobs."

[TeamPooka]

19. everyone needs to start making the campaign ads now

[Johnny2X2X]

20. GOP wants your pensions and social security

That’s been their goal for decades. Their assault on unions has been an assault on pensions. Their long term goal is taking social security. They don’t want people to have either.

[MichMan]

23. This is a very complicated issue

Multi employer pension funds operate much differently than single employer funds. Take trucking for instance. There may be dozens and dozens of union trucking firms, big and small, all contributing in one pension fund for all the covered employees. These funds are usually managed by both union and company appointed trustees. Over time some of the companies go out of business which makes those remaining still responsible for paying for everyone; even people they never employed. This hit the trucking industry especially hard as the number of unionized workers has gone down considerably over the years making the ratio of retired to active very unfavorable.

The legislation that allowed cuts to be made to multi employer pensions was bipartisan and signed into law in Dec 2015 with support from unions. The idea was that it would be better to allow some cuts in benefits rather than the plan going broke completely.

In addition, the PBGB which is funded by a tax on the pension plans themselves, doesn't have the funding needed to cover the shortfall.

In some, not all cases, the pension funds were mismanaged by the trustees by making poor investments. The recession in 2008-9 also caused losses to pension funds just like those to people with 401k and IRA accounts. Perhaps the amounts being invested were not sufficient to maintain the level of benefits that were promised. If it was a big employer like Ford that lost money, we would just say too bad, it's still your problem. In these cases, the funds were managed by the unions themselves.

While no one wants people to lose pensions, it is a tough sell politically to make pensioners 100% whole, while those without any pensions & having a 401k, many of who also lost $$$ in the recession, get zilch. Similar to those who didnt go to college or sacrificed to pay off their loans, not wanting to support blanket student loan forgiveness.

The best solution may be to provide adequate funding to the PBGB and let retirees of those failed pension plans get transferred to there like all other single company retirees. Unfortunately while the PBGC pays the pensions, it isn't always the full amount.

[struggle4progress]

25. "First, they screwed these workers. And because I wasn't one of these workers,

I did not speak out. Then they screwed those workers. And because I wasn't one of those workers, I did not speak out. Then they screwed these other workers. And because I wasn't one of these other workers, I did not speak out. Then they screwed those other workers. And because I wasn't one of those other workers, I did not speak out ..."

[katmondoo]

27. The Republicans will always want to make your future miserable and uncertain

and the present even worse.