Congress just stuck one up the middle class rear end!!! (updated) [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141210/us--congress_rdp-15b0b1309f.html

In an unexpected move, lawmakers also agreed on legislation expected to be incorporated into the spending measure that will permit a reduction in benefits for current retirees at economically distressed multiemployer pension plans. Supporters said it was part of an effort to prevent a slow-motion collapse of a system that provides retirement income to millions, but critics objected vehemently.


UPDATE info is based on just Illinois: Employers' woes push union pension plans to collapse: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20141206/ISSUE01/312069985/employers-woes-push-union-pension-plans-to-collapse

Nearly 230,000 Chicago-area union workers and retirees risk not getting the pensions they've been promised, and some may not get any retirement benefits at all unless Congress comes up with a fix soon.

While lawmakers wrestled with the issue for at least 10 years, $6.26 billion in unfunded retirement obligations was racked up by 30 union-affiliated plans in the city and suburbs that are in financial danger. That doesn't count the Teamsters Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas pension fund, which alone is $17.55 billion short of what it needs to pay benefits for its nearly 408,000 members nationwide, including 30,000 in Illinois.

It has been a quiet, slow-moving crisis, but Central States could change that. If a solution isn't in place by 2017, the Rosemont-based plan is expected to go belly-up in 10 years or so, experts say.

“I've told politicians many times before, if you really want to know what the 800-pound gorilla in the room is for us, it's our pensions,” says John Bryan, president of Geneva Construction and chairman of the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association.

FULL story at link.