Message From Central States Pension Fund 12-21-20

[Freightmaster1]

Multiemployer Pension Relief Negotiations Have Failed for the Year
We are sorry to inform you that negotiations to solve the multiemployer pension crisis have failed in Congress. Despite the best efforts of some Members of Congress, an agreement could not be reached to protect your Central States pension as part of year-end legislation.

Thank you to the many Central States participants, friends and family who made tens of thousands of phone calls to Members of Congress throughout 2020. Your calls kept talks and negotiations alive and got us closer to an agreement than at any point in the past several years.

Key Democrats and Republicans now appear to agree on the same basic framework to address this crisis, including the need to partition liabilities from troubled plans. On December 17, 2020, Senators Chuck Grassley and Lamar Alexander introduced legislation based on this framework, called the Chris Allen Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reform Act.

Now that there is a growing consensus on the key elements of what needs to be done, we need Congress and the White House to find the political will—and provide the federal funding necessary—to produce bipartisan legislation that can be enacted into law next year.

Central States participants have just 48 benefit checks left before our Fund runs out of money.

Every month of delay makes a solution more difficult and more expensive to achieve. We will reassess in the new year what our best path forward will be. This will depend both on the final makeup of the U.S. Senate, as well Congressional leaders’ and the new Administration’s willingness to collaborate on a bipartisan basis on these critically important issues.

Again, thank you for making your voice heard this year.

We wish you and your family a safe and healthy holiday season and hope you will again join us in 2021 as we all continue the fight to save your hard-earned pension. Happy Holidays.

 

[Freightmaster1]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 22, 2020



Congress Short Changed Retirees and Essential Workers in Latest Relief Bill, Says Retirement Security Coalition



WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Retirement Security Coalition (RSC), a diverse group of employers, labor unions, and policy experts, made the following statement after the latest coronavirus relief bill passed without necessary provisions to address the ballooning multiemployer pension plan crisis:



“We are disappointed Congress did not take this opportunity to address the solvency of multiemployer pension plans and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. We have long maintained that inaction is not an option when it comes to reforming the multiemployer pension plan system relied upon by 10 million Americans for their retirement security. In this economic downturn, retirees are struggling, and their wellbeing is in jeopardy. Our nation’s frontline workers are dealing with the added stress of knowing their retirement funds could soon be decimated. Failure to address the multiemployer pension crisis adversely impacts not only these retirees and essential workers, but the entire nation’s chance for a successful and lasting economic recovery. We urge members of Congress to return to bipartisan negotiations at the immediate start of 2021. This issue is not going away. We cannot hang our retirees, essential workers, and the economy out to dry.”



The latest relief bill comes after productive, but ultimately unsuccessful, efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise on multiemployer pension reform before the year’s end. Additionally, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Chris Allen Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reform Act last week. Unless a solution is passed, the United States stands to lose upwards of an additional $5 billion in GDP.



About the Retirement Security Coalition:

Comprised of a diverse group of employers, labor unions, and policy experts dedicated to finding a common-ground solution to the multiemployer pension crisis, the Retirement Security Coalition is urging a bipartisan compromise to reinvigorate the multiemployer pension plan system in America. To learn more about the Coalition’s efforts to protect millions of Americans’ hard-earned retirement futures, please visit www.RetirementSecurityCoalition.com.



###

NUCPP Board of Directors

 

[Banned for Life]

 

[SAC75]

Shut up!!!!!!

 

[Banned for Life]

 

[Banned for Life]