AARP: Those Pension Cuts and What You Need to Know

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aarp.org/2014/12/16/those-pension-cuts-and-what-you-need-to-know/

by Eileen Ambrose Posted on 12/16/2014

Congress recently carved a hole in a 40-year-old pension law that has prevented employers from cutting benefits earned by those already retired. This change applies to people covered under multiemployer plans that are in critical financial shape.

Here’s what you need to know:

What is a multiemployer plan? This is a pension covering workers and retirees from more than one employer in the same or related industries, such as trucking or construction. (Most of them were established under collective bargaining between a union and the employers.) There are about 1,400 multiemployer plans with 10.4 million participants. Most workers with traditional pensions are in a single-employer plan, meaning it covers workers from only one employer.

>> Discussion: Forced into early retirement, now what?

Why are lawmakers doing this? The federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which insures these pensions, says that some 10 percent of multiemployer plans — covering about 1.5 million people — are in such financial trouble that they are likely to become insolvent. The PBGC estimated that its fund insuring multiemployer plans will likely run out of money in eight to 10 years unless changes are made. Some lawmakers argued that these distressed plans need the ability to cut retirees’ benefits so pensions can survive longer.

FULL story at link.

[doc03]

1. Retirees over 80 and the disabled won't be cut. The others under 80

that are not disabled can get a job to make up for the cuts. It's about time those takers get off their ass anyway.
Thanks Steve for posting.