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Expect to hear the Vermont senator talk a lot about pensions as the Democratic primary takes shape.
05/08/2019 05:16 pm ET
By Dave Jamieson
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON ― Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) devoted a significant chunk of his speech at a union conference Wednesday to talking about defined-benefit pension plans.
Sanders was talking about a specific type of pension plan that covers more than one company and that is run jointly by representatives of those employers and the labor union their workers have in common. Often found in construction and service sectors, many multiemployer plans have run into serious trouble in recent years, particularly in industries that are declining (coal) or being de-unionized (trucking). Retirees face the possibility of steep cuts to their benefits due to funding shortfalls.
Some of those pensions have already been slashed. A law passed in 2014 allowed the trustees of troubled multiemployer plans to reduce benefits after receiving approval from the Treasury Department. The aim was to shore up not only the plans themselves but also the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government-run entity that insures pension plans and is on track to become insolvent in just a few years.
Sanders opposed that law, saying the sacrifices needed to bolster plans shouldn’t fall to retirees. He reiterated that view on Wednesday, noting that pensions are essentially deferred compensation and that workers gave up wage increases over the years in order to steer money toward retirement. “A company cannot renege on that promise,” Sanders told the union crowd.
What he did not say explicitly is that one of his top Democratic primary opponents, former Vice President Joe Biden, had an indirect hand in giving plan trustees the ability to cut benefits. The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act got rolled into an omnibus spending bill that the Obama administration approved. Other Democrats opposed the reform at the time, saying it would lead to unfair cuts for retirees.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-pensions_n_5cd3254be4b0db2524b52117
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