Month: September 2015

PBGC says union pensions facing less risk
Multiemployer pension plans, those operated by unions on behalf of workers who are or were employed by more than 1 company in a particular industry, are facing less risk than they were last year. But the outlook is still not very good, according to a report issued Monday by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or […]

Save Our Retirement Coalition response to letter sent to Secretary Perez on the fiduciary rule
The Pension Rights Center, as part of the Save Our Retirement Coalition, issued a statement in reaction to a letter sent to Labor Secretary Tom Perez by several members of Congress regarding the Department’s proposed fiduciary rule. Read the statement.

Teamsters Protest as Treasury Debates Allowing Pension Cuts for 1.5 Million Retirees
About 300 angry Teamsters descended on Washington, D.C., September 10, demanding federal action to protect the pensions of union members threatened with benefit cuts. The retired Teamsters are among a group of as many as 1.5 million retirees from a long list of different labor unions nationwide that could see their pensions slashed under a […]

Impassioned Voices Ring Loudly at Benefits Suspension Hearing Savings
When crafting final regulations on suspending benefits under multiemployer pension plans, the IRS and Treasury Department should use the “maximum limits” of their authority to write rules that follow the law but are as fair as possible to workers and retirees, speakers said during an IRS hearing.

Is your adviser truly protecting your retirement?
There’s a discussion going on that is vital to the retirement money you’ve worked so hard to save. The Labor Department, directed by the Obama administration, is proposing that more advisers, when giving retirement investment advice, put their clients’ best interests first.

Countdown to Cuts: Retirees Call on Policymakers to Stop the Clock on Cuts to Their Pensions
WASHINGTON – Hundreds of retired truck drivers and their spouses came to Washington, D.C., today to tell policymakers how proposed cuts to their pensions – as authorized by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) – could devastate their retirement security. Retirees from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin came to […]

Speech by Karen Friedman at the “Stop the Clock on Pension Cuts” Press Conference (September 10, 2015)
My name is Karen Friedman. I’m the Executive Vice President of the Pension Rights Center, a national consumer organization that has been working since 1976 to protect retirement security of American workers, retirees, and their families. Thank you Senator Sanders, Congresswoman Kaptur, and co-sponsors for introducing the Keep Our Pension Promises Act of 2015 (KOPPA). This […]

Retirees, experts testify at Multiemployer Pension Reform Act hearing
Federal regulators charged with implementing the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 heard from concerned retirees and pension experts Thursday during a hearing convened by the IRS. “This is a dangerous precedent for all types of pensions,” Karen Ferguson, director of the Pension Rights Center, told the panel, which included officials with the Labor Department […]

PRC testimony to Treasury on proposed rules for retiree benefits cuts under MPRA (September 10, 2015)
On September 10, 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department held a public hearing on proposed and temporary rules for implementing pension cuts for retirees in severely troubled multiemployer pension plans, as authorized by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. PRC Director Karen Ferguson testified at the hearing. Below are her remarks. I am Karen Ferguson, […]