News and Analysis

Status of Applications to Reduce Benefits​

• Applications for Benefit Suspension​, Department of Treasury, ongoing
  

• Sheet Metal Workers Local Pension Fund reapplies for MPRA benefit reductions, Pensions & Investments, 6/7/19 
  
• 20,000 Union Musicians Face Pension Benefit Reduction as Fund Heads Off Insolvency, Billboard, 5/28/19
  
• Western Pennsylvania Teamsters pension fund gets OK to cut benefits, Pension & Investments, 5/9/19
  
• Treasury Gets Benefits Reduction Happy, Chief Investment Officer, 2/15/19
  
• Two more multiemployer plans get OK to reduce benefits, Pensions & Investments, 2/5/19 
  
• Local 805 Teamsters cleared for benefit reductions; IBEW Local 237 applies, Pensions & Investments, 11/20/18
  
• Struggling Cincinnati Pension Plan Applies for Benefits Reduction, Chief Investment Officer, 9/13/18
  
• 2 multiemployer applications to cut benefits approved, another one submitted, Pensions & Investments, 8/29/18
  
• Yea or Nay? 11 Pension Plans Await Agency OK on Benefit Cuts, Bloomberg BNA, 8/8/18
  
• Four Multiemployer Pension Plans Apply to Reduce Benefits, Plansponsor, 7/27/18
  
• Alaska Ironworkers Pension Plan approved for MPRA benefit cuts, Pensions & Investments, 5/8/18
  
• Four Pension Funds Apply for Benefits Reductions, Chief Investment Officer, 4/20/18
  
• Pressroom workers' pension fund applies for MPRA benefit reductions, Pensions & Investments, 4/11/18 
  

Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans (Expired in 2018)

Congressional committees are continuing the work of the Joint Select Committee.

• Senate reintroduces multiemployer pension reform bill, Pensions & Investments, 7/24/19 
  
• House of Representatives votes to shore up failing multi-employer pensions [Butch Lewis Act], Cleveland.com, 7/24/19
  
• Bill to Aid Ailing Multiemployer Pension Plans Heads to House Floor, Engineering News-Record, 7/13/19 
  
• Markup of Butch Lewis Act by House Ways and Means Committee, includes Description Of Chairman Neal's Amendment In The Nature Of A Substitute To H.R. 397, The "Rehabilitation For Multiemployer Pensions Act of 2019," Joint Committee on Taxation, 7/11/19
  
• Multiemployer pension reform bill [Butch Lewis Act] approved by House Education and Labor Committee, Pensions & Investments, 6/11/19
  
• Legislation giving participants more say in MPRA benefit cuts reintroduced in Senate, Pensions & Investments, 3/15/19
  
• Hearing Recap: Multiemployer Pension Plans Need Financial Help or a New Investment Model, Plansponsor, 3/8/19
  
• Missing Deadline, Joint Committee Continues Work on Multiemployer Pension Crisis, Plansponsor, 11/30/18
  
• Multiemployer Pension Solvency Discussions: What’s Next?, Word on Benefits blog, 11/29/18
  
• Report: Cost of Sherrod Brown pension bill much less than estimated, Columbus Dispatch, 9/12/18
  
• Retirees, Workers Use Rally to Sound Off on Underfunded Pensions, Bloomberg BNA, 7/20/18
  
• New Committee Hears What Led to Multiemployer Plan Crisis, Plan Adviser, 4/19/18
  
• 1 million Americans are counting on Congress to save their pensions, CNN Money, 4/17/18
  
• Congress Looking at [Resolving Problems Facing Some Multiemployer Pension Plans], Massillon Inde, 3/29/18 
  
• Lawmaker Introduces Legislation to Address Multiemployer Pensions Crisis, Plansponsor, 1/10/19
  

• Navigating a Benefit Suspension Application Under MPRA, Benefits Magazine, May 2019
  
• Multiemployer Pension Solvency Discussions: What’s Next?, Word on Benefits blog, 11/29/18
  
• Confronting and Surviving Insolvency: A Guide for Multiemployer Pension Plans, Benefits Magazine, October 2017
  
• A Balancing Act: Deciding Whether to Pursue Benefit Reductions Under MPRA​, Benefits Magazine, April 2016 ​​
  
• MPRA Aims to Strengthen PBGC, Benefits Magazine, February 2016​​
  
• Can a Merger Save Your Pension Plan?​, Benefits Magazine, October 2015
  
• PPA Paradoxes Eliminated: MPRA Offers Technical Corrections...and More​, Benefits Magazine, August 2015 
  
• MPRA Guidance-What Does It Mean?​, Word on Benefits blog, 7/13/15 
  
• Finding Goldilocks: The Retiree Representative Under MPRA, Benefits Magazine, June 2015 
  
• Multiemployer Pension Plan Reform: How Will the New Rules Impact Employers and Employees?, Benefits Magazine, April 2015
• Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, Benefits Magazine, February 2015             
• What the Cromnibus Law Means for Multiemployer Pension Plans, International Foundation Word on Benefits blog, 12/15/14
  

Analysis & Whitepapers

• Multiemployer Pension Plan Reform Policy Issues: Active Multiemployer Plan Participants Face Higher Contributions and Lower Benefit Levels as Funding Challenges Mount and are Left Unaddressed by Congress, Horizon Actuarial Services, MCAA and United Association, June 2019
  
• Pensionomics 2018: Measuring the Economic Impact of Multiemployer DB Pension Expenditures, National Institute on Retirement Security, January 2019
  
• The Multiemployer Pension Plan Crisis: Observations, Segal Consulting, 7/10/18
  
• Data on Multiemployer Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Plans, Congressional Research Service, 5/1/18 
  
• Multiemployer Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Plans: A Primer and Analysis of Policy Options, Congressional Research Service, 3/29/18
  
• U.S. Chamber, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans Release Principles for Multiemployer Pension Reform, NCCMP, 3/14/18
• The Multiemployer Pension Plan Crisis: The History, Legislation, and What's Next?, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, December 2017
• Multiemployer Pension Plans: Current Status and Future Trends, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, November 2017
  
• Multiemployer Plans: Their Currrent Circumstances in Historical Context, DOL EBSA & Impaq International, September 2017
  

• Overview of Multiemployer Pension System Issues​, American Academy of Actuaries Issue Brief, June 2017​

• Honoring the PBGC Guarantee for Multiemployer Plans Requires Difficult Choices​, American Academy of Actuaries, 10/20/16 
  

• Solutions Not Bailouts, Retirement Security Review Commission, National Coordinating Commitee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), February 2013