$36 billion federal bail-out rescues pensions of truckers and others
President Joe Biden Thursday introduced a $36 billion bail-out of financially troubled pension plans masking some 350,000 union members, together with many truck drivers.
The funds are a part of $80 billion for multi-employer pension funds included within the American Rescue Plan, which was accepted in 2021 to assist stave off the fiscal affect of the COVID-19 pandemic. A few of these funds might be used to shore up the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund, which incorporates staff and retires in additional than 1,000 firms.
“… at the moment, my administration is saying that $36 billion of that cash was going to — going to forestall the drastic cuts to employees’ hard-earned pension advantages — cuts that had been scheduled to happen throughout the subsequent few years,” mentioned Biden throughout a ceremony Thursday. “That’s not going to occur. The cuts should not going to happen.”
Biden mentioned union employees and retirees have been dealing with cuts of as much as 60% of their advantages, beginning within the subsequent few years. That, mentioned Biden, means some of us would have misplaced as a lot as $10,000 annually of their retirement.
“As a substitute,” mentioned Biden. “Because of at the moment’s announcement, tens of 1000’s of union retirees and employees in states like Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri can go to mattress tonight realizing their pension they labored so rattling laborious for goes to be there for them once they want it.”
The announcement comes simply days after some unions criticized the self-proclaimed pro-union president for signing laws that imposed a contract settlement on the nation’s freight railroad employees.
