Teamsters Commend Congress For Passing Pension Relief Bill

(WASHINGTON) – Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa applauded Congress for enacting a law that will provide some help to pension funds by giving them more time to improve their finances.

The bill, the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010, passed the House 417-1 on June 24. President Obama has signed the bill into law.

Hoffa said the bill will provide important funding relief to multiemployer plans and the thousands of companies that sponsor them.

“This is a good first step toward strengthening pension plans and saving jobs,” Hoffa said. “Companies will be forced to lay off workers or close their doors if they have to redirect too much money from their company’s operations to pension funds.

The changes include an extended amortization for fund losses and a 10-year smoothing period. The new law will temporarily reduce the required contributions to multiemployer plans by allowing sponsors to recognize losses suffered in 2008 and 2009. This will help companies that may have been forced to make contribution increases that they could not afford, or reduce the extent of any benefit reductions that would have been required.

Hoffa said he now wants Congress to work on enacting the remaining provisions contained in H.R. 3936, the Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act, and S. 3157, Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act of 2010.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.