Bill aiding pension funds advances

The finances of the Central States Pension Fund continue to deteriorate as Congress debates whether it should shore up the fund and other struggling multi-employer pension funds.

The Central States fund had just $13.1 billion in assets as of June 30 and is on track to go broke in 2025, according to the website Voices For Pension Security that was set up by the fund, which is spending $2.1 billion more than it takes in every year.

The fund, which provides pension benefits primarily for retired Teamsters truck drivers, is among the biggest in the country, covering about 400,000 retirees, active workers and people hoping to collect a pension from the fund someday.

Ohioans make up 42,643 of those in the fund and express worry about the safety of the fund and what will happen to their pensions if nothing is done.

“It’s a tremendous amount of subconscious stress,” said retiree Whitlow Wyatt of Washington Court House, who has been active in the effort to save the fund.

Last week, the House voted 264-169 to pass the Butch Lewis Act, which is designed to help stabilize struggling multi-employer funds. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where Ohioans Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, have been pushing for the bill.

The nation has about 1,400 multi-employer funds, which are run jointly by employers and unions. Most are in good shape, but about 130 covering more than 1 million workers are in trouble; many of those cover truck drivers, ironworkers, warehouse workers and others, according to the Pension Rights Center. Without action, those covered by the funds are looking at pension cuts of as much as 70%, according to the center.

The bill would create a loan program to allow failing pension plans to borrow the money they need to return to solid ground and ensure that they can meet their commitments to retirees and workers.