The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Fund will receive an $85.5 million pension fix from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The federal money will restore full pension benefits for more than 6,400 union workers and their families across upstate New York from Buffalo to the Capital Region, the office of U.S. […]
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The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Fund will receive an $85.5 million pension fix from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The federal money will restore full pension benefits for more than 6,400 union workers and their families across upstate New York from Buffalo to the Capital Region, the office of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) announced on Jan. 13. He was Senate majority leader when the law passed.
The IUOE Fund covers union construction engineers from Buffalo to Syracuse to Albany. The funding comes from the Special Financial Assistance, or SFA, program, per the announcement.
Schumer’s office said the announcement comes “after years of advocacy to secure relief for ailing multiemployer pension plans for union workers.”
After the 2008 financial crash, many union workers’ in multiemployer pension plans were in danger of collapse “due to out-of-control speculation on Wall Street,” Schumer contended.
Multiemployer plans are created through agreements between employers and a union, with plans typically involving multiple employers in a single industry or related industries. “Countless” families and workers faced the prospect of losing out on retirement savings “through no fault of their own,” the New York senator said.
“Upstate New York’s operating engineers union members work hard every day to ensure our buildings, roads, highways, and bridges are safe. These are the men and women who operate heavy equipment, like bulldozers, backhoes and graders on construction sites, who worked hard, played by the rules and paid into pension plans that — through no fault of their own — were at-risk of being drastically cut or even completely disappearing. So I’m very proud to deliver over $85 million in federal relief to help almost 6,500 union construction workers across Upstate ensure their hard-earned pension benefits remain intact for many years into the future and ensure they can retire after a lifetime of hard work,” Schumer said in the announcement.
His office says the senator fought to include the Butch Lewis Act in the American Rescue Plan — securing pension solvency — in his first major bill as Senate majority leader. Before the American Rescue Plan, more than 200 multiemployer plans were on pace to become insolvent in the near term, risking benefits for millions of workers and their families.
The law created the Special Financial Assistance program administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to protect benefits for millions of workers, reverse pension cuts, and put existing plans on a path to solvency through 2051. To date, the program has provided billions in federal assistance to support thousands of construction-industry workers, per Schumer’s office.