In the News

SPRINGFIELD -- With hundreds of "multiemployer" pension plans expected to fall short in paying what they owe retirees, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, on Monday highlighted steps Congress is taking to avert such a crisis.

Neal, who was named to a joint panel tasked with addressing pension plan insolvency, told reporters he's optimistic that lawmakers will support legislation he offered in November to ensure more than a million American retired workers can keep their pensions in full.

The congressman said the bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans has centered its work around his bill, which would allow the Treasury Department to loan money leveraged by safe investments to pension plans in order to ensure retirees and their families receive promised benefits.

The Springfield Democrat stressed that his proposal is not a "bailout," noting that it asks the Treasury Department to issue and sell bonds that then would be used to provide loans to some of the ailing pension plans.

"This is not a Wall Street bailout, this is not a savings and loan bailout, this allows many of these plans to be nursed back to good health," he said, following a meeting with local labor leaders at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 7 headquarters in Springfield.

Democrats have cautioned that unless such legislation is enacted, the Central States Teamsters Pension Plan, United Mine Workers Pension Plan and over 200 others -- where employers and labor unions provide retirement benefits -- could fail over the next decade.

Neal estimated that 1.5 million people, including those in and outside of organized labor, could be impacted by such a multiemployer pension crisis. 

With more than a dozen House Republicans having joined Democrats in supporting the legislation, the congressman said he's confident he'll be able to get the remaining GOP support needed to move the bill through the chamber after the November mid-term election.

Massachusetts Building Trades Council President Francis Callahan, Jr., who attended the late-morning meeting, said while the pension crisis is expected to hit the midwest the hardest, he believes it's an important conversation that needs to take place across the country. 

"For the most part in Massachusetts, the members haven't really been hit with it because our funds are primarily solvent and still providing the benefits, but what we're seeing around the country is there's talks of funds going into insolvency," he said in an interview. "If they go to the pension benefit guarantee corporation, you could end up with 30 cents on the dollar for your retirement -- so substantial cuts."

Callahan, however, said he has concerns about Congress' ability to tackle this issue given the current partisan climate on Capitol Hill. 

"We're concerned about Congress being able to do anything because of the fighting ... But, this is such a big problem that's facing the entire country, it's gone beyond being a union, non-union issue. If you're a member of Congress or a United States senator and your constituents are facing those draconian cuts to their retirements, I think you're going to see a better chance of seeing of some action."

The Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans is charged with making a series of recommendations on how to address pension fund solvency by the end of the year. 

As Neal met with local labor leaders, Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a Springfield attorney looking to unseat the congressman in Massachusetts' Democratic primary, questioned his record on retirement-related issues. 

"It is disingenuous at best, and shameful at worst, for Neal to now proclaim himself as a savior of people's pensions when his voting record and actions ultimately support the insurance and finance sector, and not the people," she said in a statement. 

The congressman, in turn, said he hopes to have an opportunity to discuss "who knows more about retirement" with his opponent.