Sen. Sherrod Brown Announces $84.9 Million In Pension Restoration For Ohio Teamsters Local 52
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced on a press conference call that the Ohio Teamsters Local 52 and its nearly 800 members will receive $84.9 million in pension restoration funding from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). This funding is a direct result of the passage of the Butch Lewis Act as a part of the American Rescue Plan which Brown helped write and pass.
“Today, we are putting money back in the pockets of hard-working Ohioans and are keeping our promise to the Teamsters Local 52, by restoring the retirement security they’ve earned,” said Brown. “After years of advocacy by workers, retirees, and small business owners, democrats in Congress and this administration finally saved the pensions that union workers in Cleveland earned over a lifetime, with no cuts. This pension fix will help local workers and the businesses that employ them to grow and continue providing living wages and dignified work for Ohioans.”
The United States Department of Labor (DOL), through the PBGC, will fund financially-troubled multiemployer pension plans through the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program. Under the SFA program, cash payments will be made to plans to ensure they can continue paying retirees’ the benefits they’ve earned. Without the pension restoration funding, Teamsters Local 52’s plan was projected to run out of money next year - meaning participants’ benefits would have been cut by between 50 and 60 percent.
“On behalf of the Pension Fund’s participants and contributing employers, the Board of Trustees sincerely thanks Senator Sherrod Brown for his efforts in securing the passage of the American Rescue Plan,” said Dave Dudas the Secretary Treasurer-Principal Officer of Teamsters 52. “The Board of Trustees also sincerely thanks the Pension Fund’s active participants, retirees and beneficiaries, as well as the contributing employers for their resolve over the last several years.”