The Pension Benefit Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) keeps track of troubled multiemployer plans and form 5500 filings have these MB actuarial certifications where the plans assign risk classifications to themselves. Last year we did a blog based on 2015 MB data and developed this spreadsheet. These were the four multiemployer plans with the largest unfunded liabilities based on 2015 data:
Downloading MB data does not yield plan name (possibly on purpose) but it is easy enough to find with the EIN. 36-6044243 is Central States which admits to being in risk category D (Critical and Declining) while the next three report their status as N (Not Endangered or Critical). Is that really the case or are they playing games with actuarial assumptions?
You decide:
Excerpts from 91-6145047:
Plan Name: Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Plan
EIN/PN: 91-6123695/001
Total participants @ 12/31/16: 571,771 including:
Retirees: 188,571
Separated but entitled to benefits: 176,700
Still working: 206,500
Asset Value (Market) @ 1/1/16: $36,288,138,000
Value of liabilities using RPA rate (3.28%) @ 1/1/16: $67,081,610,000 including:
Retirees: $32,324,534,000
Separated but entitled to benefits: $8,915,217,000
Still working: $25,841,859,000
Funded ratio: 54.09%
Unfunded Liabilities as of 1/1/16: $30,793,472,000
Asset Value (Market) as of 12/31/16: $38,040,117,697
Contributions (H): $1,683,556,444
Contributions (MB): $1,705,556,000
Payouts: $2,672,007,659
Expenses: $297,762,166
Excerpts from 53-0181657:
Plan Name: National Electrical Benefit Fund
EIN/PN: 53-0181657/001
Total participants @ 12/31/16: 564,830 including:
Retirees: 138,776
Separated but entitled to benefits: 154,369
Still working: 271,685
Asset Value (Market) @ 1/1/16: $12,630,096,872
Value of liabilities using RPA rate (3.28%) @ 1/1/16: $30,133,896,790 including:
Retirees: $11,792,932,491
Separated but entitled to benefits: $6,084,045,635
Still working: $12,256,918,664
Funded ratio: 41.91%
Unfunded Liabilities as of 1/1/16: $17,503,799,918
Asset Value (Market) as of 12/31/16: $13,229,784,797
Contributions: $550,816,990
Payouts: $1,038,337,368
Expenses: $79,509,388
Excerpts from 36-6052390:
Plan Name: Central Pension Fund of the IUOE & Participating Employers
EIN/PN: 36-6052390/001
Total participants @ 1/31/17: 278,585 including:
Retirees: 69,908
Separated but entitled to benefits: 114,361
Still working: 94,316
Asset Value (Market) @ 2/1/16: $13,948,411,924
Value of liabilities using RPA rate (3.27%) @ 2/1/16: $31,292,504,333 including:
Retirees: $12,910,039,155
Separated but entitled to benefits: $4,005,504,279
Still working: $14,376,960,899
Funded ratio: 44.57%
Unfunded Liabilities as of 2/1/16: $17,344,092,409
Asset Value (Market) as of 1/31/17: $15,640,553,569
Contributions: $824,808,305
Payouts: $1,006,619,750
Expenses: $36,833,988
Burypensions Blog 
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Posted by A Tale of Two Teamsters Pension Plans – Not | Burypensions Blog on August 6, 2018 at 11:56 am
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Posted by Selling Multiemployer Bailout | Burypensions Blog on September 13, 2018 at 4:02 pm
[…] If the government is going to hand out free money then what is to stop every multiemployer plan from wanting some? There are supposedly 115 critical and declining plans but if federal money is on the table and actuarial assumptions for classifying status remain ‘flexible’ there could be a lot more. […]