Not that there was much doubt about it and it is not on the PBGC website yet but today the announcement was made.
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has approved $36 billion in federal assistance to shore up a massive union multiemployer pension plan facing steep cuts.
Teamsters Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund, Chicago, will receive the funds under the Special Financial Assistance Program. The program, created by the American Rescue Plan Act that Democrats passed in March 2021, was designed to shore up struggling multiemployer pension plans through 2051. The PBGC estimates the total cost of the program will range from $74 billion to $91 billion.
The Central States Pension Fund covers more than 350,000 union workers and retirees who were facing estimated benefit reductions of roughly 60% in the next few years, according to a White House news release.
The pension plan had a funding ratio of 18% with $57.2 billion in projected benefit obligations as of Jan. 1, 2021, according to the plan’s most recent Form 5500 filing. As of Dec. 31, the plan had $10.1 billion in assets, the filing showed.
We had some 5500 history in an earlier blog through 2016. This is where the plan was last year based on their 5500 filing for 2021:
Plan Name: Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Plan
EIN/PN: 36-6044243/001
Total participants @ 12/31/21: 357,056 including:
- Retirees: 189,449
- Separated but entitled to benefits: 117,511
- Still working: 50,096
Asset Value (Market) @ 1/1/21: 10,409,440,502
Value of liabilities using RPA rate (2.43%) @ 1/1/21: $58,623,837,073 including:
- Retirees: $34,084,275,398
- Separated but entitled to benefits: $15,801,905,005
- Still working: $8,736,875,945
Funded ratio: 17.76%
Unfunded Liabilities as of 1/1/21: $48,214,396,571
Asset Value (Market) as of 12/31/21: $8,158,227,818
Contributions 2021 (MB): $659,828,567
Contributions 2021 (H): $502,060,375
Payouts 2021: $2,835,123,558
Expenses 2021: $53,768,628
Historical information going back to 2007 in a spreadsheet:
Burypensions Blog 