Pension Reform: The Battle Continues
By Jim Kolb, Partner, Summit Strategies & Dana Thompson, Policy Specialist, SMACNA
Multiemployer pension reform was scheduled to be one of the most important topics of discussion at the National Issues Conference which would have been held May 5-7. The conference is sponsored by Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), and The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) to press Congress on issues impacting the signatory contractor community in the United States.
Efforts to convince Congress to move forward with alternative plan designs, including a new “hybrid” or composite option for plans, have stalled while federal policymakers struggle to find solutions that both address failing pension plans and strengthen the overall multiemployer pension system. This failure to act threatens to undermine the multiemployer pension system and exacerbates the uncertainty for both the participants in these plans and the signatory employers who contribute to them.
Efforts to convince Congress to move forward with alternative plan designs, including a new “hybrid” or composite option for plans, have stalled while federal policymakers struggle to find solutions that both address failing pension plans and strengthen the overall multiemployer pension system.