Thousands of Union Workers & Retirees to Receive Full Pensions Thanks to American Rescue Plan

Thousands of Maine union members and retirees in the paper, trucking and construction industries -- including workers from Eastern Fine Paper, Carleton Woolen, Statler Tissue and Huhtamaki among others -- will receive their full pension benefits thanks to funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The new law, which was signed by President Biden in March, 2021, provides a grant to 200 multi-employer pension plans to shore up the plans. Many of these plans were teetering on the edge of insolvency due to Wall Street greed, Congressional action and the financial crisis caused by corporate greed. The special funding will prevent benefit cuts of roughly 60 percent in the next few years for millions of workers and retirees.

Prior to passage of ARPA, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) — a federal multi-employer pension insurance program that protects the retirement incomes of over 33 million American workers in private sector defined benefit pension plans — was projected to become insolvent in 2026. As a result, it would have been unable to fully insure pension plans that were projected to become insolvent due to deregulation of the trucking industry, automation and precipitous declines in the stock market like the 2008 financial crisis.

On July 31, special funding was approved to fully fund the United Steelworkers’ PACE Industry Union-Management Pension Fund (PIUMPF) pension for 120,000 active USW members and retirees for the next 30 years. The funding will help 2,500 Maine workers and retirees vested in the PIUMPF pension, which was previously projected to be insolvent in 2034 if nothing was done. Informational meetings will be held in Maine next week - see below.

The victory to pass the "Butch Lewis" Act - named after a late local union leader and pension advocate from Ohio - in the American Rescue Plan came about from years of rank and file union members organizing -- starting in the Midwest and then spreading across the country -- to protect the pension they were promised. It is an amazing victory. Read more about that organizing hereand here.  

“People need to realize that this is a big deal for us. A lot of people are counting on their pensions to be there and until the special funding in the American Rescue Plan came along, it wasn’t a guarantee,” said United Steelworkers Staff Representative Mike Higgins, who also has a PIUMPF pension from 27 years working at the Huhtamaki mill in Waterville.  "Nobody wants a hand out. They just want what was promised to them and was taken away through no fault of their own.”

Senator Angus King and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree voted to support the American Rescue plan when it passed on largely party lines in 2021, while Senator Susan Collins and Congressman Jared Golden opposed the measure. Rep. Golden had voted in favor of the Butch Lewis Act as a stand alone bill.

The pension covers Huhtamaki employees as well as former employees of several shuttered mills including Lincoln Pulp and Paper in Lincoln, Statler Tissue in Augusta, Eastern Fine Paper in Brewer and Carleton Woolen Mills in Winthrop. To be vested in the pension, the workers and retirees must have had ten years of service before 1989 or five years of service after 1989. More than 50 Teamster pension plans—including its largest, the Central States Pension Fund—are also eligible for assistance under ARPA.

Next week, Maine USW will be holding the following informational sessions for PIUMPF beneficiaries to answer any questions they have:

Wednesday, Sept. 6,  for Eastern Fine Paper workers: 5-7pm at the Solidarity Center, 20 Ivers St., Brewer

Thursday, Sept 7, for Statler Tissue & Carleton Woolen workers:  5-7pm and 7 - 9pm at the UA Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 716 union hall, 21 Gabriel Drive, Augusta.
 

Friday, Sept. 8, for Huhtamaki workers: Meetings at 1:30 pm, 4:30 pm, and 6:30 pm at USW 449 Union Hall, 577 Benton Ave., Winslow

If you believe you have a vested pension within the PIUMPF plan, and did not receive an invite for these meetings or have any questions about your PIUMPF pension, please attend one of the meetings or call PIUMPF at 1-800-474-8673. If you are trying to apply for a pension from a now defunct company visit the Pension Rights Center at pensionrights.org