PBGC Provides Financial Assistance to Pressroom Union Plan
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced Monday that it will provide $63.7 million under the Special Financial Assistance Program to the Graphic Communications International Union Pressroom Unions’ Pension Plan.
The PBGC, under the SFA Program, provides financial assistance to distressed pension funds on the brink of insolvency. Without the financial assistance, the New York City-based GCIU plan was expected to become insolvent in 2031. According to the PBGC, the plan has 1,344 participants, who primarily work in the printing industry.
The SFA Program was enacted in 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. As of December 9, the PBGC has approved $69.8 billion in SFA funds to 103 pension funds that represent 1.2 million beneficiaries.
The PBGC, since the inception of the SFA Program, has granted $3.4 billion in financial assistance to nine plans in the graphic communications industry, covering 87,000 workers.
“Millions of people work for years, looking forward to the day when the promise of a secure, dignified retirement is kept,” said Julie A. Su, acting secretary of labor, in a statement. “Today, the Biden-Harris administration is delivering on that promise for 1,344 workers by providing Special Financial Assistance in the Graphic Communications International Union Pressroom Unions’ Pension Plan that ensures they can retire with the dignity they deserve.”
Pension funds that receive assistance must monitor the interest resulting from the grant money as separate from other sources of funding. The PBGC requires that at least two-thirds of the money it provides be invested in “high-quality fixed income investments.” The Final Rule on Special Financial Assistance, issued in July 2022, states that the other third can be invested in “return-seeking investments,” such as stocks and stock funds.
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