The Senate has passed a bill to provide relief to endangered multiemployer pensions, as part of President Bidens $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. 

In addition to much needed relief to families and small businesses struggling during the pandemic, the bill provides relief for plans in which many OPEIU members participate, including the OPEIU Western States Plan, the Local 153 Plan and a number of others, affecting OPEIU members and retirees throughout the United States. The bill now goes back to the House for a final vote. 

OPEIU members have been waiting for this type of legislation. We have been working with the AFL-CIO Retirement Committee for nearly two years to win this reform and secure our members' pensions. 

As we've mentioned on OPEIU's social media platforms and in our member publication, White Collar, hundreds of thousands of union members across the country found they were participating in pension plans that were stretched after the 2008 recession and were less than ten years from insolvency. Through no fault of our own, hundreds of multiemployer pension plans are teetering on the brink of financial insolvency. Corporate greed and past recessions put our pensions in danger. And now, the economic disaster created by the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed those pension funds to the brink. 

From our standpoint, this is one of the first steps toward bringing the country out of the pandemic recession. Much appreciation to all who contacted their senators to urge support of this vital legislation.