Roughly 34,000 union members who work for United Parcel Service Inc. and other logistics companies in New York will decide on Wednesday whether to accept deep pension cuts in what could be the start of a wave of benefit reductions to shore up union retirement plans, Reuters reported yesterday. If approved, pensions for retired teamsters from nine New York local unions will be cut 29 percent, which the plan’s trustees have said will lower the typical monthly benefit for a retiree with 30 years service to $3,550 from $5,000. The New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund in August became the third multiemployer plan, and by far the largest, to receive U.S. Treasury approval for a rescue plan under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. MPRA allows underfunded multiemployer plans to cut benefits, within certain limits, if the trustees can show it will prevent insolvency. As many as 114 multiemployer pension plans covering 1.3 million workers are at risk of running out of money in 20 years, according to actuarial consulting firm Cheiron Inc.
