The Truth About EFCA, Pensions & The Failing PBGC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: 202-785-0266
29 JULY 2009
media@workerfreedom.org
The Truth about EFCA, Failing Pensions & the PBGC
The Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), an organization established in 2003 to combat anti-worker legislation and promote free and open labor markets, strongly opposes the Employee Free-Choice Act’s (EFCA) binding arbitration clause.
Under EFCA, government arbitrators are given complete control over labor-business contract disputes. The employer and employees hands will be tied in negotiations leaving the workers powerless over their own employment fate.
• Government arbitrators could force workers into underfunded pensions, putting their retirement at risk
• The average union pension has resources to cover only 62% of what is owed to participants
• Less than one in every 160 workers is covered by a union pension with required assets
• Under EFCA, government arbitrators can force businesses to fund failing pensions
• The PBGC already supports upwards of 30,000 pension plans
• Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the governmental pension insurer, will assume $86.7 billion in liabilities by 2015
• The PBGC limits the benefits in multi-employer plans to $13,000 a year per retiree, compared with roughly $52,000 for single-employer plans.
• In 2007, the PBGC reported a deficit of $955 million, a $216 million increase from the previous year
• On July 23, PBGC agreed to take on $6.2 billion in pension liabilities from bankrupt auto supplier Delphi Corp
When pensions fail, the government has to pick up the tab. EFCA silences workers’ voices and pushes them into failing pensions.
Comments (4)
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I can\'t believe that EFCA could be passed. Thank goodness that the card check provision was taken out, but there are plenty of other bad parts that show a complete lack of respect for workers and their rights. It\'s pathetic that the federal government thinks that they can insert themselves in things that should exist exclusively between an employer and his/her employees. Arbitration, insurance, etc--these are decisions that should be made by employers and their workers, not by unions and the federal government. Leave us alone for crying out loud!
>> Mike July 30, 2009 30:43 pm
Numbers don't lie. EFCA is a dangerous bill that puts every worker/business at risk. If people only took the time took at these statistics they would see that unions are lying to them. Unions are fading, membership is down. This immense decline in membership has inevitably led to underfunded pensions. The ONLY chance unions have to survive is through EFCA's coercive measures.
>> Ruth Bloomington July 30, 2009 30:54 pm
Obama's EFCA is payback to the unions for their vote. This will do great harm to our country if this bill is passed. If I owned a business I would move it overseas. The EFCA will increase cost of everything we buy, simply because of the tactics that unions use to slowdown work to get what they demand. This is a plague on our country. Go to Germany or France to work and live if you want unionism. And, union management cannot manage their own retirement fund. Obama will bail them out next.
>> Randy August 12, 2009 12:14 pm
I'm appauled at the idea that the government would bailout failing pension plans. Most americans are invested in the stock market and have no safety net for their investments. This is a free country, free to win and free to loose. It is not the governments business to bailout anyone.
>> Mark October 13, 2009 13:33 pm
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