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.
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