More than 6,700 Pennsylvania workers and retirees’ pensions will be protected
Pension plan serves bakery and confectionery workers
President Biden credited Casey’s work to protect pensions
American Rescue Plan has saved the pensions of more than 52,000 workers and retirees in PA-based plans
Hershey, PA – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) joined White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling and Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President Anthony Shelton and workers and retirees from BCTGM Locals 464 and 6 to announce that that the pensions of more than 6,700 Pennsylvania workers and retirees will be protected, thanks to the American Rescue Plan. Casey voted to pass the American Rescue Plan, which has saved the pensions of more than 52,000 Pennsylvanians to date. Without this fix, these workers and retirees would have faced steep 45 percent cuts in their pensions. The plan includes workers from Philadelphia, Hershey, Lancaster, and Muncy.
“Millions of workers rely on the pensions they’ve earned, but before we passed the American Rescue Plan, too many retirees faced devastating cuts to their plans,” said Senator Casey. “I fought for this fix because I know how integral pensions are to the futures of thousands of Pennsylvania families, and how scary it was for those families to face the possibility of the rug being pulled out from underneath them. Now, more than 6,700 workers and retirees will have the peace of mind of knowing their hard-earned benefits are theirs to keep.”
Prior to passage of the American Rescue Plan, the Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry International Pension Fund was one of the largest financially distressed multiemployer pension plans in the nation. Workers in this plan include manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco, and grain milling industries. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced $3.2 billion in relief to BCTGM. This is the seventh Pennsylvania-based pension plan that has received relief; others include the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employers Pension Fund, the Carpenters Industrial Council Eastern PA Pension Plan, the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia Pension Plan, IUE-CWA Pension Plan, and the National Integrated Group Pension Plan, which includes United Steelworkers and United Auto Workers.
The funding comes from the PBGC’s Special Financial Assistance program, which was created by the American Rescue Plan. The American Rescue Plan passed the Senate by a vote of 50-49, and the House of Representatives by a vote of 220-211. No Republican Member of Congress voted in support of the law.
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