Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, the Northeast Ohio Media Group highlighted U.S. Senator Rob Portman’s (R-Ohio) new plan to save Ohio union retirees’ pensions. Portman’s Pension Accountability Act aims to give workers and retirees a voice when a looming multi-employer pension bankruptcy requires major pension reforms.

Excerpts are below and full article can be read here.

To save union retirees' pensions, Sen. Rob Portman offers new plan

Stephen Koff

Northeast Ohio Media Group

October 7, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Rob Portman on Wednesday will offer the latest proposal to help retired union members avoid deep pension cuts, possibly averting a fate that Congress itself is partly responsible for.

If the Ohio Republican succeeds, thousands of retired truck drivers, freight handlers and warehouse workers -- 48,000 in Ohio -- could be grateful. But they won't be in the clear entirely; their pension plans are still underfunded and at risk of running out of money eventually.

Nevertheless, Portman's Pension Accountability Act, if passed by Congress, would make it harder for those pension plans to simply slash current retiree pensions and walk away. It could force the plan trustees to negotiate with retirees and, Portman says, "let the democratic process work."

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The change was shocking to those who knew about it, breaching what had been current law and ending a tradition of protecting retirees who have few chances to make up that kind of lost income. But many Americans didn't even know about it because the change was tucked into must-pass, $1.1 trillion government spending bill.

"This is an opportunity to step into what is a very tough issue and try to get something done," said Portman, who voted against the law change last December, citing a number of objections (as did his Ohio Democratic counterpart, Sen. Sherrod Brown).

Portman's bill, and a different solution offered earlier by Senate and House Democrats, concerns union-affiliated, multiemployer pension plans, which cover retirees and workers who may have had different employers but shared common interests and industries, such as trucking or membership in the Teamsters. Portman's proposal seeks to balance three competing interests in a manner that's less ham-handed than the way Congress treated the matter in December:

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Portman's bill would require that the vote be binding. It would eliminate the part of the December law change that said the Treasury Department, acting in the interest of the plans and the PBGC -- but not, critics say, the interests of retirees -- could overrule votes affecting the largest plans.

And Portman's bill would mandate that only filled-out ballots are counted, keeping pension trustees from sending out ballots that are never returned and counting them among the votes in favor.

"The Portman bill lets our voices be heard" said Walden, the retired Ohio truck driver and the chairman of the Northeast Ohio Committee to Protect Pensions, part of a broad-based group of retirees and union members.

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Asked which of the two current proposals he likes, Portman's or Sanders', Walden said, "They both have merit."

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