Victory is sweet with passage of  Pension Relief

The House and Senate have passed critical relief for single- and multi-employer private pension plan sponsors—including NEA affiliates--to deal with dramatic market losses. The legislation will help state affiliates avert staff layoffs.

It’s not certain when the bill will go to the President for signature.

NSO President Chuck Agerstand said, “We’ve been fighting this battle for a long time. Thanks to your messages to members of Congress, we scored a victory,”
For single-employers, the pension relief bill provides:

• An extended period for single-employer defined benefit plans to amortize certain shortfall amortization bases.
• The application of an extended amortization period to plans subject to prior law funding rules.
• The suspension of certain funding level limitations.
• The temporary allowance of election to apply balances against minimum required contribution.

Multiple employers will see relief with:

• The optional use of 30-year amortization periods.
• Optional longer recovery periods for plans in endangered or critical status.
• The modification of certain amortization extensions under prior law.
• An alternative default schedule for plans in endangered or critical status.
• A transition rule for certifications of plan status.

Appointments to NLRB are a win for organized labor

President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are attorneys Craig Becker and Mark Gaston Pearce, both with strong ties to labor.

Becker has served as Associate General Counsel to both the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. For the past 27 years, he has practiced and taught labor law. He has also published numerous articles on labor and employment law and has argued labor and employment cases in almost every federal court of appeals and before the United States Supreme Court.
Pearce practiced union side labor and employment law before state and federal courts as a founding partner of a Buffalo, New York law firm. He served on the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, an agency responsible for review of rulings and compliance orders of the New York Department of Labor in matters of including wage and hour law.

As members of the NLRB, Becker and Pearce will be ruling in matters that safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representatives. They will also rule on unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.

Senate approves pension contribution relief

When the Senate recently passed the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act of 2010, it provided contribution relief for corporate defined benefit plans which will impact many NSO members.

This tax and jobs bill stretches out the amortization periods for investment losses occurring for two of the years between 2008 and 2011. The extension can be for either a 15-year or nine-year period. Currently, the law dictates amortization of investment losses over seven years.

Plan sponsors that opt for the nine-year period would have to make the additional plan funding contributions for only three years; the 15-year plan requires additional contributions for five years.

For employers that extend their amortization periods, they will be required to make additional contributions to their pension funds—if they pay employees more than $1 million a year; pay out extraordinary dividends to shareholders; or redeem more than 10 percent of the market capitalization of their stock.

In addition to providing this private pension funding relief, the bill also extends the filing of unemployment benefits and COBRA health care subsidies.

The bill passed the Senate on a 62-36 vote and moved to the House on March 18 where it will probably end up in a conference committee.

For a summary of the bill, go to http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h4213/show.

Union membership, pension plans and health care reform remain on national legislative agenda

Three key pieces of legislation will have an impact on NSO members if they are voted out of committee or are passed by Congress.

The Employee Free Choice Act (HB 1409) has been languishing in the Committee on Education and Labor. The Act is intended to amend the National Labor Relations Act, allowing employees to form, join or assist labor organizations.

The last action taken on the bill was in July when a co-sponsor signed on. No hearings are scheduled. It’s expected the bill will stay in committee until there are enough votes to pass it.

Changes to the Pension Protection Act (HB 3936) show more promise. The Pomeroy-Tiberi amendment would give more time to pension groups to fund their benefit obligation without penalty. Given the current economic situation, this is a boon for employers. While the bill sits in the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, co-sponsors have signed on as recently as this past December. NSO supports this legislation and lobbying efforts are still needed.

For the list of Committee members and how to contact them, click here.

The last piece of legislation centered on the ongoing health care debate will impact NSO members and the members we represent in our state affiliates. A proposed tax on health care benefits being hammered out by the Senate and House will make more people eligible for healthcare—but at a cost.  The Senate version contains the devastating tax that will impact working families at a time when they’re struggling financially.

The language in the legislation calls for a tax on “high cash plans.” Those plans involve ones costing $8500 for individuals and $23,000 for families. It also taxes dental and vision plans and contributions to flexible health plans. This is a direct hit on the working class.

The AFL-CIO hosted a National Call-in Blitz for health care reform on Jan. 13 but every day is a call to action to demand that health care reform works for working families.

Call toll free (1-877-323-5246) with the message that taxing health care is not the way to finance health care reform.

Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions