U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and U.S. Representative Peter King, R-NY2, want to restore the pensions of thousands of Long Islanders.
Schumer says he’ll push for the federal government to allow multi-employer pension plans, such as those that cover the Teamsters, to borrow funds to stay solvent. He says the government needs to help these workers who might lose everything due to no fault of their own.
“Well, what happened very simply is: during the 2008 financial crisis, we had the recession, we had the stock market go way down, and a lot of the money that people put into their pensions was lost.”
Over 4,000 Teamsters on Long Island have lost 30 percent of their pensions, and the pensions are now in danger of collapse.
“Pensions have been a hallmark in America for many, many years. But that promise, that when you retire there’d be something for you at the end and you’d have a pension that you could live a decent life on, that promise is eroding.”
Schumer plans to attach the bill to the federal budget plan and gain Republican votes with King’s support.
Congress will vote on the plan on January 19.