CORONAVIRUS: Murray Calls for Multiemployer Pension Crisis Solution to Protect Families From Additional Financial Uncertainty

Senator Murray urges colleagues to include multiemployer pension crisis fix in ongoing COVID-19 response efforts

As pandemic throws families into economic uncertainty, Murray stressed the need to avoid additional crises for workers and retirees

Murray: “Through no fault of their own, millions of workers and retirees are at risk of losing the pensions they have earned at the worst possible time. We can’t let that happen.”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement about the need to address the multiemployer pension crisis in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Through no fault of their own, millions of workers and retirees are at risk of losing the pensions they have earned at the worst possible time. We can’t let that happen. This COVID-19 crisis is already making it harder for families and businesses to make ends meet—we need to do everything we can to ease the burden, and that includes solving the multiemployer pension crisis so workers and retirees aren’t thrown into even greater uncertainty. I’ve been pushing to negotiate a bipartisan solution that can solve this crisis once and for all, and I’m absolutely going to keep at it.”

Senator Murray has made clear in negotiations she wants to pass a bipartisan solution to address the multiemployer pension crisis that

-          Ensures workers will have the pensions they earned over a lifetime of hard work;

-          Supports struggling plans without harming healthy ones;

-          Sets the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation on solid financial footing; and

-          Encourages companies to offer strong retirement benefits like pensions.

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