The Facts About the Pension Protection Act
January 1 Is Not a Deadline for Contract Ratification
Rumors are flying that the UPS contract must be ratified by January 1 because of pension legislation that takes effect on that date.
Make UPS Deliver consulted with actuaries, attorneys and fund managers to cut through the rumors and provide members with the facts.
Here is a summary of the real deal on the Pension Protection Act and what it means for our contract and pensions.
January 1: A Kickoff, Not a Deadline
Some provisions of the Pension Protection Act go into effect on January 1.
This date is the kickoff of a long-term timeline for strengthening funds over 10 to 15 years.
It is not a deadline by which the UPS contract needs to be ratified for UPS Teamsters to avoid pension cuts or win pension improvements.
The Pension Protection Act does include a series of deadlines that must be met by Teamster pension funds.
We will review the critical dates on this timeline in this article.
A benefit consulting firm that advises many Teamster funds, the Segal Group, also produced a detailed timeline of these deadlines.
What Happens on January 1?
On January 1, 2008, the funding portions of the Pension Protection Act go into effect.
As a result, Teamster pension funds will have to certify their funding levels (Green Zone, Yellow Zone or Red Zone) and inform participants and the government of their status.
This process does not occur immediately on January 1, but can take up to 90 days.
On April 1, 2008, fund actuaries have to certify the status of the plan. If a plan is under-funded, then it must notify participants, the union, the company, and the government by May 1, 2008—120 days after January 1.
Yellow Zone and Red Zone
If a pension plan is under-funded, it will be certified by the fund actuary as in the Yellow Zone or the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone means the fund is less than 80 percent funded.
The Red Zone means that the fund is seriously under-funded and also has a short-term credit balance deficiency (a technical calculation that indicates a more short-term problem than the funding level).
Being under 65 percent funded will not automatically place a pension plan in the Red Zone.
The Central States Plan will not be in Red Zone. In fact, few Teamster plans with UPSers will be fall in the Red Zone, if any.
Funds Have Until December 31, 2008 to Set Plans to Improve Funding
If a plan is in the Yellow Zone or Red Zone, the plan’s actuary will then come up with at least two options to get the funding level up toward 80 percent over the next ten or 15 years.
These options include increasing employer contributions, and/or decreasing future pension accruals.
In no case will your accrued benefits be cut. What you have already earned is safe.
For any plan under 80 percent funded, the trustees will adopt a Funding Improvement Plan, based on the options prepared by their actuaries, to present to the union and the company. If the trustees deadlock (company vs. union trustees), the matter goes to expedited arbitration.
By December 1, 2008 (over a year from now) a pension plan must announce their improvement plan, unless there is an impasse.
That plan must go into effect by December 2009, two years from now.
How Will a New UPS Contract Affect This Process?
Under the law, Teamster pension funds must adjust their funding plans based on any new pension money that is negotiated in the UPS contract—whenever the contract is settled.
A new contract does not have to be ratified by January 1.
When the UPS contract is settled, fund actuaries and trustees will adjust their Funding Improvement Plans based on the new money projected in the contract.
If a notice went out to members on April 1 that a plan is in the Yellow Zone and the money negotiated by the UPS contract puts the fund in the Green Zone, then a new notice would go out and the fund would be freed up to make pension improvements.
The Bottom Line
The goal of the Pension Protection Act is to get multi-employer plans to move their funding levels up to 80 percent over the next ten to fifteen years.
It is a long-term process. No plan needs to be adopted until December 1, 2008, over a year from now, and none needs to be put into effect until a year after that.
Any contract improvements that are won—at any time—will be taken into account.
The UPS contract does not need to be settled by January 1 for us to win pension improvements.
The key to improving our pensions is to make sure we make UPS put its very best offer on the table—whenever that is. Teamsters should review the proposed early agreement carefully.
Cast your informed vote based on whether you think this is the best contract we can win—not rumors or empty threats about January 1.