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Crushed by Pension Woes, Business Pressures Lawmakers for Fix
Employers that pay in to multiemployer pension plans for their unionized workers are telling members of a bipartisan Congressional committee that many of their businesses won’t survive if the panel fails to fix an insolvency problem.
“I’ve been bracing for the apocalypse,” Christian Chappell, president and owner of Chappell-Zimmerman Inc., a ready-mix concrete and builder supply company near Youngstown, Ohio, recently stated. Chappell’s company contributes over $1,400 per week to the Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund on behalf of eight union-member employees. Chappell says his company can’t just leave the fund because its withdrawal liability is more than twice the business’s value. If Central States becomes insolvent—which the fund projects will happen by 2024—Chappell says his 13-employee, family-owned business that began in 1946 will fold.
Central States is among the 114 multiemployer pension plans that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation estimates are on the path to becoming insolvent. Congress is stepping in to offer possible solutions for the crisis through the House-Senate Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans. Multiemployer plans are set up through collective bargaining between unions and employers in the same industry, such as trucking and construction. Click here to read more.
OCA Members Invited to Join OP3
At the Conaway Conference, David Brown, Administrator of the Ohio Public Private Partnership (OP3), invited OCA members to join his organization. OP3 is a no cost consortium of state and local agencies, businesses, industries, and associations joined in a collaborative effort to enhance disaster planning, preparedness, response, and recovery. OP3 encourages open sharing of information vital to assist members in returning to normal operations in the wake of a disaster.
To find out more information on OP3, click here.
For a summary of the program, including its role in various events over the last four years, click here.
For a list of OP3 member companies and organizations, click here.
To join OP3, ask questions, or learn more about the program, visit their website.
ODOT to Hold Prime Contractor Roundtables
The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Division of Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion invites Prime Contractors to a series of regional roundtable meetings. This effort will allow constructive interaction between ODOT and the contractor community to provide updates and to listen to concerns of participants. OCA encourages members to attend these sessions if you would like to weigh in on DBE issues with ODOT. For dates, times, locations, and other information, click here.
Join us for the Fly-In!
Registration is now open for the 2018 Transportation Construction Coalition, May 15-16, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC! Please click the link below to create a new account and register for the meeting.
https://www.BlueSkyz.com/tcc2018
2018 could be the year of infrastructure in Washington, D.C. President Trump highlighted rebuilding infrastructure during his campaign, again on election night and as part of his inauguration address. As we await details about the Trump Infrastructure Initiative, one thing is clear, the construction industry's involvement into its development and enactment by Congress is vitally important to its success. While the five-year "Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act," or FAST Act, provided sufficient revenue to support the funding levels authorized in the legislation through FY 2020, additional revenue will be needed to support a growing program into the future. It is important that the Administration and Congress receive the message that any infrastructure proposal must address the long term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund. The 17th Annual Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Legislative Fly-In is well-timed to provide an opportunity for that input. Click here for more.
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