Federal stimulus funds to cover LI pension plans, Schumer says

The pension plans of 4,100 Teamsters and retirees will be covered using $725 million in stimulus funding in the American Rescue Plan, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday.

The funding solves the struggle to make the pension plans solvent after they bottomed out in the 2008 global financial crisis.

Schumer said a deal was reached under the COVID-19 stimulus package to rescue the pension plan by funding it through the federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.

PBGC officials declined to comment Tuesday.

Schumer said Long Island Teamsters with Local 707 who had paid into the pension program while working had faced cuts to their retirement plans.

"Workers and their families who rely on these plans could have lost the benefits they earned over a lifetime of work, through no fault of their own — putting their families’ financial security and future at risk," Schumer said in a statement. "Now, that won’t happen. I am formally announcing that — because we passed the American Rescue Plan and because President Biden signed it — we were able to deliver this rescue, support these local families and bring a huge sigh of financial relief across Long Island."

The Hempstead-based Teamsters Local 707 represents freight drivers, ambulance drivers, and Off-Track Betting employees in Long Island, New York City, and the Hudson Valley.

Local 707 president and Suffolk County Legislature presiding officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) said funding to the pension plan was slashed when their biggest contributor, YRC Worldwide trucking, stopped making contributions in 2008.

The rescue plan funds the pension plan for 30 years and restores $135 million in back benefits, McCaffrey said.

"It’s monumental. It’s something we’ve been working on for many years. If not for Sen. Schumer to make this a passion of his with former Rep. Pete King it would not be done," McCaffrey said. "Every time legislation was proposed, Sen. Schumer asked does this help 707 and protect the pension fund?"

Schumer and King (R-Seaford) had proposed since 2018 using the Butch Lewis Act to fund the pension plan with Treasury bonds, but Congress failed to pass the measure.

McCaffrey said the pension benefits were reduced $35,000 per year to about $10,000 annually.

"It changed their lives," McCaffrey said. "There were horror stories of people about to lose their homes. These are working men and women and they simply were just trying to get by and had the rug pulled out from underneath them. All of a sudden, they were in situation where they can’t pay their bills."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.