Sen. Tina Smith, retirees tout help for troubled pensions that was added to virus relief law

Minnesota retirees who have been fighting for years against pending cuts to their pensions joined Sen. Tina Smith on Friday to herald a lesser-known part of the $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief package that will send $86 billion to shore up faltering pension plans.

Smith, a Democrat, said the provision will help more than 22,000 Minnesotans, and more than a million workers and retirees nationwide, who faced steep cuts to their pension payments.

The bailout covers more than 100 multi-employer pension plans that have been running out of money. One of the largest, the Teamsters' Central States pension fund, was expected to fail by 2025.

The federal relief package, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden last week, also included $1,400 in direct payments to many Americans, an extension of unemployment benefits through the summer, and billions of dollars in state and local aid.

The pension portion of the legislation was criticized by Republicans who called it a handout to unions and noted that the issue predated the pandemic.

Smith, along with other Democratic senators such as Sherrod Brown of Ohio, championed the pension provision to ensure retirees don't face big cuts to their income.

"In this country, when you work hard, you pay into your retirement, you sacrifice now so that you can have a secure retirement when the time comes," Smith said at a virtual news conference.

"That ought to be there for you. Yet for these Minnesotans, that was not the case," she said. "There was great risk these pensions would literally not be there or they would be cut so substantially that folks would have lost that safe, secure retirement that they had counted on, that they had saved for."

The multi-employer pension plans have found themselves in financial crisis for a variety of reasons. Some of the challenges have included having more retirees than active workers, some employers who had been contributing to the plan going bankrupt, and suffering big losses during previous recessions.

Sherman Liimatainen, director of the Duluth Committee to Protect Pensions, said he couldn't believe it when he first got the letter several years ago that his pension was going to be cut. He noted that he made about 29 trips to Washington, D.C., to lobby lawmakers on the issue over the last several years.

Steve Baribeau, co-chairman of Save Our Pensions MN, recalled how he was inspired to mobilize around this issue after going to a town hall meeting about the underfunded Central States fund several years ago in Minneapolis.

"I was so moved by many of the people showing up in wheelchairs, on crutches, and with walkers who were trying to keep their pensions as it was clear they could not go back to work," he said.

Dennis Kooren, co-director of the Fargo/Moorhead Committee to Protect Pensions, said they've become a "band of brothers and sisters" in this fight.

"This is an unbelievable moment for us because we've been fighting so long," he said. "It's hard to let it sink in we've actually won."

Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113 Twitter: @kavitakumar