A New, Better Path Forward—Without Benefit Cuts

We have found a new, better way to strengthen our Pension Plan. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), we can fix the Plan without cutting benefits.

Our Pension Plan was certified to be in Critical and Declining Status in 2018 and was projected to run out of money in 2035 under the most recent certification.

That is why we submitted an application for relief under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) to the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019 and an updated application in 2020.

Under MPRA, a pension plan implements cuts to benefit payments to avoid pension insolvency. Our original decision to file for MPRA cuts wasn’t an easy one, but it was the right decision at the time to protect the fund for both current and future retirees.

However, we were able to avoid MPRA cuts because President Biden kept his promise to working people by including Pension Relief as part of the American Rescue Plan, which passed thanks to Vice President Harris's tie-breaking vote in 2021. 

ARPA will help strengthen multi-employer pensions. This new law created and funded a new Special Financial Assistance program that grants relief payments to pension plans like ours to ensure fund solvency over 30 years without requiring benefit cuts.

This is a game-changer, and we filed for SFA at our first opportunity. Our application was officially approved on October 7, 2024, and the Detroit Carpenters Pension Plan received $635,030,405.50 in Special Financial Assistance funding and interest on November 7, 2024. 

The Special Financial Assistance funds we receive will be held in segregated accounts, invested according to the requirements of the SFA program, and used to make benefit payments. These SFA funds increase our funding level to over 60% and put the fund on a path to achieve long-term sustainability based on reasonable actuarial assumptions. 

Check back regularly for updates and other important information.