Sam Olchyk was quoted on March 20, 2018, in Bloomberg BNA's Pension & Benefits Reporter about how employers that pay in to multiemployer pension plans for their unionized workers are urging their members of a bipartisan Congressional committee that many of their businesses won’t survive if the panel fails to fix an insolvency problem.
Without a fix, the economic consequences for small and midsize businesses and for both struggling and healthy plans "could be severe," said Mr. Olchyk, an attorney who represents the Association of Food and Dairy Retailers, Wholesalers, and Manufacturers. The association is a group of 15 national, regional, and local businesses that contribute to more than 80 multiemployer pension funds.
Long before most plans go insolvent, "Banks will be less willing to lend money to businesses that contribute to these plans," which could "force many companies that depend on credit out of business," said Olchyk.
The failure of employers that contribute to plans that are projected to be insolvent within 20 years will likely speed up the insolvency dates for those plans, and mounting failures of employers that contribute to several plans also could jeopardize the stability of plans that aren't currently on track to insolvency, Olchyk said.