BAC Applauds American Rescue Plan’s Pension Assistance for Bricklayers Local 5 Plan

Thanks to the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, participants of BAC Local 5 New York Retirement Fund Pension Plan will be able to receive approximately $61.8 million to save their pension plan.

The plan, which covers 821 participants, was projected to run out of funds this year. Without sufficient funds, the plan would have been required to reduce participants’ benefits to roughly 20% below the planned benefits. On January 18, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) approved the application for emergency pension fund, enabling the plan to continue to pay retirees’ benefits without reduction for many years into the future.

"We applaud our Congressional members who voted for and passed the American Rescue Plan, which included emergency funding for insolvent pension plans," said Jeremiah Sullivan Jr., BAC Executive Vice President. "This funding will protect the pension benefits for so many members who put in a lifetime of hard work and will ensure they are able to retire with financial security and dignity."

“The American Rescue Plan continues to deliver for our economy and workers,” said US Representative Patrick Maloney (D-NY). “The hardworking men and women of Local 5 deserve the pension benefits that they have earned from a lifetime of work and I am so happy to see that the Rescue Plan is fulfilling the promise of a secure retirement for American workers.”

“These 821 bricklayers went to work with the promise of a pension when they retired. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration has fulfilled that promise,” said US Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, chair of the PBGC Board of Directors.

“Our union fought hard to make sure our pension was whole, and this decision to fund our members gives security and support to our members who have spent their lives giving themselves to their trade,” Union Trustee of Bricklayers Local 5 Plan Mike Clifford said. “Thank you to Congressman Maloney for making this happen through the American Rescue Plan, and for always sticking up for the men and women of labor.”