SCHUMER ANNOUNCES NIAGARA COUNTY LABORERS’ LOCAL NO. 91 TO RECEIVE $67 MILLION, THANKS TO SCHUMER’S HISTORIC PENSION FIX LAW, TO RESTORE AT-RISK PENSIONS FOR 570+ UNION WORKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Laborers’ Local No. 91 Pension Plan Represents Hundreds Of Construction Who – Without Action – After A Lifetime Of Hard Work Would Have No Pension Benefits Remaining By The End Of The Year

As Schumer’s First Major Act As Majority Leader, He Secured Pension Fix in The American Rescue Plan So Union Members Could Get Hard-Earned Pensions & Relief They Need And Earned

Schumer: Niagara County Construction Workers Can Breathe Sigh of Relief With Pensions They Rightfully Earned Restored

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today announced that, after years of advocacy to secure relief for ailing multiemployer pension plans for union workers, the Laborers’ Local No. 91 Pension Plan covering construction workers in Niagara County will receive an approximately $67 million pension fix from the Schumer-led American Rescue Plan. The federal relief will restore full pension benefits for approximately 575 union workers and their families throughout Western NY.

“Western NY’s union construction workers are the best of the best. Working hard every day, building and repairing our roads, bridges, and more. They worked hard, played by the rules, and paid into pension plans that were at risk of being drastically cut or even completely disappearing through no fault of their own. I promised to fight to make sure that wouldn’t happen, and today I am proud to say a promise made is a promise kept,” said Senator Schumer. “Over $67 million is now secured for the Niagara Falls-based Laborers’ Local No. 91 Pension Plan, which will ensure 575 union workers and their families across Western NY can retire in dignity. I made sure, as my first act as Majority Leader, to pass the American Rescue Plan with a key provision to deliver the pension relief to our union brothers and sisters and their families they have desperately needed and earned. New York was built by union workers, and I always will work with my union brothers and sisters to deliver the benefits they deserve.”

“This is a huge relief for all of us,” said Local 91 Member Bruce Stenzel. “We’ve put in decades of tough work on numerous job sites and in all kinds of weather, in the hopes of building a better future for ourselves and our families. When we heard our pensions were in trouble, it felt like the rug was being pulled out from under us. Thanks to Senator Schumer, that future is back on track.”

Schumer said the Niagara Falls-based Laborers’ Local No. 91 Pension Plan, which covers approximately 575 construction workers, will receive approximately $67 million in special financial assistance. In addition to providing materials to brick masons, union workers under this plan are highly trained in areas of asbestos removal, hazardous materials abatement, paving roads and runways, pipe installation, and bridge and building construction. The plan was projected to become insolvent and run out of money by the end of the calendar year. The SFA Program will enable the plan to continue to pay retirement benefits without reduction for many years into the future.

Schumer fought to include the Butch Lewis Act in the American Rescue Plan – securing pension solvency in his very first major bill as majority leader. Before the American Rescue Plan, over 200 multiemployer plans were on pace to become insolvent in the near term, risking benefits for millions of workers and their families. The law created the Special Financial Assistance program administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to protect benefits for millions of workers, reverse harsh pension cuts, and put existing plans on a path to solvency through 2051.

"As current Business Manager and long time member of Laborers Local No. 91 since 1959, I am thrilled and relieved to receive SFA funding to continue pension benefits for all of our Retirees and also to sustain and continue to grow our funding for all future participants of our Pension Plan,” said Local 91 President Richard Palladino. “ We give our gratitude to Senator Schumer for securing the funds necessary which allowed our Plan to be a candidate for this special funding application."

To date, the program has provided billions in federal assistance to support thousands of union workers, including in Western New York. Earlier this year, Upstate NY’s International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Fund, covering almost 6,500 union construction engineers and their families across Upstate New York, including in Buffalo, received an approximately $85.5 million pension fix from the American Rescue Plan. In 2023, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 237, based in Niagara Falls with 430 members and their families in Niagara and Orleans County, received a $32.2 million pension-fix payout from the American Rescue Plan. In addition, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local One, with 19,000+ members and their families across Upstate New York, including in Western New York, received a $764 pension-fix payout from the American Rescue Plan. In 2022, the New York Teamsters received a pension-fix payout from the American Rescue Plan of over $960 million for more than 33,000 union beneficiaries and their families across New York, including local branches in Buffalo and Cheektowaga.

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