By: Russ Kamp, CEO, Ryan ALM, Inc.

October is definitely my favorite month for weather in New Jersey, and this past Saturday epitomized why: it was a spectacular Autumn day. It is also a very exciting time if you are a professional sports fan given the intersection of all four major sports seasons.

But the excitement isn’t reserved for only the weather or sports, as the PBGC is still working through a considerable list of multiemployer plans still seeking Special Financial Assistance (SFA). Presently, there are 42 funds (3 Priority Group 1 members) with applications before the PBGC and roughly 70 other pension plans that remain in the wings and hoping to one day submit their applications.

There were four plans that submitted applications during the previous week, including Schiffli Embroidery Workers Pension Fund that submitted a revised application seeking $7.7 million in SFA for its 638 plan participants. They had only submitted the initial application earlier in the week. In addition, three funds provided initial applications, including United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union Local 919 and Contributing Employers’ Non-Food Pension Plan, Pension Plan of the Leather Goods, Plastics, Handbags and Novelty Workers’ Union Local 1, Joint Retirement Fund, and Local One Photoengravers Pension Fund. In total, they are requesting $74.7 million in SFA for just over 4,000 members.

In other ARPA news, there were no applications approved or denied. In addition, there were no funds seeking to be added to the waitlist. The one application that was withdrawn (Schiffli) was quickly resubmitted and it is currently in the queue before the PBGC.

The 42 applications before the PBGC are requesting $1.68 billion in SFA for more than 78k pensioners. To date, $78.1 billion in SFA has been awarded to the 168 successful applicants, which goes a long way to protecting and preserving the pensions for 2,022,141 American workers. What an incredibly successful program!