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Time is running out to save workers' pension plans. Congress reconvenes on December 8 to consider passing the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Relief Act of 2008.

Contact your Congressional Representative TODAY and urge them to pass this important legislation!

While news reports focus on relief for auto companies and banks, American workers' pensions are at risk. Especially at risk are those working in industries where workers move from job to job: industries like construction, trucking, retail food service, health care, and the entertainment industry. Even participants in strong and well-managed plans like the AFTRA Retirement Fund should be concerned about America's pension systems if Congress doesn't take action now.

Join with your fellow Americans to protect the more than 10 million U.S. workers who depend on multiemployer defined benefit plans, by writing your congressional representative now to pass emergency legislation to protect the security of America's defined benefit pension plans.

This call to action is endorsed by a diverse coalition of concerned organizations including the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, unions throughout the labor movement, trade associations, and thousands of businesses - both large and small - that contribute to multiemployer plans.

Why does the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Relief Act of 2008 matter to you?

One in four private sector employees who have pensions are in "multiemployer plans." Here's what's at stake:

 ~Multiemployer plans are common in many industries, including the entertainment industry, providing pension benefits to technical workers, musicians, actors, and other workers who move from job to job.

 ~Current law (known as the "Pension Protection Act") was enacted in 2006 to ensure the security of pensions, but was not designed to address the unprecedented, swift, and sharp decline in investment returns which occurred in the fall of 2008. Technical and complex provisions in the 2006 Pension Protection Act could actually result in consequences that were never contemplated or intended, for many multiemployer plans. Emergency action is needed now to pass the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Relief Act of 2008.

 ~This proposed emergency relief would provide sufficient breathing space to take longer term corrective action in 2009 to address the current economic crisis. Without emergency action now, the technically complex provisions in the 2006 law may force many plans to reduce benefits, double or triple contributions employers must pay, force companies to initiate even more layoffs, and/or force other actions that make American companies non-competitive.

 ~If the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Relief Act of 2008 is not passed before the close of 2008, the ripple effect could compromise the health of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) - which is a concern for all pension plans.

 ~Congress reconvenes on December 8 to consider passing the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Relief Act of 2008, so action is needed now!

What you can do:

Email your Congressperson and Senators to urge them to pass the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Relief Act of 2008, or click here to locate their phone number and call them TODAY!