Scranton, Pennsylvania, home of Vice President Joe Biden, is bracing for bankruptcy because of overly generous union pension plans. According to Stephen Moore of Investor’s Business Daily Online: The city also increased various fees, such as for garbage collection, by two-thirds. It’s becoming a tax hell. These taxpayer costs are skyrocketing, because the city’s auditors…

For the first time, Congress approved a bill that allows the retiree benefits of distressed union multi-employer pension plans to be cut. A multi-employer pension plan is where a group of employees in the same industry join unions to provide pension coverage to retirees. Of the 1,400 multi-employer plans in the U.S., hundreds either have…

Many of my clients are suffocating under the weight of unfunded pension liabilities. They ask me what happens if they sell the company, what happens if they get rid of the union, what happens if they file bankruptcy, etc. While answering each of those questions depends on a myriad of specific facts and legal analysis,…

Ormet, a Delaware corporation, recently went bankrupt and shuttered its facilities in Ohio and Louisiana. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, Ormet agreed to sell its Ohio plant for $25 million. The Steelworkers Pension Trust, the union representing Ormet’s employees, tried to delay the closing on the theory that the deal approved by the judge…

Finally, some good news about getting out from beneath suffocating unfunded pension liability – but only if you own a REIT. A real estate holding company was not liable for a commonly owned employer’s $1.8 million withdrawal liability judgment because the company’s primary purpose during the relevant time period was personal rather than profit-seeking. Specifically,…

Welcome to The Labor Leader – a weekly recap of the most valuable content on labor relations from an employer’s perspective. The National Labor Relations Act covers both union and non-union private-sector employers. This newsletter is a digest of my views on labor laws, the National Labor Relations Board, and unions.   Email about Mark…