WASHINGTON — The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced today that it has approved the application submitted to the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program by the Graphic Communications International Union Pressroom Unions' Pension Plan (GCIU Pressroom Unions' Plan). The plan, based in New York City, covers 1,344 participants in the printing industry.

The GCIU Pressroom Unions' Plan will receive approximately $63.7 million in SFA, including interest to the expected date of payment to the plan. The plan was projected to become insolvent and run out of money in 2031. Without the SFA Program, the GCIU Pressroom Unions' Plan would have been required to reduce participants’ benefits to the PBGC guarantee levels upon plan insolvency, which is roughly 50% below the benefits payable under the terms of the plan. That means, if not for the SFA Program, participants in the plan would have seen their monthly pension benefits reduced by roughly 50% in 2031. SFA will enable the plan to continue to pay retirement benefits without reduction for many years into the future.

The SFA Program was enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act – signed by President Biden on March 11, 2021. Through December 9, 2024, nine pension plans covering approximately 87,000 workers and retirees in the graphic communications industry across the country have received a total of $3.4 billion in special financial assistance. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan and SFA, these graphic communications industry workers and retirees have been saved from cuts to their earned pension benefit.

“Millions of people work for years, looking forward to the day when the promise of a secure, dignified retirement is kept,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su. “Today, the Biden-Harris administration is delivering on that promise for 1,344 workers by providing Special Financial Assistance in the Graphic Communications International Union Pressroom Unions' Pension Plan that ensures they can retire with the dignity they deserve.”

About the Special Financial Assistance Program

The SFA Program provides funding to severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans and will ensure that millions of America’s workers, retirees, and their families receive the pension benefits they earned.

The SFA Program requires plans to demonstrate eligibility for SFA and to calculate the amount of assistance pursuant to ARP and PBGC’s regulations. SFA and earnings thereon must be segregated from other plan assets and may be used only to pay plan benefits and administrative expenses. Plans receiving SFA are also subject to certain terms, conditions and reporting requirements, including an annual statement documenting compliance with the terms and conditions. PBGC is authorized to conduct periodic audits of multiemployer plans that receive SFA.

As of December 9, 2024, PBGC has announced approval of about $69.7 billion in SFA to 103 plans that cover about 1,231,000 workers, retirees, and beneficiaries.

The SFA Program operates under a final rule, published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2022, which became effective August 8, 2022, and was amended effective January 26, 2023.