Members of an Iron Workers union local’s pension plan have voted to cut their pension benefits, the first such action under a 2014 federal law allowing financially ailing multiemployer plans to seek federal approval for benefit reductions.
Trustees of the Iron Workers’ Local 17 pension plan, based in Cleveland, said on Jan. 27 that votes cast in the election were two-to-one in favor of the reductions, which are projected to begin with the Feb. 1 pension checks. Multiemployer plans are common in unionized construction.