During a hearing conducted by the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions to discuss challenges facing multiemployer pension plans, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Director Joshua Gotbaum urged Congress to develop legislation to improve the long-term viability of such plans. Multiemployer plans, which are created by collective bargaining agreements and jointly administered by a board of trustees comprising union and employer representatives, are becoming increasingly more reliant on the PBGC for financial assistance when in distress. Opening the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Phil Roe (R-TN) stated that factors such as the aging workforce, weak economy, and fewer contributing employers are threatening the long-term sustainability of the multiemployer pension plan system. As for the PBGC’s ability to provide assistance to plans in distress, Roe claimed that unless additional measures are taken, there is a 30% chance that the agency will be insolvent in less than 20 years. Continue reading this entry at Littler's Employee Benefits Counsel.