New York Construction Report staff writer
The Laborers’ Local No. 91 Pension Plan, which covers approximately 575 union construction workers in Niagara County, will receive roughly $67 million in federal relief to secure retirement benefits, officials announced Thursday.
The funding comes through the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program, created under the Butch Lewis Act to help multiemployer pension plans at risk of insolvency. The plan was projected to run out of money by the end of the year. The assistance will allow the plan to continue paying full benefits for many years, providing stability for workers and retirees.
“This is a huge relief for all of us,” said Local 91 member Bruce Stenzel. “We’ve put in decades of tough work on numerous job sites and in all kinds of weather. When we heard our pensions were in trouble, it felt like the rug was being pulled out from under us. Thanks to the federal support, that future is back on track.”
Local 91 President Richard Palladino, a member since 1959, called the funding “thrilling and relieving” for retirees and future plan participants. “We give our gratitude to all who secured the funds necessary which allowed our plan to be a candidate for this special funding application,” he said.
Workers under the plan are highly trained in construction trades including asbestos removal, hazardous materials abatement, paving roads and runways, pipe installation, and bridge and building construction.
The pension fix follows a series of American Rescue Plan interventions for multiemployer plans in Western New York. Earlier this year, the International Union of Operating Engineers fund covering nearly 6,500 members received $85.5 million. In 2023, IBEW Local 237 in Niagara Falls received $32.2 million, and UFCW Local One covering more than 19,000 members across upstate New York received $764,000. In 2022, New York Teamsters received over $960 million to support more than 33,000 union beneficiaries statewide.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said he fought to include the Butch Lewis Act in the American Rescue Plan to protect pensions like Local 91’s. “Western NY’s union construction workers worked hard, played by the rules, and paid into pension plans that were at risk of being drastically cut or disappearing through no fault of their own,” he said. “Over $67 million is now secured for the Niagara Falls-based Laborers’ Local No. 91 Pension Plan, ensuring 575 union workers and their families can retire in dignity.”
