Unions like to point to their pensions as a big selling point when recruiting new members. “What? Your company just offers you a 401(K) plan? You should have a pension!” That’s the pitch. Well, be careful what you wish for. Here is a list of more than 100 underfunded pension plans – many of them have less than half the money they need to pay their obligations. Remember that federal law requires pension funds to be at least 80 percent funded in order to be classified as healthy. So next time a union organizer starts trashing your benefits and pitching you on a union pension fund, you might want to take a look under the hood. Is there any money in that fund to pay the promised benefits?
