WASHINGTON – A new law will let companies contribute billions of dollars less to their workers’ pension funds, raising concerns about weakening the plans that millions of Americans count on for retirement.

But with many companies already freezing or getting rid of pension plans, many critics are reluctant to force the issue.

Some expect the changes, passed by Congress last month and signed Friday by President Obama, to have little impact on the nation’s $1.9 trillion in estimated pension fund assets. And it is more important, they suggest, to avoid giving employers a new reason to limit or jettison remaining pension benefits by forcing them to contribute more than they say they can manage.

The equation underscores a harsh reality for unions, consumer advocates and others who normally go to the mat for workers and retirees: When it comes to battling over pensions, the fragile economy of 2012 gives the business community a lot of leverage.

“That wouldn’t do our members any good” if the government forces companies to make pension contributions they can’t afford, said Karen Feldman, benefits policy specialist for the AFL-CIO, the labor federation that supported the legislation.

AARP lobbyist Debbie Chalfie said the seniors organization was concerned that companies contribute the right amount to their pension funds, but at the same time, “We want to make sure employers continue offering these plans.”

Karen Friedman, executive vice president of the Pension Rights Center, which advocates for pensioners, said the group was “sympathetic to business concerns” that companies have been hurt by the recession, though still worried that reducing corporate pension contributions could hurt consumers.

Nearly half of Americans say they are counting heavily on their pensions for retirement, according to an Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll conducted last October. Yet times are rough for pensions.

Only 15 percent of private-sector workers participate in defined benefit plans, which guarantee company-paid monthly retirement payments, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. That 2008 figure was down from 38 percent in 1979.

During that same period, the number of workers in defined contribution plans, like 401(k) investments to which workers and companies contribute, has grown to 43 percent. In these plans, workers contribute much of the money and bear the investment risk.

Four of every five of the 27,000 single-company pension plans insured by the government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. were considered underfunded in 2009, meaning their liabilities exceeded their assets. Liabilities are due over workers’ lifetimes, not all at once.

 

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