Masonry Magazine April 1980 Page. 17
MCAA CONFERENCE REPORT
continued from page 14
The next speaker, Vincent O'Hara, vice chairman of Martin E. Segal Co., consultants and actuaries, New York, N.Y., outlined the status of multi-employer pension plans and, more specifically, ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act).
O'Hara pointed out that termination insurance for multiemployer pension plans would be substantially changed under a proposal submitted to Congress by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and approved, with revisions, by the House Committee on Education and Labor. The bill is expected to be enacted "within the next two or three months."
When it enacted ERISA in 1974, Congress dealt separately with negotiated multiemployer plans. "It was uncertain how the program would affect them," O'Hara said. "The administering agency, PBGC, was given discretion whether to guarantee the benefits if a multiemployer plan terminated. That authority is limited to benefits supportable by the 50-cent premium per participant paid by multiemployer plans."
Further tracing its history, O'Hara said the program was supposed to shift to automatic coverage on January 1, 1978. But concern about the impact led Congress to postpone the date, first to July 1, 1979, and then to May 1, 1980. In the interim, it asked the PBGC to recommend changes. The result is the bill now before Congress-H. R. 3904.
According to O'Hara, if present law were to become non-discretionary, benefits would be guaranteed up to $1,159 per month. That amount would cover practically all benefits under multiemployer plans. Moreover, that figure would automatically escalate each year in line with changes in the average national wage.
The bill would increase premiums from the present level of 50 cents to $1.00 per participant the first year. This would increase over a period of nine years until it reaches $2.60. The latter figure is the same as that now in effect for single employer plans.
O'Hara used a series of 17 slides to explore all the ramifications of H. R. 3904. "The bill is far-reaching," the New York attorney concluded. "The subject is novel and obviously complex: many aspects are interrelated. The prospect is that action will come sometime before May 1, 1980, when the discretionary phase of coverage is due to end."
The morning session concluded with a stimulating panel discussion on "Planning and Design of The Anatole-A Magnificent Tribute to Masonry." The panel con-
Special Thanks to BIA and NCMA
Sincere appreciation is extended to the Brick Institute of America and the National Concrete Masonry Association who provided the wine service at each table at MCAA's 30th Anniversary Banquet at the Loews Anatole Dallas. All MCAA members express their heartfelt thanks to both organizations for their generous gesture in honoring MCAA on its 30th anniversary.
sisted of Trammel Crow, Dallas builder/financier who developed The Anatole for the Loews Corp. luxury hotel chain; Overton Shelmire, principal of Beran & Shelmire, Dallas, the architectural firm that designed The Anatole, and sculptress Mara Smith, who created and carved the magnificent brick panels that grace the exterior of the hotel.
The panel was moderated by Conference chairman Dee Brown, whose firm, Dee Brown Masonry, Inc. of Dallas, was the mason contractor on The Anatole. The hotel is considered to be one of the nation's foremost masonry structures. (A feature-length article describing The Anatole was carried in the July, 1979 issue of Masonry.)
Trammel Crow, who was characterized by Brown as the "largest landlord in the world," expressed his pleasure both with the design and construction of The Anatole. When he was presented with a plaque depicting the hotel on the cover of the February, 1980 Conference Issue of