PENSION AND OTHER POSTRETIREMENT BENEFITS

Pension

Single-Employer Plans

We sponsor several frozen single-employer defined benefit pension plans including The Newspaper Guild of New York - The New York Times Pension Fund, which prior to January 1, 2018, was a joint Company and Guild-sponsored defined benefit pension plan. We also participate in The Guild-Times Adjustable Pension Plan, a joint Company and Guild sponsored defined benefit pension plan covering employees who are members of The NewsGuild of New York. Participants in The Guild-Times Adjustable Pension Plan continue to actively accrue benefits.

The components of net periodic pension cost were as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended
	September 30, 2018								September 24, 2017
(In thousands)	Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans			Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans
Service cost	$	2,393		$	—	$	2,393		$	2,423		$	—	$	2,423
Interest cost	13,207			1,848		15,055			15,596			1,956		17,552
Expected return on plan assets	(20,591		)	—		(20,591		)	(26,136		)	—		(26,136		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	6,680			1,294		7,974			7,351			1,088		8,439
Amortization of prior service credit	(487		)	—		(487		)	(486		)	—		(486		)
Other	—			421		421			—			—		—
Net periodic pension cost/(income)	$	1,202		$	3,563	$	4,765		$	(1,252	)	$	3,044	$	1,792



	For the Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2018								September 24, 2017
(In thousands)	Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans			Qualified Plans			Non- Qualified Plans		All Plans
Service cost	$	7,593		$	—	$	7,593		$	7,269		$	—	$	7,269
Interest cost	39,564			5,543		45,107			46,784			5,868		52,652
Expected return on plan assets	(61,736		)	—		(61,736		)	(78,408		)	—		(78,408		)
Amortization of actuarial loss	20,122			3,882		24,004			22,057			3,264		25,321
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,459		)	—		(1,459		)	(1,458		)	—		(1,458		)
Other	—			421		421			—			—		—
Net periodic pension cost/(income)	$	4,084		$	9,846	$	13,930		$	(3,756	)	$	9,132	$	5,376

In the first quarter of 2018, the Company signed an agreement that froze the accrual of benefits under the Retirement Annuity Plan For Craft Employees of The New York Times Companies (“RAP”) with respect to all participants covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the Company and The Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union of New York and Vicinity. This group of participants was the last group under the RAP to have their benefit accruals frozen. As a result, we recorded a curtailment of $2.6 million in 2018.

During the first nine months of 2018 and 2017, we made pension contributions of $6.2 million and $5.9 million, respectively, to certain qualified pension plans. We expect contributions in 2018 to total approximately $8 million to satisfy funding requirements.

Multiemployer Plans

During the third quarter of 2018, we recorded a gain of $4.9 million from a pension liability adjustment, which was recorded in “Gain from pension liability adjustment” in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Other Postretirement Benefits

The components of net periodic postretirement benefit income were as follows:



	For the Quarters Ended						For the Nine Months Ended
(In thousands)	September 30, 2018			September 24, 2017			September 30, 2018			September 24, 2017
Service cost	$	8		$	92		$	18		$	276
Interest cost	370			470			1,108			1,410
Amortization of actuarial loss	1,183			905			3,551			2,715
Amortization of prior service credit	(1,590		)	(1,939		)	(4,772		)	(5,816		)
Net periodic postretirement benefit income	$	(29	)	$	(472	)	$	(95	)	$	(1,415	)

As a result of the adoption of ASU 2017-07 during the first quarter of 2018, the service cost component of net periodic pension cost/(income) and net periodic postretirement benefit cost/(income) continues to be recognized in “Total operating costs” while the other components have been reclassified to “Other components of net periodic benefit costs/(income)” in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations below “Operating profit” on a retrospective basis.