Employee Retirement and Postretirement Benefits

We sponsor various defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans, including various employee savings and profit sharing plans, and contribute to various multiemployer pension plans on behalf of our employees. Substantially all full-time union and non-union employees who have completed one or more years of service and have met other requirements pursuant to the plans are eligible to participate in one or more of these plans.

Defined Benefit Plans — The benefits under our defined benefit plans are based on years of service and employee compensation. The following table sets forth the components of net periodic benefit cost for our defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013:



	Three Months Ended September 30						Nine Months Ended September 30
	2014			2013			2014			2013
	(In thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	770		$	923		$	2,310		$	2,769
Interest cost	3,495			3,128			10,485			9,384
Expected return on plan assets	(4,690		)	(4,633		)	(14,070		)	(13,899		)
Amortizations:
Prior service cost	197			198			591			594
Unrecognized net loss	1,276			3,098			3,828			9,294
Net periodic benefit cost	$	1,048		$	2,714		$	3,144		$	8,142

Postretirement Benefits — Certain of our subsidiaries provide health care benefits to certain retirees who are covered under specific group contracts. The following table sets forth the components of net periodic benefit cost for our postretirement benefit plans during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013:



	Three Months Ended September 30				Nine Months Ended September 30
	2014		2013		2014		2013
	(In thousands)
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	206	$	204	$	618	$	612
Interest cost	416		306		1,248		918
Amortizations:
Prior service cost	16		6		48		18
Unrecognized net loss	19		75		57		225
Net periodic benefit cost	$	657	$	591	$	1,971	$	1,773