Our UFCW Pension Fund: Down the Drain???

This "2005 Annual Funding Notice" probably went unread by many or most of us.

The Report was frightening, to say the least. It reads: "The Plan’s funded current liability for the plan year was 64.4%". In general the higher the percentage the better funded the plan.

Alarm bells should be going off!

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 defines a multi-employer Plan such as the UFCW Pension Trust that is under 65.% of funding to be in "critical status"

At a 64.4% funding level, our Pension Plan is "perilously close to insolvency" according to pension experts, who added that a number close to 100.% funding is what is needed to ensure full future payments to retirees.

Will the pensions we have earned, that we have been promised exist when we retire? Perhaps not.

The UFCW Pension Fund may require a process of "reorganization" involving a reduction of pension payments.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation established to protect retirees income only pays a portion of promised pensions. A Food Clerk expecting $1900. Per month would receive only $1073 from the PBGC if our Pension Trust becomes insolvent.

Even that amount is questionable. The PBGC itself currently has an annual deficit of $18 Billion, spending money it does not have, money that may not be available when we need it, two years or ten years from now, when we are older and can no longer work.

Why the Pension drain?

Who is responsible?

Losing Our Pensions: What UFCW Members Should Do

You have worked 30 years or longer and then retire. In a year or 10 you find that your income has become drastically reduced or that the Pension you earned by hard work no longer exist. How do you avoid this loss? The first step is information. The Union Local President and Secretary- Treasure are Trustees of the UFCW Pension Trust Fund, designated to oversee the operations of the Fund- ask them what is going on with our money and our futures. Ask them why our Pension are in jeopardy! Then take it further: Contact and request the Pension Fund Annual Report/ Mr. Jody Osterweil , UFCW Joint Pension Trust Fund 1227 Treat Blvd, 10th Floor, Walnut Creek Ca 94597-8863, 1-800-794-5678.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation website is; http://www.pbgc.gov

Here is a discussion that all UFCW Members should be following: http://forums.uncharted.ca/viewtopic.php?t=208&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=975

Also here is news letter from the Rise Up group that you may want to print and get into your workplaces:
http://groceryworkers.org/flyers/upwords2-1.pdf/download