Graphic Communicator photo by Susan Zachem

From left are: Dale Aycock, Des Moines 11N; Mathew J. Wenner, administrator, GCIU Employer Retirement Fund; and Milwaukee 23N Pres. Gary Benton.

Pension plans for GCIU members are financially sound and providing increasing benefits for GCIU retirees, according to representatives of the Inter-Local Pension Fund (ILPF) and GCIU Employer Retirement Fund (ERF), who spoke at the North American Newspaper Conference.

Both pension plans are defined benefit plans. The ERF is jointly trusteed by union and employer representatives and is funded through employer contributions. The ILPF is solely funded through employee contributions and trusteed only by GCIU local leaders.

ERF Administrator Mathew J. Wenner said fund participants have enjoyed nine benefit increases totaling more than 45 percent for each current service credit since 1989, when he first began speaking to NANC delegates.

"These increases translate as well to better benefits," Wenner said, "not only for normal retirement but also people who retire under the plan under disability or for increased death benefits for spouses and beneficiaries."

The ERF posted its most recent benefit increases in July 2000, Wenner said, even though the year 2000 "was a tough one in the markets" where part of pension funds are invested. He said the recent stock market performance demonstrates the need for pension funds to diversify investments, which the ERF has done.

Wenner urged locals that bargain with employers to make contributions for their employees to the ERF to make sure that they get very clear language regarding the contributions in their contracts. He said the majority of problems discovered during routine audits of employer contributions are related to unclear language "that doesn't fully explain who is covered and under what circumstances."

Philadelphia 14M Pres. Andrew Douglas said GCIU members who belong to the ILPF are often surprised at the size of their ILPF pension benefits.

For example, Douglas said, many GCIU members who have worked most of their careers in the trade while making ILPF contributions have contributed some $80,000 by the time they retire. At that level of contributions, he said, their monthly ILPF pensions would be more than $3,000.

Depending on their wages and contribution levels, it is even possible for members who begin contributing to the ILPF at the age of 58 and retire at age 62 or 65 to receive an ILPF pension of $500 or more a month, Douglas said.

Douglas said the maximum contribution to the ILPF is 6 percent of gross wages, with $2.50 per week the minimum contribution. Under federal law, contributions may not exceed $7,000 per year, he noted, and the contributions are tax deductible.

Although workers make contributions to the ILPF in a similar manner to an individual retirement account, Douglas said, because the ILPF is a defined benefit plan, "benefits never run out. Whatever your benefit is, you don't run out of it regardless of what your contribution is."

St. Paul 1M Pres. George Osgood noted that the ILPF celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. He said the "foresight of the GCIU founders of the ILPF has to be applauded. It's too good to be true, but it is."

Douglas also urged local leaders to consider joining the Graphic Communications National Health and Welfare Fund. The fund, whose trustees are GCIU local leaders and employer representatives, provides self-funded health care through preferred provider organizations and vision care, dental care, and prescription drug plans through discount buying plans.

Since the fund is not-for-profit, Douglas noted, the goal of the union and employer trustees is to keep premiums low while providing good benefits for GCIU members.