Mathew Wenner, left, GCIU Employer Retirement Fund administrator, chats with West Caldwell 612M Pres. and General Board member Edward A. Treacy, center, and Atlanta 527S Pres. Ralph Meers.

The Inter-Local Pension Fund (ILPF) and the GCIU Employer Retirement Fund (ERF) offer complementary advantages to help GCIU members maintain their living standards in retirement, ILPF and ERF administrators explained to North American Newspaper Conference delegates.

ILPF Administrator Beth Jacobs said the fund, which was started by GCIU local union leaders in 1950, "is a really great pension program" with "wonderful benefits."

"Why should you join the ILPF?" asked Jacobs. "First of all, it's a GCIU plan, and it's for the membership. The funds are professionally managed. It allows members to reduce their tax liabilities. It gives the members a solid foundation for retirement. It complements the other GCIU pension plans or employer pension plans because it's an employee contribution plan. Most importantly, you know what your monthly retirement will be because it's a defined benefit plan, unlike a 401(k), which is defined contribution plan. The best thing about it is you cannot outlive your benefit. You will always have that monthly benefit coming once you retire."

Jacobs said the professionally managed fund has more than $1.6 billion in assets, and the fund is stable at this point in time. Directing administration of the fund and setting policy are 10 trustees, all presidents of participating GCIU locals.

Inter-Local Pension Fund Administrator Beth Jacobs provides information for New York 1L Pres. Patrick LoPresti.

Participants can retire at age 60 with full benefits, or as early as age 50 with reduced benefits. The fund also provides disability and death benefits and survivor spouse options.

Jacobs urged local union leaders to call the ILPF to arrange for her or Cincinnati 508M Pres. John Agenbroad, who chairs the fund, to make a presentation to local members.

Wenner said the ERF, which began in 1955, also has assets of more than a billion dollars. The ERF has more than 20,000 active member participants in more than 150 local unions and some 850 participating employers. Its trustees are both labor and management representatives.

The ERF also is a defined benefit plan, with benefit formulas based on participant contributions over a working lifetime. Like the ILPF, participants can't run out of benefits after retirement.

Because of the dismal performance of investment markets, Wenner said, trustees recently had to readjust future benefit levels to maintain the stability of the fund. However, the trustees pledged to readjust benefit levels again when investment markets pick up.