2008 marks the 50th year of the IUE-CWA Pension Fund. April 30, 1958, the first Trustees met to adopt the Declaration of Trust and begin work on forming the Pension Fund.

The Plan was started in 1958 as the District Four IUE AFL-CIO Pension Trust Fund. In the beginning, there were 4 trustees, 2 from the Union and 2 from Participating Employers. Because the Plan was formed to be a "Taft-Hartley" plan, it requires equal representation of union and employer trustees. For the Union, the first trustees were Clifton Cameron, who was the chair, and George Collins. The Participating Employers elected Emanuel Fried, who was the secretary, and John Martindale.

By December of 1958, the Fund had received their official letter from the United States Treasury stating their tax qualified status as a pension fund. Also by this time there were already 3,000 participants in the Fund.

January 1, 1959, three pensioners began collecting the first pension benefits from the Fund.

In late summer, 1963, IUE District Four became IUE District Three as the IUE reorganized. From September 4, 1963 the Pension Fund became known as the IUE AFL-CIO District Three Pension Fund. Then, only two years later, in November 1965, the Fund became the national pension fund for the IUE AFL-CIO and was called the IUE AFL-CIO Pension Fund.

By the fall of 1968, after being in operation for only 10 years, the IUE Pension Fund had 183 Participating Employers, covering 13,610 Participants, and were paying 621 pensioner benefits each month.

In 1978, the Pension Fund was a $40 million fund. The Participating Employers had increased to 258 with 20,814 Active Participants - quite an achievement in 20 years! At the end of 1978, there were 3,513 pensioners and beneficiaries receiving benefits each month.

Late summer 1980, construction finished on the pension fund’s own building (which it shared at the time with the Health Fund) and the operations moved to its current location at 1460 Broad Street in Bloomfield, New Jersey. This building is part of the investment assets of the Pension Fund and now houses two other tenants in addition to the Pension Fund.

In January 1983, the Board voted to increase its number of trustees from four to six. Later that year, Sal Ingrassia joined the Union Trustees - Lloyd Hayes and Peter diCicco. In March of 1984, Thomas Lynch became the third Employer Trustee, joining John Vozella and James Vito.

At the end of 1988, thirty years after the Pension Fund started, there were 187 Participating Employers with 13,609 Active Participants and the Fund was paying benefits to 7,330 pensioners and beneficiaries. The Fund at this time had $155.1 million in assets - having recovered easily from the October 1987 stock market crash.

Michael Lostutter, who is the current Director, joined the Pension Fund in 1992 as then Director, Rex Clifford was retiring. Lostutter had spent his working career before this with the IUE. He started as Local President of 919 in Connersville, Indiana in 1977. In 1979, he began working for the IUE as an International Representative and Specialist. He continued that work until joining the Pension Fund in 1992.

As of December 31, 1998, after forty years of providing benefits to IUE members, the Pension Fund had 110 Participating Employers with 7,506 Active Participants. The Fund was paying benefits to 8,776 pensioners and beneficiaries. By this time, the assets of the Pension Fund had grown to $372.5 million. The drop in participation in the Pension Fund can be attributed to many things.

One of the most influential causes to the drop in the numbers comes from the decline of the manufacturing industry in the United States. Many Participating Employers have left because they have closed their operations. Or, Active Participation has dropped in locations that have stayed open because of the decline in demand. This downward trend in the Pension Fund has followed the downward trend of the IUE union members. As our traditional manufacturing sectors have closed their doors, participation in unions and union pension funds has dropped.

Another reason for the decline in the last few years is that traditional pension funds have some what fallen out of favor with Employers because the current trend is to put the responsibility of retirement planning on the shoulders of the workers in the form of a 401(k) or other plan rather than feeling an obligation to provide a guaranteed benefit with a traditional defined benefit pension plan like the IUE Pension Fund.

To reflect the merger of the IUE with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the Trustees changed the name of the Pension Fund to the IUE-CWA Pension Fund in February 2001. This not only recognizes in name the merger of the two unions, but also allows for additional opportunities for the Pension Fund. Participation is not exclusive to IUE-CWA members, but can be negotiated into any collective bargaining agreement within the entire CWA. The first employer from outside of the IUE to join the Pension Fund was the Washington State Jobs with Justice.

Over the years, the Trustees have made countless improvements and enhancements to the Fund to give a more valuable benefit to the Participants, Pensioners, and Beneficiaries since the original Plan Document was written. These include improving the Disability Pension requirements, adding a "Pop Up" provision which allows pensioners to receive their full pension amounts if they had chosen a Joint & Survivor benefit upon retirement but their spouse predeceases them, increases to benefit amounts without additional bargaining with employers, 13th annual check to pensioners on occasions when investment performance allowed, and the list goes on. The Trustees of the Pension Fund have always been committed to providing the best traditional defined benefit pension possible to its participants.

To that end, the Trustees formally adopted a mission statement for the Pension Fund in December 2003: "The mission of the IUE-CWA Pension and 401(k) Plans is to provide the best possible retirement benefits and customer service while preserving and protecting the assets of the Plans for the exclusive benefit of the Participants, Pensioners, and Beneficiaries."

As we celebrate the 50th year of the IUE-CWA Pension Fund, there are 81 Active Employers and 3,832 Active Participants. 8,996 Pensioners and Beneficiaries are receiving monthly pension benefits. Keep in mind that there are also about 13,000 non-active participants who are eligible either for a pension when they turn 65 or are eligible for a severance benefit. As of December 31, 2007, the assets of the Pension Fund stood at $386.6 million.

The staff of the Pension Fund and the Board of Trustees work hard every day to ensure that the IUE-CWA Pension Fund continues to provide a meaningful retirement benefit to the IUE-CWA and CWA members. Although participation in the Fund is not as high as it once was during the 1970s, new additions to the Fund have been made in recent months as the Pension Protection Act of 2006 is driving employers to consider a multi-employer pension fund like ours instead of the expense of running their own single-employer plans.

The IUE-CWA Pension Fund looks to the future and to another 50 years (or more!) of providing important and valuable retirement benefits to union members! As always, for more information about your union retirement plan you find information here on our website or feel free to call our office any time at 973-893-0333 - we are always happy to hear from our Participants!